Thoughts on graphics

[SonowRaevius]

Just a question that popped in my head and wanted to see what others thought on the subject as well.

 

[Jayro]

I definitely feel that graphics are becoming nigh after this generation. When the OG Xbox came out, I was truly blown away how we went from N64 to THAT in one generation. We don't see those large generational leaps anymore, and even less thanks to mid-console-life upgrades.

 

[hippy dave]

Graphics are good because otherwise I can't see what's happening in the game.

 

[The Catboy]

I don’t think graphic have peaked but I do think they’ve dragged development back and drove up prices. Games have become so focused on graphics that we’ve largely stopped asking if they were fun. So now we have games that look amazing but are boring as fuck.

 

[AncientBoi]

I'm on the fence for this topic.

The only thing I need from the graphics, is the accuracy I can shoot in FPS games.

Meaning where they put the Hotspot for aiming. Sometimes they are a little off from where I put the retricule.

Other than that, I think they're fine.

 

[Jayro]

Graphically speaking, I think hitboxes should be redesigned to be exact polygon doubles of the 3D model, so there's no "invisible bullshit" that earns you a free kill.
Examples here are bad hitboxes vs good hitboxes:


BAD hitboxes:



GOOD hitboxes:



As you can see by the examples above, neither one is an exact polygon double of the model, but the GOOD hitbox example is much closer to being so. There's far less corners sticking out to give players kills when the bullets didn't even hit the model.

 

[Veho]

Graphics are nice and all, but quite often the industry (publishers, devs and gamers) favor them at the expense of other parts of the game. Usually physics.

But there's still room for improvement, because even the latest, most advanced, most expensive mo-cap character models are still uncanny valley as fuck.

I think there's a dead heat between screen size / resolution and graphics hardware. Each new console generation has exponentially faster/better/stronger hardware, but the screen resolution also grows in that same period and merely keeping up is a chore in itself. "Our new graphics hardware has 4K output!" "Um, that's like so last Tuesday, 12K is the new standard, get with the program." And games spend so much time and GPU chasing the resolution that everything else suffers.

 

[AncientBoi]

Graphically speaking, I think hitboxes should be redesigned to be exact polygon doubles of the 3D model, so there's no "invisible bullshit" that earns you a free kill.
Examples here are bad hitboxes vs good hitboxes:


BAD hitboxes:
View attachment 342737


GOOD hitboxes:
View attachment 342738


As you can see by the examples above, neither one is an exact polygon double of the model, but the GOOD hitbox example is much closer to being so. There's far less corners sticking out to give players kills when the bullets didn't even hit the model.

Being a war vet, I earned my expert rifleman's badge, as we were pinned down by a sniper. I was tasked to take him down. I sort of failed, I shot at him, which made him move his position. Later we found out he captured and was cussing at whomever got him in the ear. They all looked at me.

 

[Jayro]

Being a war vet, I earned my expert rifleman's badge, as we were pinned down by a sniper. I was tasked to take him down. I sort of failed, I shot at him, which made him move his position. Later we found out he captured and was cussing at whomever got him in the ear. They all looked at me.

That's amazing, good job!

 

[CoolMe]

The only thing I need from the graphics, is the accuracy I can shoot in FPS games.

Meaning where they put the Hotspot for aiming. Sometimes they are a little off from where I put the retricule.

Yea, i mean the PSP was the best for that.
===
As for the graphics approaching their limit, not even close. While the superficial stuff like the character models, objects, buildings & environments etc. now have millions & millions of polygons on the outside, what about their function, physics & realism when it comes to, for example : shooting a character in the arm, do you see blood flowing out of his arms like irl? Or the character itself struggling to move in a realistic way? We're no where near close..
What about AI and their thinking & strategizing? Whether they're supposed to be enemies or comrades in the game, they act and do whatever they're programed to do, they can't act or think on their own? Like how to approach a situation in-game, whether to kill you someone (outside the story).. You think that has nothing to do with "graphics" but it does, in each new gaming generation there's advancement in both graphical fidelity as well as improved AI (and other technical stuff)..

There'll be a time when every building is explorable, every npc can think for itself with its own sense of right & wrong, but it will take some time to get there unfortunately..
And i skipped over the part where consoles, investors, publishers or whatever holding back gaming advancements, although it is true in some sense.. Like why does each new generation take 4/5 years - i know that 8th gen took way longer than that as well as 7th gen- instead of being ~2 or 3 years? I know that devs need time to get accustomed to the game engine, to optimize their games efficiently etc. But now consoles are close to pcs when it comes to graphical power, it shouldn't be that big of a problem as it was decades ago? So devs are just lazy, overworked or whatever?

 

[harryyan]

(edited)