Where to Next for the M&M Franchise?

[hellegennes]

Yes they look pretty , but that matters because there is limit that such graphic can achieve, thus you can't expect anything complex by relaying on predawn graphics. Besides I can't really understand all problems with Homm6-7 graphics people are having, they look pretty. Sure square based grid of homm3 is more easy to oversee but that's game design issue.

But most of what you see in every game is predrawn (preanimated, to be exact). It doesn't matter that it is rendered in real time, you cannot force the game to do things that are not scripted. There are games with dynamic physics and so on, but Heroes is not one of them neither are adventure games. If you take a modern 3D adventure, you still can't force a character to do something which is not scripted.

[Tress]

Regarding mm9 , thats quality issue. If game would look like nolf 2 (almost same engine, ok bit differet but still, avp 2 would be same), i would praise the game from that perspective.
As for predrawn - only partially true . With 3d we can freely look from any perspective at will. Predrawn - only drawn sude , like in old doom /wolfenstein where corpses turn with you, so even that aside predrawn can only show small portion of what real 3d can. Also predraw limit animations like in old fallouts there is preset ways chars die

[hellegennes]

I don't understand what this have to do with how pretty or ugly graphics may look 20 years later. It's clear that 3D graphics will always look ugly the more we move towards realism. 2D graphics, on the other hand, are not affected by this. You can just up the resolution and they look as if they were drawn yesterday. Take a look at this...

The upper pic is Day of the Tentacle, which came out in 1993, 24 years ago. The lower pic is its remastered edition which just came out. They changed nothing, they just redrew the whole thing in super high resolution:




The only thing making it prettier is resolution. The graphics were brilliant from the get-go. You can't say that for 2008 3D games. You can't just up the resolution to make them look good. GTA IV which came out less than a decade ago, already looks dated.

That's not to say I am against 3D or anything or that 3D doesn't really offer more possibilities. That wasn't what we were arguing about.

[Tress]

The only thing making it prettier is resolution. The graphics were brilliant from the get-go. You can't say that for 2008 3D games. You can't just up the resolution to make them look good. GTA IV which came out less than a decade ago, already looks dated.

Not really games that come out last 10 years, look only slightly better than one before. If GTA 4 takes some high res texture mod , it will look just as good as modern games. Character model polygons are enough that another 0 at the end of poly count wont help much. Besides show me game that look much better than Crysis, and that was 10 years ago. And that still doesnt not address issue with 2D. You cant turn that picture, what is drawn that is drawn, you cant see that from side , thus 2D ultimately is limited technology, even if static picture may be better.

[hellegennes]

Of course it's limited when compared to 3D. Otherwise we would never have seen 3D games. But the advantages of 3D graphics don't benefit all types of games. I don't see any real benefit for Heroes, for instance.