Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Consoles are pretty heterogeneous IRL too, though. You have multiple SKUs (regular and Pro, for example), not to mention most games will also target multiple consoles (PlayStation + Xbox + Switch is a common combo).

So in reality the opportunities to really code against a specific piece of hardware are few and far between...

Heck, then you get into multiple operating modes of the same hardware - the Nintendo Switch has a different perf profile if it's docked vs. not.



This used to be less true at the time Carmack said it :>


The original Switch was launched in 2016 that's plenty of time with a stable platform. The multiple operating modes in practice can be approached by coding against un-docked ( handheld) and then adding bonus quality for docked.


This is exactly what I've been doing when optimizing games for the switch.


A handful of variants for consoles is not nearly as bad as the almost limitless variety on PC.




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: