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Graphics: Realistic vs. Stylized
Sornin
Member Posts: 1,133
In Foundational Principle #12 - Speed Matters, Andrew basically stated that gameplay will trump graphics, so the graphics must be done in such a way so as to not hamper gameplay when potentially hundreds of players are duking it out. This likely means that, on a technical level, the graphics in Camelot Unchained will not be state-of-the-art, as those games have the luxury of being single-player games with a predictable amount of stuff going on. Anyway, all of that makes sense and I agree that keeping the number of polygons and quality of textures and lighting to a reasonable level is a good thing.
This leads into whether such a game would benefit more from going with a stylized approach to graphics, such as Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning or World of Warcraft, or with more realistic graphics, such as Dark Age of Camelot or EverQuest II.
In my opinion, stylized graphics age better and look better at lower levels of technical detail than realistic graphics. It is likely due to them naturally appearing fantastatical, so we do not gauge them against reality, whereas games that try to look realistic naturally draw that comparison and quickly look shoddy.
World of Warcraft is nearly a decade old and still looks all right (barring the avatars, which look pretty terrible), for what amounts to a dinosaur in video games. Granted, updates to the engine have helped, but compare it to EverQuest II, which looks even more plastic and bland than it did at launch. Everquest II had more polygons, better lighting, realistic cloth effects, etc., but after a few years it looked tired.
Anyway, if Camelot Unchained is going with the approach of keeping the technical detail lower so as to allow massive battles, I hope they do not try to make things look too realistic. While I certainly do not want to play a cartoon, I think something a bit stylized would serve the game better in the long run than trying to look too realistic.
Comments
Stylized graphics in general do exactly what this game needs. Allows tons of players to be on screen at once while still looking decent. What I don't want to see though it an attempt to copy the wow/warhammer style. You can have stylized without having pixar cartoon as your sole inspritation. It seems everything that thinks stylized thinks in WoW terms (See Wildstar or endless other art style copies of WoW).
You can't do the photorealistic style and keep things moving along as a playable pace for large warfare. That being said we don't need a saturday morning cartoon (remember those old all you old shits on this board lol?) for our game either. I'd like to see a more realistic stylized art direction personally.
I have always been a fan of the tabletop Warhammer universe and so I am bias to that style. Warcraft (the first RTS game) was initally going to be a game set in the Warhammer world, but later the Warhammer people backed out. Blizzard decided to press, even with the Warhammer-styled graphics and well the rest is history. It always makes me sad whenever people say WAR looked like WoW, but in fact it was the exact opposite! I could do a similar comparsion with StarCraft, but you get the point.
Long story short, I enjoy the high-fantasy look that Warhammer has, but I also like the hybrid of the two, like in Skyrim. I never had the problem with DAoC's graphics, but I know some people, that's all they care about. IMHO, I am more interested in the gameplay, than pretty graphics.
Aspiring Game Musician <<>> Inquiring ears, feel free to visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/vagarylabs
+1
Anyone that knows that Blizzard's entire IP catalogue is the by-product of a deal gone south, yet still managed to develop millions of fanbois that swear they created the MMO industry and every game before it... is A-Okay in my book.
I'm a big fan of AoC and DCUO both represent completly diferent styles of graphic and I like both of them in game play and how they looks. But if I think about what I do like to see in my dream game it will be more realistic than cartoon.... It gives more immersion to the game but I dont like to stuck in grey world if u know what I mean.
I let my self to add poll to this topic hopefully OP don't mind it.
http://chroniclesofthenerds.com/nerdfight/
Y U NO FLIP TABLE?!?!?!
Kind of a presuming statement, don't you think? Unless you work for them.:)
I have noticed some games have a balance but seem to make the toons look better than the world. Depending on the graphics engine I hope CU create a fun rvr experience and not be ugly at the same time.:)
I honestly dont care about the quality of graphic (to a certain degree of course). But i do prefer the "seriousness" of what DAoC looked like, versus i.e. WoW more cartoonish style.
