The Case For Low-End Graphics

[Demi-fiend]

Foreward: I had already made a thread similar to this one a while back. This time however, instead of giving a choice whether or not to have high-end graphics, I'm going to go for a completely low-cost angle.

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A member here by the name of Shin Muramasa has just posted that Keiji Inafune needed a minimum of $900,000 dollars to be able to make his latest game, The Mighty No. 9.

This is appalling. Why is it that even 2D games have to be so expensive to make?

And before any of you say "that's nothing," let me remind you that we're still in a really bad worldwide economic state, and games still have to make a profit (as almost all for-profit business must) in order for the developers to continue making those games.

And for the record, I'm still in a state of anguish because Vigil Games and 38 Studios had to disband due to rising costs. They made two of my favorite games from 2012 (Darksiders II and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning).

So, this is more or less a call for developers (all of them) to cut back on costs and abandon high-end graphics (and physics) completely.

I remember the Tomb Raider Reboot developer stating that they were worried about "Lara's Ponytail Physics".

WHAT.

No. No game developer ever should even be thinking about someone's hair physics (insert Tameem joke here).

And the worst part is, that instead of cutting back on these absolutely frivolous costs and making games cheaper for customers, developers keep raising their budgets and expect gamers to buy more copies --

-- JUST TO BREAK EVEN.

This is an absolute disgrace. Why do we, the consumer, have to pay for the developers avarice?? The worst part is, is that next to no one complains about it, happily shoveling money towards their favorite developers "because they're awesome".

No, they are not awesome. The latest Tomb Raider sold three million, and it was considered a failure.

The latest Resident Evil sold 4 million (almost 5 million as of this post) and "didn't sell up to expectations".

Hey game developers...

... You can go straight to hell for all I care. All of you. As in, right now.

Budget meetings in board rooms everywhere.

I'm not going to recommend your games to anyone anymore. If you can't make a profit, then that's your problem. Not mine.

Go back to PS2 graphics if that's what it takes. Yes, even with the PS4. I'll take any solution at this point. I'm not going to pay for games at $70 dollars a pop. The N64 era ended a decade ago. Enough.

 

[MultiBro]

A member here by the name of Shin Muramasa has just posted that Keiji Inafune needed a minimum of $900,000 dollars to be able to make his latest game, The Mighty No. 9.

This is appalling. Why is it that even 2D games have to be so expensive to make?

Big published games and crowfunded games like Mighty No 9 are two different things.

Besides, making games cost alot, despite being in 2D.

 

[Demi-fiend]

snip

Well... I'm convinced.

 

[MultiBro]

However, even if we can't ignore the fact that making games cost a hefty sum, the problem is how the developers chooses to do with that money. Like the example Unknown brought up. I rather the developers worked out the kinks and bugs in a game rather than focusing on Lauras hair physics.

 

[Demi-fiend]

Indeed, it's all a matter of proper budgeting and pre-production planning. You have to know what you're going to spend your money on, and how much of it can you realistically spend and still make a profit.

 

[ROCKMAN X]

Well if he's making it for the next gen consoles it is going to cost that much and besides he'd also have to work for online servers its not like he's making an indie game with an extremely tight budget.

 

[Lionheart]

However, even if we can't ignore the fact that making games cost a hefty sum, the problem is how the developers chooses to do with that money. Like the example Unknown brought up. I rather the developers worked out the kinks and bugs in a game rather than focusing on Lauras hair physics.

*Lara's. Sorry about that

 

[Meg]

Keep in mind you also need money to pay the developers. Let's use Mighty No. 9 as an example. On the Kickstarter page, it shows that there are at least 12 people working on the title. For the sake of simplicity, let's assume they all make the same. (Figure some make more than others, but it all evens out or whatever)

Let's say the project gets one million USA dollars. Say each team member makes $30,000 a year. (Keep in mind this isn't much money at all. My dad drives a delivery truck and makes over $90,000.)

$30,000 x 12 = $360,000

That's about a third of the game's funds going to pay the people working on it. And they aren't even making that much. And figure how they don't all make the same, and you can bet some make a lot more than $30,000, only asking for $900,000 is either unrealistic, or the actual amount of money needed to make the game isn't that high.

What I'm saying here, is that why hair physics is ridiculous, don't blame all seemingly high game costs and game prices on developer greed or throwing money at stupid things. Yes, greed and stupidity are a part of it. But the people who make the games need to get paid too.

 

[Chancey289]

Who was thinking about hair more than butthurt DMC fans? It has to be white and wavy anime hair remember? :troll:

And the thing is is that you see developers putting a lot more emphasis on certain things more than they should. Sure, you can make Lara's hair look good. Why not? But you don't have to literally sit down and spend hours thinking about how to make f#cking hair look uber realistic. IT'S A F#CKING PONYTAIL.

I don't have problems with good looking games but, it should always be the pretty icing on the already tasty cake. And even after that being said, good graphics don't speak for quality of a game. If that were true then Minecraft should be terrible and Final Fantasy 13 or Resident Evil 6 actually good.

 

[Demi-fiend]

"Art direction trumps sheer technical horsepower every time." - Jimquisition

You know, there's probably a way to make a Mega Man/Mighty No. 9 using the tools right here:
http://www.stencyl.com/

And I'm pretty sure that only one or two people would be needed, as well (after all, there are several 2D engines available to developers already).

But what do I know, right? Let's just keep piling on the costs while the game industry keeps operating in the red.

The fact that players demand that companies shouldn't do more to save money would never have a negative effect on us in the long run, am I right?