Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
More graphical info inside.
whilan
Member UncommonPosts: 3,472
Okay found this post in you know where, yep, swtor.com again (you can find the link here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=269692), anyway apparently this guy who posted has some experience in the gaming industry. Anyway I'll just post the lnfo for you all to see. Enjoy
LordNapalm's Post:
Hey guys.
I used to work in the game industry back in the day and it's given me an appreciation for some things that have been showing up in TOR that some might not have noticed. They really are stepping up their game for an MMO. Let's look at some screenshots to see what I mean.
GLOW EFFECT
Seen here on ship thrusters
http://www.swtor.com/media/screens/c...ht-freighter-2
And here on in the Bounty Hunters class video on characters themselves (very noticable on the bountyhunters back pack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=RLzwCuflNYo
http://media.dhcdn.com/2011/03/2171/bhdiss5.jpg
This is a must have for a Star Wars game because so many things are meant to light up (Including lighsabers of course as well as light panels, blasters etc.). But their use of it on character models is very cool.
DEPTH OF FIELD
I really only noticed this today with the release of the Bounty Hunter class video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=RLzwCuflNYo
http://media.dhcdn.com/2011/03/2167/bhdiss1.jpg
http://media.dhcdn.com/2011/03/2171/bhdiss5.jpg
If you look to the background on the right-hand side of these screenshots from darth haters dissection you'll see what I mean.
It basically simulates the focus of a camera, allowing you to blur the background or foreground for dramatic effect. This has been seen a lot in FPS games recently.. but I think this may be a first for MMOs.
SWTOR Forum user Caanon pointed out that there was a Dev blog about this very subject. Including video.
http://swtor.com/news/news-article/20100521_002-0
BUMP MAPS
This is a texture effect that allows you to simulate high lighting detail on a model without adding thousands of polygons to render.
http://www.swtor.com/media/screens/zabrak-0
In this shot you can see it most pronounced on the tubes around the Inquisitors neck and waist, and probably on the walls of the ruins on Koriban.
BLOOM / HDR LIGHTING
This was hard to find a good screenshot of, and is also fairly common now, but it's impressive to see in an MMO
http://media.dhcdn.com/2011/01/1785/flashp1.jpg
It's kind of like a glow effect, except that it's related to light reflecting off of things rather than the things themselves generating the glow.
SPECULARITY
This is basically shininess.
A good example is found in this dissection from Darth Hater
http://media.dhcdn.com/2011/01/1874/taraldis23.jpg
Notice how shiny the armour is compared with the troopers skin.
http://media.dhcdn.com/2011/01/1244/...uka01_full.jpg
Notice in this shot that the chest piece of the Miriluka and the droid are shiny, where as the cloth of the robe is not. This is pretty normal to have in games now-a-days, but their seems to be a lot of levels of shine per texture here, which really looks great IMO.
SELF SHADOW AND LIGHTING
http://media.dhcdn.com/2011/01/1149/...ood01_full.jpg
Notice how the characters cast shadows on themselves and also receive lighting and shadow from external sources like the saber in this picture.
Characters are also effected by environmental shadows and lighting. Which is very cool. You'll notice it in a few of the videos. When a player runs under the shadow of a tree for instance, the shadow passes over the player, not just darkening the entire character model, but realistically mapping the shadow over them. VERY impressive.
FANCY PARTICLE EFFECTS
You can see these all over the place (explosions and what not. But this shot really shows them off well I think:
http://media.dhcdn.com/2011/03/2167/bhdiss1.jpg
Anyhoo.. I hope everyone appreciates how well the visual aspects of this game are coming together. We've gone from "stylized reality", which to me meant blocky models and muddy textures, to a what you see today. I'm not sure if it was a conscious change, or just the natural progression of their original vision. But I'm happy as hell.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
Comments
I think the guy that wrote all that needs to be working for Darth Hater. Awesome find Whilan, thanks again.
"If half of what you tell me is a lie, how can I believe any of it?"
Nice find, thanks.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
You can really see how much has improved. I know I am into it.
Great post...but I'm still not digging the style completely
At least with threads like this and the upcoming beta (one day) I'll draw a better conclusion later
I can almost agree with you Yauchy. It is not quite my style either, I personally would prefer something more realistic. Only problem, in my opinion, is that if they improve the realism much more, then they would have to make it so real looking that baseline computers could not run it or it just wouldn't be good enough. I believe Whilan posted a link that talked about it and it made a lot of sense. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKTAJBQSm10) Completely explained why some games just annoy the crap out of me even though they look pretty good.
The art style of this game though will still be playable on a variety of computers AND look pretty dang good to boot, just not as realistic as I would like. Still though, it's better than a lot of games out there and at least I don't feel like I am playing "Smurfs" with a tin sword like I do when I play WoW after Cataclysm.
Edit: A big thank you to Whilan for finding that link btw.
"If half of what you tell me is a lie, how can I believe any of it?"
I kinda like the way the graphics have evolved, when the initial announcements and press releases talked about a "stylised" art style for the game I hated the stuff they presented and almost decided there and then to never play ToR even though I am a self confessed Bioware fanboy but the way the graphics look now and a lot of the info they have released I will almost certainly buy it on release.
Currently playing:
EVE online (Ruining low sec one hotdrop at a time)
Gravity Rush,
Dishonoured: The Knife of Dunwall.
(Waiting for) Metro: Last Light,
Company of Heroes II.
I too am pretty impressed by the improvements in the art style/animations/graphics. One of the things I saw that really annoyed me was how absolutely fake the hair and facial hair looked on the characters. The new "Guild" page on swtor.com though showed some VERY nice improvements in that area and even the new Bounty Hunter video showed some nice clean up of animations.
"If half of what you tell me is a lie, how can I believe any of it?"
Glad you all liked it, i think the point of me showing this was to get a more detailed version of things and show how it's improved.
I noticed something yesterday on biowares games which seems interesting (yes this is related)
When i first started talking to an npc i would get washed out tones, just like what the first set of images look like for swtor.
Then a second later they would get a bit more defined which is what last years looked like.
Then after everything is done i would get all the details and get something more closer to what they look like now.
This makes me wonder if they set up the ground work and then place textures overtop of them or something to that effect (yes i'm not a major in graphic design).
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
i LIKED the part about the glowing lights
I want to own property too
My brand new bloggity blog.
Absolutely not sir. You've just been downgraded to riding an Ewok.
*can't stop laughing*
Ace +1
My brand new bloggity blog.