DLSS 5 isn't the first time videogame graphics looked like total balls

People often picture videogame graphics as a steady line of progress, but the field has produced many sideways experiments. Our latest graphical 'upgrade' is Nvidia's yassification tech, DLSS 5. One notable detour in the early '90s came from Andrew Spencer Studio, which rejected triangles in favour of ellipsoids — spheres, ovals and balls — to build characters.

Spencer, a UK programmer who founded Andrew Spencer Studio after working in Britsoft, spent five years making the fantasy survival horror Ecstatica. Its bespoke engine modelled people from ellipsoids to achieve more 'organic looking' characters. As Spencer put it, 'Triangles tend to make hard, robotic-looking figures, whereas ellipsoids can be used to create more rounded, human alternatives.

UK

dlss 5, nvidia, yassification, ellipsoids, ecstatica, andrew spencer, britsoft, survival horror, triangles, bespoke engine