Abysmal on 19/4/2016 at 03:37
Discussed.
icemann on 19/4/2016 at 04:00
Yeah I think we have, and I don't see that as a bad thing.
If anything it's now considered "indie" to use pixelated graphics. The rise of mobile phone gaming has greatly helped as well.
Also, some genres work better in more older looking graphics.
Renzatic on 19/4/2016 at 04:18
These days, it seems people are starting to become more concerned with style and art direction than they are with games having the latest, greatest whizz-bang photorealistic graphics to show off to all their friends. That's not to say the appeal of having cutting edge graphics is entirely gone, there still is a strong appreciation for some purely technical strengths. It's just that we've reached that point of diminishing returns, and everything beyond that is just baby step refinements. Unless you're intending on showing your non-gaming friends the newest thing between 5 year stretches, the incremental improvements between engine generations won't be nearly as impressive as they once were.
Now, it's more about showing something off that's cool and well designed than something that's using the coolest new graphics tech. And this? This is a good thing.
henke on 19/4/2016 at 05:42
Quote Posted by Abysmal
New AAA game releases don't seem to be prioritizing graphics as a selling point either, and I haven't seen many people even care about it.
I don't know about that. Seems like AAA titles are still doing as much as they ever have to squeeze every last drop of graphical wiz-bang out of the current consoles. Last year's MGS V, Witcher 3, and Bloodborne all looked great. I think it's more that the current gaming landscape isn't as dominated by AAA titles as it was 10 years ago. Indies and smaller studios have a much greater foothold now.
Renzatic on 19/4/2016 at 05:42
Quote Posted by icemann
An example screeny from Moon Hunters which I played recently. Is it old looking? Yes. Does it matter? No. Gameplay is what is most important.
That's a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Technically, there's nothing special about it. It's SNES era graphics. I could probably run that game on a calculator.
Stylistically? It's pretty damn awesome. If you like pixel art, there's no way you'd ever say it's a bad looking game.
icemann on 19/4/2016 at 05:47
Hell no. Excellent music also.
Renzatic on 19/4/2016 at 06:02
I think Children of Morta is probably one of the best looking pixel art games I've yet seen.
[video=youtube;86MSyC4HVNI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86MSyC4HVNI[/video]
Thor on 19/4/2016 at 06:57
As far as the visual experience goes, I care for the environment ~20%, about the aesthetic and color palette 70%, and about the latest resolution upgrade 10%. Really they're varying numbers and a graph of their relationships would be a better to represent it, but this is in the present day. So, I do still care about "graphics" (texture resolution in this context), just less than about things technology already achieved (richly colorful environments).
That said, should AAA devs bother with good graphics? Well, yeah, how else is everyone going to know it's a AAA title? Someone has to push the industry forward. It would be pretty sad if graphics were stuck somewhere in the 2005 era. Same thing today. Until we've reached graphics our eyes can't distinguish, there's always room for improvement. Real world examples notwithstanding - I'm not talking about the economic situation and cost-effectiveness here, although I do have a feeling cutting edge graphics aren't going to become significantly cheaper anytime soon.
Edit: I missed the original question somehow. Ehm, yeah, graphics aren't a selling point anymore, cause most people care about it, like I - 10%, if not even less. But it would be good to see some update from a AAA game at some point that has something new to offer.
zoog on 19/4/2016 at 07:24
If graphics doesn't matter (and gets better) anymore then why we are bying more and more powerful videochips every year?
Visuals, along with ergonomics, contibute much to immersion (which matters little in arcade-like games though). I'll always state "graphics is the king", not saying that current games can't offer anything but it.
