Crytek CEO says Graphics are "60% of the game"

[sa547]

http://www.x360magazine.com/general/...0-of-the-game/

“In Crysis 3 it’s the grass and the vegetation, the way the physics runs the grass interact and sways them in the wind. You can read when an AI enemy is running towards you just by observing the way the grass blades.

“Graphics, whether it’s lighting or shadows, puts you in a different emotional context and drives the immersion.”

“And immersion is effectively the number one thing we can use to help you buy into the world.”

“The better the graphics, the better the physics, the better the sound design, the better the technical assets and production values are – paired with the art direction, making things look spectacular and stylistic is 60 per cent of the game.”

You wonder why the PSP and the DS outsold consoles in Japan (it's portable, hassle-free, can communicate with others, and the games are more engaging), and that Minecraft is very widespread than a FPS shooter (perhaps even more than the CoD series). I'd say that content, especially storytelling, matters more than trying to push the limits of graphical hardware.

A very good and memorable game need not to possess much eye-candy, and personally, I hate upgrade hell.

[synaesthetic]

I'll just leave this here:

http://www.notenoughshaders.com/2012...all-of-gaming/

Crytek's CEO is part of the problem--the huge, huge problem that may end up killing the gaming industry.

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

Polygons are emotions.

/snicker.

[Terrestrial Dream]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

I'll just leave this here:

http://www.notenoughshaders.com/2012...all-of-gaming/

Crytek's CEO is part of the problem--the huge, huge problem that may end up killing the gaming industry.

This is why I appreciated the direction Nintendo was taking. The power route can get you so far, and the rising cost of game production is further limiting gaming industry as whole. Towards the end of this generation we been getting tons of sequels after sequels. At this point the creativity in gaming industry is going to be like Hollywood.

[sa547]

I bet my left lung that handhelds and smartphones will be more profitable and cost-effective to develop games for them than consoles.

I think most people will want to play games that are genuinely entertaining than to play a game of "keeping up with the Joneses" by measuring how much graphical penor one has.

Also, I've seen some games that demanded so much high-end hardware, played once and then uninstalled. (In one forum, there was this guy who was said to have bought a US$5000 gaming PC for the sake of playing Crysis at maximum settings, and now he uses it to browse Facebook.)

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

^^ I've done that plenty, hell half those I never finished.

[aeriolewinters]

I think the 'latest and greatest' mentality is spearheading this, which is a damn shame.

[Alchemist007]

Games are meant to be played. Visuals are meant to be seen. While one may complement the other, you don't PLAY graphics. I've replayed Sonic 3 a million times. I've played Crysis 1-2 once ever.

[sa547]

Originally Posted by Alchemist007

Games are meant to be played. Visuals are meant to be seen. While one may complement the other, you don't PLAY graphics. I've replayed Sonic 3 a million times. I've played Crysis 1-2 once ever.

With an FPS shooter, you actually pay more attention to killing a tango than gawk at the scenery (which is why I lower down the resolution); the truth is that they're played once or twice then uninstalled.

About the only large game that's installed in my PC is Skyrim, but I need not to push my system to the graphical limit just to enjoy it because what mattered more was gameplay and customizable/user-generated content.

Oh, just to note, the Crytek guy seem to have forgotten that the gaming industry is on a very hard downturn -- it's almost 1983 again -- with companies shutting down, merging, or reallocating resources, and in turn, the PC industry is also facing some losses over the years as the popularity of smartphones and tablets are outselling desktops and laptops, so they're forced to concentrate on gaming hardware, which they still think as most profitable.

[creb]

The issue is that "video game" encompasses a far larger spectrum than it used to. Most hugely successful "indie" games with shoestring budgets might be pushing the industry, but personally, I don't find those types of games remotely compelling (Minecraft, etc).

So, the argument that because "games" like those are what's "popular", that's where the industry should be headed, isn't one I particularly share.

I've never held the opinion that popularity necessarily correlates to quality/enjoyment/whatever metric one wants to use, because popularity-as a metric-without secondary variables (price, for instance), seems far too ambiguous to base any conclusions off of.

So, while graphics alone certainly aren't going to sell me on a video game, I think the greater spirit of what he's saying, which is essentially a dis on indie/small house games, I tend to agree with, even as I personally also dislike Crysis.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Isn't this the same guy who wants to abolish single player campagins and make them require internet connection?

