The Adventure Comes to PlayStation®4 on September 28

Published

The wait is over, Travelers! Come September 28, *Genshin Impact* will be available to players all around the world on PlayStation®4, iOS, Android, and PC. Let's begin our new adventure together.

So how did miHoYo overcome numerous obstacles to finally bring this adventure in the massive yet detailed land of Teyvat to the PlayStation®4 platform? What ingenuity and thought processes went into the development of *Genshin Impact*? If you've ever been curious about such questions, Traveler, let's go behind the scenes of *Genshin Impact* in this video!

## Video

刘伟：《原神》是我们第一款开放世界动作RPG游戏，不仅面对主机、PC和移动平台的玩家，更面向全世界的玩家。2012年，米哈游在上海成立，16年9月我们发布了手游《崩坏3》。17年和18年，我们向全世界玩家推出了这款游戏。今年初，我们还发布了PC版，并受到全球玩家的喜爱。但米哈游做游戏的初衷就是要"out of imagination"，所以17年的时候，我们就想，如果有一天，有一款可以不受设备的限制，在不同平台都能玩到的，自己也好，和朋友一起也好，去自由探索更大、更美、更具异国风情和诗意的开放世界游戏，一定很有意思。
Liu Wei: *Genshin Impact* is our first open-world action RPG. It is aimed at players on consoles, mobile devices, and PC, and it is intended for a global audience. miHoYo was founded in Shanghai in 2012, and we released the mobile game *Honkai Impact 3rd* in September 2016. We supported and updated this game throughout 2017 and 2018 and we even published a PC version early this year, which proved to be immensely popular among players worldwide. But "out of imagination" has always been one of our first principles in making games. As such, we had begun thinking, even in 2017: "Wouldn't it be interesting if we could one day make a game that wasn't limited by platforms which you could play either alone or with friends, and in which you could explore a sprawling, beautiful open world rich with the poetry and style of many lands?

弋振中：要制作一款开放世界的多平台游戏，开发的复杂程度是非常之高。我们必须站在多平台的视野去思考游戏的制作，了解各个平台的优劣点，确保我们的游戏既能够在PC、移动和主机平台顺畅地运行，又能够发挥各个平台的硬件特性。比如，在和美术团队一起开发图形功能的时候，我们首先需要制定一个全平台的综合解决方案，并且为每一个平台选择合适的技术实现。然后，基于这个方案，各个平台再分别制作合适的美术制作规范，才能开始进行功能的实现和美术资源的制作。制作完成以后，我们还需要进行验收和检查。为此，我们也开发了多平台的自动化的检测工具。
Yi Zhenzhong: Creating a multi-platform open world is an exceedingly complicated undertaking. We need to take PC, mobile devices, and consoles into account and understand their strengths and weaknesses to ensure that the game we are designing will run smoothly on all of them while taking advantage of their unique hardware features. For example, when we were developing the graphics together with the art team, we had to first lay down a common procedure for solving problems across all platforms and look for the technical implementation method most suited to each individual platform, and then set graphical design specifications for each platform based on this procedure. Only then could we begin creating the game features and art assets. Once these were complete, we still needed to check and assess them, so we developed automated detection tools for multiple platforms.

另外一方面就是我们确实经验不足，团队也比较年轻。而PS4作为一个为游戏开发量身打造的平台，它的硬件设计是非常巧妙的。再加上薄到几乎没有的驱动层，开发起来的自由度非常高。这也就意味着要高效开发的难度就更高了，对开发者的要求也更高。Feature开发的功能完成仅仅是第一步。合理地利用PS4硬件特性进行优化往往需要花费更多的精力。而幸运的是，我们的团队总是充满了热情和朝气。在Beta测试时收集到的各类问题，团队也是鼓足了干劲，全力解决。
Another aspect was the fact that our team lacked practical experience and was rather young, while the PS4 was quite ingeniously designed as a game-development-tailored platform. When combined with the very thin driver layer, this made for a lot of freedom in development, but also meant greater difficulty in efficient development and higher demands on developers. The practical matters of feature development were just the first step, Utilizing the PS4's hardware features to optimize the game took up even more time and effort. Fortunately, our team has always been full of vim and vigor, and they solved many problems that were reported to us during the beta test period.

刘伟：但是在PS4的研发上也允许我们在更多细节上精益求精。比如PS4出色的GPU让我们在图像技术上能尝试更多的运用和实现，去营造开放世界体验需要的沉浸感。
Liu Wei: That said, the PS4 R&D process also allowed us to continuously refine many details. For example, the PS4's outstanding GPU allowed us to experiment with more rendering processes and their implementation, all the better to build the immersion necessary for the open-world experience.

