We already know that Quantic Dream is currently working on at least one (probably two) PS4 game, and today we learn more about what they're up to thanks to two career opportunity ads seeking a Senior 3D Rendering Programmer and an Experienced Environment Artist, that explicitly mentions a next-gen project on PS4 (even if it's not "next" anymore).
The Environment Artist ad mentions using proprietary tools combining "highly advanced real time rendering and post-processing techniques".
Interestingly enough the qualifications include the production of AAA games or full CG films or series with realistic sets, giving us a glimpse on the fact that Quantic Dream is aiming to their usual cinematic presentation. Excellent mastery of "photorealistic textures" is also required.
There's also a mention of the use of physically based materials, that we already found in previous ads. Combined with photorealistic textures that can really push the visuals of the game towards levels hard to distinguish from live action.
The second ad is even more interesting, as the candidate will work on Quantic Dream's proprietary next generation engine, giving us a glimpse on its capabilities and features. The following are listed:
- SSAO
- Deferred Shading
- Shadows
- Global Illumination
- Particles
I'm sure you don't need me to explain shadows and particles. SSAO stands for Screen Space Ambient Occlusion and it's used to give object a better three dimensional look and effect of depth by calculating the occlusion from the light in real time for each pixel on the screen.
Deferred Shading is a shading technique that calculates shading on a second rendering pass, allowing the engine to decouple shading from rendering the scene and to include many dynamic light sources with a lesser performance hit.
Global Illumination allows to achieve a better level of realism in lighting by calculating not only the effect of direct lighting on surfaces, but also indirect lighting reflected by other surfaces, whether they're reflective or not.
Compute Shaders are also mentioned, referring to high-speed general purpose computing providers based on the GPU instead of the CPU, and are the perfect application of the PS4's GPGPU features.
It's worth mentioning that the ad specifies that experience with PS4 or Xbox one is preferred, and Excellent knowledge of at least one graphics API (OpenGL, Direct3D or GNM) is required, but before you think that means that Quantic Dream intends to work on Xbox One, it most probably doesn't. Experience with different next generation consoles and API is pretty much interchangeable nowadays, and the post continues by specifying that experience with OpenGL is a "big plus" that definitely points towards PS4 development.