Min Specs And Ratings

tim-cain production minimum-specs recommended-specs esrb ratings qa fallout stick-of-truth localization

Abstract

Problem: How do games determine their minimum system requirements and content ratings — who's responsible, when does it happen, and how does the process work?

Approach: Tim Cain draws on his experience shipping games from Fallout through South Park: The Stick of Truth to explain both the min spec pipeline and the ratings submission process across regions.

Findings: Min specs are a collaborative loop between publishers, programmers, QA, and producers — not a one-time decision. Ratings vary wildly by country and require either universal self-censorship or per-region content swaps.

Key insight: Min specs and ratings are "fish swimming in water" problems — invisible to developers because they're always present, but they require active, ongoing management throughout development rather than a single pass at the end.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN-mq4xh55A

The Min Spec Loop

Minimum specifications aren't decided by one person or department. They follow a continuous loop:

  1. Publishers set an initial target based on market data — they don't want specs so high that customers need new hardware
  2. Programmers estimate what the game will need and track resource usage during development
  3. QA tests on min-spec machines, reporting frame rates and visual acceptability
  4. Producers monitor the whole loop, keeping everyone aligned

A good QA lead will request the min spec target around halfway through development, set up a minimum-spec machine, and have testers play on it roughly once a week. They report whether the game is playable with graphics settings turned down (lighting, anti-aliasing, shadows off) and whether it still looks acceptable.

The Fallout Resolution War

Tim shares a specific min spec story from Fallout's development. The game was built for Super VGA (640×480, 256 colors) using VESA drivers. Marketing briefly pushed to support standard VGA, which meant either:

  • 320×200 at 256 colors — too low-res, text became unreadable
  • 640×480 at 16 colors — looked terrible even to Tim (who is color blind)

What saved the situation was Diablo. Tim pointed out that Diablo had already shipped as Super VGA at 640×480, 256 colors. Marketing accepted this precedent and never raised the issue again. As Tim puts it: "This time Diablo saved me."

Alongside minimum specs, teams maintain recommended specs. The distinction:

  • Minimum specs: the floor — the game runs, but with reduced settings and no guarantees of a great experience
  • Recommended specs: the target experience — great frame rate with all visual and audio options enabled

Recommended specs go through the same publisher-programmer-QA-producer loop.

Modern Engines Changed Things

Tim notes that modern game engines have simplified the min spec question. The engine itself has a minimum spec, and if you're not doing anything too extreme, your game's min spec is essentially the engine's min spec. This wasn't the case in the 90s when teams built their own technology.

Ratings: A Regional Maze

Content ratings are handled by different boards in different regions:

  • ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) — United States
  • PEGI (Pan European Game Information) — Europe
  • ACB (Australian Classification Board) — Australia

Each board has different standards for what's acceptable. Nudity, blood, gore, language, drugs, and even cigarettes are treated differently across regions. This creates a choice:

  • Universal censorship: remove anything the strictest country won't allow
  • Per-region content swaps: create alternative assets and swap them based on locale

Content swaps can include alternative character models, blacked-out cinematics, replacement audio, or text filters that replace prohibited words with symbols.

Stick of Truth: A Case Study in Regional Censorship

South Park: The Stick of Truth had approximately seven scenes censored in Europe and Australia (including the anal probe and abortion scenes). The North American version was uncensored, while other regions got blacked-out screens with humorous replacement images — in Australia, a crying koala.

The Ratings Submission Process

At some point during development, producers fill out forms for each rating board and submit a working build of the game. The board reviews it and either confirms or challenges the requested rating, explaining their reasoning. Teams can adjust content and resubmit. Experienced teams rarely get surprised because the boards publish their criteria openly.

Self-Censorship vs. Getting Censored

Tim's personal approach: don't self-censor early in development. Let the game tell you what it needs. Fallout needed drugs and mature themes. Arcanum and Temple of Elemental Evil didn't need as much. The decision of whether to self-censor early or get censored later is ultimately up to the team and the game being made.

References