Yes, shaders today are very important but we are about to build up a game not just a techdemo for Acknex. I dont think that game development is only shader implementation, it is even better to have a game looking good without shaders and then adding different shader technologies to make it alot better. The other way round could be a very impressive techdemo but not a game.

The sphere plugin is great, Matt your giving us shader technologies but also you are building up outdoor and indoor limitations, which are very bad for a game like this. If sphere will be able to handle that in a better way we would certainly use it in some ways.

I think shader technology is the best way to optimize the graphics of a game. "Lived" isn't done until now and always open for new features. As a game developer we also has to concentrate on a good gameplay and not just good graphics without any gameplay features that are really new.