jdreyer wrote on Sep 18, 2014, 20:21:
@ Sho.
1. I think it looks about as good as NWN2. Definitely better than 90s level BG or PS:T.
2. Although I'm not seeing everything that you are, I'm wondering what you're expecting for $4M?
3. What's a game that does this better? Diablo 3?
1. I actually think it looks worse than PS:T. This is a
graphics vs. aesthetics thing. Of course TTON has more modern graphics, and because of the greater computational resources available now and the general advance in rendering tech, it gets a lot of nice things "for free" that PS:T couldn't do. There are some other improvements that are the result of a combination of advances in craft, tech and tooling - e.g. PS:T had to resort to tiled materials a lot more (especially on the floor layers). But the overall aesthetics are noticably worse right now, I think. Check out random PS:T screenshots, and notice how those scenes tend to feel richer and deeper because there's more contrast/layering between floors and walls, furniture and characters. There's also some really bad environment modelling in the TTON vid; the divding wall in the video still is a good example, doesn't feel organic or fit the concept of the location at all, that very polygonal opening looks awkward, and so on. I feel like PS:T did better on this stuff within the fidelity envelope possible at the time ...
I normally wouldn't be this concerned, but Wasteland 2 never came together visually so I'm not-so-sure anymore about "they'll work it out".
2. For $4M I'm expecting a lack of issues that can be addressed by hiring well and planning ahead, I guess. No, it's not easy, and it's the nature of the game that many projects never get so lucky. FWIW, note that they imported technology from Pillars of Eternity ... I'm sure Obsidian got some money for that, but I'm also sure that was effectively a cost-saving opportunity for inXile which makes their budget looks a little better.
3. Harebrained managed to pull off excellent graphics at a similar budget with Shadowrun Returns. I think there's a few reasons for that. The SSR level design system enforces much tighter constraints on the shape assets can take and how they can be put together - it's a fairly rigid tiles-and-decals system. That means there's less flexibility in putting environments together, but it also creates a clear set of parameters within which their artists could let loose and churn out high-quality stuff. They also did really, really well on visual consistency across all the assets - density, rendition style, coloration and so on. They figured out what they could afford and executed extremely well.
You can make an argument that having more ambitious locations like The Bloom is still a good thing even if you "fail" at them and require the gamer to make it look better in their heads, of course. And again: If the writing is at the level of PS:T, and they manage to pull off their gameplay ideas (which sound absolutely fantastic on paper), I'll love playing this even if nothing improves over this video. A story-driven RPG with infrequent but meaningful combat in an conceptually interesting setting? Hells yes. I'd still back this today.
This comment was edited on Sep 18, 2014, 21:13.