Crytek and the insanity of realism

[brkl]

Realism in graphics does have its uses. I don't think Max Payne would have worked with stylized graphics. I don't think Alan Wake would. The kind of games Remedy makes have to look 'serious'. Far Cry, on the other hand, is a game that could have worked well with stylized graphics.

[Marek]

HOLD IT! (I say that in a loving, Phoenix Wrightesque way.) Stylized does not equal non-serious.

If you look at those comic book sequences in Max Payne, with those photoshop filters that make the photos look painted (well, sort of), you can imagine different styles of in-game graphics that could have worked with the concept that are way more extreme than what they went with.

See Sin City for an example in movies of super stylized graphics in a hardboiled/noir setting.

I do agree with your first more general point, that realism does sometimes have its uses. I'm more inclined to think of simulation and sports games and such though.

[Marek]

That screen still looks fully acceptable

Yeah it looks okay. I mean, it's not offensive, and it works. But a mere 5 years later from its release, you can no longer sell that as "photorealistic" and be taken serious.

[brkl]

I do agree with your first more general point, that realism does sometimes have its uses. I'm more inclined to think of simulation and sports games and such though.

Think of realist literature and movies that use hand-held cameras and such techniques to make a realistic impression. They lend gravity to the story. You make the player believe the events have an existance outside of the game. Then he goes and kills all his mates at school.

[DanJW]

Think of realist literature and movies that use hand-held cameras and such techniques to make a realistic impression. They lend gravity to the story. You make the player believe the events have an existance outside of the game. Then he goes and kills all his mates at school.

Ooooh, oooh! <waves hands frantically>. The handheld-camera effect in the Shadow of the Colossus cut-scenes made them seem incredibly real to me, in exactly the naturalistic way you describe.

Perhaps this is a good stage to point out that there is more to realism than lots of polygons and high resolution textures. As well as the trick above and things like colour pallettes, for me, good animation pays off incredibly (it's the reason I think people are so happy with the graphics in the GTA series - low polygon, but excellently animated).

[Oath]

For me graphics are a bit like going and seeing a film that's been shot or printed on some film with really heavy grain. It's jarring and noticable at first, but then the mind does what it's supposed to and adapts. You don't really take notice anymore, because your brain peels all that surplus info back and looks at the core. Terrible graphics and photorealism alike, if they're kept on a consistent level it'll just become a vehicle for the gameplay (and possibly the story).

Same with movies on hand-held cameras, unless something is done to pull attention to the presentation in particular, you won't think about it.

[n0wak]

Think of realist literature and movies that use hand-held cameras and such techniques to make a realistic impression. They lend gravity to the story. You make the player believe the events have an existance outside of the game. Then he goes and kills all his mates at school.

No. They make them look real, but when you're talking about interactive, the key thing is whether they feel real -- and if they don't, then the visual illusion breaks apart. Film doesn't have this problem because, like I said, it is already capturing "reality" and, by not being interactive, its own internal reality is restrained.

With a game, you can have a house that looks completely real. But if you come across a wooden door that you can't open -- even with the ROCKET LAUNCHER you're carrying -- that reality breaks down. The more real that game makers make their game, the more expectations there are for everything to react in a realistic way. You can spend thousands of manhours working on models and textures, but if your superhero character can't get past a two foot high curb, what's the point?

So to combat that, game designers restrain that reality by forcing the player through a very linear, scripted path. And if they're going to do that, they might as well just stick to making movies.

[Marek]

Think of realist literature and movies that use hand-held cameras and such techniques to make a realistic impression.

I think that has little to do with photorealism and more to do with dramatic realism, i.e. you believe what is happening on the screen because it is presented in such a way that a real cameraman might have been there filming it.

The rocket launcher example also relates to dramatic realism (for lack of a better term).

[brkl]

My point is that achieving dramatic realism can be nigh impossible without realism in graphics.