Whats in the future graphically.
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With the incoming new generation of GPU's about to land, I'm wondering if we are expecting a boost in the quality of graphics closer to release ?.
I must say I am very underwhelmed by the current look of the game overall, comparing it to the quality of the newer alternatives that will be fighting for our game time, New World, Ashes of creation, to name 2 are far better eye candy, even the now 10 year old World of Tanks look awesome in comparison.
Fractured just looks dead, the movement of vegetation, interaction with terrain and objects just seem lifeless, nothing I've seen so far is going to push even my current 1070ti.
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Interesting question. I think it will come down to which game can offer the most satisfying experience (which of course will be subjective). If you want to run around in a visually stunning world, if you want satisfying gameplay, or if a game can offer both. I think Fractured will have to depend on its gameplay.
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I will always 100% put Gameplay ahead of graphics on my list of priorities, but in 2021 I think we should have an expectation of quality level graphics wise, I've asked a few Gamer buddies who have never heard of Fractured (not in their genre, to take a look at the game in it's current state, and put a release date on it, from the 5 I asked the closest one got was 2015, that's a long time in gaming and confirms my feeling that, gameplay aside Fractured is setting the bar very low.
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@Stacy555 I agree that the graphics could be better (and perhaps even will be), however, imo comparing big gaming studios and their products to Dynamight's might not the best options. New World and AoC looks amazing for sure and graphics are one of the selling points of those games, but perhaps smaller indie studios could be more equivalent to compare with. If we think Albion Online about a 5 years ago, the graphics were not that great in general, however, the art style appeals to people which helps a lot. Same thing with Embersword (from same genre) which is under development, the graphics are not that amazing but there is something with that art which appeals to some people.
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I would think that the graphics for Fractured will only get better in time.. and maybe eventually when they have time they will be able to add in wind effects and etc to bring the environment more into play. However, I do think gameplay should be the first priority to getting the game out
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@Stacy555 also don't forget that graphics are not the main selling point for Fractured. If people still play Ultima Online despite being outdated graphically it is for the deep game design. I am convinced Fractured will do the same to get the fundamentals right before improving the graphics. If I think about the new MMOs who are putting graphics first they lose players really fast due to the missing core concept which keeps them around long term.
Cheers Lil
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Iv'e not said at any point that graphics were a game killer, I fully understand the concept that the guys are going for, and admire their work so far.
I'm just pointing out I feel in 2021 ... and beyond it should not look, for want of a better word "boring", now I don't know anything .. and I mean anything about how graphics are implemented in games, but I was under the impression (happy to be wrong), that graphics in games these days were all built on engines that exist already and adapted to fit .. as I say if I'm wrong then my bad, but if correct then my opinion of the engine or it's adaptation, is not very inspiring.
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I agree with the OP here. I think the graphics of Fractured is okay. From the videos I've seen, it seems as though the graphics seem a bit washed out. In many different biomes, I feel like there is a lack of contrast that really makes some of the environments pop out at you. I feel like they could go back into some of these biome sets and re-evaluate some things. There can be very little variation between the colors of the ground textures, grass, plants, and trees. And it makes the area look bland. Also, I would love to see some environmental effects, such as weather. Rain, snow, dust, ash, wind, fog, etc. The lighting and shadows can use some work as well. But, from what I've seen, a potato can play the game pretty well. Which is ultimately the most important thing. A game can look amazing, but play terribly. And that's never a good thing. I've asked in discord about future plans for graphics and have been met with silence for the last few days. I think it's a reasonable question to ask to be quite honest, and should be met at face value without the implication being set that graphics aren't important.
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one problem i see is you're comparing 3rd person view mmo's against an isometric view. I'm not playing Fractured for bleeding edge art style. I'm here for gameplay.
@d3Sync
I agree with what I remember of the the washed out colors. i do feel something needs to be improved, however, i play on a GTX960 and i don't expect to have the settings on ultra or even high while playing. so that might have been a limiting factor for me.
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@Jetah I was not intending to compare 3rd person against isometric, these were just up to date examples in a general sense, but if you wish to look at some other isometric examples, I can offer Kingmaker pathfinder, and to be honest Baldurs gate, looks better even with the lack of pixel density.
AS @d3Sync has said my issue is that it looks boring, for me looking at a screen for hours and not feeling engaged is a minus, for this day and age it needs to be better.
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Graphics can be a tricky thing.
In the first place, you generally expect newer games to have more cutting edged graphics
However, higher graphic demand means less machines can run the software.Also, from a purely cultural taste platform, look at games like RuneScape. RuneScape 1 came out in 2001, based on Ultima Online and had a very similar look and feel, and is still played today as RuneScape Classic. RuneScape 2 had some gameplay improvements, but still fairly similar graphics to RuneScape 1, and is played quite heavily today as Old School RuneScape, and then there's RuneScape 3, with a major graphics overhaul, some gameplay tweaks, and what have you, and it's got a fairly large following. Of the 3 games mentioned, however, Old School RuneScape is the most played, in my experience, of the group. The Gameplay and the Nostalgia Graphics combine to be an amazing draw of players, both old and new. I know I stream 25+ hrs a week of Old School RuneScape myself. I started with a Nostalgia Gaming show, but it quickly became a dedicated Old School RuneScape stream for the most part because of the fan-base around it. The only thing I do other than OSRS on my stream right now, is Fractured Testing, and a Tabletop RPG show called the RPG College. Even then, I often get people coming into my channel clamouring for OSRS content, even if I'm just grinding out skills.
