Learn more about how Alan Wake 2 came together in Digital Foundry's new extended fifty-minute interview with Tatu Aalto (Graphics Programming Lead) and Antti Kerminen (Lead Gameplay Programmer).
Hosted by Alex Battaglia, they explore the technological side behind the adventure, from mesh shaders vs primitive shaders to the team's approach to ray tracing through to the game's threading model. They also look at the game on specific platforms, including handling of memory for PC and scaling for the Xbox Series S.
They also reflect on how their latest adventure brought new challenges. Describing the processes of moving from Control to Alan Wake 2, "One of the things that was very specific with Control was that it was happening indoors. So, inside a building. A very special building, a supernatural building, but still, we didn't have like a long view-distance scene, and the number of objects on the screen at the same time was quite limited. But in Alan Wake 2, we moved to an outdoor environment and especially to the primordial rainforest of the Pacific Northwest in the USA. So, we needed to draw a lot of geometry to the screen because you have a lot of vegetation."
You can watch the interview below or direct on the Digital Foundry YouTube Channel, HERE.
Interested in learning more? You can also read more about Northlight's tech and how the team built up for their latest adventure in Remedy's article, "How Northlight Made Alan Wake 2 Shine".
