How Do Game Developers Make A Game Look Beyond The Hardware?

Forum for the creative side of the game development process: art, music, storyline, gameplay, concepts, etc. Any sort of relevant discussion is welcome here.

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davidthefat
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How Do Game Developers Make A Game Look Beyond The Hardware?

Post by davidthefat »

I mean some games look like crap and some look like its not even run on that system, while its still the same system.

Like RE4 for GC
Image

Vs

Super Mario Sunshine

Image

Im pretty sure they have the same poly count but RE4 looks 10x better than Mario... How do they do that? Is it the lighting, Texture or what?

Now for the 2d Counter parts
Paper Mario for n64
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vs
Paper Mario 2
Image

vs


Mario and Luigi Supersage

Image

Not much of a good comparison but those are the 2 I know that have similar styles...
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Re: How Do Game Developers Make A Game Look Beyond The Hardware?

Post by ChrissyJ91 »

I would assume (yes I know assume makes an ass out of you and me) that its simply due to when the game was made and the time taken to develop as well as other factors obviously. I mean Resident Evil 4 came out towards the end of the Gamecube's life whereas super mario sunshine came out much earlier when the Gamecube was relatively new, by the time RE4 came out developers were much more experienced with the hardware and knew what constraints they had.

I have heard game developers (namely Chris Butcher from Bungie) talk about how there are numerous risks involved with games such as hardware risks and game structure risks and its one explanation for why first gen games on consoles don't tend to be that different from the previous generation.
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Re: How Do Game Developers Make A Game Look Beyond The Hardware?

Post by thejahooli »

Also I do not think Mario Sunshine looks much worst than RE4, it just has a different art direction and isn't looking to have as realistic graphics.
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Re: How Do Game Developers Make A Game Look Beyond The Hardware?

Post by avansc »

also a matter of game style.
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Re: How Do Game Developers Make A Game Look Beyond The Hardware?

Post by davidthefat »

Just realized golden eye for GC had pretty damn good background GFX for GC

Image
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Re: How Do Game Developers Make A Game Look Beyond The Hardware?

Post by Pennywise »

I'm guessing it's to do with the genre of the game.
Resident Evil 4 is a shooter so it should have a more realistic look compared to a fun and cuddly platformer like Super Mario Sunshine.
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Re: How Do Game Developers Make A Game Look Beyond The Hardware?

Post by Bakkon »

davidthefat wrote:Just realized golden eye for GC had pretty damn good background GFX for GC
You realize the Gamecube was actually pretty powerful for its day, right? Atleast better than the PS2 is most respects. There just wasn't a lot of games that took full advantage of the system and had a "realistic" art style.
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Re: How Do Game Developers Make A Game Look Beyond The Hardware?

Post by Joeyotrevor »

davidthefat wrote:Just realized golden eye for GC had pretty damn good background GFX for GC

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That HUD looks very similar to HL2...

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Re: How Do Game Developers Make A Game Look Beyond The Hardware?

Post by ibly31 »

Damn, thats really freaky!

I bet Valve probably had a meeting and someone suggested that game for a model for the GUI. The similarity is too coincidental
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Re: How Do Game Developers Make A Game Look Beyond The Hardware?

Post by Falco Girgis »

In any scenario that doesn't involve faking special effects in software (via directly fucking with the framebuffer), the Gamecube rapes the living shit out of the PS2.

You posted the Gamecube screenshots of RE4 as if they were impressive. If you read the developer blogs about porting it to the PS2, you would know that it nearly didn't happen. That game is pushing the limits and is still very graphically inferior to the GC counterpart.
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Re: How Do Game Developers Make A Game Look Beyond The Hardware?

Post by davidthefat »

That rminds me... I still havent beaten RE4... Better whip out my Game cube and find my RE4 :lol:
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Re: How Do Game Developers Make A Game Look Beyond The Hardware?

Post by ChrissyJ91 »

zomg :lol: you haven't completed RE4. oh man I forbid you to do anything but play RE4 until you finish it (just kidding :) ). Seriously though it is a great gaming experience perhaps not a great 'resident evil' gaming experience (read as 'definetely not a great resident evil gaming experience' lol) It is a game that has been polished and polished to the point of being (almost?) perfect and is worthy of the critical praise it has recieved. :)
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Re: How Do Game Developers Make A Game Look Beyond The Hardware?

Post by TheFinalFanatic »

Just to clear up the screenshots above, I'm pretty sure that screenshot is from GoldenEye: Source, a source mod, and not goldeneye for the GC. Hence the similar HUD.
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Re: How Do Game Developers Make A Game Look Beyond The Hardware?

Post by ChrissyJ91 »

Just to clear up the screenshots above, I'm pretty sure that screenshot is from GoldenEye: Source, a source mod, and not goldeneye for the GC. Hence the similar HUD.
yeah, that is correct. Lets just say that goldeneye: rogue agent (in lower case due to the lack of respect I have for it) didn't just steal the name from the n64 game but also the hud. As far as I'm concerned the only game series that deserves to continue on goldeneyes flame is Timesplitters and Perfect Dark (although zero was a dissappointingly rushed mess).
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Re: How Do Game Developers Make A Game Look Beyond The Hardware?

Post by Moosader »

ChrissyJ91 wrote:I would assume (yes I know assume makes an ass out of you and me) that its simply due to when the game was made and the time taken to develop as well as other factors obviously. I mean Resident Evil 4 came out towards the end of the Gamecube's life whereas super mario sunshine came out much earlier when the Gamecube was relatively new, by the time RE4 came out developers were much more experienced with the hardware and knew what constraints they had.

I have heard game developers (namely Chris Butcher from Bungie) talk about how there are numerous risks involved with games such as hardware risks and game structure risks and its one explanation for why first gen games on consoles don't tend to be that different from the previous generation.
^ I think it's probably more clear looking at PS2, where older games like Dark Cloud and Legend of Legaia 2 don't look that great, but later games like RE4 (2005) on PS2 looks alright (not as good as the other consoles though).

DarkCloud (2001): http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/darkcloud/images/0/20/
Legaia (2002): http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/legaia2 ... ages/0/34/
FF12 (2006): http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/finalfa ... ages/0/16/
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