Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Epic Games shows jaw-dropping graphics for next-generation consoles

venturebeat.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 121 posts

Re: Epic Games shows jaw-dropping graphics for next-generation consoles

#91

Post by bonch »

Note that these aren't graphics from a next-gen console. It's just a tech demo of what Epic would like next-gen consoles to be able to support.

Personally, I think next-gen consoles are a ways off. Consumers aren't that interested in another console generation. Good visuals are already a solved problem with today's hardware, and people are exploring new, simpler types of gaming on the web and mobile devices.

Basically, the 90s obsession with pushing for better graphics is long gone. It's more about art style now.

Re: Epic Games shows jaw-dropping graphics for next-generation consoles

#92

Post by bonch »

Lost_BiomedE wrote: post #57
squidsoup wrote: post #34

As beautiful as this demo is, I think the push for realism has harmed the game industry more than it has move it forward. One of the few developers in recent memory that has managed to focus on both visual fidelity and gameplay is Bioware with the Mass Effect series; for the most part most developers aren't this successful and end up producing beautiful but lifeless, dull games. Also consider that producing art asset…

I think another great exception is the elder scrolls series by bethesda. Every time I see new physics engine, better AI, or better graphics, I think, 'What can Bethesda do with this?'

You think Besthesda is an exception? Oblivion was pretty crippled in features and gameplay compared to Morrowind and Daggerfall despite having physics and "realistic" faces. The AI was embarrassing. Bethesda is one of the main culprits in trading gameplay for graphics as well as latching onto "next-gen" marketing hype.

Re: Epic Games shows jaw-dropping graphics for next-generation consoles

#93

Post by Xarnon »

Qz wrote: post #47
w1ntermute wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well when did we first start hearing news about the PSes 1-3, relative to their release dates? The PS3 was announced on May 16, 2005 (wow, that's so long ago!) and was released in Japan on November 11, 2006. That means that if a PS4 will be coming out on schedule, we should be hearing news very soon.

Sony has made statements to the effect that they consider the PS3 a 10-year console, so time to start waiting for an announcement would be 2015 or so.

Wasn't the PS2 also a '10 year console'? Perhaps there was no official announcement that it was a 10 year console, but it technically nearly was/is! (The PS2 was released in 2000 and was still going on in 2009!)

Re: Epic Games shows jaw-dropping graphics for next-generation consoles

#94

Post by zach »

bmalicoat wrote: post #73
icefox wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can anyone in the game industry comment on this? Why type of problems are game companies paying for? I have seen at least one company that sells procedurally generated trees and am curious how good of an idea this is. Being customer oriented, what are the problems game companies have today?

I'm peripherally in the industry, but even I can say middleware is huge. Speedtree, as you mentioned, shows how niche the suites can be. You also have FMV players (especially on mobile) and of course physics engines are huge. Look for Havok and you'll see it powers most AAA games. I don't know specific pain points you can ease, but if you can generalize it, game companies will probably pay for it.

Also, middleware has to be a node on the outside of the graph. It has to substantially all of a problem, not just most of it.

So a fully functional physics engine, a complete procedural tree generator, a self-contained front-end system, a reasonably complete animation package, that's fine, that's great stuff.

Sixty percent of a solution plus an API is not okay.

A complete solution to a problem (no matter how niche) with the smallest integration surface is key.

Re: Epic Games shows jaw-dropping graphics for next-generation consoles

#95

Post by wladimir »

LiraNuna wrote: post #80
daeken wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not in the industry at all, but I've followed it for a long time and done a good deal of random game dev. The biggest pain point is how much it costs to produce a large world these days. As it stands, this is not a technical problem, but a business one: artists are expensive and art for modern games is insanely detailed. Procedural generation is, IMO, the way to go here, but it's an unsolved problem. I've been th…

You bring good points, but you forget one things - artists love control. Take that away from them and they cry like babies who lost their candy. Procedural art is really cool if you can think about your asset as a programmer - but you need to remember artists do not think like us. If you are willing to replace your artists with tech artists though, that's a different story (note: normally those people are rare, and s…

Procedural generation doesn't automatically mean that the artist has no control. There will still be inputs guiding the generated content. Artists will still have the final say as to what will get into the game.

