PCGH: What are the advantages of DX10.1 in comparison to DX10 as far as render quality and performance is concerned? Will there be technical features that can only be realized with DX10.1?

Artem Kulakov: We integrated DX10.1 features to give extra performance benefits for players that have compatible hardware:

- DX10.1 adds a new instruction called Gather, which can gather 4 texture samples at once, at a much lower cost than issuing 4 separate Sample instructions. Consequently we are able to optimize our shadow map technique, and even shoot for higher quality.
- The Gather instruction will also allow us to optimize our Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) algorithm - again producing a higher image quality.

PCGH: During a presentation we were told that except of possible higher resolutions the visuals of the PC and console version are the same. Is that true? If no, will there be at least visual differences between the Console and PC Version with DX10.1?

Artem Kulakov: The core graphics features of Stormrise are support equally well on all platforms. Extra performance of DX10 hardware allowed us to improve rendering quality. For example, PC version of Stormrise supports soft shadows, Screen Space Ambient Occlusion and higher quality post-processing.

PCGH: As far as the PC Version of Stormrise is concerned, will the DX 10 visualization differ substantially from the graphics that are rendered with DX 9 hardware or will DX10, in case of Stormrise DX10.1, just speed up the rendering process?

Artem Kulakov: Stormrise is a DX10-only title. DX10.1 integration provided some additional benefits, see the answer to question 3.