弋振中：我们尝试用多种技术来实现丰富的光影细节变化，希望能通过这些细节来忠实反映出《原神》里丰富的自然和人文环境。《原神》的世界有24小时，因此在光照上我们也采用了24小时的全动态光照方案，让相同的地点随着时间的流逝展示不同的景致。游戏中的山石、建筑、人物都有动态投影。为了提升在阴影中场景的立体感，我们采用了多种技术实现高品质的ambient occlusion，可以让人物和物件在阴影中也能投射出柔和的次阴影，不会显得浮空。再加上SMAA+TAA的混合抗锯齿技术，整个画面更加细腻。
Yi Zhenzhong, Technical Director: We tried using different techniques to create rich dynamic lighting and shadows, through which we hope to faithfully display the abundance of natural and man-made beauty in *Genshin Impact*'s environments. The game world has a 24-hour cycle, which is why we implemented a 24-hour dynamic lighting schema that presents different appearances of the same locations as time passes. The characters, architecture, and geography all have dynamic shadows. To enhance the three-dimensional feel of places in shadow, we used various techniques to achieve a high-quality ambient occlusion, allowing characters and objects to cast secondary shadows even when they were in the shade to prevent a more floaty look. We also used a mixed SMAA+TAA anti-aliasing technique to make the overall image look more exquisite.

同时，不同的天气条件也会改变光影。比如不同区域不同时间段，我们会用不同浓度的体积雾来丰富大世界的地貌表现。而体积雾受到局部光照明会形成朦胧的光晕并扩散出去，提升场景的空间感。场景物体还会因为遮挡了太阳光或者月光而产生漂亮的god ray效果。除了时间、天气等自然因素，到了城市街头各种人文因素还会进一步地增添光影细节。比如我们能看到人物角色和NPC在多种光源的照射下也能投射出多条不同的影子。在对阴影技术提升以后，我们支持多盏有动态光影的local light，最多能达到近百盏。而cluster deferred lighting的技术更加支持我们视野中同时出现500盏灯，来勾勒出璃月海灯节独有的繁华炫丽。
In addition, different weather conditions change the lighting. We use volumetric fog of different densities in different regions or times periods to enrich the presentation of in-game land-forms. This fog forms hazy halos of spreading light when it comes into contact with local lighting, which increases the atmosphere of the scene. Objects blocking the sunlight or moonlight can also create beautiful "god ray" effects. Other than time, weather, and other natural factors, more man-made lighting details come into play in cities and streets. For example, we could have playable characters and NPCs cast different shadows under different light sources, and once our shading techniques had improved, we also wound up supporting up to a hundred sources of local light at once. The cluster deferred lighting technique further allowed us to render 500 lights at once on screen, which allowed us to highlight the unique, dazzling beauty of Liyue's Lantern Rite.

刘伟：在历经整整三年、前后400多位成员共同的努力下，我们很高兴终于能在这个秋天让《原神》正式和大家见面了！通过《原神》，我们希望向玩家呈现一个宏大而微小的世界。目前我们开放了20到30平方公里的地图，里面分布各式各样的怪物、秘境、谜题和采集物。而这还只是提瓦特大陆七大主要城邦中的前两座。但是让宏大的开放世界变得迷人的恰恰是细枝末节。我们也从细节处着手，去营造世界的真实感。比如去模拟角色和NPC的行为和生活方式。在蒙德城，独自玩耍的小孩在桥上喂鸽子，偷懒的骑士在城墙下打盹。日暮时分万家灯火逐次点亮，吟游诗人来到大教堂后的墓地，为女儿献上一支歌曲。这些平静而不平凡的生活，等待玩家去了解、发现、甚至改变。我们希望将《原神》打造为一个包容的，充满不同文化风情的美丽幻想国度。
Liu Wei: After three whole years, and through the efforts of over 400 employees, we are very pleased to finally show *Genshin Impact* to you all this fall! Through *Genshin Impact*, we hope to display a world that is "grand yet fine." So far, we have developed a 20-30 square-kilometer wide map filled with all kinds of monsters, domains, puzzles, and resources, and this only includes the first two of the seven major cities in Teyvat. But the true charm of a large open world lies in the details and minutiae, and we have built upwards from there to make this world feel real. An example of this is our modeling of character and NPC behavior and lifestyles. A child playing alone on a bridge feeds the pigeons, and a lazy knight dozes off under the city walls. As evening comes, lamps light up everywhere and a bard comes to the cemetery behind the cathedral to sing for his daughter. Such peaceful but by no means ordinary lives are there for players to understand, discover, and even change. We hope to make *Genshin Impact* a beautiful and inviting fantasy world full of different cultural styles.

