I've been yearning for a good FPS game lately, I may check out Half-Life 2 if I find it at a decent price.
That City Life game looks pretty cool, is it as involved as Sim City is?
I've always been a fan of the Castlevania series of games, from the original NES all the way to the latest one on the DS (well, except for the N64 ones - those sucked). Ever since Symphony of the Night changed the side-scroller to a more explorative game, that series has really blossomed.
I'm mainly playing World of Warcraft lately, but I really enjoyed City of Heroes. It was a fantastic MMORPG for a while, but after they shelved their crafting system, I lost interest in it. But if you're bored with the usual fantasy-based online game, definitely check out CoH and try out your heroic might (of play its sister game, City of Villains, and wreak havok).
Has anyone seen the latest E3 coverage of the Nintendo Wii (Revolution)? It looks absolutely awesome. It's gotten me interested in getting a gaming console again.
I used to love point 'n' click adventures, the games Lucasfilm/LucasArts made during the 90s in particular. Whatever happened to LucasArts anyway? Looks as thoug all they can do these days is have third party developers churn out mediocre Star Wars franchise games.
I'll probably be playing Guild Wars as of tomorrow.
I also like all kinds of pirate-themed games, Sid Meier's Pirates! Secret of Monkey Island and Tropico 2: Pirate Cove.
There is something called a "multiplayer game" which allows a large number of people to join the same game. The Sims is a popular one and unique in that it appeals to women more than it does men. (It's sort of a virtual doll house.) The Sims is about nothing but socializing.
Don't forget Animal Crossing! I played that game for a few months before I realized it was a game about doing chores!
My favorite game EVER is "Skullmonkeys" made by the same guys who did earthworm Jim. This game is hilarious, all claymation looking, and the animated sequences are ridiculously funny.
My second favorite game ever... no it's my favorite, I love "Tetrix".
On the next nintendo console they are going to provide an online service which will supposedly allow you to download every nintendo game from NES to the N64.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
I am a fan of the Sierra guys. Roger Wilco/Space Quest dates back to the old dos days and was one of the first with animated segments. Grim Fandango is great, as is Gabriel Knight. But these are all mostly RPG games. Haven't played a lot since I stopped going to the Flash games at Sarbakan.
Games hmmm, anything by Naughty Dog, Jason Rubin and Andy Gavin are gods in this industry. Everything about their games are perfect, especially the animation. The graphics don't boast the visual intensity of Metal Gear Solid 3, but their animation is top notch.
If the graphics weren't so outdated, I would probably select Grim Fandango as the answer to the question, [i]"What game would you recommend to people who hate video games?"
[/i]It's still enjoyable though. I recently reinstalled it.
Grim Fandango designer, Tim Schafer, recently created the game Psychonauts, which has been described as a combination between the movie Tron and the cartoon characters of Tim Burton. Thematically, it also reminds me of the movie, Dreamscape.
Another series i REALLY enjoy is the Oddworld series.
Very creative and original characters. Awesome animation. cool stories. Just an awesome and very talented group all together.
Hello! I'm new to the forums, but I'm a pretty hardcore gamer so I figured I'd chime in.
I've missed the whole Oddworld series- it seems everyone who plays them loves the characters and strange puzzles. I'll check it out.
I've gotta throw Shadow of the Colossus out there- it is simply the most gorgeous and refreshing gaming experience I had in '05. I expected nothing less from the designer of ICO. How the team got realtime motion blur out of the PS2 is beyond me. The character animation is solid, the bosses are GIGANTOUS, but the most impressive thing for me was the riding. Animating horses is madness, pulling it off in a seamless 3-d landscape is all the more breathtaking.
Then again, I never played Ocarina of Time- *ducks* -but I have the collector's disc for the cube and plan on it when I have time.
Beyond Good and Evil had great animation and story as well, despite being too short.
The ending might make it hard to develop a sequel with that -exact- cast, but if they decided to make a features based off of GF I would pay top dollar to see it. Then again, the low quality almost adds to a sense of abstracted design, so for example in the movie I don't know if I'd want super-polished uber-curvaceous textured skull. Then the question is, why not just watch the game and pretend you're not choosing the responses hehe
I tried the demo for Psychonauts but rather than give an option for reduced-quality graphics it locks you out if you don't have "pixel shader" support on your graphics card. Just missed, apparently, with a GeForce 4 MX...
I couldn't play more than an hour worth of Psychonauts. It's the type of design I'd rather see in cartoons than in video games. The level I played made it seem like one of those jumping and "coin" collecting games like Mario, which can get tedious. Most reviewers seem to love this game though. Maybe I just didn't give it enough of a chance. :confused:
At first I thought it was all the games, but then I caught wind it would only be the first party software. Hope they make as many available as possible. At any rate, I'm really excited to try out the Revolution controller. That's going to be pretty badass from what I've heard.
Yeah, but many third party developers seem to have a hard time coming up with witty game concepts supporting new controllers' possibilities. Just look at the majority of GameBoy DS titles. What many developers do is just convert their GameBoy Advance titles and use the second screen for static information on status, items, area maps etc.
As for the Oddworld series: I already ranted at length about Lorne Lanning's plans to entirely retreat from the video game market and outsource work on Oddworld-related TV shows and features to Asia. There won't be any new Oddworld games in the near future, and, worst case scenario, maybe ever again.
Amen to that. I've lost some close friends to MMO's in the past, no joke. I've seen what they can do to ppl, and if that's the future of gaming, I'll stick with the classics. I don't want monthly fees and rentals. I have access to the net, but I still read books.
I don't see the next Metroid or Zelda being an MMO, tho. There's only one Samus/Link, y'know? Nintendo has always been hesitant with multiplayer, and tho they are changing that w/ the DS and Rev, i think the next metroid and zelda will have a strong single player foundation and [maybe] simple competitive multiplay options.
Either way, if I get to actually swing Link's sword with the Rev controller, or pull back the arrow and aim...count me in! :D
The most recent versions of Metroid went multiplayer (very quietly, but they're in there). Just a hunch. Why not when there's so much money to be had.
