When graphics stop getting better

[Blaster395]

The year is 2025, and the Graphics and Capabilities of games are no longer able to improve, because its already photo-realistic down to the microscopic level, has models with BILLIONS of polygons, and has physics so good that a bullet striking a piece of cloth rips a hole in the cloth, deforms the bullet slightly, and causes its trajectory to alter a tiny bit.

What happens to games from that point on?

Lets also assume that there are enough automated tools to make producing such high quality games take as much effort as they currently do.

 

[Disaster Button]

We upgrade real life's graphics and then aspire to those.

 

[Palademon]

We start making games with crap graphics to look "retro".

 

[Mosesj]

to make games longer than fifteen minutes

I mean, at this rate, games will only be fifteen minutes in 2025

 

[KuwaSanjuro]

I think Nintendo have been the smartest out of all three companies because even their SNES games still hold up because they are not trying to be photo-realistic they're creating a much more animated style. That's the reason why I think you can go back to the N64 and SNES but its difficult to go back to the PS1. So I think if Nintendo continues as they are they'll still be around and most likely Sony and Microsoft would have followed suit.

 

[Blaster395]

Lets also assume that there are enough automated tools to make producing such high quality games take as much effort as they currently do.

 

[Paksenarrion]

Minecraft.

Obligatory extraneous content to avoid low content report:

The Adventures of Tolstoy and Reagan, as told by Sir Patrick Stewart.

 

[Sleekgiant]

We stop worrying about graphics and focus on gameplay and story.

 

[Phlakes]

People start using different art styles.

 

[Squilookle]

The year is 2025, and the Graphics and Capabilities of games are no longer able to improve, because its already photo-realistic down to the microscopic level, has models with BILLIONS of polygons, and has physics so good that a bullet striking a piece of cloth rips a hole in the cloth, deforms the bullet slightly, and causes its trajectory to alter a tiny bit.

What happens to games from that point on?

Short answer: games start getting good again, as the focus returns to gameplay where it should always have been.

Singleplayer games start getting longer than 4 hours again. The intelligence AND number of enemies at any given time start to go up again. Servers return to 64 player capacity. Bots return and become standard. Games give the player options for everything. With no graphics to push, more effort is put into stories and characters, and good god- suddenly games are worth playing more than once, and even jumping in for 5 minutes can be fun because the gameplay is tailored so well.

Also with graphics all the way up the industry decides being more 'gritty' than the last game has run it's course and more fun>realism games start appearing.

Yep, someone wake me up in 2025. It's going to be a good year.

 

[omicron1]

I say, we're already there.

Sure, you still see companies pushing the graphics envelope every year - and you still see a ton of hype about the newest Call of Duty game's new face-rendering tech - but honestly, is there really even any way to tell the difference between CoD 4, MW2, WaW, and BO? They all look almost perfect. And they're running on five-year-old hardware. When the next generation rolls around, with the hardware from 2013's computers, and developers start using it... where do they have to go?

We're here. This is it. Graphics has reached its effective zenith, the point of ineffective diminishing returns. We're seeing the results already, as the best graphics slow their advance (even on PC!) and the rest of the world catches up - as indie games and third-party experiences gain in popularity. In the next generation, there will be no need to spend time and effort on optimization, and the technology companies can turn their attention to procedural generation of content and start decreasing game development budgets. Before long, games will be released not as graphical demos with multiplayer attached, but as full-featured worlds with the graphics taken for granted.

...or at least, that is my fond and avid dream. Make it happen, people!

 

[linkvegeta]

I believe that by nex gen they should be at the top, actually i would be completely fine if they stopped at what they have, if games get too realistic i might as well go outside.

 

[tikalal]

I don't think there will be a perceptible difference. Nobody will care. It's not as if we'll all stop being interested in games because the graphics aren't constantly improving.

Edit: If I had to say that something would HAPPEN... I guess developers will get better at implementing current-level graphics. This means that instead of better graphics, we'll get more consistent quality of graphics. I think game development might take less money and time, leaving more room for voice talent, better writing, and better gameplay.

 

[Danceofmasks]

Texture quality and such don't make graphics good.
NO FRAMERATE DROPS make graphics good.

Seriously .. games like Crackdown 2 have worse graphics than something from 1985, 'cos trying to render 1000 zombies in 4 FPS is unplayable.

 

[Blaster395]

I say, we're already there.

Sure, you still see companies pushing the graphics envelope every year - and you still see a ton of hype about the newest Call of Duty game's new face-rendering tech - but honestly, is there really even any way to tell the difference between CoD 4, MW2, WaW, and BO? They all look almost perfect. And they're running on five-year-old hardware. When the next generation rolls around, with the hardware from 2013's computers, and developers start using it... where do they have to go?

We're here. This is it. Graphics has reached its effective zenith, the point of ineffective diminishing returns. We're seeing the results already, as the best graphics slow their advance (even on PC!) and the rest of the world catches up - as indie games and third-party experiences gain in popularity. In the next generation, there will be no need to spend time and effort on optimization, and the technology companies can turn their attention to procedural generation of content and start decreasing game development budgets. Before long, games will be released not as graphical demos with multiplayer attached, but as full-featured worlds with the graphics taken for granted.

...or at least, that is my fond and avid dream. Make it happen, people!

Considering I can still see individual polygons in most of the models, and they still have not got past the "everything is shiny" thing yet, I think they still have a while to go.

 

[IamSofaKingRaw]

Call of Duty would be scary because shit will get too real.

 

[Danceofmasks]

Call of Duty would be scary because shit will get too real.

Only if you get a jack to the base of your skull so they can influence the sense of touch.

 

[aqrocks]

The government steps in and bans sales of all games because people can't tell the difference between games and real life anymore?