Who needs Oblivion when there is Project Offset
by Anthony Rosenbaum · in General Discussion · 04/20/2006 (8:14 am) · 16 replies
So I was playing Oblivion, and it is a very fun game and quite beautiful, but then today a student showed me a trailer to an up coming Fantasy FPS called Project Offset The Art quality is simply amazing, and well the spells they really look like spells. One thing I don't care for in Oblivion is my weak fire ball looks the same as my Custom Blasto spell ( a super powerful fire ball)
Any way take a look at the screen shots and videos, I'd love to hear the community thoughts on this future game.
Any way take a look at the screen shots and videos, I'd love to hear the community thoughts on this future game.
About the author
#2
Project Ofset is only a tech demo at the moment, and made entirely to show off what 7800 generation video cards are capable of on a modern high end system. It's a very nice graphics showcase for sure, but I'll be surprised if an actual game made to look like that would be more than say doom 3, which went all out for graphics on previous gen hardware but had alnost no involved gameplay whatsoever.
Look forward to seeing what project offset becomes, but its too early yet to make much of whats been shown. A really good artist with a decent art path could produce similar results in any next gen shader 3 capable engine with the right hardware and tools, so I want to see a game with exciting gameplay first..
04/20/2006 (8:37 am)
The difference is that Oblivion isn't really about graphics, it has great graphics but they don't compromise anything else really. It's about the game and open endedness with graphics coming 3rd or 4th in the ultimate scheme of things. Sure they look nice, but oblivion would still be the best in its class if it had 5 year old TGE graphics.Project Ofset is only a tech demo at the moment, and made entirely to show off what 7800 generation video cards are capable of on a modern high end system. It's a very nice graphics showcase for sure, but I'll be surprised if an actual game made to look like that would be more than say doom 3, which went all out for graphics on previous gen hardware but had alnost no involved gameplay whatsoever.
Look forward to seeing what project offset becomes, but its too early yet to make much of whats been shown. A really good artist with a decent art path could produce similar results in any next gen shader 3 capable engine with the right hardware and tools, so I want to see a game with exciting gameplay first..
#3
:)
04/20/2006 (9:50 am)
I agree with Adrian about the primacy of gameplay. Like a lot of others, I've invested way too much time in Oblivion over the past few weeks and have been impressed with the visuals and most of the gameplay. But having said that, if Oblivion looked more like Project Offset, I would probably still be playing.:)
#4
04/20/2006 (10:29 am)
Considering that members of the Project Offset team were involved with the development of Savage (indie FPS + RTS game) I have high hopes for this title.
#5
04/20/2006 (10:47 am)
It might be a good game but the difference is that its an FPS and not a RPG. Oblivion might have somethings I don't like, it is open but quests once you're on them are to linear and the dialog system still sucks. But it is still an RPG. Project Offset might have pretty graphics but FPS games just do not interest me as much as a good RPG.
#6
Will have to wait to see more before judging this, but I'll happily play Oblivion in the meantime :-D
04/20/2006 (2:54 pm)
Hmmm - I was rather disappointed actually. Was turned on by this posting - never heard of this game - and all I see in the video is a bunch of shaders.Will have to wait to see more before judging this, but I'll happily play Oblivion in the meantime :-D
#7
04/20/2006 (3:10 pm)
Project offset looks amazing graphics-wise, but it won' be released for a while now. Oblivion is an RPG, this is an FPS. I can't see any advantages to this game as of yet, compared to bumping up the settings in Oblivion, I'd need to play it to form a reliable opinion though.
#8
04/21/2006 (1:00 pm)
It is amazingly beautifu, apparently the team is 4 guys in a basement. =) now that is indie 
#9
04/21/2006 (6:45 pm)
Yeah, Project Offset looks awesome!! I can't wait to play it on the XBOX 640! :P
#10
04/21/2006 (8:24 pm)
It started as a few ex Savage devs screwing with art and rendering. Then they got popular from a few pretty pictures and now have a 19 man team. It's pretty much just all been tech demos, and making an _actual_ game to match up to the scale and grandeur given by the graphics demos is an improbable task. But hey, if they pull something interesting off, that's great. By then I'll probably have a computer that can run it.
#11
The engine is pretty cool looking though. *increases hardware budget for new video card*
04/21/2006 (8:33 pm)
They have a guy from Bioware and a guy from Cal Tech now.The engine is pretty cool looking though. *increases hardware budget for new video card*
#12
Very skeptical.
When you look at all of the demos shown, there not an awful to show in terms of variety of enemies and general gameplay. How is the collision handled with monsters (he never collides with a monster in that "horde of monsters" video) ? Has anyone seen the player actually get hit (even though it certainly seems like he should've gotten hit by the ogre in the first movie). They show very little in terms of what the game can do, and lot of what their engine can do.
So as much as I would love to see the game get finished and actually get a chance to play it. The development (of what I would gather from the movies) seems to be more aimed at a high "shininess" factor. With all the tech demos they've been advertising I could swear this is turning into another Doom 3 (good graphics, worse game) - just with a smaller team, which usually means longer dev time.
But I'll be more than happy if they prove me wrong and create a fantastic game.
- Eric
04/21/2006 (9:55 pm)
I'm skeptical about Project Offset.Very skeptical.
When you look at all of the demos shown, there not an awful to show in terms of variety of enemies and general gameplay. How is the collision handled with monsters (he never collides with a monster in that "horde of monsters" video) ? Has anyone seen the player actually get hit (even though it certainly seems like he should've gotten hit by the ogre in the first movie). They show very little in terms of what the game can do, and lot of what their engine can do.
So as much as I would love to see the game get finished and actually get a chance to play it. The development (of what I would gather from the movies) seems to be more aimed at a high "shininess" factor. With all the tech demos they've been advertising I could swear this is turning into another Doom 3 (good graphics, worse game) - just with a smaller team, which usually means longer dev time.
But I'll be more than happy if they prove me wrong and create a fantastic game.
- Eric
#13
Looks very nice, but yeah, all the spit and polish in the world can't save it if the gameplay blows. =)
04/27/2006 (11:53 am)
Interesting. A fantasy FPS? I assume in the vein of Hexen, then... would be cool.Looks very nice, but yeah, all the spit and polish in the world can't save it if the gameplay blows. =)
#14
*Shrug*
04/27/2006 (12:59 pm)
That engine did get picked up by some X-blizzard devs or some such , they are making a game with it. *Shrug*
#15
04/27/2006 (2:19 pm)
I remember at GDC there was a studio (I think Red Faction 5 or something like that) that was making a game with an Offset Engine liscence. As for the "horde of monsters" video - that was to demonstrate that the offset engine could handle dozens of monsters without lag, not to simulate combat. All in all, I am buying into the hype - if this engine is half of what they say it will be, then I want it :P :) 
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