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If there any excuse for a game not to look good at this point?

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MetroidJunkie
Posted 2/23/2013 8:35:11 PM

(edited)
From normal mapping and dynamic lighting to swapping out models for distance and geometry culling, it seems there's no shortage of graphics techniques to get around graphical limitations. I think now, more than ever, it's more on the developers to put in the effort than the hardware. Even on the Wii, there was a huge difference between some games, a gap big enough to think they were on different consoles.

http://okaythankyou.com/yeah/wp-content/uploads/81531500050_screenshot_02.jpg

http://resource.mmgn.com/Games/Wii/large/Super-Mario-Galaxy-9.jpg

While having lesser hardware will certainly make a difference with more advanced graphics techniques, that's still no excuse for a developer to just give up any hope of making a graphically appealing game. One of the most creative things a developer can do is work around limitations and I would argue some games were designed enough that they can still look good looking back on them.

http://xperiencedgaming.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/g-man.jpg

I guess what I'm saying is don't put so much stock on what the hardware is capable of because it's meaningless if the developer doesn't put in effort.
DanteSInferno84
Posted 2/23/2013 9:04:30 PM
I think a big issue here, is the same one that currently plagues alot of Hollywood movies. Tech has caught up just enough to give us the illusion that "Hey! Now its easy to bring our imaginations to life!" along with often a cheaper price tag than the old tricks. But it never seems to work out in the end.

For some reason in the past, working with less brought out more. Take Jaws for instance. If it were made today, it would of never had to have the issues with the shart robot failing and forcing the movie to feature the shark less and tense drama more. And you know what? It would of sucked with more shark (kinda like all the CGI monster flicks on SyFy). Same thing with the Alien movies. Old school rubber suit Aliens were far more convincing and scary than the CGI ones we have now.

I think the best example of a game taking what little we could do in the gaming past and made it work, is Silent Hill. The PS1 just simply could not handle showing the scope and size of the entire scape of Silent Hill... so what did they do? The infamous fog/mist. A great example of working with less but getting more. They took a handicap and made it a great environment attribute that was creepy.

I dunno, it just seems like developers aren't imagining big enough. That our ideas need to go beyond what a system of anykind (including PC) and then scale it into what can be done without really giving up much of anything at all. It'd be insanely tricky, but often when the real work is put in, you get something great.
MetroidJunkie
(Topic Creator)
Posted 2/23/2013 9:09:42 PM
DanteSInferno84 posted...


I think the best example of a game taking what little we could do in the gaming past and made it work, is Silent Hill. The PS1 just simply could not handle showing the scope and size of the entire scape of Silent Hill... so what did they do? The infamous fog/mist. A great example of working with less but getting more. They took a handicap and made it a great environment attribute that was creepy.

I dunno, it just seems like developers aren't imagining big enough. That our ideas need to go beyond what a system of anykind (including PC) and then scale it into what can be done without really giving up much of anything at all. It'd be insanely tricky, but often when the real work is put in, you get something great.


In other words, they're using technology as a handicap for not putting innovation into the works. Sadly, this is true.
DanteSInferno84
Posted 2/24/2013 6:45:09 PM
lol well... yeah that is a very condensed version of what I was saying lol
DifferentialEquation
Posted 2/24/2013 6:58:16 PM
MetroidJunkie posted...


In other words, they're using technology as a handicap for not putting innovation into the works. Sadly, this is true.


Yeah, look at Donkey Kong Country. That game looked better than a lot of early PS1 games.
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