Latest Once Human Dev Talk Blog Delves Into Lighting System

Once Human continues its post-launch work on game improvements, and the latest they’re ready to unveil is in the lighting systems, including some upcoming changes. 

The primary focus is on the game’s global illumination system, which defines how open-world areas, primarily in the wilderness, are lit up, mixing dynamic and static lighting. Their “vivid global illumination” system calculates position and other factors in real time to give realistic lighting, including when constructing estates.

An upcoming accomplishment for the team is bringing that global illumination data for the 24-hour day-to-night cycle down from 45 GB to 800 MB for the upcoming April 24 Once Human update to help deliver “maximum fidelity in a lightweight package.” Plus, the team is bringing back realistic light-bouncing, which they explain as often unutilized in the games industry due to performance constraints. 

There’ll also be fixes for light leaks, such as sunlight getting into a closed basement, using a machine learning algorithm to identify, label, and correct these areas. 

To see all the nitty-gritty detail, check out the full Dev Talk blog. Recently, the Once Human devs have also talked about major changes incoming, including merging together its biggest PvE maps.