Id Software previously promised that Doom Eternal will feature ray tracing technology and most of us assumed that the feature will be included at launch. However, in a recent interview with Digital Foundry, Doom Eternal's executive producer Marty Stratton revealed that ray tracing for the anticipated hellish shooter is in the works, but will get support sometime in the future.
"So we actually haven’t talked about that at all. And we, quite frankly, haven’t spent a ton of time. The team basically did some initial implementation and exploration about a year ago. But at that same time, we had so much that we wanted to do on the game still," Stratton said in the interview. “Our tech team, they are the biggest fans of new tech. So it was a little hard to pull everybody off of that because it was the shiny new toy, but when we’re talking about getting the game out there and getting it out as close to on time as possible and at the highest polished quality, we kind of had to pull back on that effort."
Stratton added that ray tracing is, however, something the tech team is just about ready to start looking at again. Apparently, the team has some interesting ideas beyond simply “reflections, shadows and real-time lighting”. These additional implementations won't only make the gaming experience fun, but should also help developers in implementing the tech with ease.
Considering how relatively new ray tracing is, it is understandable why developers require additional time in implementing the tech. Also, many recent titles that feature ray tracing suffer from performance issues and a game like Doom Eternal requires smooth performance for the best experience.
Personally, I don't mind if the developers take some time in perfecting their art, and given that it is Id Software, I am completely fine with their approach and hope for astonishing results. If you haven't checked out Doom Eternal's gameplay footage floating across YouTube, you might want to treat your eyes. The game looks absolutely phenomenal!
