It's odd how these remake projects (MGS3, Shadow of the Colossus. Etc.) seem to come from a belief that the art direction was only ever a trick to mask some kind of design shortcoming versus being deliberate and beautiful in and of itself.
MGS Delta looks nice, but (warning: cranky old man take incoming) you can look at just about any screenshot of the original MGS3 and instantly tell what game it is. Not so with the remake.
I worked in a nursing home briefly. Something you notice is how fast people mentally decline when they no longer have access to their hobbies. I feel like video games might be a force in staving off dementia for the general population...
I’m in my 50s, and no— I’m not gonna stop. When I’m in a nursing home? I’ll still be playing.
I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks, let alone some random douchecanoe on Twitter thinks.
Life life for *you*, not shitheels on social media who certainly won’t be there in the end.
A lot of current era game industry problems begin to make sense once you realize so many people think photo realism/detail is the goal of all art and anything that falls short of that is an obvious failure.
Restoration is a process of removing artifacts, distortion or degradation to better reveal the original image.
This is just making a new image based off of the old image. These images aren't the same.
This is not restoration.
@Richmond_Lee
That's also why so many 3d ps2 games have better looking environment presentation than many modern 3d games.
The number of factors that have to be nailed for real time lighting to be even half as evocative is rarely achieved.
It is incredibly impressive what they managed with nearly exclusively vertex colors. Since there were so many enemies unique textures had to be used sparingly so they had to model enemies with both form and gradient placement in mind.
An absolute hero over on the Final Fantasy subreddit named max-zilla made these high rez images of every FF7 enemy. You can zoom in and everything. This is incredible.
Today, 2/7/2024 10am EST you can now pre-order the physical edition of Risk System for PS4 & Switch
Here is a w.i.p look at a new poster to commemorate the occasion. Order within the next 24 hrs to get a RSK9 enamel pin included with your purchase!
AND...
See it actually matters what characters do outside of the fights. These glimpses at their humanity do so much to inform how we relate to them. One of my favorite pieces of fighting game art is Iori Yagami feeding a stray cat in his stage clothes.
Hello, I'm Chris & I'm the animator that created the 71 second opening animation Risk System within the span of 2 months, all while working a full time job & finishing development of the game itself. Here's a thread on how this was done...
#indiedev
There are more talented animators than ever but we've only seen the tiniest fraction of what they are capable of because modern 'sakuga style' is based purely on the volume of dynamic frames creating impossible to process samey mile a minute nonsense...
"Entire lore of (JRPG) EXPLAINED" video and the whole thing is just someone who's not very invested in the series reading the very easy to follow plot synopsis off Wikipedia while doing this the whole time
A lot of gamer folks in the West didn't realize that for the last two years Fate Grand Order was literally the biggest video game on the planet. These absolute behemoths wander in our periphery and we're like "pffdfftttrr niiiche"
Read this. It reminds me of how pissed off my AP art teacher was in Highschool when I pointed the massive stylistic overlap between Mucha and anime at the time.
Wanna know why
#Sonic
looks so terrible in the Hollywood adaptation? It's because people in positions of power & influence genuinely think the new look is a better, more globally appealing design than the classic Sonic that we know and love. This is a thread on why that's dumb✌️
Is there a non-suspicious use of the phrase "democratizing art"?
Just watched that recent Corridor Digital video and I feel like when that term comes up what it tends to mean is "I want access to other peoples abilities without their involvement or compensation"
What's really funny is how common this is in AAA 3d games now. There is so much emphasis on lighting looking realistic that any given frame of gameplay is now more difficult to identify as being from any specific game (if the HUD is not included)
@Richmond_Lee
Monster Hunter Tri on Wii is my high watermark for 3d game art direction. So much so that I think the Ultimate/G versions of the same game don't look as good.
Game design youtube & GDC utterly ruined things to the point people think of singular mechanics as "good" & stopped thinking about what their games are trying to be as a whole. Then something new comes along & they try and break it into "what are the new good mechanics?" again.
Like putting aside my bit about despising coyote time, it HAS A PURPOSE. There are games that are too fast, or maybe where you think the player might be too distracted by other things or idk w/e maybe YOU PERSONALLY JUST LIKE IT. But it's not just some "make better" sauce
A very good thread which goes nicely with a glass of
"Turn based mechanics are not inherently bad actually and allow your singular human mind to experience playing as a diverse group of people with diverse skills with granular control in a way not possible with real time systems"
Thread time again.
