Minecraft will add Nvidia ray tracing in leiu of super duper graphics
A video announcement by Minecraft staff introduced ray tracing with RTX technology in order to enhance the look of the game.
Alas, a new, staggering graphics option will be coming to Minecraft soon.
The game that has reached high levels of longevity and popularity is finding new light with RTX for Windows 10. Ray tracing is a technique used to enhance the way light shows in games. This results in a higher quality image and a look more baked in realism.
A new announcement by the staff of the game celebrates the introduction of the concept. Also, the excitement to work with Nvidia’s RTX technology.
This comes less than two weeks after developers announced the cancellation of the Super Duper Graphics Pack. A big look overhaul announced at E3 in 2017 proved too ambitious for the developers. They found that the update would be too difficult to achieve across all platforms.
A letter from the staff stated: “Super Duper was an ambitious initiative that brought a new look to Minecraft but, unfortunately, the pack proved too technically demanding to implement as planned.” Over two years of work came to an end.
Of course, people have been enhancing graphics on the game for quite some time. Mods for the game called shaders have varying levels of graphics change. Some subtle, and others substantial, shaders changed the way people perceived a game in which at its default is very basic looking. This new change is a high performing way to radically change the beauty of Minecraft.
Saxs Persson, the head creative director, said in the video release that “Minecraft is many things to many people, it is a creative tool, a game to get immersed in, it is anything you want it to be.”
The idea behind the RTX ray tracing is to continue that same simple beauty while amplifying the game’s look.
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Chief technology officer Michael Weilbacher adds, “We wanted to keep the authentic look of Minecraft and still push the boundaries with ray-tracing.”
The video shows a flythrough of a Minecraft world while turning the tech on and off, highlighting the difference in the glow, reflection, and realism.
The video highlights the real look in things. Commenting on how with RTX on gold looks gold, diamonds glow just a little more, lava puts off a different, softened look, and glass and water rightfully reflect light.
The recent loss of the Super Duper Graphics project may have been disappointing, but ray-tracing brings a new level of excitement to the table. Visual mods, in general, change the way we perceive the game. The RTX announcement is a beautiful next step towards the future for Minecraft.