Adventure Gamers - Forums

Malachi Rector.  Malachi Rector.  Malachi Rector.

Fuck me.

fov - 12 June 2013 07:34 PM

Blackthorne - 12 June 2013 07:26 PM

I just find Rector to be too smug, unctuous and “hip” to be very likeable, especially as a protagonist.

I think that’s part of his character - a guy who starts out unlikeable and grows on you as you get to know him. The game will have to do its job and make players like him by the end, but I suspect that some of the put-off feelings people are getting from Malachi are because he’s that kind of guy (as opposed to someone who’s supposed to be likeable and isn’t pulling it off).

I suppose - you can have a character who is unlikeable, yet still appealing, though.  Seriously, I just wanna punch him in the face like he’s Joffery Baratheon!

Bt

The music is the same track as the James Bond theme from the last trailer, actually. Just a different section of the track. And then there’s a slower version also used which is based on the same theme.

Keep in mind that the budget doesn’t give us access to mocap, really, so we are doing the best we can with keyframe animations in a game that’s very large and filled with content and characters on every corner. This is one of Jane’s most ambitious projects because Malachi keeps hopping around the world, so it’s always new characters and new environments.

Of course I’m biased, but I think that the game looks and feels much better than Gray Matter, considering that every conversation in the game is fully cinematic with cameras, something Gray Matter did not have with its static cameras. It will never have the production values than a Sierra title had at its time, but it also doesn’t have the same budget and full apparatus that came it with being a Sierra title.

I personally think it’s a full step up from Cognition and it will only continue to get better.

Full disclosure: I’m the Producer of the project, and a huge fan of Jane’s work.

The animations look really good, the backgrounds are gorgeous.  Considering the budget of the project, too, it’s above and beyond.  I really do dig the more raw guitar-driven part of the “James Bond-y” track - I think for an international mystery game, it’s really fitting. 

Without a doubt it looks better than Gray Matter, that’s for sure.

I love that you have to give “full disclosure” hahah.  Nice work.  Still shooting for a December release?

Bt

I would say Moebius looks like a big step down from Gray Matter, graphically. With Gray Matter they had reached the point where 3D was starting to look natural and realistic and actually beautiful, so I can’t understand the recent trend for making things look artificial and ugly again. Maybe with something like The Walking Dead it makes sense because it enhances the mood but Moebius looks like a real-world thriller so there’s no need to sabotage it. Cognition is also ugly as sin.

This is just bleh to me. The shadows and light are wrong, everything has an thick outline to it, and the precise semi-cartoon style is not to my taste at all. It lacks style.

diego - 13 June 2013 08:00 AM

Not to poop on the Moebius party, but I certainly beg to differ - Gray Matter has one of the most distinct styles in the last couple of years, on the verge of 2D/3D where it’s almost impossible to tell the difference, and with a dream-like “painting” quality on occasions.

Gray Matter had lovely backgrounds but in motion the game was… motionless. The long conversations with two characters standing still on opposite sides of the screen drove me nuts. Moebius is going to have camera cuts and character gestures—stuff you obviously can’t see in a screenshot, but that make the world feel much more alive than Gray Matter.

Jane’s games tend to have a lot of dialogue, and the sort of 3D presentation in Moebius works really well with lengthy dialogues.

Personally, I don’t care too much for character closeups, especially animated ones, unless they are done very well. The facial animation in TOMI worked for me because the characters were very stylized. Any attempt to do the same with realistically proportioned characters for a small budget is doomed to fail in my opinion.
But I’m not a fan of realistic toons anyway. (Broken Sword has been steering in the same direction and I don’t like it.)

Also I’d like to say that I don’t think it’s very wise for people involved in a project to say it’s better than a specific other recent game, even if it lends itself to a direct comparison and you enjoyed and respect that other game.
Point out what your game does well, in your opinion and that’s it.

I think Cesar was just saying that between Jane’s last game (Grey Matter) and her new one (Moebius) he thinks it’s a step up, which I think it fair to say of any “next” project from a designer.  It’s like a producer on Space Quest IV saying it’s a step up from SQIII - it’s not saying SQIII was bad,but that SQIV is pushing forward.  It wasn’t any kind of slam against the previous game.

Bt

tomimt - 14 June 2013 08:28 AM

Personally I’d say the art is about the same quality with Moebius and Grey Matter. The background art of Moebius is a bit better than in Grey Matter, but the character models in Grey Matter look IMO technically better than what I’ve seen of Moebius.

You’re joking, right? Look at the GM screens Diego posted - they’re beautiful. The Moebius backgrounds look like a cheap hidden-object game.

It’s not even about taste. Sometimes wrong is just plain wrong, and the art of Moebius being “a bit better” than GM is about as clear cut as my 2 year old niece’s fingerpaintings being a “bit better” than Rembrandt.

Zifnab - 14 June 2013 08:47 AM

tomimt - 14 June 2013 08:28 AM

Personally I’d say the art is about the same quality with Moebius and Grey Matter. The background art of Moebius is a bit better than in Grey Matter, but the character models in Grey Matter look IMO technically better than what I’ve seen of Moebius.

You’re joking, right? Look at the GM screens Diego posted - they’re beautiful. The Moebius backgrounds look like a cheap hidden-object game.

It’s not even about taste. Sometimes wrong is just plain wrong, and the art of Moebius being “a bit better” than GM is about as clear cut as my 2 year old niece’s fingerpaintings being a “bit better” than Rembrandt.

Not from what I’ve seen.  Some of Moebius’ backgrounds are really amazing.  Not to crap on Gray Matter’s, because they were really nice looking too.

Bt