[Monolith]

Saw new screens posted on this site and realized they looked like they were taken in a Real-Time 3D engine....more so like Crysis. I was right when I checked the game page on AG. So I decided to look into it and am really impressed with everything about it. 3D adventures need to make a stand and make everyone realize that 3D in adventures aren't for amatuers anymore.

With so much coverage on Adventure games lately, I'm calling it the official 'Adventure Gaming' revival. So many great games with huge influences from the Adventure genre. We have come a long way. From Indigo Prophecy to Perry Rhodan to the Book of Unwritten Tales. From Heavy Rain to Dear Esther. Things are changing.


(Sorry about the large image. No time to resize)

Check out the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y270FSjykBc

[donatelli]

Looks absolutely beautiful, just saw this posted today...

There's also a gameplay trailer that is more recent:

Gameplay

Looks amazing... And some transplant members from the STALKER series? COUNT ME IN.

[aimless]

Since I really know nothing about it, is it common for colors to be greyed with the Real-Time 3D engine or is it the choice of the game's maker? Just curious.

[ozzie]

Well, it's made by some of the same people behind Stalker, so a certain degree of greyness is to be expected, I guess. I'm sure it's an artistic choice.
I'm happy to see that another developer takes some inspiration from Amnesia, which is about time! I hope there will be more development in this direction in the future.

[Monolith]

Originally Posted by aimless

Since I really know nothing about it, is it common for colors to be greyed with the Real-Time 3D engine or is it the choice of the game's maker? Just curious.

It has something to do with color theory and the fact that not everything has to be colorful.

[aimless]

Thanks, ozzie. So it's not inherent. All I wanted to know.

[Monolith]

That gameplay video had just blown my mind. Gorgeous, intuitive and looks so immersive.

[TiAgUh]

Originally Posted by Monolith

It has something to do with color theory and the fact that not everything has to be colorful.

I'm noticing lately a huge increase of half-assed justifications in your posts; what's happening to you man ?
I mean, wth has color theory to do with extremely washed-out colors in everything cept manmade stuff? Such huge disparity (saturation-wise) goes exactly against the harmounious goal based on the color wheel. The ridiculous emphasis on interactibles by extreme environmental dullness is just plain dumb and you know it.

But anyway,
The gameplay does look good, but doooood that moon from the trailer must be producing some epic waves.

Originally Posted by Monolith

We have come a long way (...) From Heavy Rain to Dear Esther. Things are changing.

Just a few more steps till we meet dear old 7th art. May Dawkins have mercy...

[Monolith]

Originally Posted by TiAgUh

I'm noticing lately a huge increase of half-assed justifications in your posts; what's happening to you man ?
I mean, wth has color theory to do with extremely washed-out colors in everything cept manmade stuff? Such huge disparity (saturation-wise) goes exactly against the harmounious goal based on the color wheel. The ridiculous emphasis on interactibles by extreme environmental dullness is just plain dumb and you know it.

But anyway,
The gameplay does look good, but doooood that moon from the trailer must be producing some epic waves.

Actually the lack of color also exists in real-life. Not everything in the world is well nourished and/or takes place in a desert with 100% sunny days.

Color is all about lighting and the influence of other light sources. Cloudy days give the environment a desaturated muddy look. Dust storms give the environment a redish brown look.

In Cradle, the lack of color says to me 'this place is sunny, its been sunny, I wouldn't want to live there. The lack of color says things are bleached, lack nourishment, etc. Color loses its saturation when exposed to sunlight. I don't know, people lack the common sense that not everything has to be colorful. Colorful is actually unrealistic. Leaves aren't always BRIGHT green.

I can go on and on that people's dislike of desaturated color schemes is unwarranted.


Not to mention, there are more games with saturated color schemes than dull/muted schemes. Just as bad as people thinking all FPS games are like COD or there are way to many First Person/FPS games. Its all unjustified.

[aimless]

"I can go on and on that people's dislike of desaturated color schemes is unwarranted."

Monolith,

I'm not sure how you came to the conclusion that you could be arbiter of what is and isn't warranted. Do you really think that denigrating other peoples ideas will change them? This looks like a very well made game but the landscape looks and is about as appealing as limp, decaying lettuce to me. Maybe the color scheme is appropriate in this story but it's still visually dreary and uninviting. That alone probably wouldn't put me off the game but it would very likely affect my enjoyment of it.

[ozzie]

My reality is not gray and brown all the time. Sometimes it's summer and leaves on the trees and grass are actually a pretty bright, juicy green!
The choice of color palette here has more to do with wanting to evoke a certain atmosphere, wanting to craft a certain sense of place than with realism. Games, or any other kind of medium, will never manage to be realistic. Only reality ever manages that.
When I look at the video it looks desolate, dreary, cold, hostile, decayed. It reminds me a lot of the atmosphere in Stalker or lots other East European games, which, of course, isn't a coincidence.