I will both answer the question the OP is asking, and explain why the point of view expressed in the article is … frustrating.
JRPGs don’t really need fixing as much as people think, but it’s a very common point of view from game devs to want to change them.
It's been awhile since I said this but for any creative youngsters that see this:
Having a day job that allows you the financial freedom to make what YOU want in your spare time is true bliss and a way more attainable goal than having your art pay all of your bills.
For a long time I've used standing around in game environments like this as a method of relaxation. Sega's studios were probably among the first to really take the feeling of environments into consideration textually. Forest 2 in PSO is a frequent mental vacation spot of mine.
@Richmond_Lee
Lol I pretty much just tweeted the opposite of this. Not from a gameplay balance perspective but from a "I'd honestly play a game where I could customize how other peoples characters appeared when I looked at them so I wouldn't be subject to their aesthetic crimes"
It's been an exciting few weeks for
#BangleAndMaggie
development that has seen the introduction of a new mechanic so perfect for the tone of action we are going for it inspired a design update for our titular barbarian. Here is the updated concept piece:
So I used to play in bands in the early 2000's and let me tell you, 20-30 people was a pretty outstanding turnout for most local venues and felt amazing.
As some of you will know, I originally taught myself 3d because I didnt want to redraw backgrounds and wanted to make animations.
I eventually started making lots of stuff in 3d and rotoscoping and every discipline you pick up strengthens the others...i
studio ufotable's job site had another example of their 3D guidework
using 3DCG to assist the 2D artists with perspective and timing, makes a dynamic shot that doesnt stiffen from 3D models- its beautiful and cohesive, but this is still REALLY hard to pull off!!
@ProZD
Same thing happened to me. During my sleep test the doctors woke me up in a panic and put a cpap on me immediately because my sleep quality was dangerously bad. When I woke up that morning at 6am I felt like it was the first time I had slept in years.
I want you to look at this animation. This is craft, the soul of character. If you don't care about detail you cannot elicit this feeling. Artists matter.
To any younger people that see my tweets, it's okay to like art in any way it finds you. Life isn't just a gigantic homework assignment to be graded by pedantic strangers on twitter.
It is pretty wild how they were able to recognize the viability of mental illness as a marketing strategy for dressing up otherwise unremarkable content for clicks.
sucks to see brands use the same language real mentally ill people use when they're struggling to cope, but here it's used for clicks and to sell a product. parasocial relationships are easily formed with celebrities, but this is on a whole another level of exploiting that
W
I think the well intentioned "but I'm an adult I dont have time" takes are missing the point. Playing the game isn't just checking the boxes when you beat milestones, especially for DD. Getting caught in the wrong place outside at night offers harrowing experiences.
Let's talk numbers. Say, you're making an indie game. Your total budget is $1M. You want your studio to continue existing after the game ships, so you don't disregard marketing and invest $500k into it. This leaves you with $500k for dev. Peachy!
First round of commissions done and delivered. Looking to pick up some more to raise funds for our convention season. Please have a look, retweet & message me with your requests or questions.
Public service announcement:
PewdiePie getting very good at art in 100 days is a great demonstration that it is within anyone's power if they are interested.
However keep in mind if you don't see that level of improvement in that time, it doesn't mean you suck...
So I think it'd be really cool to support indie devs that care about craft. Ones putting the work in to make worthwhile experiences with actual SOUL. If you like fighters, pixel art or would just like to see craft & hard work rewarded, please consider backings this project.
One of the major missteps in the early stages of academic dissection of game design we find ourselves in is a tendency to award absolute certainty to ideas or concepts being "good" or "bad" design while completely ignoring the very notion of context... 1/11
Here's my elbow drop:
Yeah holy sh
#t
this isn't right and EVEN if it was, it takes considerable skill to properly use this kind of reference & make it look good/seamless. Good animation isn't about being correct/it's looking correct 1/?
Just wanted to take a moment to signal boost this developer. They've been working quite tirelessly on an action game I think many on here would appreciate. Consider giving them a follow.
it's the same duel that's been at the end for a while, it's been good as a stress test of how to manage things
this is the first time that it's been entirely accounted for by the combat wave system, although the post battle is acting up a bit, someone doesn't want to despawn
@Mike_Prinke
Yeah KH combat really only works in the context of KH as a whole. The whole game kind of feels like it was meant to evoke a "foam sword combat" kind of playful vibe.
