The Witness developer Thekla Inc. is aiming for the open-world puzzle game to run at 60 frames per second in 1080p on PlayStation 4, studio head Jonathan Blow on the PlayStation Blog today.
"At launch on PS4, we're planning to render at 1080p and 60 frames per second," said Blow, adding that while The Witness hits those marks in many areas, it's going to take some more work to get the whole game up to par. Even though The Witness is a peaceful-looking first-person exploration game, there are no loading screens as players move around the game world; new areas are streamed in on the fly. Even elements in the distance are streamed at high detail, since the developers want to avoid pop-in.
According to Blow, most of the island on which The Witness takes place is fully modeled right now, but some areas need some more detail work. And with design of the main game now complete, the developers are working on filling out side content. On the audio side, Blow noted that more than 40 percent of The Witness' data consists of sound, which is a vital component of the game because the experience is "so much about a sense of place."
There's still no concrete release date for The Witness aside from "when it's done." The game is scheduled to debut simultaneously in mid-2014 on PS4 and Windows PC, and will be released on iOS afterward. For more on The Witness, check out our write-up of Thekla Inc.'s GDC 2014 talk on the game's art, as well as our interview with Blow from mid-November.