It seems one of my entries Tei! Tei! Tei! has gone missing. I believe it was due to a rollback by Blogger as I've noticed a few spam messages I deleted as being back.
It was a piece on fansubbing, in relation to the role a timer has and how it fits in the overview of things.
I'll be rewriting the piece in the next few days as I rewrite my other pieces on fansubbing for inclusion on Yume's website, which he is in the process of redesigning. Hopefully, it'll be less ranty and more concise in portraying what I want to. I'll go and post them here as well for comparison and archiving sake (hopefully I won't lose those).
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Friday, February 10, 2006
A New Journey
I haven't put this thought down at all but it's been something I've contemplating on and off for a few weeks. Having posted a short version on Yume's board, I thought I'd expand on it, possible break it up into a two parter.
With this generation of consoles coming, promising us better visuals than ever and what not, my mind turns back. I've seen the stuff being promised to us and I've seen where people are intending to go. What I'm hoping is that there is someone out there willing to think outside the box. I'll be using Shenmue as my example here to discuss my ideas.
When I saw Shenmue and its sequel, my jaw dropped. Not only at how great it looked, but how we had towns mapped out, with people going about their daily business. The graphics were great, even now they hold up to scrutiny. That alone wasn't the charm though. We had these great graphics fleshing out what was a town full of inhabitants, going about their daily business as you went on your quest. You could spend your time just standing in one spot, watching the passers-by or follow someone as they first spent the morning gossiping with their friends, before going to buy groceries.
When you were inside your own home, you could go about the house, opening drawers and closets and mess with what was stored inside. Phone for local weather updates or call friends. Go outside to the dojo behind the house and spar with Fuku-san. In a shop, there were items you could buy, not always to progress in the storyline but just because you could buy those snacks or so you could feed that stray kitten. Or there was the inevitable wasting of time in the arcade, playing Space Harrier and Out Run, and wasting of money buying the capsule toys.
In all this, there were some regrets. Whilst you were living in a town, sometimes it felt quite empty. I think in Shenmue II this was more of a concern but people would slowly fade into view as you got close and it would always be a limited amount. When you were in your house, it was great opening a drawer which contained items you could explore and take items out. It was a shame when there so many that were just a pre-rendered image of jeans and shirts. In addition to this, there were drawers and closets times you were not able to interact with.
So with these few examples in mind, are we striving for more power and graphical flair only to end at the same place? With limitations enforced on what we can and can't do?
In Shenmue II, when you first head towards the fountain and see so many people there, how much more special would it be if we could see faint figures in the distance as we entered the zone, yet more abundant than ever? Walking down towards the arcade in Shenmue II again, how much more of a spectacle would it have been had we been able to see from the far entrance of the zone all the way to the arcade and see a large number of people mill about? How about being able to go into your house and mess and tinker with every little object, so you can rearrange it to be as you wish?
That would truly be amazing. Being able to see all the detail right to the horizon. I saw images of MotoGP '06 on the 360 and that really made me smile. It's a racing game, maybe not as much detail needed as lots of shops and signs and people, but the guys at Climax Racing might have it. Views right to the horizon, with objects on the road visible in the distance. I'd like to see more of it before I really judge it but it's certaintly a step in the right direction.
You can make characters look more "realistic" but how about going and doing the same for the world? This is what I feel made Shenmue seem more life like than any game I've seen and why I hold great hopes for Ryu Ga Gotoku doing the same. The world has people going about their daily routines, stopping to gossip, buy groceries and so on. Maybe we tend to see ourselves, as part of the larger world and until this is made fuller, more immersive and real then the aims for better physics and more polygons may end up falling short. This doesn't mean animating every blade of grass to bend with the wind, just making the whole thing feel solid and fully realised.
With this generation of consoles coming, promising us better visuals than ever and what not, my mind turns back. I've seen the stuff being promised to us and I've seen where people are intending to go. What I'm hoping is that there is someone out there willing to think outside the box. I'll be using Shenmue as my example here to discuss my ideas.
When I saw Shenmue and its sequel, my jaw dropped. Not only at how great it looked, but how we had towns mapped out, with people going about their daily business. The graphics were great, even now they hold up to scrutiny. That alone wasn't the charm though. We had these great graphics fleshing out what was a town full of inhabitants, going about their daily business as you went on your quest. You could spend your time just standing in one spot, watching the passers-by or follow someone as they first spent the morning gossiping with their friends, before going to buy groceries.
When you were inside your own home, you could go about the house, opening drawers and closets and mess with what was stored inside. Phone for local weather updates or call friends. Go outside to the dojo behind the house and spar with Fuku-san. In a shop, there were items you could buy, not always to progress in the storyline but just because you could buy those snacks or so you could feed that stray kitten. Or there was the inevitable wasting of time in the arcade, playing Space Harrier and Out Run, and wasting of money buying the capsule toys.
In all this, there were some regrets. Whilst you were living in a town, sometimes it felt quite empty. I think in Shenmue II this was more of a concern but people would slowly fade into view as you got close and it would always be a limited amount. When you were in your house, it was great opening a drawer which contained items you could explore and take items out. It was a shame when there so many that were just a pre-rendered image of jeans and shirts. In addition to this, there were drawers and closets times you were not able to interact with.
So with these few examples in mind, are we striving for more power and graphical flair only to end at the same place? With limitations enforced on what we can and can't do?
In Shenmue II, when you first head towards the fountain and see so many people there, how much more special would it be if we could see faint figures in the distance as we entered the zone, yet more abundant than ever? Walking down towards the arcade in Shenmue II again, how much more of a spectacle would it have been had we been able to see from the far entrance of the zone all the way to the arcade and see a large number of people mill about? How about being able to go into your house and mess and tinker with every little object, so you can rearrange it to be as you wish?
That would truly be amazing. Being able to see all the detail right to the horizon. I saw images of MotoGP '06 on the 360 and that really made me smile. It's a racing game, maybe not as much detail needed as lots of shops and signs and people, but the guys at Climax Racing might have it. Views right to the horizon, with objects on the road visible in the distance. I'd like to see more of it before I really judge it but it's certaintly a step in the right direction.
You can make characters look more "realistic" but how about going and doing the same for the world? This is what I feel made Shenmue seem more life like than any game I've seen and why I hold great hopes for Ryu Ga Gotoku doing the same. The world has people going about their daily routines, stopping to gossip, buy groceries and so on. Maybe we tend to see ourselves, as part of the larger world and until this is made fuller, more immersive and real then the aims for better physics and more polygons may end up falling short. This doesn't mean animating every blade of grass to bend with the wind, just making the whole thing feel solid and fully realised.
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