Hello other card sharks! I’m Phil Gaskell, Creative Director of Poker Club, the Texas Hold’em simulation that launches today on PS5 and PS4. At Ripstone, we’ve been bringing the most beloved hobbies, including poker, billiards and chess, to PlayStation platforms for almost a decade. So for me and our small team, working with awesome PS5 hardware is a dream because it allows us to make simulations more immersive, transparent and social, taking full advantage of the super-fast SSD and DualSense controller.
The PS5 allows us to provide what we call “true immersion” in our games by enhancing all of your senses while gaming.
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PS5 has enabled a small team like ours to create a visual experience that would never have been possible before. We’re taking advantage of the powerful hardware to raise the fidelity level to 11 in all of our worlds, making them look the most beautiful and realistic possible, with realistic highlights and shadows, while maintaining smooth 60fps and 4K. resolution.
I am proud of what our team of three artists was able to achieve with the environments and the lighting; shadows and reflections in particular. The brightly lit Poker Club casinos have an amazing feel of scale and openness, and if you play on a freshly polished reel table, your cards will show reflections on the surface with brilliant clarity.
It’s amazing that you can layer tiny details that we’ve never had the power to create before. So when you play from the first person perspective, you might see the grainy imperfections of the fast-paced table cloth, or the oily fingerprints disappear from the playing cards when the croupier places them in front of you. This level of detail is unprecedented and everything comes together to reinforce the feeling of actually being there, present at the table, with the cards in your hands as you play.
To touch
The controller has always been one of the most important parts of simulation gaming and what the DualSense controller brings to the table is truly breathtaking.
For me, the DualSense is the most exciting part of the PS5 platform, as I love the subtle and additional layers of commentary I can provide the player with about the world and the action unfolding around them. It is the connection you feel with the world you are immersed in, and it should stay out of your way as you deepen your connection with what is happening on the screen. I had a lot of fun discovering what is possible and where the best places are to enrich the gameplay, without overdoing it or overloading the player’s senses.
Adaptive triggers allow us to provide degrees of tension for the player. In Poker Club, we can use it when you press the trigger to fold the cards and preview the hand that has been dealt to you, to give you the realistic feel of your tough cards at the game table. The degree subtlety when we do this is important because if it resists too much it would seem gimmicky, but doing it right transcends the experience to truly increase your immersion. It’s a delicate balancing act.
Designing for haptic feedback is also extremely exciting. The way the DualSense embraces this technology is so advanced that we can reproduce very special sensations. We are able to play with the feel of the weight of the chips when you place them on the table, and when you push them across the speed mat when you make a big bet.
Even poker chip spins can also have a tangible and satisfying feel – rolling the chips over your knuckles or shuffling a stack of chips will be properly represented in your hands thanks to the power of directional feedback and vibration from the DualSense controller. Even the smallest details can be transmitted through the controller, like your player’s palpable heartbeat as you think about making your big move as time flies.
Sound
3D audio is a really cool technology that we’ve been working with for a long time. However, with PlayStation 5 we can now use it in many other ways, which can dramatically improve your sense of presence in a game, especially in a simulation.
The amount of depth and layers required to implement the technology is, quite frankly, ridiculous – in all the best ways! With our first-person game camera, we use 3D audio to accurately simulate the sounds around you based on your head position – creating a truly immersive hearing experience. The heavy clinking of poker chips, the sounds of skins and cards rubbing against the tables, the background music played on the hall’s wall speakers and many other subtle but distinct sounds all work in concert around you to place yourself in the world and give each place a unique atmosphere so you can get lost in the action.
True immersion
We can take these three senses to new places on PS5, to provide a much deeper and more believable sense of immersion and presence in our simulation games, and all of this is further enhanced by the super-fast loading that brings the SSD.
Our dream has been to create a true generational experience using all the latest technology to allow players to live the life of a poker pro and connect with other players around the world who love the game. secret back room games in dark clubs, whether you soak up the high stakes excitement of a glamorous casino or take part in a professional poker tournament for up to 228 players, Poker Club on PS5 will mimic that experience with the level of true immersion we’ve always wanted to achieve.
After the launch of Poker Club, we will continue to add and improve our support for PlayStation 5 features. We love to raise the bar with every game we create and are excited about our future on PS5. Thanks to everyone who has bet on us and our games in the past, we really hope you enjoy a night or two of poker at the Poker Club..
Poker Club is now available on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 as part of a cross buy pack for $ 24.99 (£ 19.99 / $ 24.99). We will continue to add and improve feature support for PlayStation 5 after the launch of Poker Club and you can stay up to date with the latest news at pokerclubgame.com.
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