Personally, I know that I would be hopelessly addicted to World of Warcraft or any of those. Add in that I'm paying for it and the guilt of not playing it, and I'd be lost. I'd have a hard time animating ever again with my loss of free time. Evercrack isn't too far from the truth I feel.
And yeah, typically Nintendo's gimicks fall flat, ROB, lightgun and bazooka, power glove, VRBoy, DS touch screen (it hasn't yet, but I really hated playing Metroid on it, the control was funky and it's just too small to play a 3D game on). Althought the running pad for the NES was ahead of it's time, if only they'd come up with the idea of dancing on it.... But I am looking forward to the Rev controller and swinging Link's sword, but I can't help but wonder when I'm home sick (one of my favorite times to play games) or just in general, will I want to swing all of the time? Will I miss the simple press of a button to swing the sword? Just wondering...
Maybe if the software companies realized how many people cherish the many arcade games they would wise-up and release them on console discs. Midway Arcade Classics and Namco Museum get heavy rotation on my Gamecube. I think people will pay for the games if they're available, but it's kind of shitty to expect people to search down and buy the arcade boards for exorbitant prices before they download a MAME ROM, don't you agree?
Not to mention the nintendo classic released for the GameBoy (Zelda, Ice Climber, Excite Bike, etc.) have sold pretty well considering that they're all nearly 20 years old.
I absolutely agree. More likely an option for the less honest amongst us...
Abandonware in video games has always been a huge pet peave. Newer does not always negate the value of many of classics.
And why the hell does Quicktime 6, 7 etc. not take the place of Quicktime 3! If I want to play any of the graphic adventures like Dark Eye, or Bad Mojo from the mid '90's I have to muck up my system by installing Quicktime 3!!!! I wish they'd have a little switch that when an app comes looking for v3 it says, "Sure we've got that."
The most recent versions of Metroid went multiplayer (very quietly, but they're in there). Just a hunch. Why not when there's so much money to be had.
Personally, I know that I would be hopelessly addicted to World of Warcraft or any of those. Add in that I'm paying for it and the guilt of not playing it, and I'd be lost. I'd have a hard time animating ever again with my loss of free time. Evercrack isn't too far from the truth I feel.
And yeah, typically Nintendo's gimicks fall flat, ROB, lightgun and bazooka, power glove, VRBoy, DS touch screen (it hasn't yet, but I really hated playing Metroid on it, the control was funky and it's just too small to play a 3D game on). Althought the running pad for the NES was ahead of it's time, if only they'd come up with the idea of dancing on it.... But I am looking forward to the Rev controller and swinging Link's sword, but I can't help but wonder when I'm home sick (one of my favorite times to play games) or just in general, will I want to swing all of the time? Will I miss the simple press of a button to swing the sword? Just wondering...
I think it can be operated with very little movement, like a wave or a flick of the wrist. I don't think it's meant to be used like a lightsaber (darn it).
Wade:
That's great that you guys are working so hard on actually adding character and emotion, and just plain good animation to P.O.P. :D Good animation is not something you really see in a lot of games :( I know I'm a student but sometimes I can look at a game and say to myself: MAN those characters looks stiff or that facial animation could've been done better or something else.
lol, I'm rambling on like I'm a professional which I am far from right now *sigh* .
Just curious, how long did it take to complete the animation in the whole game? I'm guessing a year or two right?
Was motion capture used at all?
James :cool:
BAH! NO TO MO-CAP!!!! I would refuse to work on any game that was to be done with mo-cap.
It took the better part of a year of solid production. There was some pre-prod time as well, done in Casablanca, and some of it was used in the final product, but not a lot, unfortunately. Much of it was overhauled.
For the facial animation, etc. in the in-game cinematics... We had high hopes of really pushing the envelope on it, but due to constraints (this is a PS2 title, which implies that we have a lot of memory constraints), we had to settle with a score of good (in my head anyways), rather than AMAZING.
Cheers
—
"Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard" - Paul Simon
Well, I am just starting to get back into games..just bought myself a sooped up PC and a PS2, so I just got "The Movies" which is really amazing for a game, if you ask me! The last time I played a video game was back in the days of Sega Genesis, so anything amuses me!
Speaking of which, may I add, the biggest LET DOWN game of all time was Ecco the Freakin Dolphin. For the time, it was the top game in terms of graphics, but for the love of god, it took me like two months to figure out all those darn puzzles and freakin octopus final boss...AND THERE IS NO ENDING! Sega invested all this time into the freakin' coral and seaweed in the background, but they couldn't give me more than "Congratulations, idiot, you just wasted your time and you suck. Game over."
I'm going to mention Shadow of the Colossus one last time- if you call yourself an "artist" or an "animator," you owe it to yourself to check that game out. Rental, purchase, whatever. Especially if you like Zelda.
Hmm... animal crossing on the DS? Does that allow for wifi connex? I'm still on Electroplankton and Advance Wars. Electroplankton is awesome, another DS title that makes you reconsider what "games" can be.
Ive heard shadow of colossus is very good. I do not have a playstation though so i cannot play it.
And yup! Animal Crossing Wild World for nintendo ds. You can get online and visit your friends towns. My bud, who lives in texas, and I, who live in Washington, have been visiting eachothers towns and exchanging fruit and items. good times.
I am very interested in Electroplankton. The only thing that turned me off though was that you cannot save your musical creations on the game. If that small feature was in it, i would probably go for it full force. But I shall hold off for a while and pick it up eventually.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
SOrry Spooze, but I cannot talk about any existence, if any, of a Prince of Persia 4. You will have to watch the press releases for upcoming titles. Sorry about that. Part of my contract is non-disclosure.
Yes, we do all the modeling and rigging as well.
As for not knowing how games are made, don't feel bad... Neither do I ;).
Cheers
Okay.
Awesome. So you guys do most of the work. That's great.
I have yet another question :rolleyes: What do you think was the hardest part of doing PoP?
