{"id":34896,"date":"2024-07-31T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=34896"},"modified":"2024-08-01T19:05:38","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T10:05:38","slug":"like-a-dragon-graphics-switch-to-the-dragon-engine-was-a-big-part-of-the-series-graphical-evolution-devs-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/like-a-dragon-graphics-switch-to-the-dragon-engine-was-a-big-part-of-the-series-graphical-evolution-devs-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Like a Dragon’s switch to the Dragon Engine was a big part of the series graphical evolution, devs say\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sega\u2019s Like a Dragon series gets more visually impressive and detailed with each entry. The latest title in the series, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth<\/strong>, not only breathed even more life and realism into its characters and Japanese locations but also headed abroad for the first time, taking the story to Hawaii. <\/a>One of the important changes that have helped make all the bustling nightlife areas, animated signs and vibrant sunsets possible, is the series\u2019 switch to the Dragon Engine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We recently sat down with Infinite Wealth\u2019s art director Nobuaki Mitake and lead designer Michihiko Hatoyama to find out more about how the introduction of the Dragon Engine allowed Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio to push the series further (check out the full interview<\/a>).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Like<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Dragon Engine is RGG Studio’s in-house proprietary game engine that has been used for every Like a Dragon game since Yakuza 6. The series\u2019 increasingly lifelike graphics are a result of the team\u2019s extensive research and accumulated skill, but they also say that the switch to the Dragon Engine made a big impact. <\/a>\u201cMany things evolved with that change.\u201d explains Mitake. \u201cFor example, we added animation to the street signs and made the electric decorations more realistic.\u201d At the same time, improvements in anti-aliasing reduced jaggedness (screen jitter) made Like a Dragon\u2019s locations look visually smoother. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the team used instancing to clone 3D models allowing them to add more people to the streets without using up too much processing power. This helped make the locations feel realistically busy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Like<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Aside from the Dragon Engine allowing the team to make the Like a Dragon series\u2019 locations more vibrant than in previous games, a lot of the impressive realism on show is thanks to the team\u2019s commitment to conducting extremely detailed research. For example, Hatoyama mentions being very particular about getting the lighting just right. Even if you make the perfect background \u201cit\u2019s all ruined if you have bad lighting!\u201d he states. Hatoyama describes going so far as to measure the lux of every streetlamp in Tokyo\u2019s nightlife area of Kabukicho to make sure that the in-game equivalent (Kamurocho) has just the right lighting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

RGG Studio\u2019s has also gone to great lengths to get other details correct- everything from Saeko Mukoda\u2019s skin to Ichiban Kasuga turning a doornob<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is available for the PC (Steam), PS4\/PS5 and Xbox One\/Xbox Series X|S    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The in-house Dragon Engine has been allowing RRG Studio developers to up the Like a Dragon series’ graphics and realism from Yakuza 6 onwards<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":34901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[258,17],"class_list":["post-34896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-like-a-dragon","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nLike a Dragon's switch to the Dragon Engine was a big part of the series graphical evolution, devs say\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The in-house Dragon Engine has been allowing RRG Studio developers to up the Like a Dragon series' graphics and realism from Yakuza 6 onwards\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/like-a-dragon-graphics-switch-to-the-dragon-engine-was-a-big-part-of-the-series-graphical-evolution-devs-say\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Like a Dragon's switch to the Dragon Engine was a big part of the series graphical evolution, devs say\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The in-house Dragon Engine has been allowing RRG Studio developers to up the Like a Dragon series' graphics and realism from Yakuza 6 onwards\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/like-a-dragon-graphics-switch-to-the-dragon-engine-was-a-big-part-of-the-series-graphical-evolution-devs-say\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-31T10:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-01T10:05:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/20240731-34896-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"503\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Verity Townsend\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Verity Townsend\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Like a Dragon's switch to the Dragon Engine was a big part of the series graphical evolution, devs say\u00a0 - 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