Even tons of too many bright colors is kinda annoying too (to me that is).
Thats for all the landcapes, trees, keeps etc.
regarding the characters, i really like the seriousness of what DAoC had also, although today they could be a bit more stylised and of better graphic quality.
So what is more immersive to me is the looks of the characters more than the surrounding.
Bowbow (kob hunter) Infecto (kob cave shammy) and Thurka (troll warrior) on Merlin/Midgard DAoC
Thurka on WAR
This can be a cool artform, when it's a combination of the two. The best game for that style IMHO is Borderlands.
Aspiring Game Musician <<>> Inquiring ears, feel free to visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/vagarylabs
Agree Bow. I would take a game created today with the present graphics of DAOC over the WoW cartoon.
DAOC Live (inactive): R11 Cleric R11 Druid R11 Minstrel R9 Eldritch R6 Sorc R6 Scout R6 Healer
I prefer realistic over cartoon by a long shot. But having said that, performance has to trump all in a game like this. So whatever it takes to make the large battles work I will live with.
Also, I do not have a problem with a fog/haze on the battlefield where only the people who are within a certain distance from me are fully visible and those beyond that threshold are only drawn in as grey figures. With this mechanism I can see all the enemy even at long distances but the system requirements to draw them in is greatly reduced. This fog/haze can be set so that it is not always there but when the zerg comes into view all the dust from their movement causes the visibility limitations.
This way, if only a small group approaches I could see them all in full detail, but at some threshold the group starts to become lass details due to the haze.
Nanulak
Emeryc Eightdrakes - Ranger of DragonMyst Keep - Percival
RED IS DEAD!
Currently playing: GW2 (Maguuma), DAoC (Uthgard), & Aion
Waiting For / Watching: TUG, CU, Black Desert, Archeage,Wildstar, and ESO.
Personally, I think you can do "stylized" witout making it "cartoony."
For some reason after WoW people think there's only two styles, "hyper realism or cartoony" and that's it.
i'd rather see people that have more correct porportioned arms/legs and bodies with more realistic sin texturing/detail and not super bright cartoony style.
Realistic would be too boring for the masses...
I mean have you seen what the Early Medieval/Dark Ages wears? Raggy clothes, notched blades, dented shields and armor barely better than Gamberson in most cases... that's what realistic will look like.
Thnk Mount & Blade's clothing/armout but even more gritty.
Probably better to go stylized, otherwise the look and feel will be really bland.
It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself. ~Declaration of Arbroath
Almost every other fantisty mmo released lately has gone with stylized graphics. Its a huge turn off for me. Realistic graphics draw you into the game, they immerse you into the world so much better. Graphics that are stylized I just can't take seriously.
As for stylized graphics aging better, thats probably true, but lots of games had graphics overhauls to improve the asthethics (EvE and DAoC for example). There is no reason CU couldn't take the same approach.
The middle ages had plenty of variety in terms of armour and designs of clothing. Also the game is probably not going for a "realistic to the bone" look where it puts people in gambeson's and lower armours. From an artistic standpoint the armour design will most likely try to make armour (of all types) look more appealing. Most games borrow elements fromt he middle ages as a whole, rather then one part. Plate armou for example is usually inspried by the mid 1400's late middle ages type, classic "knightly" type of plate armour, usually the Gothic or Milanese style.
Thorughotu the middle ages there were a ton of great armours an dclothing.
What most people don't understand is just how much detail people could put on their armour. PEople could pain on the armour, wear cloth covers over it with paintings/designs, armour could be different colours (blackened, blue, gold, etc) and then it could have all kinds of other elements deisgned on top of this, from Etchings in the armour, inlays, Gilded, paintings, cloth placed on it, etc. Then on top of this soldiers could have worn Tabbards over hte armour for even more variety.
Shields could also have paintings on them (IE coat of arms) along with the helmets.
Ditto. I'd much rather have a good game that runs.