I am actually surprised that nobody has yet mentioned the Prince of Persia series. Since "Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time", it has held the reputation of an industry leader for character animation.
Maybe I am just trying to blow smoke up my own arse, having just finished directing the animation for the third Prince of Persia title, "The Two Thrones"... However, I think I was able to accomplish my personal goal with this game, and that was to bring some CHARACTER to each individual enemy, and try to get out of that "cut and paste" method of animating characters which has become so popular. It seems that every character, hero or villain has the same walk cycle, same run cycle, etc. in order to save time (using character studio in 3D Max to copy the same animation onto other characters).
Anyways... As far as I am concerned, Blizzard is the industry leader for animation, with their warcraft releases, as well as starcraft. However, it is important to point out that they shine mostly with their cinematics, rather than the actual game animation. We at Ubisoft are hot on their tails though... ;)
Cheers
Here, me, I like the new PoP series! Haven't finished Warrior Within yet, though. If you run across the designer who came up with the Dahaka chases, give him an angry glare from me, please. I'm looking forward to The Two Thrones but I want to finish WW first to be able to fully get into TT's plot. Heard they wrote an intro to cover all possible endings of WW.
A German gaming mag recently wrote that if the Matrix franchise had fallen into the hands of Ubisoft's PoP crew rather than Shiny Entertainment, we could actually enjoy some good Matrix games for a change.
You gotta have a good computer for half life 2 to look as good as those pics though. I never looked and set mine for higher....just left it on default, i should see what happens if i up the graphic settings.
But it really does have a nice environment and enemies. Well worth it. I got it for only 30 bucks. pretty cheap considering most NEW and GOOD games are 50.
Another series i REALLY enjoy is the Oddworld series.
Very creative and original characters. Awesome animation. cool stories. Just an awesome and very talented group all together.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
I heard Sands of Time was the last PoP game during the production of which the original PoP creator, Jordan Mechner, served as design consultant. Did he have any direct influence at all on the production of The Two Thrones?
BTW, PoP 1 was technically all mo-cap. The tale of how Mechner made his brother jump, roll and crouch around to film him and work him into the graphics of PoP 1 is somewhat of a computer gaming industry legend from all I've read.
Animation reference shot for PoP 1.
And HEY - there is no The Two Thrones demo! I shall sulk now.
To be honest, Jabberwacky, I am not aware of the matrix license coming here to Ubisoft... I don't think it has, as Ubi is very open about all their deals, etc. (unless Ubi is just the distributor).
However, Warrior within and Two Thrones are both creative directed by the same guy... However, the Two Thrones fixed a lot of the dumb mistakes from Warrior Within this time around.
Honestly, I haev not even made it past the first boss in Warrior Within... It was so hard that I gave up and never touched the damend thing again...
;)
Enjoy the third installment!
—
"Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard" - Paul Simon
Yeah, I reinstalled Half-Life 2 after our discussion last month and enjoyed it as much as the first time I played it.
I can't think of an FPS game that has more variety.
The expansion is due out in a few months. :D
I love that they actually put in the time to create: a story, interesting puzzles that actually seem like they could happen, beautiful scenary (by beautiful I mean fantastically creepy), and good game play. Everywhere you go you feel that there's a back story for each of the environments. I'm just finishing up the dune buggy and every house along the way has thought put into why it's there and what's going on and what's been going on. Very cool.
I can definitely see that it was worth the wait. Now the question is, will Duke Nukem ever be released? And if so, will it ever be able to live up to the 10+ years of development?
For some great animations, play Prince of Persia (mentioned), .....
Yeah, the Prince of Persia series has had some of the best, most fluid animation since it's days as a bitmapped side scroller. I'm getting a new computer and can't wait to try out the newest version. I've heard that beyond being great to look at, it's a fantastic game.
Super Nintendo owners should try Out Of This World. It's an astounding videogame experience. I have never played anything like it since. It has very fluid animation and a unique visual style.
Damn, I completely forgot about Out of This World, it's been so long.
What a beautiful f**king game that was. I played it on the Mac, but it was available for nearly every gaming platform. Half-Life [1] is almost a rip-off of Out of this World. The theme of Half-Life [1] is also about a transporter that accidently sends some guy to an alien world (and vice-versa). I vaguely remember "praying" that they'd make a movie version of OOTW.
Saj, you like Out of the World. You like Ladytron. You're OK in my book.
BAH! NO TO MO-CAP!!!! I would refuse to work on any game that was to be done with mo-cap.
It took the better part of a year of solid production. There was some pre-prod time as well, done in Casablanca, and some of it was used in the final product, but not a lot, unfortunately. Much of it was overhauled.
For the facial animation, etc. in the in-game cinematics... We had high hopes of really pushing the envelope on it, but due to constraints (this is a PS2 title, which implies that we have a lot of memory constraints), we had to settle with a score of good (in my head anyways), rather than AMAZING.
Cheers
lol yeah, I hate mo-cap in games. It looks so dang stiff!!!
That's a pretty good time. What program did you use to animate btw? I'm guessing Maya....
Maybe HASH Animation Master or Poser (I'M KIDDING BTW)...
That's good that it at least has GOOD facial animation compared to none or little lol (YES! I'm talking to you Halo!!)
I am a fan of the Sierra guys. Roger Wilco/Space Quest dates back to the old dos days and was one of the first with animated segments. Grim Fandango is great, as is Gabriel Knight. But these are all mostly RPG games. Haven't played a lot since I stopped going to the Flash games at Sarbakan.
And why the hell does Quicktime 6, 7 etc. not take the place of Quicktime 3! If I want to play any of the graphic adventures like Dark Eye, or Bad Mojo from the mid '90's I have to muck up my system by installing Quicktime 3!!!! I wish they'd have a little switch that when an app comes looking for v3 it says, "Sure we've got that."
Here is what I do, I have a second hard drive. On that drive I have another operating system, so I switch to that operating system which has that older Quicktime. I just finished Beast Within and I am thinking about go back to some of the other older games I have.