[synaesthetic]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

Isn't this the same guy who wants to abolish single player campagins and make them require internet connection?

There never seems to be a shortage of colossal dickbags in the gaming industry.

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

I'll just leave this here:

http://www.notenoughshaders.com/2012...all-of-gaming/

Crytek's CEO is part of the problem--the huge, huge problem that may end up killing the gaming industry.

somewhat related: Success vs Sales

I know Jim can be pretty polarizing, but he does have a good point this time I think. I'm sure the whole situation could be summed up with an apt analogy involving quicksand, and trying to force things to hard.

[sa547]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

Isn't this the same guy who wants to abolish single player campagins and make them require internet connection?

Oh boy, some of these types seem to be more concerned about asking the gullible to throw money at them. Looks like greed has taken hold.

[cronnoponno]

I work at a Gamestop, I can't pitch an RPG to anyone because the first thing they say is ''Wow the graphics are shit, I'm not playing that''. ''I just wanna kill shit you know? I hate it when games just talk to me and talk to me''. Ect.


To this day I have never once been able to talk about an RPG or other ''non mainstream brainwash game'' whatever you want to say to a customer, with the exception of Dark Souls and Persona and Persona is already popular and speaks for itself, Dark Souls hides it's story and doesn't talk to you that much so you don't NEED to worry about the story if you don't want, ect.


I know my Gamestop isn't the center of the world, but it's pretty heartwrenching to have a little less than 10 people reserve Tales of Graces F, and then have so many Call of Duty black ops II reserves that the line exceeds throughout the entire store into the streets on the midnight release and is even worse the next day.

[synaesthetic]

The bro gamers and publishers are going to cause a repeat of Atari in the 80s.

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

That probably comes down to one part marketing (BlOps2 probably had at least 10x the amount of Tales), and one part... demographic? People want instant satisfaction these days, it's why RPG's have become more... action-y over the years. People born the last 15-ish years, don't have the patience (or imagination) to pick away at stuff like older gamers. Pretty good reason for that would be a comparison to how we live these days and how abundant things are compared to days of yore. Another part would be how guns and military 'pr0n' are quite mainstream and are generally hero worshiped in some places.

[synaesthetic]

The trend for RPGs becoming more actiony is more a case of technology marching on. Back in the 80s and 90s, MMOs tended to be turn-based and lots and lots of dice rolls because that's all the tech could handle.

Now we've got physics engines and nice graphics engines, so we can do more action-oriented RPGs where the player feels much more immersed and invested into the game when they can physically dodge an attack rather than watching a dice roll come up.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by cronnoponno

I work at a Gamestop, I can't pitch an RPG to anyone because the first thing they say is ''Wow the graphics are shit, I'm not playing that''. ''I just wanna kill shit you know? I hate it when games just talk to me and talk to me''. Ect.


To this day I have never once been able to talk about an RPG or other ''non mainstream brainwash game'' whatever you want to say to a customer, with the exception of Dark Souls and Persona and Persona is already popular and speaks for itself, Dark Souls hides it's story and doesn't talk to you that much so you don't NEED to worry about the story if you don't want, ect.


I know my Gamestop isn't the center of the world, but it's pretty heartwrenching to have a little less than 10 people reserve Tales of Graces F, and then have so many Call of Duty black ops II reserves that the line exceeds throughout the entire store into the streets on the midnight release and is even worse the next day.

Welcome to the Idiocracy? I'd smilie here except that most days it just depresses me to deal with Average Public, even Average Gamer Public.

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

The trend for RPGs becoming more actiony is more a case of technology marching on. Back in the 80s and 90s, MMOs tended to be turn-based and lots and lots of dice rolls because that's all the tech could handle.

Now we've got physics engines and nice graphics engines, so we can do more action-oriented RPGs where the player feels much more immersed and invested into the game when they can physically dodge an attack rather than watching a dice roll come up.

Well, that is true, and I'm not one to begrudge something immersive like Skyrim. But some of these 'action' RPGs are just woeful. I'd provide some examples but all I can think of is DA2 which isn't really an action RPG (but still a lazily put together game).