Questions on Graphics ? (Dev) Replied

I'm sure they will at some point give us a general ballpark figure of how advanced the graphics will be. So far this is just a Tech Demo as a Proof of Concept.

 

Good stuff, all around. I'm glad that they spent the 6 months or so to even provide us with a vid on kick starter release.

 

On a side note, I watched the video for Legend of Dawn and that woman is cute. lmao. Why was I watching that video again?

 

Because of the great graphic quality.

 

err... the babe looks good.

 

I wasn't afraid of what I saw on graphics (even knowing that the motor engine is not so powerful) until Lord British said that he wants to see the game (or any part of it) on mobile devices...

I'm not giving up my faith, but shared PC/mobile games tend to be a s...

 

Yeah, I hope the whole SotA graphics won't be intentionally scaled down for mobile devices...

 

If it is... I definately won't need to purchase a new computer like I will for Star Citizen.

 

Oh, the more I see and learn the less I expect that Shroud will be a top-of-the-line PC game. Disappointing.

 

To me, an overhead view similar to Wasteland 2 would make more sense. WL2 uses the Unity Engine as well, just from a better perspective imo.

 

Time will tell all.

 

Is there any word on what the Mac requirements will be? Being a Mac user(obviously lacking quality graphics processor), it is a bit worrisome that the game will look/play well on a Mac. Regardless of graphic quality of the game, as long as game play is great, I'll love it, but just wondering if I should just build a PC to make sure I get the most out of the experience.

 

I think that I'm panicking in the opposite direction of everyone else - please tell me that the graphics will be more pleasant than they are advanced! Please tell me they'll be accessible on a laptop rather than exclusive to high-powered gaming towers with 56-inch screens!

Okami is still a highly-celebrated video game for the Playstation because of its beautiful art work alone - the same is true about Shadow of Colossus although it has very distinct game-play as well. Neither are particularly realistic but they have original styles that set them apart visually. I dislike almost all of the MMORPGs out there that have the same tired visual standards - there are the attempted-realistic 3D ones in which everyone looks like a half-finished wax statue or the vibrant cartoonish ones that just look absolutely stupid. I think that Guild Wars 2 has a good look to it but I wouldn't know much because after seeing it played on a computer that was much better than mine but still lagged to hell I lost all my interest in it.

The 2D Ultima Online still looks pleasant to me because it has character - I disagree with the idea that a video game has to look like the real world to be immersive; in fact I'd say that I'm most deeply immersed when a game looks like a work of art - even if that artwork is more subtle or minimalistic. There are a number of simple side-scroll browser video games that are almost breath-taking and have none of the brilliant game-play being suggested with this game - the combination would be amazing to experience.

 

I have very little knowledge of Unity, but the engine is designed to be somewhat hardware independent. It takes the same assets and converts them to the target platform (eg PC, iPhone, Tablet). There is a web-based client which I played around with. Overall I'm impressed with the idea, it reminds me of Terminal Reality's Infernal engine.

I wouldn't worry about low-end PCs being unable to play. The graphics settings can be tuned pretty low.

On the subject of graphics requirements: I don't need all that much eye candy. I'm more interested in quality game-play. As an aside (just to show how this mindset is more common than one would think)... Sony (SOE) creates April Fools jokes within Everquest, and a few years ago they announced new updated character models. (This was something people were requesting for a while). SOE's update rendered characters as stick figures that April 1. Quite a few people complained when they reverted the change, as they preferred the faster frame rates which came with the stick figures.

My only complaint with UO's graphics is that things are so damn small. I have to fire up Windows' magnifier to see what is on screen. Oh and I prefer a 1st person 3D view.

The SOTA demo graphics looks great to me.

 

I wholeheartedly agree about the graphics not needing to be top notch, as long as they are pleasant. I was just worried about what Harrijasotzaile said "Please tell me they?ll be accessible on a laptop rather than exclusive to high-powered gaming towers with 56-inch screens!" I would be using a laptop primarily and was just worried about the gameplay. From the sounds of it, I need not be worried though.

 

Thanks much Jonathon.Doran - I went out and looked at a few other games in the works using the Unity engine and with some technical expertise and a good eye for visuals the game could apparently look like anything you might see on a console game. And at the same time - according to Unity's website (http://unity3d.com/unity/system-requirements.html) - the hardware requirements are none other than those needed to run your standard operating system.

What a relief - I'm assuming that this and the filtered player populations and dual-scale map will mean all in all that we'll have a fine looking game with minimal lag. Is this the right assumption to make or am I missing something?

I enjoyed the aside about the Everquest joke too - you make a very good point; gameplay will almost always win out over eye-candy in the long-run I think. At the same time though I think eye-candy can mean at least 2 different things - there are hyper-advanced 3d graphics which I think are over-rated and there are pleasant well-rendered art designs which I think are under-rated outside of appreciative circles (like current or recent players of Ultima Online for example).

Now that my hardware requirement fears have been put to bed I wonder if the concept art department is up to the task - I think it needs to be held to at least as high a standard as the graphics department; I'm assuming they're 2 different departments.