Here is what I do, I have a second hard drive. On that drive I have another operating system, so I switch to that operating system which has that older Quicktime. I just finished Beast Within and I am thinking about go back to some of the other older games I have.
That's not a bad idea. I love a bunch of those early games. It is a bit of a work around for Apple forcing abandon ware on everyone though.
I forgot to mention I used to spend some hours trying to figure out the riddles of Myst, but it's probably pretty tame compared to what a lot of you play. But it was one of the first games I bought when I got my Pentium that was equipped to play full fledged graphic style games. That was back in 1999. Space Quest was my game of choice on an old 386 machine.
Methinks it is pretty clear which or our forum members are gamers... Me... Not any more. It is like working at McDonald's and going home to eat a Big Mac. I used to love games...
Only thing I ever even touch any more is World of Warcraft. It is a pretty amazing piece of work; just for the sheer attention to detail and size of the thing. The animation is not great, but still better than most titles out there now-days. It seems that normally, animation takes a bit fo a back-seat to gameplay and productivity unfortunateley. Game makers are just not as appreciative as animators are of great animation (for the most part).
—
"Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard" - Paul Simon
I'm really excited to try out the Revolution controller. That's going to be pretty badass from what I've heard.
The Rev controller's gunna be wicked. I always lean toward innovation so long as it's utilized well. The DS is a good example of this- some titles are finally coming out that show why the DS works, and why it's raping the PSP in Japan.
The Rev download service could be alright. From what I understand you can rent or buy- but it sounds like either way it'll be pay-for-play. This option is great for old/casual gamers that left when the industry was marginalized in boardrooms.
Anyone who got bored with games after the 16-bit glory days or the brainstaking SCUMM adventures... there's plenty of contemporary gaming out there that you'll love. You just have to know where to find it.
To be honest, Jabberwacky, I am not aware of the matrix license coming here to Ubisoft... I don't think it has, as Ubi is very open about all their deals, etc. (unless Ubi is just the distributor).
However, Warrior within and Two Thrones are both creative directed by the same guy... However, the Two Thrones fixed a lot of the dumb mistakes from Warrior Within this time around.
Honestly, I haev not even made it past the first boss in Warrior Within... It was so hard that I gave up and never touched the damend thing again...
;)
Enjoy the third installment!
I'm sure I will. Sadly, I had to re-install my entire Windows two weeks ago and forgot to save my Warrior Within progress first. It's back to the beginning for me.
I wouldn't call the difficulty level of Warrior Within a dumb mistake. The most unfair level design I have ever encountered in an action-adventure was the tank chase sequence near the end of Indiana Jones & The Emperor's Tomb. Pure frustration! But I beat it, just like the Sand King boss battle in Sands of Time which was rather tough on my first go, too.
I consider myself an above-average adventure gamer, skill-wise, and I enjoy cracking my teeth and noggin' on challenging battles and creative environment puzzles. Warrior Within offers plenty of both and the save and respawn points are rather fairly distributed. Owning a gamepad sure helps, though ...
Super Nintendo owners should try Out Of This World. It's an astounding videogame experience. I have never played anything like it since. It has very fluid animation and a unique visual style. Another SNES game with great animation is Earthworm Jim.
I also have a gigantic collection of ROMS. One of my favorite arcade series is the Japanese Dimahoo shooting games. They are so intense that my heart is pounding after the first level! Another great Japanese arcade is Money Puzzle Exchanger. Whenever I need a dose of sugar-coated ultra girliness, it never fails to provide. Yet another is Valkerie no Densetsu (The Legend of The Valkyrie), which has simple but charming sprite animation.
Super Nintendo - ah, that takes me back to my greasy years. Well, greasier. My brother owned one but I think I played on it more than he ever did. He sold it long ago but I still enjoy that delicious morsel of 16-bit goodness! (You know how... *wink, wink* ... oooh, we're gonna fry!) There are some amazing classics on it. A Link to the Past will always be "the" Zelda game for me. I'm very fond of Chrono Trigger, too, although the game was never officially released in Germany (see above, *wink, wink*) and I haven't beaten it to this day. (Death to Queen Zeal!)
If you're into SNES games that never made it to the US of A or Europe, try Clock Tower. It's what some call the first real survival horror game and features one of the earliest and scariest maniacal video game slashers, nine-year old Bobby Barrows, the Scissorman.
As far as animation is concerned, the Earthworm Jim games are definitely worth a look. It's thanks to them I got interested in Doug TenNaple's work. Too bad TenNaple's creative niche is occupied by the über-father of mainstream absurdity, Tim Burton. TenNaple sure could give Burton a run for his money.That guy is as weird as storytellers get, and a top notch comic book artist, painter and animator!
lol yeah, I hate mo-cap in games. It looks so dang stiff!!!
That's a pretty good time. What program did you use to animate btw? I'm guessing Maya....
Maybe HASH Animation Master or Poser (I'M KIDDING BTW)...
That's good that it at least has GOOD facial animation compared to none or little lol (YES! I'm talking to you Halo!!)
James :cool:
Hahahahaha... No, not Hash or Poser. We worked with 3DS Max 7. Not my choice of packages due to a lot of bugs, but for game animation, it steps up productivity a GREAT DEAL, through the use of Character Studio. One can make a decent walk cycle in less than an hour using all the copy/paste (and the ever-handy paste opposite) features. NOw the Max 8 appears to have fewer bugs, and better control over Character Studio, but I have yet to try it.
Cheers
—
"Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard" - Paul Simon
It seems that normally, animation takes a bit fo a back-seat to gameplay and productivity unfortunateley. Game makers are just not as appreciative as animators are of great animation (for the most part).
Don't feel bad. About once a year, I play a truly great game, but it'll still be all about graphics for quite a long time to come.
I think the fact that I enjoy Tempest so much even though it's so basic is akin to getting a kid a Power Wheel and watching him spend 3 days in the cardboard box pretending it's a castle.
