Graphics quality

I feel like we should get a jump start on this one. What type of graphics would you guys want to try and emulate? The classic feel of the PlayStation games? Pick up where they left off with the 3DS? Or go all out and make a next-generation masterpiece?

Of course it'll all boil down to what engine we decide to use. As well as the computer specifications required to play. Not everyone has Alienwares you know.

We still haven't decided on what engine we are going to make the game. So far most of us (Including myself) want to make a 3D game like MegaMan Legends 3 was supposed to be.

My plan right now is, once I finish recruiting more visual developers and coders, to remake Prototype from the information we know, while filling any gaps left with a story that should be congruent with the rest of the game. (Which will be much larger and you'll use Trigger through all of it.) I'm also planning to make the Prototype part optional and possibly release it once that's finished instead of releasing everything as a whole.

I'm aiming to make graphics like the 3DS version (Though I doubt I'll add 3D features.) . Hopefully we will be able to pull it off. If the game had Xbox 360/PS3 style graphics, then everyone wouldn't be able to play the game. (Though now we can add some sort of HD feature.)

If anything, we should try to understand what makes the concept art and release art for the series work in the first place—then, logically, we find the best look to translate the feel of the illustrations into the actual game. While I don't think cel shading would be a good visual style to choose, for example, I could say that the mix of texturing and flat-shading on the in-game models worked very well in giving a cartoony, colorful game world. And, actually, that's my current position on the issue.

Until then, we need to figure out how to make things work at a core level. —Best to collect information and insight on how a new Legends game should work out first!

I think we borrow what assets we can from the PS1 games for early gameplay mechanic testing, then upgrade the graphics to about 3ds quality as we go (we'd still want the game to be accessible to people who don't have a gaming PC I'd think).

There are, actually, some assets to be found over at Legends Station, the one site that kindly hosts them. We can pilfer if we have to for early development.

We do have the Prototype videos and images as an example. If we could make the finished product look something similar to it when it comes to graphics, I'll be more than happy and probably a lot of fans too.

Shaders will be something to look into, then. The Prototype looked great partly because of the excellent character shading, and I think it's important to nail down.

—If we want to be more efficient, we can go with shaders and limit the amount of polygons used, focusing on rounding it out to the point that models look good with requiring too much memory for the models themselves.

@GenSpec

About what you mentioned about having some resources over at the Legends Station; I made a thread for that as a matter of fact!

Good job, Graham! Yes, we can use those and be quite swell off.

I want to stress that the artists over at capcom are pros and are fairly good at what they do. While I'm sure we all want the game to look as good as possible, I'm sure we also want to finish it in this decade and not kill ourselves trying. The prototype seems like a good level of graphical quality to shoot for, imo.

Prototype seems to be the standard right now, and I'd have to agree.

Keep in mind that any decent game engine will allow you to use any type of art assets you like, it all really boils down to the talent of the artists.

Right—that's one part we need to get right, and we're part of the way there with DJ Joe on the team.

I'd suggest aiming for Legends 1/2 level fidelity to start with, especially for textures.

Creating textures of that detail/style would be fairly easy, as would modelling. If all is going well on the project, you can start updating the assets after that, but the main thing is to choose a level of quality that is acceptable for a fan made project.

We've acquired a Legends 1 texture rip, and some textures from Legends 2—for the time being, they'll be used as placeholder textures until we can start working on updated textures and new textures.

We should start off with the simple no-shader textures.

I already mentioned this in the devroom but I think a great shading style for legends is what's being used in Sonic Generations and Team Fortress 2.


I think the devs at capcom actually used this sort of shading for the prototype.

They used something similar, anyhow—we're going to try and replicate what they went with, mainly because it worked just perfectly with the illustrations and effectively translated the art to the game.

I always loved that sort of "bloom' effect on the characters.

It's not bloom so much as it is color shading contrast, albeit more subtle and uniquely fine-tuned.

Some cool screenshots from Skyward Sword


https://2img.net/r/hpimg4/pics/727155SOUP019.jpg

https://2img.net/r/hpimg4/pics/583716SOUP01112.jpg

https://2img.net/r/hpimg4/pics/760072SOUP0111.jpg

https://2img.net/r/hpimg4/pics/651679SOUP0121.jpg

https://2img.net/r/hpimg4/pics/926081SOUP0124.jpg

https://2img.net/r/hpimg4/pics/794529SOUP0134.jpg

https://2img.net/r/hpimg4/pics/360854SOUP0139.jpg

https://2img.net/r/hpimg4/pics/172030SOUP0144.jpg

https://2img.net/r/hpimg4/pics/120267SOUP0145.jpg

source:
http://forums.dolphin-emulator.com/showthread.php?tid=19897&pid=181347#pid181347

i would tell a 3ds style game or a bit better