The Limitations of Great Graphics?

[Galant]

Just read a couple fo threads about the fact that games companies are churning out the same old stuff...a subject near and dear to my heart...and a thought occurred to me.

The more advanced the graphics get, and the more complicated the engines, the more effort and money needs to be poured into them to get it right, and therefore, the less time and resources are spent on other aspects of the game. What's more, with so much focus on the appearance of the game and some shiny, new technology, could it be that some of the more inovative and creative ideas get left behind because they can't be done and fit in with the physical and technical requirements of the framework?

I'm no game developer so maybe I'm wrong, but I wonder whether today's games are developed in frameworks which, whilst good at what they do, ultimately limit creativity and other aspects which made games of the past os captivating and original?

[Allen]

I much prefer gameplay over graphics tbh. Take a look at the old 80's/90's games. All of them now have pretty horrific graphics compared to today's standards, but they are still extremely playable (Frontier: Elite 2, Civilisation, etc).

This is why I can't understand some people's perception on World of Warcraft. I've seen many people slag it off for having crap graphics and of those about 75% said they wouldn't play it purely because of that. WoW for me is all about gameplay, graphics come in way behind. Saying that though, I think they are very reasonable for such an immense game.

[shiato storm]

indeed, if you look a few threads ago about the oldies/N64 games we all love you'll see graphics is shunned for awesome play. ah, now those were the days

[dkmech]

Hopefully technological progress means not only shinier graphics, but also an easier way to make games using those fancy engines. Lets take Havok - a licensed engine readilly available to use if you want to enrich gaming options through physics. Some may use it as a gimmick, but some may use it as an integral feature. I think in HL-2 it was more than a gimmick.

I am hoping that through continuous development engines will get more and more user friendly reducing the need to spend immense resources on the actual process of making things (maps, objects, etc). Yes you will need to populate the map with objects, but if all it takes is going to the place on map and slapping an object there you may be able to do that with little training. So object monkeys will do it and someone more experienced will check that it all looks and works right.