I just finished Best Within, after finding a patch. I was playing Splinter Cell but I can not find the interest in going back and finishing the game. Too bad for me, I only had one level left to go. :(
I couldn't play more than an hour worth of Psychonauts. It's the type of design I'd rather see in cartoons than in video games. The level I played made it seem like one of those jumping and "coin" collecting games like Mario, which can get tedious. Most reviewers seem to love this game though. Maybe I just didn't give it enough of a chance. :confused:
Psychonauts is kind of a...."im a true gamer give me something new" kind of thing with still being the classic platformer. It is more for people who want to see original art and humorous events.
When this game came out there was a real strong opinion among reviewers and fans that games were all the same. Big titles is all that were made. FPS games and sequels ruled the markets. So Psychonauts was "refreshing"
I do like the characters and it probably isnt a BAD game, but i played it for a bit and didnt really care too much about buying it. Im sure if your 13 and under its a great game though.
...........
Does anybody here have a Nintendo DS? ive been playing Kirby Canvas Curse and it is truely the most innovative game in a looooong time.
Using the touch screen you draw lines to manouver kirby around the world and tap him to make him attack. It is really fun flying kirby around with lines. It really is a must have for any DS owner and people who want to experience Nintendos Revolution.
Because their revolution doesnt start with their next system....the DS is the first step. and its a good step.
...........
and you know? i had the same feeling with splinter cell. I loved it, it was awesome then i got sidetracked and stopped playing it for a while and didnt really care to go back. But one day i just did....and i felt the same love for it again. I still have that feeling of "meh"ness because i have still yet to buy the sequal or the third...I really did enjoy the first one though and was quite happy with the downloadable levels.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
I had one opportunity to play a 3D Kirby game, and aside from being simple and cute, it was UNCANNY how into the game I got. It's well-rounded and pretty much pure arcade goodness.
The animation is not great, but still better than most titles out there now-days. It seems that normally, animation takes a bit fo a back-seat to gameplay and productivity unfortunateley. Game makers are just not as appreciative as animators are of great animation (for the most part).
Isn't that the way it should be? Same with films. Everyone complains about not enough story (or gameplay in the case of games). Spending more time (ie. money) on animation than gameplay is missing the point of making the game in the first place.
That's of course not to say that animation isn't an important aspect of the end product. It just isn't the most important part. Over the years I've seen plenty of games put more time in on graphics and come out with a crappy game and it only takes a few seconds to find out it looks nice but is a stinker, and I've spent many an hour on games that are butt ugly but a blast to play.
I imagine as the game industry continues to grow and the technology continues to expand allowing better in game animation, it will start to attract the animators away from the lure of places like Pixar and PDI, especially as the games start to surpass the noteriety normally associated with movies. I know of a number of people that pass frequently from VFX house to game house. Sony and Lucas Film (with their new business structure in the Presidio) are already starting to blur the lines between those who work in film and those who work in games. The next few years should prove to be especially mind blowing when it comes to visuals in games.
I've been yearning for a good FPS game lately, I may check out Half-Life 2 if I find it at a decent price.
That City Life game looks pretty cool, is it as involved as Sim City is?
I've always been a fan of the Castlevania series of games, from the original NES all the way to the latest one on the DS (well, except for the N64 ones - those sucked). Ever since Symphony of the Night changed the side-scroller to a more explorative game, that series has really blossomed.
I'm mainly playing World of Warcraft lately, but I really enjoyed City of Heroes. It was a fantastic MMORPG for a while, but after they shelved their crafting system, I lost interest in it. But if you're bored with the usual fantasy-based online game, definitely check out CoH and try out your heroic might (of play its sister game, City of Villains, and wreak havok).
Has anyone seen the latest E3 coverage of the Nintendo Wii (Revolution)? It looks absolutely awesome. It's gotten me interested in getting a gaming console again.
I used to love point 'n' click adventures, the games Lucasfilm/LucasArts made during the 90s in particular. Whatever happened to LucasArts anyway? Looks as thoug all they can do these days is have third party developers churn out mediocre Star Wars franchise games.
I'll probably be playing Guild Wars as of tomorrow.
I also like all kinds of pirate-themed games, Sid Meier's Pirates! Secret of Monkey Island and Tropico 2: Pirate Cove.
Don't forget Animal Crossing! I played that game for a few months before I realized it was a game about doing chores!
My favorite game EVER is "Skullmonkeys" made by the same guys who did earthworm Jim. This game is hilarious, all claymation looking, and the animated sequences are ridiculously funny.
My second favorite game ever... no it's my favorite, I love "Tetrix".
Don't do nothing because you can't do everything.
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On the next nintendo console they are going to provide an online service which will supposedly allow you to download every nintendo game from NES to the N64.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
lol Grim Fandango, that is still one of my favourite games ever. I've been waiting around fo a sequel, but sadly i doubt there will ever be one.
Games hmmm, anything by Naughty Dog, Jason Rubin and Andy Gavin are gods in this industry. Everything about their games are perfect, especially the animation. The graphics don't boast the visual intensity of Metal Gear Solid 3, but their animation is top notch.
If the graphics weren't so outdated, I would probably select Grim Fandango as the answer to the question, [i]"What game would you recommend to people who hate video games?"
[/i]It's still enjoyable though. I recently reinstalled it.
http://www.lucasarts.com/products/grim/
Grim Fandango designer, Tim Schafer, recently created the game Psychonauts, which has been described as a combination between the movie Tron and the cartoon characters of Tim Burton. Thematically, it also reminds me of the movie, Dreamscape.
http://www.psychonauts.com/
Hello! I'm new to the forums, but I'm a pretty hardcore gamer so I figured I'd chime in.
I've missed the whole Oddworld series- it seems everyone who plays them loves the characters and strange puzzles. I'll check it out.
I've gotta throw Shadow of the Colossus out there- it is simply the most gorgeous and refreshing gaming experience I had in '05. I expected nothing less from the designer of ICO. How the team got realtime motion blur out of the PS2 is beyond me. The character animation is solid, the bosses are GIGANTOUS, but the most impressive thing for me was the riding. Animating horses is madness, pulling it off in a seamless 3-d landscape is all the more breathtaking.
