Plan for Phil Carlisle
by Phil Carlisle · 02/22/2004 (2:00 am) · 6 comments
Well, week 3 of the new working system and things hit the rocks a bit because of work-time pressure :)
But I'll be back on in next week. As it happens Ive been banging out some stuff this weekend anyway.
No new screenshots to show just yet. Plenty of "issues" visually that I need to address before that happens. Plus, its not easy to create buzz without really great screenshots, so there's no point in rushing it.
Just been looking at an interesting website for a local developer (I wont say who), which is interesting because they have released some "screenshots" which are obviously just rendered in maya and replayed in thier level viewer.
Its soooo easy to make something that looks really cool these days, but the trouble is, it LOOKS cool, but its just smoke and mirrors.
If I really wanted to wow someone, I could spend a few weeks writing an exporter for 3ds max, pay an artist to make an amazingly high poly level + character mockup, render it with lighting etc in max, then just have a level loader that loaded it up and displayed it. Those would be valid "screenshots" because they do come from a screen. They would also be "in engine" because theyre not maya renders.
I'm in two minds about this sort of thing. Because everyone stages thier stuff to look better. I'd never take screenshots of my game where there was something obviously crap in it, I'm looking for the most interesting and visually pretty stuff. But still, if we're going to lose out because someone else does a render-viewer, should I start doing that too? The public wouldnt know the difference, just see the pretty screenshots and say "whooo, i gotta have me some of that!".
So dont be fooled! demand 100% obvious gameplay in your screenshots! (oh bugger, I havent done any like that yet :))
BTW: this isnt rare. Ive seen screenshots from some WW2 game that were "doctored" in photoshop.
But I'll be back on in next week. As it happens Ive been banging out some stuff this weekend anyway.
No new screenshots to show just yet. Plenty of "issues" visually that I need to address before that happens. Plus, its not easy to create buzz without really great screenshots, so there's no point in rushing it.
Just been looking at an interesting website for a local developer (I wont say who), which is interesting because they have released some "screenshots" which are obviously just rendered in maya and replayed in thier level viewer.
Its soooo easy to make something that looks really cool these days, but the trouble is, it LOOKS cool, but its just smoke and mirrors.
If I really wanted to wow someone, I could spend a few weeks writing an exporter for 3ds max, pay an artist to make an amazingly high poly level + character mockup, render it with lighting etc in max, then just have a level loader that loaded it up and displayed it. Those would be valid "screenshots" because they do come from a screen. They would also be "in engine" because theyre not maya renders.
I'm in two minds about this sort of thing. Because everyone stages thier stuff to look better. I'd never take screenshots of my game where there was something obviously crap in it, I'm looking for the most interesting and visually pretty stuff. But still, if we're going to lose out because someone else does a render-viewer, should I start doing that too? The public wouldnt know the difference, just see the pretty screenshots and say "whooo, i gotta have me some of that!".
So dont be fooled! demand 100% obvious gameplay in your screenshots! (oh bugger, I havent done any like that yet :))
BTW: this isnt rare. Ive seen screenshots from some WW2 game that were "doctored" in photoshop.
About the author
#2
Fortunately, I have a fairly dramatic demo mode that I can pause and grab some fairly neat shots... but they are never "perfect." And I waste far too much time generating them as it is. One of these days I have to get cracking on my website, too.
Good luck, Phil!
02/22/2004 (9:01 am)
I guess that may be what I'm doing wrong. I haven't been staging any screenshots... they are all WYSIWYG. Fortunately, I have a fairly dramatic demo mode that I can pause and grab some fairly neat shots... but they are never "perfect." And I waste far too much time generating them as it is. One of these days I have to get cracking on my website, too.
Good luck, Phil!
#3
Seriously though, looks like I was wrong here. As these guys already did a game with pretty high tech requirements, so I guess they just didnt texture thier shots yet. Go figure!
02/22/2004 (10:28 am)
Gareth: but what happens if their "engine" is basically just a mesh viewer?Seriously though, looks like I was wrong here. As these guys already did a game with pretty high tech requirements, so I guess they just didnt texture thier shots yet. Go figure!
#4
Surely not releasing legit screenshots is just settings yourself up to fail? If it's 100% in game, then it's 100% in game, as long as you can deliver that experiance who cares how you did it. The customer won't.
02/22/2004 (2:15 pm)
Err Myst was just a card viewer. Not everyone needs everything from a game.Surely not releasing legit screenshots is just settings yourself up to fail? If it's 100% in game, then it's 100% in game, as long as you can deliver that experiance who cares how you did it. The customer won't.
#5
So what you're saying is that if I were to take screenshots of other people games that look better than ours would it be wrong to post them somewhere to promote our game. I've been thinking of taking some of Unreal whatever, or even your game and putting them up.
You know...it'd be just to get some people jazzed. When they get the game they'd notice that it didn't look anything like the screenshots I had used to sucker them into buying it. But, you know I just don't think they'd mind. Do you?
Really what's the difference between taking Maya or 3d max renders and doing what I have proposed.
It's not really the game...technically...
I might do it anyway =>)
02/24/2004 (12:57 pm)
Phil?So what you're saying is that if I were to take screenshots of other people games that look better than ours would it be wrong to post them somewhere to promote our game. I've been thinking of taking some of Unreal whatever, or even your game and putting them up.
You know...it'd be just to get some people jazzed. When they get the game they'd notice that it didn't look anything like the screenshots I had used to sucker them into buying it. But, you know I just don't think they'd mind. Do you?
Really what's the difference between taking Maya or 3d max renders and doing what I have proposed.
It's not really the game...technically...
I might do it anyway =>)
#6
02/29/2004 (9:44 am)
Kirk, thats part of the problem, the public WOULDNT care. But its a dodgy practice anyway. 
Torque 3D Owner Gareth Davies
There are somethings this is perfectly valid though, baked radiosity light maps can give amazing results for static objects. Yeah engine x isn't 'rendering' them realtime (it took Max N hours...) but if they're in a game level and work isn't that an appropriate technique?
If you have the bandwidth (i.e. DVD distribution) 'rendering' your real-time cutscenes is a very valid technique.
I'll be using none of the above though, since I don't think they're viable for online release (and that's from someone with a 60MB tech overhead on his install).
...now back to generating some real screenshots...