The take-away: Graphics are great eye-candy, and they drive the tech industry with bigger and better graphic cards and such, BUT they are also a handicap, between Nostalgia drawing people in to certain graphic styles, and the benefit of being able to run a less powerful machine and still play and stream the game has a serious appeal in this now very Twitch-Heavy gaming environment.
Besides, I get great comments from my friends when I do Alpha Test for Fractured, when it comes to the detail and look-feel of the various Giant Spiders currently in the game. Also, some of the scenic views in further away places on the map, like the Vale are breathtaking. I don't expect much environment effect implementation during testing anyway, as it would detract from the gameplay testing.
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People wont play Fractured for graphics so i dont expect big improvements there.
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The least that I expect when it comes to graphics, the last time I tried it was in February so it might have changed since then, is that the colours aren't so flat. Everything felt the same and bland to look at. Just look at the ember sword image linked on the first page, everything is neat to look at. This could be an issue with the ground texture in Fractured since it's more realistic.
Since the art style is realistic I don't expect any eye candy except when it comes to spells and maybe shiny weapon enchanting.
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@GamerSeuss said in Whats in the future graphically.:
However, higher graphic demand means less machines can run the software.
Not necessarily. If you want to go all realistic or need some costly shaders, then yes, but there are graphics styles that look good if polished enough.
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@Stacy555 said in Whats in the future graphically.:
@Jetah I was not intending to compare 3rd person against isometric, these were just up to date examples in a general sense, but if you wish to look at some other isometric examples, I can offer Kingmaker pathfinder, and to be honest Baldurs gate, looks better even with the lack of pixel density.
AS @d3Sync has said my issue is that it looks boring, for me looking at a screen for hours and not feeling engaged is a minus, for this day and age it needs to be better.
the Pathfinder Kingmaker has similar visual that fractured has but I'm mostly looking at the terrain.
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The aesthetic for Fractured is not inclined towards photorealism. It's not a genre that needs the highest end-graphics.
In fact, I think the target demographic for Fractured knows what they going to get and aren't concerned with this, I would think.
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@Belligero I'm not expecting photo realistic, it's not that style of game at all.
@Jetah Pathfinder is far prettier than Fractured in it's present state, the terrain is very different as you move through the areas.
I'm not saying people who understand the full concept of the game will be put off by the way it looks, but it may have an impact after release, that may stop people from taking a closer look, after seeing Youtube videos and the like, and it "Looking" boring.
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@Stacy555 said in Whats in the future graphically.:
(...)New World, Ashes of creation(...)
@Stacy555 said in Whats in the future graphically.:
(...)Kingmaker pathfinder, and to be honest Baldurs gate(...)
It's a little amusing to me, since all four of these games have one thing in common. Each of them had a higher budget (read more people working on) the art assets than Fractured has for everything, art, programmers, marketing,...
Could the graphics be better? Certainly.
Just where are you going to take the resources?
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@Logain As always people are starting to cherry pick from posts.
My examples were, purely examples of modern games, I completely and fully understand the fractured team do not have a massive budget. so making something stunning to look at, but taking a super computer to run it is not what the team are ever going to try to achieve, for all thier hard work they are looking for a game with a community structured around gameplay not eye candy, 100% so am I.
@Logain said in Whats in the future graphically.:
Could the graphics be better? Certainly.
Just where are you going to take the resources?Someone is clearly working on graphics ... so there is the resource, maybe they need to use a little bigger colour pallet, or more imagination when designing terrain, it's just not easy on the eye, I'm not asking for a 4k extravaganza, just a decent amount of variety and texture.
I started this as a general opinion and hoped for maybe some interested feedback, but as usual people read what they want to, and think I'm disrespecting their new toy, well I love Fractured and what I hope it will become, so carry on reading 1 post instead of a full thread and cherry pick away.
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@Stacy555 - gonna just spitball a little here. Not disagreeing... just pondering...
I'm not a designer, but I know how incredible the graphics of new games can be, and I know there's a very lucrative & well-researched science that helps designers use graphics to pull players in and keep them there.
I totally agree with you - Fractured is NOT making best use of that research & maybe they should use some more! There's no 'halo flash' when I finish a tutorial goal to make me feel special. There's no 'twinkly' to tell me a plant is just what I'm looking for. It does feel dead when a person is used to getting so much stimulus & reinforcement from games.
I wonder whether that's purposeful? Going for an old-school feel, or a certain counter-industry-standard aesthetic? Impossible to say. I do know the devs are purposeful about making sure that Fractured is playable on pretty much any old potato, so maybe the low environmental stim is a function of keeping access as broad as poss? Just a hypothesis.
If that's the case, it's still not working bc my pc struggles with the game sometimes as it is - and I have no way of knowing whether that's my graphix card or a bandwidth issue, so....
tl:dr: I'm open to more twinkles & graphical joy if I can still get in the game.