每一座城邦都拥有独特的文化氛围和背景故事。玩家遇到的第一座城蒙德崇尚自由和骑士精神，城市场景设计也充满欧式风格元素。而璃月则是设计团队将"中式美"与原神世界契合，基于现实风景的浪漫幻想。我们结合了中国古典的苏式松竹园林、徽式水乡这些传统文化建筑元素，以及像黄龙这样的中国奇绝自然景观，甚至还有在东方古典和武侠文化中常出现的一种意象——芦苇荡。让璃月城和它周围的景致兼具戏剧性与自然美，想给全世界的玩家们传达一种东方幻想的气韵。
Every city has its unique culture, atmosphere, and background stories. The first city players will encounter, Mondstadt honors freedom and chivalry, and its visual design incorporates many European elements. Liyue on the other hand is a marriage of "Eastern beauty" with the world of *Genshin Impact*, a romantic fantasy based on real scenery. Here, many Chinese scenes of antiquity intersect — the pine and bamboo gardens of Suzhou, the ancient canal towns of Huizhou, the otherworldly natural beauty of Huanglong, and even the symbolism of reeds, which often appear in period films and martial arts flicks. They give Liyue and its surrounding regions a dramatic sensibility and natural beauty, communicating a spirit of Eastern fantasy to the player.

为了让玩家能够更真实地感知《原神》的世界，我们还深化了《原神》的元素互动系统。我们还原了现实中常见的自然现象，和剑与魔法的幻想进行了有机结合。我们希望玩家能通过观察周围环境中的一山一水、一草一木，结合自身的能力，在探索、战斗的过程中灵活运用，进而与同伴、与这个世界产生更多的共鸣。在战斗过程中切换不同的角色，让每个人物独特的元素技能加以配合，就可能创造出惊人的连锁反应。如果玩家选择和朋友进行co-op的模式，更能体验到因地制宜和因人制宜的战斗乐趣。
To let players get a real feel for *Genshin Impact*'s world, we also deepened the elemental reaction system within the game and organically combined the natural phenomena oft-seen in reality with swords-and-sorcery fantasy. We hope that players will be able to resonate more greatly with the world through observing their surroundings and integrating it with their abilities during exploration, combat, and co-op play. Changing characters during combat will allow each one's elemental skills to interact with one another and create some stunning chain reactions. In co-op mode, players can further enjoy the combat experience based on other players and the environment.

《原神》和传统的主机游戏不一样的地方在于，我们是一个长期经营的游戏。上线后，我们还会继续增加更多好玩及精彩的内容，提供更加广阔的探索空间、多样的玩法及活动。同时，在上线之后我们也会继续地听取玩家的建议，对PS4的版本进行改进，不断地优化和稳定游戏，进一步地提升在PS4上面的技术表现，为玩家带来更好的单机和连线体验。
How *Genshin Impact* differs from traditional console games is that ours is a long-term operation. We will continue to add fun and exciting content post-release, bringing players larger areas to explore and new game modes and events. At the same time, we will also continue to listen to player feedback and further improve the PS4 version, constantly optimizing and stabilizing the game to upgrade its technical performance and bring players a better single- and multi-player experience.

还有更多的功能也在开发中，比如与《原神》渲染风格更契合的HDR显示，以及在不久之后的版本中，我们还将在PS4上对角色的渲染进行一次大幅度的提升，同时场景的画面也会得到进一步地增强。我们很自豪将很多的构想打包装进了《原神》里，原神将在9月28日登上PlayStation®4，支持13种不同语言。目前预购已经开启，我们也为PlayStation®4的玩家提供了独占内容和预购惊喜。在此，我们诚挚地邀请玩家们作为“旅行者”，来感受、发现这个美丽的奇幻世界！
Yet more features are in the development pipeline, such as an HDR display more suited to *Genshin Impact*'s rendering style. A soon-to-come version will also greatly enhance the rendering of characters, and the scenery will also be improved. We are very proud to have invested *Genshin Impact* with many ideas. *Genshin Impact* will come to the PlayStation®4 on September 28, and will support 13 different languages. We have also prepared unique content and pre-registration rewards for PlayStation®4 players. We would like to invite all players to join us as "Travelers" — to experience and explore this lovely fantasy world!