E32013 has come and gone. The booth babes have all packed up their skimpy bikinis, and the game developers are all back at their respective studios – probably preparing for that final push to bring the first set of next gen games to market.
It’s an exciting year to be a gamer. Finally, after one of the longest console generations on record, we’re about to get some hot new hardware, and with it, hopefully some awesome new games as well. But you see, I’m rarely satisfied with the state of the gaming world. I’ve long since complained that consoles simply hold back the one true gaming platform, the PC, and now that consoles are finally catching up? Well, I have to ask… will developers actually make good use of the hardware? Will they know what to do with it after having used such rubbish for so many years?
The Power of Frostbite 3
Today I want to talk about game technologies, both in terms of gameplay and visuals. I want to lay out a few a few particulars that I believe really need some work, and that will (hopefully) benefit from all this great new hardware we’re getting. I’ll probably rant and complain, but hopefully at the end there’s a decent list of suggestions for studios to graciously learn from. They’ll praise me, cast bronze statues in my honor, and I’ll forever be known as the man who brought gaming into the future. You know… just one man’s meager contribution to the gaming world.
Now, before we get into that, I’ve got something that you might find a bit more exciting: a demonstration of Frostbite 3 engine. Maybe you’ve seen it before; it’s the engine that’s powering Dice’s upcoming Battlefield 4 game (one of my favorite game franchises), as well as Need for Speed: Too Fast, Too Hot Pursuited 69 Edition, and a bunch of other games I’ve never heard of before. Come for the BF4, stay for the incredible water effects.
Stunning, right? As I mentioned a moment ago, the water… the water! Never before have I wanted to badly to go swimming in a video game.
Missing a Certain… Something?
As fantastic as the latest Frostbite engine looks – and believe me, it’s my favorite engine out there these days – there are still a few areas that I believe are majorly lacking in games, both in terms of gameplay and visuals. So in no particular order…
1. After a soldier has fought for long enough, it’s often said that he or she has a “thousand yard stare”. You know, the dead eyes… looking into nothingness. If that’s true, then every character of every game ever made has fought under the toughest, most grueling conditions. I haven’t quite figured out what it is, but characters just look so… vacant. I’m hoping that this generation, someone will find a way to breath new life into characters and imbue them with not just personality, but the resemblance of sentience. Perhaps better saccades would help?
2. Speaking of intelligence and personality, I’m sorry to say, but AI characters still have very little. This is the prime reason that I tend to enjoy multiplayer shooters over single player, and it’s an area that I feel has really been neglected. Pretty graphics are wonderful, but if the characters are as stupid as rocks? Well, it just doesn’t do it for me.
3. Realistic soft materials like cloth and hair. Can you imagine a gaming world where characters actually wear “clothing” that moves and bends like an actual person? A world where characters can have beautiful, long flowing hair, instead of ugly, static cards pasted all over their heads? That… would be fantastic.
Naughty Dog did a decent job with the hair for The Last of Us, but it’s still static. Close, but no cigar.You may have noticed, but most of my gripes are with the characters themselves. Game worlds are looking more and more realistic, and that’s great… they act as the stage upon which developers can tell great stories, but at the end, who is telling those stories? It’s usually the characters, and I’m afraid they still leave much to be desired. Let’s hope that this generation, game developers can finally start adding in the little details, because sometimes the small things make all the difference.