[Monolith]

Originally Posted by ozzie

My reality is not gray and brown all the time. Sometimes it's summer and leaves on the trees and grass are actually a pretty bright, juicy green!
The choice of color palette here has more to do with wanting to evoke a certain atmosphere, wanting to craft a certain sense of place than with realism. Games, or any other kind of medium, will never manage to be realistic. Only reality ever manages that.
When I look at the video it looks desolate, dreary, cold, hostile, decayed. It reminds me a lot of the atmosphere in Stalker or lots other East European games, which, of course, isn't a coincidence.

Exactly what I said but in a different way. I provided examples of when environments in real-life tend to limit the range of colors.

Hey maybe we should complain about games set in the arctic because the environment is so blue/white.

My point? Do you have green plants to represent fall? No. Same concept as invoking atmosphere.

Atmosphere generally is inspired by actual environmental instances. To invoke a sad/depressing atmosphere, we limit colors and provide calmer tones similiar to a rainy/cloudy day. To provide an atmopshere of aw and beauty we think of colors or shear size of an environment, similar to a tropical island or the Grand Canyon.

Its color theory. Atmosphere is atmosphere, but you can't create it without an idea of what makes up the atmosphere.

[donatelli]

My guess is the washed out look is to combat how dark videos look when capturing gameplay trailers. Happens to me with FRAPS all the time. Meaning, Contrast down, brightness up a bit.

[TiAgUh]

You guys just went on and on avoiding the real issue of whats being misunderstood here. Monolith justifying Aimless's wariness with color theory is wrong and misleading, since the intrinsically high-contrast complementary scheme (warm vs cool) must be done in an harmonious way, like every other specific angle in the color wheel, from analogous to triadic to whatever. And clearly everything but harmony was achieved there, so it is not justifiable by color theory at all.

And ozzie, art managed to be verisimilar countless times and not just impressionistic. But now, even if we were discussing what you said in the previous posts, Monolith, are you really telling me that that picture depicts anything but artificiality?

[TimovieMan]

This looks really great. Colour theory aside, even though it appears to be a lush countryside, the faded colouring gives it a rather barren feel. I suspect a sense of dread is going to be inherent in the gameplay...

[ZeframCochrane]

Ok, there has to be something wrong with me. Am I the only one who finds aliasing incredibly off-putting? Like, for example, the lower border of the blackboard (?) at 0:36 - 0:41, or the power lines at 1:30 or, worse, at 1:57 - 2:00 when they're in the distance? And the moire-pattern-like artifacts in far-away obects like the structures in the distance at 1:26 - 1:27?
I can't be the only one!!

[aimless]

Originally Posted by Monolith

Atmosphere generally is inspired by actual environmental instances. To invoke a sad/depressing atmosphere, we limit colors and provide calmer tones similiar to a rainy/cloudy day. To provide an atmopshere of aw and beauty we think of colors or shear size of an environment, similar to a tropical island or the Grand Canyon.

Its color theory. Atmosphere is atmosphere, but you can't create it without an idea of what makes up the atmosphere.

Well, I'm not up on color theory but do we know this game is supposed to evoke sadness or depression? (If so, I'm skipping it. Depressed I can get all on my own.)

As for atmosphere being inspired by actual instances from the environment, the mind...well, my mind...rejects a broad vista with white clouds scudding across a blue sky in the sunshine that looks grey as unnatural. Wrong. Like the world viewed through a dirty windshield. You want to wipe it so you can see clearly. Now that may be intentional if the greyed colors hint at the world having gone wrong, but somehow I doubt the makers got quite so philosophical about it.

[Shnubble]

Originally Posted by TiAgUh

Monolith justifying Aimless's wariness with color theory is wrong and misleading, since the intrinsically high-contrast complementary scheme (warm vs cool) must be done in an harmonious way, like every other specific angle in the color wheel, from analogous to triadic to whatever. And clearly everything but harmony was achieved there, so it is not justifiable by color theory at all.

Monolith's answer might have been a bit on the cocky side and wasn't exactly helpful but you seem to have a very narrow understanding of the term color theory.
Not everything has to be pleasing and harmonic and you can turn every rule around. The contrast between large, desaturated, natural or man made "native" areas and man made, futuristic, saturated accents clearly shows understanding and intention.
Whether you like the outcome or not is another question but you are showing disrespect for the artists craftsmanship.

[TiAgUh]

^ I'm not speaking outta my ass here ya know but yeah maybe this not being my mother tongue makes it hard to get my point across. Harmonious not in the sense of not allowing bizzarly strong oppositions of color (suda51 does it all the time and it works wonderfully) but by being harmoniously integrated with the circular spectrum... this wasn't a better explanation now was it?

[kuze]

I, for one, am excited to see something new and unusual. I also suspect this will become a little bit too unusual for the most and will be forgotten rather quickly, like The Void or the successor game by the same devs I forgot the name of.