unwanted realism::04.07.2007+15:10
RANT WARNING
I for one, am fed up with the current trend in next-gen game development. That is, the extreme overuse of normal, parallax, and specular maps, and also the ridiculous trend with faking HDR by blurring that makes it look like someone has smeared petroleum jelly all over one’s display.
Dynamic Lighting, Why Not?
These days, it seems that game developers add dynamic lighting just because they can, not because it will actually make the game any better. For example, an RTS doesn’t really need dynamic lighting. Self-shadowing isn’t very important in a game that focuses on tactics. That’s not to say that the game should not be attractive, it’s just that adding graphic fluff just because they can is a bad idea. Also, in games where dynamic lighting isn’t needed, it just wastes CPU and GPU cycles, possibly limiting higher resolutions on less than state-of-the-art hardware. In a game where immersion is part of the gameplay, however, dynamic lighting is a must.
Normal and Specular Mapping, or How I Learned to Hate Shiny Things
Games that use dynamic lighting often take advantage of the possibilities that it opens up. The most used of these possibilities are normal, parallax, and specular mapping. Normal and parallax mapping both allow for increased-detail, reduced-polygon rendering. This seems like a good thing, right? Of course it is. However, it is often combined with specular mapping. This wouldn’t seem like a huge offense, and for the most part, it isn’t. There are a good number of games that have pulled it off well. However, many games that use these techniques have overdone it. That is, everything in the game is shiny and bumpy. Things that don’t need to be bumpy are bumpy, and things that don’t need to be shiny are shiny. Sometimes, it is as though the developers intentionally made it that bad so that it would be obvious to everyone that they had dynamic lighting and normal and specular mapping.
Where to Go From Here
I know this is a futile request, but I don’t want to see any more games with uninspired, generic visuals and poorly adjusted overuse of normal and specular mapping. I want to see games with visuals that fit the game. Granted, sports games will have realistic visuals, but for the most part, those are well done. I want more games to use non-photorealistic rendering, such as that seen in Jet Set Radio, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, and Okami. I want to see games that have abstract visuals. I just don’t want to see the same thing I’ve been seeing for the past few years.