Then again, I never played Ocarina of Time- *ducks* -but I have the collector's disc for the cube and plan on it when I have time.
Beyond Good and Evil had great animation and story as well, despite being too short.
The ending might make it hard to develop a sequel with that -exact- cast, but if they decided to make a features based off of GF I would pay top dollar to see it. Then again, the low quality almost adds to a sense of abstracted design, so for example in the movie I don't know if I'd want super-polished uber-curvaceous textured skull. Then the question is, why not just watch the game and pretend you're not choosing the responses hehe
I tried the demo for Psychonauts but rather than give an option for reduced-quality graphics it locks you out if you don't have "pixel shader" support on your graphics card. Just missed, apparently, with a GeForce 4 MX...
I couldn't play more than an hour worth of Psychonauts. It's the type of design I'd rather see in cartoons than in video games. The level I played made it seem like one of those jumping and "coin" collecting games like Mario, which can get tedious. Most reviewers seem to love this game though. Maybe I just didn't give it enough of a chance. :confused:
The most impressive new game that I've played recently is probably F.E.A.R. which is sort of like a combo of The Matrix, The Ring, and every FPS game you've ever played.
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/fear/review.html?mode=web
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Yeah, but many third party developers seem to have a hard time coming up with witty game concepts supporting new controllers' possibilities. Just look at the majority of GameBoy DS titles. What many developers do is just convert their GameBoy Advance titles and use the second screen for static information on status, items, area maps etc.
As for the Oddworld series: I already ranted at length about Lorne Lanning's plans to entirely retreat from the video game market and outsource work on Oddworld-related TV shows and features to Asia. There won't be any new Oddworld games in the near future, and, worst case scenario, maybe ever again.
The most recent versions of Metroid went multiplayer (very quietly, but they're in there). Just a hunch. Why not when there's so much money to be had.
Personally, I know that I would be hopelessly addicted to World of Warcraft or any of those. Add in that I'm paying for it and the guilt of not playing it, and I'd be lost. I'd have a hard time animating ever again with my loss of free time. Evercrack isn't too far from the truth I feel.
And yeah, typically Nintendo's gimicks fall flat, ROB, lightgun and bazooka, power glove, VRBoy, DS touch screen (it hasn't yet, but I really hated playing Metroid on it, the control was funky and it's just too small to play a 3D game on). Althought the running pad for the NES was ahead of it's time, if only they'd come up with the idea of dancing on it.... But I am looking forward to the Rev controller and swinging Link's sword, but I can't help but wonder when I'm home sick (one of my favorite times to play games) or just in general, will I want to swing all of the time? Will I miss the simple press of a button to swing the sword? Just wondering...
Producing solidily ok animation since 2001.
www.galaxy12.com
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Not to mention the nintendo classic released for the GameBoy (Zelda, Ice Climber, Excite Bike, etc.) have sold pretty well considering that they're all nearly 20 years old.
I absolutely agree. More likely an option for the less honest amongst us...
Abandonware in video games has always been a huge pet peave. Newer does not always negate the value of many of classics.
And why the hell does Quicktime 6, 7 etc. not take the place of Quicktime 3! If I want to play any of the graphic adventures like Dark Eye, or Bad Mojo from the mid '90's I have to muck up my system by installing Quicktime 3!!!! I wish they'd have a little switch that when an app comes looking for v3 it says, "Sure we've got that."
Producing solidily ok animation since 2001.
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Now with more doodling!
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I think it can be operated with very little movement, like a wave or a flick of the wrist. I don't think it's meant to be used like a lightsaber (darn it).
BAH! NO TO MO-CAP!!!! I would refuse to work on any game that was to be done with mo-cap.
It took the better part of a year of solid production. There was some pre-prod time as well, done in Casablanca, and some of it was used in the final product, but not a lot, unfortunately. Much of it was overhauled.
For the facial animation, etc. in the in-game cinematics... We had high hopes of really pushing the envelope on it, but due to constraints (this is a PS2 title, which implies that we have a lot of memory constraints), we had to settle with a score of good (in my head anyways), rather than AMAZING.
Cheers
"Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard" - Paul Simon
Well, I am just starting to get back into games..just bought myself a sooped up PC and a PS2, so I just got "The Movies" which is really amazing for a game, if you ask me! The last time I played a video game was back in the days of Sega Genesis, so anything amuses me!
Speaking of which, may I add, the biggest LET DOWN game of all time was Ecco the Freakin Dolphin. For the time, it was the top game in terms of graphics, but for the love of god, it took me like two months to figure out all those darn puzzles and freakin octopus final boss...AND THERE IS NO ENDING! Sega invested all this time into the freakin' coral and seaweed in the background, but they couldn't give me more than "Congratulations, idiot, you just wasted your time and you suck. Game over."
PS: I agree, ToeJam and Earl rules.
For some great animations, play Prince of Persia (mentioned), Ninja Gaiden, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath or Psychonauts.
And if you just want to see something cool, go watch someone good play Geometry Wars 2 on the 360.
Scattered, it's like Tempest on speed. Even has the same avatar.
I'm going to mention Shadow of the Colossus one last time- if you call yourself an "artist" or an "animator," you owe it to yourself to check that game out. Rental, purchase, whatever. Especially if you like Zelda.
Hmm... animal crossing on the DS? Does that allow for wifi connex? I'm still on Electroplankton and Advance Wars. Electroplankton is awesome, another DS title that makes you reconsider what "games" can be.
Ive heard shadow of colossus is very good. I do not have a playstation though so i cannot play it.
And yup! Animal Crossing Wild World for nintendo ds. You can get online and visit your friends towns. My bud, who lives in texas, and I, who live in Washington, have been visiting eachothers towns and exchanging fruit and items. good times.
I am very interested in Electroplankton. The only thing that turned me off though was that you cannot save your musical creations on the game. If that small feature was in it, i would probably go for it full force. But I shall hold off for a while and pick it up eventually.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
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Okay.
