Kizzume on Renoise boards wrote this.. and it took my attention I think we've almost reached a saturation point in graphics. When you look, even in movies you can still see things that just don't look real, mainly because they're still using a simple bitmap overlay on top of a vector-based item, being able to add more shininess to it, even a second or third luma layer can be added to look textured when close, but it's still bitmap overlays on top of a vector/raytraced-based graphic to make the texture of something. The amount that goes into making each vector-based item/person/thing becomes more each time, every year. Then there's lens properties and the imperfections of lenses that never gets emulated. It's always a impossibly perfect lens, and usually things that are close and things that are far are always in focus, unlike a real camera in real life. That's even a giveaway of something being computer animated in a movie--the focus points between the real things and the computer generated things don't quite match up--the computer part always looks either clearer or blurrier. I bet as soon as they get that down for moviemaking, it will start to be applied in games as well and will become a part of all new graphics engines. Did anyone ever see "The Gate to the Mind's Eye"? It was a compilation of several animators, most of them somewhat clipped together but some were fully intact, with Thomas Dolby doing the soundtrack. There was one in the last 1/4 of it (I had the laserdisc of it) that consisted mostly of animations of space stations (ones that create gravity through rotation), giant rotating space greenhouses, and a number of other things--graphics that could be done easily in a game now. The more time goes on the more it becomes apparant that the reason why nothing seems impressive is because we're actually doing the same things with graphics, over and over again. Yeay, we can do it just a little bit better every year.. but it's still doing the same thing with them. In the 80's, video games were new, and some really abstract game concepts were being put out left and right. (some of the best music was on a C64 simply because they had all these physical limits and they wanted to push those limits as much as they could) Well in gaming, people have lost that desire to make something new because they have no reason to push the limits except in "realism". People have gotten George Lucas syndrome! They'll say things like, "If we had the technology we have now back in the 80's, we would have made much better games. They were so archaic." instead of looking at them for some of the strange quirky abstract elements that they had. People don't do that sort of thing with games anymore. Most games used to be based on "Hey, we found this cool-looking thingy when we do THIS in assembler. I wonder if we can make it do this. Cool. Hey, what if we do THIS. Hey, we could probably make a game from that, wouldn't it be cool, we could..etc.etc....." Now it's all "been there, done that." But we haven't been there, we haven't done that. There are many ways we can use the limitations of gaming engines to make a game from. There are many things we can do with the graphics engines we already have that could seem like something completely different. Why aren't games messing with alternate gravity fields? Alternate surfaces and alternate densities of air/water/gasses/materials? Games where you're trying to do something before serious warpage occurrs. Physics that are not possible in this reality. More games that feature places that are bigger on the inside than the outside, and even might lead you back to the place where you entered the place that was bigger than it was on the outside (like the game Foresaken)--figuring out 3d mazes that have a lot of that type of phenomenon going on. There are just so many things we could be doing with the graphics engines we have. It makes me want to learn programming so much--I have so many ideas for game concepts that would probably blow people's minds, and most aren't even violent, though some of course are. I guess I'm complaining about the gaming industry the way I complain about the music industry--but I guess what I complain about has happened with ALL of the entertainment industry, games, music, movies, even live theater. There has to be an explosion coming soon--an explosion of ideas from all around. I think it's people feeling less and less able to be expressive, and it's showing in everything we're doing. I don't know, maybe it's something different entirely, but something has to be causing it--it's like a blockage, and when something dislodges the scenario it's going to be messy free-flying creation everywhere. My opinion is pretty close to his.. and I was wondering what people here think about it... it probably depends of how old you are.. I don't think the younger one will think the same because they didn't know about the old video games..
I totally agree...I remember when the second matrix came out, everybody was having an orgasm about the scene where Neo fights a gazillion Agent Smiths. They had this whole bit on NPR or Good Morning America or whatever about how the scene was done all-CGI and they uploaded this texture and that texture and you could see threads on his jacket, and blah blah blah Then I saw the movie, and all the buildup got demolished in one fell swoop. Neo's face looked airbrushed. Sure the physics were accurate (flying bodies I mean, not flying Neos), but the elbow looked retarded. It was too rounded. They spent so much time "saturating" us with the textures and the fight, but they overlooked something as basic as the bend of a person's arm. This relates back to the emphasis on realism and concentrated efforts on improving graphics, but not being able to emulate a video camera. As for originality, I also agree with you both totally. The video game industry is in danger of going down the toilet. I mean, how many WW2 shooters can you make (I'll play every one that is made because I love them, but that's besides the point) How many NFL, MLB, NHL, etc etc games can you make? What is new in this incredibly hackneyed world of rehashes and thoughtless regurgitation of older material? However, hope is not yet lost. Some games are working against this trend in the video game industry. God of War 1, 2, and hopefully 3 are spectacularly original and breathtaking. Problem solving, fighting, and a multitude of abilities and awesomeness. I also think that that Japanese game where you roll crap around into a giant ball is really original and intriguing. Not necessarily how I would spend my Saturday afternoon, but kudos to the makers for thinking of something so out there *phew*
yeah.. it affects the movies too.. in fact.. it's always the same in every form of art (yeah VG can be a form of art) There are certain time where some kind of art are better than other. Right now, I would say the music is the most prolefic (sp) art. and the less prolefics are probably painting and plays.. and stuff like this.. because the technology isnt helping these.. but.. who knows.. maybe in 10 years it's to be different.. I would like to see a pro talking about this.. saying which period was the best for every form of art.. we (here on this board) could probably all discuss about the VG part of it.. but.. it's harder when it comes to painting.. or w/e I really like what happened in painting between 1880 and 1950 about cinema.. I like 1970-1995 and 1930-40.. (citizen kane, the great dictator.. 12 angry men.. etc)
Well one thing for sure is while we live in such a competitive environment, things can’t get worse. graphics coming to an end? That will never happen until you can simulate an environment which is 100% impossible to distinguish from reality itself, which we are all still far from. And that just graphics! Creativity will never die! It's impossible to measure advancements anyway since everything is in context. But we do no that it will advance, which even that guy quoted "Yeay, we can do it just a little bit better every year". Of course things will become more numb and less exciting, and less options/paths will be available to pick! But that same thing applies to nearly anything in life! Just a process of getting older and your mind becoming less willing/too tired to adapt to changes once again. You just have to look on the bright side! And be optimistic that "well it could be MUCH worse". Have you seen the game 'portal'? I think that game is INGENIOUS!!!! or how about 'Crysis'? Graphics on that game is making-out to be quite some humongous leap from current ingame graphics of any FPS out there! I'd say these to examples are showing that the game industry is far from dying, it still has a long way to go with many more unexplored territories. It may get saturated someday, but hell I'm placing my bets on that happening sometime after our time! =P P.S: If you really want to' know, I'm 18 "" **Edit: Translated into English. Please use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation in the future.
