Re: Crysis Versus Reality

On Fri, 16 Mar 2007 13:12:46 -0400, Brian Siano
<siano@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Mark Morrison wrote:


But we do agree that using the time-to-play time as a yardstick for what
_development_ time should be is silly.

It depends - if the end result is great, it's was time well spent. If
it was crap - what the hell were they doing all that time ? :)

Personally, I'd be happy with a slower (graphical) development curve -
I'd happily play a few games in a series with the same graphics
engine, as long as the games themselves were good. Get 2 or 3 games
out, then develop/switch to a new engine.

And now as well as the race for the best purely visual graphics
engine, we have the pursuit of realistic lighting (bloom, HDR) and
realistic physics.

I definitely agree, with some minor quibbles. I agree that HDR and bloom
isn't a really necessary aspect to gameplay-- why simulate visual
problems I'd have anyway? (It'd be like simulating lens flare: sure,
it'd look like a _movie_, but not like what I'd see if I were "there.")
I'd much rather see enhancements that affect actual gameplay, like large
areas, foliage, dynamic water, etc.

Me too, actually - I'd love to see a game that features truly
destructable walls, roofs that fall in, etc. Some games have had
elements of this, but they've tended to work only in scripted
circumstances.

I want a Modern version of things you could do in the old Xcom games,
like blowing a hole in the wall using armour pearcing bullets, and
entering the gap to flank the enemy. Or blowing a hole in the floor
and dropping a grenade through the gap...

Hell, I just want X-Com back :(

But this brings up another point to raise about development time: the
mods that players come up with. While we're waiting for Valve to finish
Episode One, there are mods out there we can play in the meantime. They
haven't spent a lot of time on enhancing trivial graphics featurs, and
some of them are really excellent. So maybe we can decide to let the
game companies enhance their engines, but enjoy (or make) mods in the
meantime.

I am a big mod fan, and love it when games ship with development
tools, as it often means you will, as you say, have more to play while
you're waiting for the sequel. Some of the HL2 solo mods have been
fantastic fun, and apparently Oblivion has some new, large, mods
starting to appear.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Crysis Versus Reality
    ... the pursuit of graphics has ... I'd happily play a few games in a series with the same graphics ... engine, as long as the games themselves were good. ... mods that players come up with. ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action)
  • Re: Crysis Versus Reality
    ... the pursuit of graphics has ... I'd happily play a few games in a series with the same graphics ... engine, as long as the games themselves were good. ... While we're waiting for Valve to finish Episode One, there are mods out there we can play in the meantime. ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action)
  • Re: Rarest consoles and/or home computers?
    ... (the final PC Engine 2 SuperGrafx was 8-bit, ... with only somewhat better graphics) but there was also word ... of a 16-bit Namco home videogame console, ... upgraded graphics capability and compatibility with games of original ...
    (rec.games.video.classic)
  • Re: Crysis Versus Reality
    ... the pursuit of graphics has ... There are exceptions - The Half-Life games, ... engine, as long as the games themselves were good. ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action)
  • Re: NASCAR on RFactor is a joke
    ... I know what you are saying, and it's not so much the mods fault as it is ISI's. ... There just seem to be fundamental problems that no one is fixing, and that no one is thinking about that makes online racing 10 times harder than online games of other genres. ... In RFactor you just have to remember every version of every track you have installed. ... Then I get on the track and I dont know what place I'm in, how I'm doing, how much time is left, who else is racing, it just feels so vague. ...
    (rec.autos.simulators)