@TheCartelDel
@Steam
I was trying to figure out if there was a sequence here & wondering how this would be an asset but yeah the whole AI thing answers that question.
#BangleAndMaggie
is a sword and sorcery
#beatemup
up about an undead barbarian and the spirit of a mage setting off on an adventure to return the mage's spirit to her original body before it is used in a reincarnation ritual to house an evil deity.
Reality has gone & proven that no 80's B movie villain was ever written too stupid:
"So this populist dictator, get this, for short term profit he is going to BURN DOWN THE AMAZON..."
"Wow no that's too stupid..."
"So the UN sends in these ninjas..."
"I'm back on board..."
One of the most disheartening aspects of indie dev is realizing that the success of a game has little to do with its quality and more with how click baity a story can be written AROUND it. If outlets can't see an 'angle' there isn't interest in writing 'incredible art created!'
People who want contemporary speech and slang in fantasy settings....
Why??
My most charitable read on it is that maybe they've only ever experienced fantasy via Dnd campaigns and want everything to feel like that?
Nearly finished with this. Went back and burnished with pink and sky blue, scanned back in adjusted colors and levels to make highlighter bits pop.
#phantasystar30th
@TheChrisYamez
Well, you've got just about the coolest voice and a million
#gamedev
twitter accounts probably just realized that if they wrote a character specifically to have your voice their game would be a hit.
Saw this popping up again & here's the thing...that 2nd image is very detailed & well done but is so much less appealing.
The 2nd one is realistic in material detail.
The first is hyper-realistic in its tactile feel.
I understand more about the form & am drawn to it.
In 7th grade someone threw a pencil at me. I caught it mid air, threw it back at them, it bounced off of their forehead and went right back into my hand at which point I started writing with it to pretend I hadn't done anything.
Yearly reminder that input homogenization has likely caused thousands of unique visions to never get a chance because they wouldn't immediately map to established conventions thus not be 'intuitive' thus considered 'bAD dEsigN'
Nickelback being a topic of discussion has actually made me realize something about the disconnect I feel between myself and other indie developers.
Before getting to know other developers I had many assumptions about their motivations and drives...
1.) Sega was the weird experimental company and with their presence reduced the entire industry has suffered from not being able to wait for them to try something new first, learn from Sega's mistakes, and then release the same game a year or 2 later and be heralded as geniuses.
@G0ffThew
I think our tendency to try and moralize the media we enjoy has kind of poisoned the well when it comes to things like this or flawed characters in general.
If someone empathizes or relates to a character that is in some way bad they feel that might be their moral failing...
It's been the weirdest fucking thing to transition from a progressive position being "gendering everything is stupid & only gives us license to be incomplete people" to "actually stereotypes are the foundation of who we are & adhering to them is the REAL self actualization"
we gotta do something about this attitude where anything serious and intellectual is for men and anything frothy and stupid is for women. do any other women actually find this empowering??
Translations:
"The opinions of the people that make my life possible don't matter"
"The people that are responsible for EVERYTHING I ENJOY are irrelevant"
"Bring me my content trough!"
This is what happens if an ipad kid just suddenly became 30 something overnight.
Once key frames were drawn I took the images into 3d software & physically modeled the lines as geometry. From there I could animate individual line elements to match the key frame drawings allowing me to generate an infinite number of inbetweens...
Of hobbies outside passively watching tv or drinking. A lot of adults feel pressured into thinking anything that is interesting is childish and to be real mature people sitting in silence all day and yardwork are your only acceptable options...
Calling this doodle doodled. About 2.5 hours of work and learned a bunch. There are also subtle design adjustments here I'm thinking will be carried into the sprite.
#RiskSystem
is coming to
#XboxOne
on March 5th! This version of the game includes all DLC & updates from the original version plus new online Leaderboards!
Here is some new art to celebrate the occasion. More to come : )
@CloudeeToonz
@Addark
It would be great if the sites we share art on weren't explicitly designed to make people feel awful by means of visible metrics to encourage us to feverishly generate content until we can feel a sliver of validation...and then have that ruined when we see bigger numbers.
@thelindsayellis
@the_moviebob
It might also be an adaptation to seeing the happiness of others when you yourself are miserable. If you can rob the interactions you see others having (and that you yourself desire) of their authenticity then in some way you can convince yourself you're not missing out...