When graphics are a given, what's next?

I think and hope and cross my fingers that the next step in gaming is a world the "remembers" you and can be interacted with even more.

Even as recent as the LAST generation, for the first time you could finally interact with objects in the world. I still remember the very first chair I kicked through the room in a Hitman game.

Now, in the ps360 generation even more objects can be interacted with... BUT... for most games the landscape doesnt remember your actions.

Enemies still (mostly cleverly) dissipear in most games.... gunshots are instantly fixed when you leave and return.

Could you imagine a GTA game where everything starts out pristine and the more you play the more things are damaged... cars remember their damage and go back on the road in that shape. You can damage the city over time and SEE it.

I'm dying for them to stop thinking graphics and get thinking immersion.

That to me is what I HOPE is next

...Gameplay? I swear sometimes people forget that there's more to games than graphics.

It depends on the game. If it's sport's, ie NCAA or MLB the Show, MaddenI like the simple fact that I can create myself in the game and hear my name. If it's racing I like to see skid marks left on the track and car parts laying around after a wreck. If it's a fps I just want a good story.

Artstyle, tight controls, and gameplay. When graphics plateau its going to be all about creativity to differentiate.

Also, games arent that close to photorealism yet, until textures are always 4096x4096 instead of 256x256(mostly because of the consoles ram limitations) and until we get more realistic shadowing. Then after all that you gotta get realtime ray tracing. Graphics really arent close to photorealism, much less a plateau

...Gameplay? I swear sometimes people forget that there's more to games than graphics.

turtlethetaffer

i think this generation has hit a nice plateau for graphics tech. so i think it won't be so important to focus on that next gen. the focus needs to be on innovative software development and new ways of playing. less focus on genre.

photorealism is a very limiting goal. animation, lighting, clipping, weather effects, physics engines, water effects, AI, and all sorts of things need to be improved before we even begin to approach reality. theres a long way to go.LoG-Sacrament

We're wayyyyy off from people being confused as to whether they're looking at real life or a game. Holywood CG isn't even at that level, and that's quite a few leaps and bounds above where we're at with real-time graphics.

I think the more pertinant question is how much we'll be able to keep scaling up in terms of art content and production budgets before people decide that it's not really worth it.

[QUOTE="LoG-Sacrament"]photorealism is a very limiting goal. animation, lighting, clipping, weather effects, physics engines, water effects, AI, and all sorts of things need to be improved before we even begin to approach reality. theres a long way to go.SemiMaster

[QUOTE="SemiMaster"][QUOTE="LoG-Sacrament"]photorealism is a very limiting goal. animation, lighting, clipping, weather effects, physics engines, water effects, AI, and all sorts of things need to be improved before we even begin to approach reality. theres a long way to go.LoG-Sacrament

...Gameplay? I swear sometimes people forget that there's more to games than graphics.

turtlethetaffer

There's still some ways to go however. First of all, if our games were to become photorealistic, we would need more powerful hardware than an xbox or playstation. Plus, there are really only a couple games coming out that look almost photorealistic. The ones that come to mind are Forza, Battlefield 3, and Crysis 2. Most games don't have THAT good of graphics. Duke Nukem Forever, for instance, had some pretty terrible graphics.

Physics

Developers need to stop worrying about realistic graphics and focus on fun. The more realistic games get, the less I enjoy them (for a lot of games anyway).

Artstyle, tight controls, and gameplay. When graphics plateau its going to be all about creativity to differentiate.

Also, games arent that close to photorealism yet, until textures are always 4096x4096 instead of 256x256(mostly because of the consoles ram limitations) and until we get more realistic shadowing. Then after all that you gotta get realtime ray tracing. Graphics really arent close to photorealism, much less a plateau

edinsftw

... animation, lighting, clipping, weather effects, physics engines, water effects, AI, and all sorts of things need to be improved before we even begin to approach reality. LoG-Sacrament

I agree 100%. How about we keep the graphics we have now without any of the glitches?! No clipping. No framerate drops. No motion blur on moving backgrounds (I'm looking at you, Sonic Generations). No texture pop-up. No screen-tearing.

I believe that current games would look almost next-gen if problems like the ones I listed were gotten rid of.

Gameplay most definitely

Developers need to stop worrying about realistic graphics and focus on fun. The more realistic games get, the less I enjoy them (for a lot of games anyway).

lensflare15