You have to make the GUI artist-friendly though, inputting some numbers and hitting a button won't do. The tree generation company (SpeedTree) is actually a good example. Their program is very easy to work with even for artists and you can generate a large scala of realistic-looking trees.

Also, with procedural generation you can achieve a more varied look. For example: If artists have to design every tree, you get a few specimens that you place everywhere. With automatic generation, every tree can be different,

Re: Epic Games shows jaw-dropping graphics for next-generation consoles

#96

Post by _b8r0 »

If you just want to watch the video, it's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOxnqNMwpW4

It looks incredible, as you'd expect. I wonder how this will translate to better gameplay though, or will resources be diverted to the 'shiny shiny make it all better' factor?

Re: Epic Games shows jaw-dropping graphics for next-generation consoles

#97

Post by tristanperry »

bonch wrote: post #92
Lost_BiomedE wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think another great exception is the elder scrolls series by bethesda. Every time I see new physics engine, better AI, or better graphics, I think, 'What can Bethesda do with this?'

You think Besthesda is an exception? Oblivion was pretty crippled in features and gameplay compared to Morrowind and Daggerfall despite having physics and "realistic" faces. The AI was embarrassing. Bethesda is one of the main culprits in trading gameplay for graphics as well as latching onto "next-gen" marketing hype.

Indeed, I see Besthesda as a not-so-shining example of the case that squidsoup is making. Morrowind was brilliant - it had great freatures, great gameplay, a great storyline etc.

Then Oblivion came along and they switched their development focus (or at least a fair amount of it) onto the graphics. And the result? Poor gameplay with a cop-out 'auto levelling' system, a 'fast travel' system which was 'click this button to travel anywhere in the game World', etc.

Sure it might have looked pretty and thus sold well, but it was a step backwards in terms of gameplay.

Crysis 1 is another example of this. Amazing graphics, amazing physics. But the storyline was non-existant and at times the gameplay was poor.

Re: Epic Games shows jaw-dropping graphics for next-generation consoles

#98

Post by Prisen »

mortenjorck wrote: post #21

Too bad all these beautiful effects will be covered up by the foreshortened perspective of a gun in one corner and a health bar in the other corner. I kid, but honestly, seeing this doesn't excite me anywhere near as much as a preview of whatever the team that made Mirror's Edge has in store next for current -generation consoles.

Did you know that Mirror's Edge is built using the current version of Unreal Engine? Tech demos are built to showcase as many features as possible, in a very limited time. In order to show shadows/lighting they are often dark.

Re: Epic Games shows jaw-dropping graphics for next-generation consoles

#99

Post by LiraNuna »

wladimir wrote: post #95
LiraNuna wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You bring good points, but you forget one things - artists love control. Take that away from them and they cry like babies who lost their candy. Procedural art is really cool if you can think about your asset as a programmer - but you need to remember artists do not think like us. If you are willing to replace your artists with tech artists though, that's a different story (note: normally those people are rare, and s…

Procedural generation doesn't automatically mean that the artist has no control. There will still be inputs guiding the generated content. Artists will still have the final say as to what will get into the game. You have to make the GUI artist-friendly though, inputting some numbers and hitting a button won't do. The tree generation company (SpeedTree) is actually a good example. Their program is very easy to work wi…

"Procedural generation doesn't automatically mean that the artist has no control" - It means they have less control, and they always bitch and moan about that.

Re: Epic Games shows jaw-dropping graphics for next-generation consoles

#100

Post by johnyzee »

Qz wrote: post #48

To give a bit of historical context, this is the very same company that put out such classic shareware hits as Jill of the Jungle, Jazz Jackrabbit, and my personal favorite One Must Fall: 2097.

Other person knows One Must Fall! I played that for months with friends on a 386.

It is easy to grouch about how gameplay rules over shiny effects, but I am quite impressed and uplifted that the company that made those games is still around and on the cutting edge of games.

Post reply on HN