Star Trek Legacy by Bethesda makers of Oblivion

#21 Mincetro,

That was just my way of saying the graphics aren't that bad because I thought people like the graphics from SWG JTL (space game part not the ground game). I did!

And still my point, all that stuff Mincetro listed, normal mapping, bump maps, etc..etc...doesn't make a game better than another, it just means one company employed different techniques to display their creation than another. Whether or not you like what they've done with their art is another story.

If you are to read too much into some of the posts in this thread, you'll think that the only games worth making are games that employ the normal maps, bump maps etc... and everything else sucks!

Then what are we doing wasting our time with TGE then? Heck, even TSE won't have some features that some newer engines out there have.

I'm getting a little carried away I guess.

Steve

#22 I know these things because of interviews with SOE and even people from Lucas Arts which were "dissapointed in the graphics and models" amoung other things. I read a lot of trade mags and developer mags. I read a TON of post mortems and I've beta tested nearly 30 MMOs now. I've seen from absolutely HORRID (Horizons) to incredible (World of Warcraft). I've done all genre's including cartoonic and 'artistic' as some would call. I might not be an expert at building better looking graphics, but I know what looks more realistic or higher quality at least to my own eye.

#23 Huh, I've never seen that. It's one thing I've noticed from SOE, they seem to never admit to a mistake.

I'm wondering what engine Bethesda is using for this game? Since they have the Oblivion engine and its obviously using the latest and greatest graphics tech (so it seems anyway).

I agree with you about the WoW. I love the art style. They really know how to make things fit together and its obvious how much attention to detail they put into each scene in the game. That is definately something that SOE could learn from Blizzard. It's the little details in WoW that I love.

Steve

#24 Lucas arts said it, not sony =P and it's not just the engine. you can have the greatest engine in the world and still create crappy graphics. i've seen many games built with TGE that have less than good graphics yet then I see stuff from people like Tim.. umm.. Ast? or something like that which has INCREDIBLE looking graphics including a wartime demo he did for TGE 1.4.

#25 Post removed and rewritten better below.

#26 Post Removed - No sense without M's post.

#27 Actually, I prefer shaders and such to be used for creating UNrealistic graphics. Some don't. I prefer style over realism, but then I rarely see it on the shelves of Wal-Mart.

#28 Like Sin City or XIII
Using OpenGL, you can create nice stylised B+W effects.

#29 So what I've been getting at is that it seems unless I make a game using every rendering technique available to me at the time I create the game (you know, HDR lighting, normal maps etc) my graphics will suck?

I personally don't agree with that. I've seen some pretty good games done in TGE. Good texturing and basic lighting can go a long way to making something look good.

Steve

#30 If the fact that Bethesda is doing a Star Trek game doesn't excite you... the game just isn't your thing. I've seen Oblivion footage and I know what they have done with the Fantasy RPG and to think that they will be taking on a Star Trek game is just plain exciting. I love outer space with almost as much of a fervent passion as I love the ocean. To see Bethesda do outerspace... I am pretty damn excited. That screenshot is from an early nearly prototype version of the game... and they are definitely headed in the right direction visually in my opinion. I don't know what other people think space is supposed to look like... but I look at the pictures of space and I look at that screenshot and I like what I see. You guys do realise that I scaled the picture down so you wouldn't have to scroll to view it in this thread. You click on it to view it on it's own page and see it full screen.

#31 Hi Anton,

Yes, I found the original pictures on another website. I'm excited about it myself being a Star Trek fan.

I only chimed in on the thread when someone said the graphics were bad. I just wanted to know why they thought the graphics were bad.

I'm also looking forward to the Elder Scrolls: Oblivion game.

Steve

#32 The whole point about realistic graphics is a mute one if you speak of things such as sin city and the like. OBVIOUSLY sin city is a more gothic, dark, cartoonish, comic book style. HOWEVER, you still can do it with shit graphics and it'll look bad. The movie used WONDERFUL cinematography and cg to create a damn good looking film, now if you mimicked that in-game, the graphics obviously don't look realistic, however would still be GOOD graphics. When you do a game such as star wars and star trek, they are wanting realism. They are wanting the stars to look brilliant and quite possible MORE so than is real. They take things such as a black hole and make it look more spectacular, THAT is good graphics. Making it look like a cut out from a 40 year old book *cough* star wars galaxies *cough* is NOT good graphics. The above picture looks like graphics from the ORIGINAL star trek with shatner.

#33 This discussion could go on forever! :)

Oh and Ajari, EvE online is definately going for that photo-realism look. This game doesn't appear that way to me.

Steve

#34 All I have to say is that Eve Online felt like a gigantic Long-haul Delivery Driver simulation and no matter how the game looked I was bored out of my skull.

And frankly, I didn't think it looked all that hot. It had a nice character creation system, but that was reduced to a thumbnail image in the corner of your screen that had no real bearing on the game.

- Don

#35 Would be nice to see a "Space Pak" for Torque.

#36

Quote:Oh and Ajari, EvE online is definately going for that photo-realism look. This game doesn't appear that way to me.

Then I think Bethesda better go for that photorealistic look too then. Because whatever they are going for ain't cutting it from a visual standpoint right now. And why would Star Trek be anything but realistic? I've never seen Star Fox and Mario in any Star Trek episode on TV. All I've seen is real actors, real looking ships, and real looking planets and alien people. Why would you go for a less than realistic look when the ship designs and models in the TV series and movies have been as realistic as possible for 50 years. If you ask me, that's not doing the series justice. And my main gripe is that Bethesda has proven that they are capable of doing better visuals.

@Anton and M-theory: Though the graphics are less than spectacular in my opinion from what this screen shot shows, I do understand that it's not all about graphics. The theme is there, the gameplay and sound should be too. If they are, then the game will do very well without flashy visuals. My only concern is that if they skimp on the visuals, what else will they cut back on. But I'll remain optimistic. And don't let me ruin it for you when the game is released. Like I said, I'm glad you guys are excited about this game. Enjoy.
-Ajari-

#37 I guess we will have to see what the finish product looks like. It's supposed to be ready by September 2006. I guess Mad Doc Software is the developer and Bethesda the publisher. According to a press release I read its supposed to have "cutting-edge" graphics! :) I guess these are just earyly development screenshots.

Mad Doc was the developer for Star Trek Armada II.

Steve

#38 Why is everyone saying it has bad graphics? All the screenshots I've seen look great, mutch better than any other RTS besides Age of Empires 3, or maybe Empire Earth 2.

RTS's arent meant to have state of the art look-at-the-fine-detail graphics when you're veiwing it from 100 meters above the battleground anyway.

#39

Quote:
If the fact that Bethesda is doing a Star Trek game doesn't excite you... the game just isn't your thing. I've seen Oblivion footage and I know what they have done with the Fantasy RPG and to think that they will be taking on a Star Trek game is just plain exciting.

Bethesda is not developing this game, they are just publishing it.

#40 @Stefan Lundmark

I found that out. :(

Oh Well.