The Great Graphics Race
- Thread starter themyrmidon
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There always needs to be advancement. As new technology comes out, current tech becomes cheaper, so the market will always balance, to those who complain about price.
But I'm not as interested in photo-realism as I am in stylistic graphics. We're getting closer and closer to the uncanny valley, but that doesn't mean a game will be more interesting because of it. If a games main draw is it's incredible graphcis, it will be obsolete soon, not just for graphical purpose, but also in discussion. Crysis set the bar for graphics, but the gameplay wasn't all there, and as graphics around the business improve, Crysis becomes less and less relevant to discussion. Okami, on the other hand, will always be relevant because of it's style.
As to parallel processing, I'd love to see things like the (sadly) cancelled Larrabee project come to reality, where GPUs have some more flexibility of purpose, so we can run higher and higher levels of internal systems through the GPU, and be less reliant on the CPU. Already Havok and Euphoria are in play, but lets throw Digital Molecular Mapping on top, and just keep adding more and more to make more complete experiences.
But I'm not as interested in photo-realism as I am in stylistic graphics. We're getting closer and closer to the uncanny valley, but that doesn't mean a game will be more interesting because of it. If a games main draw is it's incredible graphcis, it will be obsolete soon, not just for graphical purpose, but also in discussion. Crysis set the bar for graphics, but the gameplay wasn't all there, and as graphics around the business improve, Crysis becomes less and less relevant to discussion. Okami, on the other hand, will always be relevant because of it's style.
As to parallel processing, I'd love to see things like the (sadly) cancelled Larrabee project come to reality, where GPUs have some more flexibility of purpose, so we can run higher and higher levels of internal systems through the GPU, and be less reliant on the CPU. Already Havok and Euphoria are in play, but lets throw Digital Molecular Mapping on top, and just keep adding more and more to make more complete experiences.
Personally, I wouldn't even consider PS2-era graphics as being particularly bad. Sure, the graphics of now are a lot nicer to look at and all but I wouldn't be bothered if there weren't any improvements from that time. I don't get the whole idea about continuously pushing the graphical envelope when other aspects of videogame design are far more interesting. I definitely don't think graphical capabilities need to be improved any more than they have been up until now, at the very least.
That's not to say that worlds couldn't be more detailed or interactive. Let's focus on improving physics engines and the like for a while.
That's not to say that worlds couldn't be more detailed or interactive. Let's focus on improving physics engines and the like for a while.
Yeah, but then they have to keep pouring money into graphics rather than gameplay or writing or whatever just for minor enhancements.themyrmidon said:
And further improvements in graphics (at least for me) will be so small that I likely won't even notice it, meaning it's not worth the resources. Graphic improvements have been a big thing for two decades, let's focus on other things before we go down that road again.
We need improvements in AI most. I can't tell much of a difference between AI ten years ago and AI now.
We need improvements in AI most. I can't tell much of a difference between AI ten years ago and AI now.
sorry, graphics are pretty low for me honestly.
however, if i had to point to a "line" where anything beyond that is just silly, i would say crysis 1 graphics, if you are able to make your games look like that consistently, such as in an rpg or a full action game or an rts, well, you can color me interested.
however, if i had to point to a "line" where anything beyond that is just silly, i would say crysis 1 graphics, if you are able to make your games look like that consistently, such as in an rpg or a full action game or an rts, well, you can color me interested.
Once again you have roughly stated what I was going to say. I'd rather have sub-par graphics with more focus on the things that make a game fun.Irridium said:
No, but you're wrong to think this is more important to focus on than nearly every other aspect of game design.themyrmidon said:
I want graphics to plateau for a while until the process of making them becomes cheaper, easier and faster. Too much of the development budget of AAA titles is being spent on the graphics, and too little into good writing, innovative gameplay and level design. Sure, 3D artists need their cash and enough people care about graphics to make pretty screenshots sell, but the genre as a whole suffers. Stick at this level, BF3 looks sweet, the Cry engine looks sweet; go with it, get freaking good at it, get to the point where it's easy to have high-poly models, rather than it being an issue detracting from the rest of the game.
Of course, game engines powerful enough to render worlds built from the atomic scale up, simulating everything from first principles, would be cool too, but lets get the costs down first, k?
Of course, game engines powerful enough to render worlds built from the atomic scale up, simulating everything from first principles, would be cool too, but lets get the costs down first, k?