Awesome. So you guys do most of the work. That's great.
I have yet another question :rolleyes: What do you think was the hardest part of doing PoP?
James :cool:
Here, me, I like the new PoP series! Haven't finished Warrior Within yet, though. If you run across the designer who came up with the Dahaka chases, give him an angry glare from me, please. I'm looking forward to The Two Thrones but I want to finish WW first to be able to fully get into TT's plot. Heard they wrote an intro to cover all possible endings of WW.
A German gaming mag recently wrote that if the Matrix franchise had fallen into the hands of Ubisoft's PoP crew rather than Shiny Entertainment, we could actually enjoy some good Matrix games for a change.
You gotta have a good computer for half life 2 to look as good as those pics though. I never looked and set mine for higher....just left it on default, i should see what happens if i up the graphic settings.
But it really does have a nice environment and enemies. Well worth it. I got it for only 30 bucks. pretty cheap considering most NEW and GOOD games are 50.
Another series i REALLY enjoy is the Oddworld series.
Very creative and original characters. Awesome animation. cool stories. Just an awesome and very talented group all together.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
I played the demo and the art work in this game is sweet.
May I just say that this is one of the coolest, surprisingly non-argumentative threads we've had here in a while? Very cool.
And good luck, Wade. It's about time someone here started getting some awards ;)
Producing solidily ok animation since 2001.
www.galaxy12.com
Now with more doodling!
www.galaxy12.com/latenight
I heard Sands of Time was the last PoP game during the production of which the original PoP creator, Jordan Mechner, served as design consultant. Did he have any direct influence at all on the production of The Two Thrones?
BTW, PoP 1 was technically all mo-cap. The tale of how Mechner made his brother jump, roll and crouch around to film him and work him into the graphics of PoP 1 is somewhat of a computer gaming industry legend from all I've read.
Animation reference shot for PoP 1.
And HEY - there is no The Two Thrones demo! I shall sulk now.
earthworm jim 1 & 2.
the 2d animation in that game was ahead of it's time. I remember i used to play it just to ogle the graphics.
jak and daxter 2 & 3 are really good too. almost movie quality animation
http://ben-reynolds.com
Animation and Design
To be honest, Jabberwacky, I am not aware of the matrix license coming here to Ubisoft... I don't think it has, as Ubi is very open about all their deals, etc. (unless Ubi is just the distributor).
However, Warrior within and Two Thrones are both creative directed by the same guy... However, the Two Thrones fixed a lot of the dumb mistakes from Warrior Within this time around.
Honestly, I haev not even made it past the first boss in Warrior Within... It was so hard that I gave up and never touched the damend thing again...
;)
Enjoy the third installment!
"Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard" - Paul Simon
I love that they actually put in the time to create: a story, interesting puzzles that actually seem like they could happen, beautiful scenary (by beautiful I mean fantastically creepy), and good game play. Everywhere you go you feel that there's a back story for each of the environments. I'm just finishing up the dune buggy and every house along the way has thought put into why it's there and what's going on and what's been going on. Very cool.
I can definitely see that it was worth the wait. Now the question is, will Duke Nukem ever be released? And if so, will it ever be able to live up to the 10+ years of development?
Producing solidily ok animation since 2001.
www.galaxy12.com
Now with more doodling!
www.galaxy12.com/latenight
Yeah, the Prince of Persia series has had some of the best, most fluid animation since it's days as a bitmapped side scroller. I'm getting a new computer and can't wait to try out the newest version. I've heard that beyond being great to look at, it's a fantastic game.
Producing solidily ok animation since 2001.
www.galaxy12.com
Now with more doodling!
www.galaxy12.com/latenight
Damn, I completely forgot about Out of This World, it's been so long.
What a beautiful f**king game that was. I played it on the Mac, but it was available for nearly every gaming platform.
Half-Life [1] is almost a rip-off of Out of this World. The theme of Half-Life [1] is also about a transporter that accidently sends some guy to an alien world (and vice-versa). I vaguely remember "praying" that they'd make a movie version of OOTW.
Saj, you like Out of the World. You like Ladytron. You're OK in my book.
lol yeah, I hate mo-cap in games. It looks so dang stiff!!!
That's a pretty good time. What program did you use to animate btw? I'm guessing Maya....
Maybe HASH Animation Master or Poser (I'M KIDDING BTW)...
That's good that it at least has GOOD facial animation compared to none or little lol (YES! I'm talking to you Halo!!)
James :cool:
I am a fan of the Sierra guys. Roger Wilco/Space Quest dates back to the old dos days and was one of the first with animated segments. Grim Fandango is great, as is Gabriel Knight. But these are all mostly RPG games. Haven't played a lot since I stopped going to the Flash games at Sarbakan.
http://www.sarbakan.com/index.php
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
Here is what I do, I have a second hard drive. On that drive I have another operating system, so I switch to that operating system which has that older Quicktime. I just finished Beast Within and I am thinking about go back to some of the other older games I have.
That's not a bad idea. I love a bunch of those early games. It is a bit of a work around for Apple forcing abandon ware on everyone though.
Producing solidily ok animation since 2001.
www.galaxy12.com
Now with more doodling!
www.galaxy12.com/latenight
I forgot to mention I used to spend some hours trying to figure out the riddles of Myst, but it's probably pretty tame compared to what a lot of you play. But it was one of the first games I bought when I got my Pentium that was equipped to play full fledged graphic style games. That was back in 1999. Space Quest was my game of choice on an old 386 machine.
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
It's going to be a close race with all the quality this year. Good luck!
When are the awards? Are they broadcast on the net?
Methinks it is pretty clear which or our forum members are gamers... Me... Not any more. It is like working at McDonald's and going home to eat a Big Mac. I used to love games...
Only thing I ever even touch any more is World of Warcraft. It is a pretty amazing piece of work; just for the sheer attention to detail and size of the thing. The animation is not great, but still better than most titles out there now-days. It seems that normally, animation takes a bit fo a back-seat to gameplay and productivity unfortunateley. Game makers are just not as appreciative as animators are of great animation (for the most part).
"Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard" - Paul Simon
The Rev controller's gunna be wicked. I always lean toward innovation so long as it's utilized well. The DS is a good example of this- some titles are finally coming out that show why the DS works, and why it's raping the PSP in Japan.
The Rev download service could be alright. From what I understand you can rent or buy- but it sounds like either way it'll be pay-for-play. This option is great for old/casual gamers that left when the industry was marginalized in boardrooms.
Anyone who got bored with games after the 16-bit glory days or the brainstaking SCUMM adventures... there's plenty of contemporary gaming out there that you'll love. You just have to know where to find it.
As for MAME: http://www.1980-games.com/us/ It's easier [and legal,] unless you want your fullscreen and freezes.
I'm sure I will. Sadly, I had to re-install my entire Windows two weeks ago and forgot to save my Warrior Within progress first. It's back to the beginning for me.
I wouldn't call the difficulty level of Warrior Within a dumb mistake. The most unfair level design I have ever encountered in an action-adventure was the tank chase sequence near the end of Indiana Jones & The Emperor's Tomb. Pure frustration! But I beat it, just like the Sand King boss battle in Sands of Time which was rather tough on my first go, too.
I consider myself an above-average adventure gamer, skill-wise, and I enjoy cracking my teeth and noggin' on challenging battles and creative environment puzzles. Warrior Within offers plenty of both and the save and respawn points are rather fairly distributed. Owning a gamepad sure helps, though ...
Super Nintendo - ah, that takes me back to my greasy years. Well, greasier. My brother owned one but I think I played on it more than he ever did. He sold it long ago but I still enjoy that delicious morsel of 16-bit goodness! (You know how... *wink, wink* ... oooh, we're gonna fry!) There are some amazing classics on it. A Link to the Past will always be "the" Zelda game for me. I'm very fond of Chrono Trigger, too, although the game was never officially released in Germany (see above, *wink, wink*) and I haven't beaten it to this day. (Death to Queen Zeal!)
If you're into SNES games that never made it to the US of A or Europe, try Clock Tower. It's what some call the first real survival horror game and features one of the earliest and scariest maniacal video game slashers, nine-year old Bobby Barrows, the Scissorman.
As far as animation is concerned, the Earthworm Jim games are definitely worth a look. It's thanks to them I got interested in Doug TenNaple's work. Too bad TenNaple's creative niche is occupied by the über-father of mainstream absurdity, Tim Burton. TenNaple sure could give Burton a run for his money.That guy is as weird as storytellers get, and a top notch comic book artist, painter and animator!
Hahahahaha... No, not Hash or Poser. We worked with 3DS Max 7. Not my choice of packages due to a lot of bugs, but for game animation, it steps up productivity a GREAT DEAL, through the use of Character Studio. One can make a decent walk cycle in less than an hour using all the copy/paste (and the ever-handy paste opposite) features. NOw the Max 8 appears to have fewer bugs, and better control over Character Studio, but I have yet to try it.
Cheers
"Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard" - Paul Simon
There's a demo of The Two Thrones? TO THE JAB-CAVE!
Don't feel bad. About once a year, I play a truly great game, but it'll still be all about graphics for quite a long time to come.
I think the fact that I enjoy Tempest so much even though it's so basic is akin to getting a kid a Power Wheel and watching him spend 3 days in the cardboard box pretending it's a castle.
I just finished Best Within, after finding a patch. I was playing Splinter Cell but I can not find the interest in going back and finishing the game. Too bad for me, I only had one level left to go. :(
Psychonauts is kind of a...."im a true gamer give me something new" kind of thing with still being the classic platformer. It is more for people who want to see original art and humorous events.
When this game came out there was a real strong opinion among reviewers and fans that games were all the same. Big titles is all that were made. FPS games and sequels ruled the markets. So Psychonauts was "refreshing"
I do like the characters and it probably isnt a BAD game, but i played it for a bit and didnt really care too much about buying it. Im sure if your 13 and under its a great game though.
...........
Does anybody here have a Nintendo DS? ive been playing Kirby Canvas Curse and it is truely the most innovative game in a looooong time.
Using the touch screen you draw lines to manouver kirby around the world and tap him to make him attack. It is really fun flying kirby around with lines. It really is a must have for any DS owner and people who want to experience Nintendos Revolution.
Because their revolution doesnt start with their next system....the DS is the first step. and its a good step.
...........
and you know? i had the same feeling with splinter cell. I loved it, it was awesome then i got sidetracked and stopped playing it for a while and didnt really care to go back. But one day i just did....and i felt the same love for it again. I still have that feeling of "meh"ness because i have still yet to buy the sequal or the third...I really did enjoy the first one though and was quite happy with the downloadable levels.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
I had one opportunity to play a 3D Kirby game, and aside from being simple and cute, it was UNCANNY how into the game I got. It's well-rounded and pretty much pure arcade goodness.
Isn't that the way it should be? Same with films. Everyone complains about not enough story (or gameplay in the case of games). Spending more time (ie. money) on animation than gameplay is missing the point of making the game in the first place.
That's of course not to say that animation isn't an important aspect of the end product. It just isn't the most important part. Over the years I've seen plenty of games put more time in on graphics and come out with a crappy game and it only takes a few seconds to find out it looks nice but is a stinker, and I've spent many an hour on games that are butt ugly but a blast to play.
I imagine as the game industry continues to grow and the technology continues to expand allowing better in game animation, it will start to attract the animators away from the lure of places like Pixar and PDI, especially as the games start to surpass the noteriety normally associated with movies. I know of a number of people that pass frequently from VFX house to game house. Sony and Lucas Film (with their new business structure in the Presidio) are already starting to blur the lines between those who work in film and those who work in games. The next few years should prove to be especially mind blowing when it comes to visuals in games.
Producing solidily ok animation since 2001.
www.galaxy12.com
Now with more doodling!
www.galaxy12.com/latenight
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