Adrian
Courrèges

Graphics Studies Compilation

Rendering in games can be a complex topic, different approaches with their own tradeoffs are available, new techniques arise, others fall out of fashion… Studios using in-house engines need to make choices that will fit the type of game they’re aiming for.
It can be very interesting to know which decisions were actually made to ship the final product, what worked and what didn’t.

There are several resources available online detailing game post-mortems, whether it’s GDC / Siggraph talks or even content hosted by game studios themselves.
But not everything is available: public documentation requires time and effort, with little direct return-on-investment for the studio besides good PR among developers. And that’s when the company doesn’t simply prohibit employees from disclosing any information publicly.

Below is a collection of frame breakdowns I gathered online (including a few of mines), all written by volunteers and enthusiasts who decided to reverse-engineer some games and document their findings.

Game Release 
Game Title 
Link
Author 
Published 
2002/12/13
Zelda - Wind Waker (GC)  Analysis by Nathan Gordon 2016/11/06
2002/12/13
Zelda - Wind Waker (GC)  Analysis by Soenke Seidel 2012/08/23
2005/10/18
Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)  Analysis by Léna Piquet 2012/10/07
2007/02/16
Supreme Commander  Analysis by Adrian Courrèges 2015/06/23
2009/11/17
Assassin’s Creed II  Analysis by Léna Piquet 2015/12/05
2011/08/23
Deus Ex: Human Revolution  Analysis by Adrian Courrèges 2015/03/10
2011/10/18
Batman: Arkham City  Analysis by Léna Piquet 2012/09/21
2012/02/21
Syndicate (2012)  Analysis by Léna Piquet 2024/01/31
2013/09/17
GTA V  Analysis by Adrian Courrèges 2015/11/02
2014/02/25
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2  Analysis by Emilio López 2015/11/28
2014/09/30
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor  Analysis by Emilio López 2017/12/27
2014/10/06
Alien Isolation  Analysis by Gen Afanasev 2018/01/16
2015/05/18
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt  Analysis by Mateusz / Astralis 2017/09/07
2015/06/23
Batman: Arkham Knight  Analysis by Balázs Török 2020/04/03
2015/09/01
Metal Gear Solid V:
The Phantom Pain
 Analysis by Adrian Courrèges 2017/12/15
2015/11/10
Rise of the Tomb Raider  Analysis by Emilio López 2018/12/31
2015/12/16
Waves 2: Notorious  Analysis by David Maas 2022/09/21
2016/01/26
The Witness  Analysis by Thomas Poulet 2017/08/21
2016/05/13
DOOM 2016  Analysis by Adrian Courrèges 2016/09/09
2016/05/24
Overwatch  Analysis by Alain Galvan 2020/04/13
2016/12/06
Shadow Tactics:
Blades of the Shogun
 Analysis by Kosmonaut 2017/01/09
2017/08/01
Slime Rancher  Analysis by David Maas 2022/12/07
2018/06/12
Jurassic World Evolution  Analysis by Emilio López 2021/03/12
2018/08/01
Yakuza 0  Analysis by Silent 2019/02/24
2018/09/14
Shadow of the Tomb Raider  Analysis by Balázs Török 2019/04/19
2018/10/26
Red Dead Redemption 2  Analysis by Hüseyin 2020/06/19
2018/11/07
Ni No Kuni 2  Analysis by Thomas Poulet 2017/08/21
2019/01/25
Resident Evil 2 (Remake)  Analysis by Anton Schreiner 2019/08/01
2019/01/25
Resident Evil 2 (Remake)  Analysis by M. A. Moniem 2022/07/20
2019/02/15
Metro Exodus  Analysis by Balázs Török 2019/03/27
2019/02/15
Metro Exodus  Analysis by Anton Schreiner 2019/08/11
2019/04/23
Mortal Kombat 11  Analysis by Alain Galvan 2020/04/28
2019/05/14
A Plague Tale: Innocence  Analysis by Balázs Török 2019/06/16
2019/08/27
Control  Analysis by Alain Galvan 2021/11/06
2020/03/20
DOOM Eternal  Analysis by Simon Coenen 2020/08/30
2020/04/16
Minecraft RTX  Analysis by Alain Galvan 2020/05/19
2020/07/14
Death Stranding  Analysis by M. A. Moniem 2022/11/30
2020/09/25
Mafia: Definitive Edition  Analysis by Emilio López 2021/08/23
2020/12/10
Cyberpunk 2077  Analysis by Hang Zhang 2020/12/12
2020/12/10
Cyberpunk 2077  Analysis by Angelo Pesce 2020/12/17
2021/05/21
Knockout City  Analysis by Ashley Taylor 2023/12/15
2022/01/14
God of War (PC)  Analysis by M. A. Moniem 2022/01/18
2022/02/22
Elden Ring  Analysis by M. A. Moniem 2022/05/25
2022/04/21
Teardown  Analysis by Steven Wittens 2023/01/24
2022/04/21
Teardown  Analysis by Jake Ryan 2023/02/20
2023/06/05
Diablo IV  Analysis by M. A. Moniem 2023/06/28

I’ll try to maintain the list updated so if I’m missing something don’t hesitate to reach out.

Keep in mind most of this is the fruit of reverse-engineering and some amount of guess-work can be involved.
For those looking for the ground-truth and more explanation, you can hear it straight from the horse’s mouth:
studios research division (Activision, EA, Ready At Dawn…), Siggraph’s Advances in Real-Time Rendering or GDC Vault talks.

I also recommend Simon Trümpler’s website which presents technical breakdowns of some graphical effects implemented in commercial games.

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