Source is awesome! All 3D games should be made with Source.

Yeah, and all sandwiches should be made with ham.

Nah, cheese. It goes best with wine.

Was that an attempt at homonym humour?

It's actually a little embarrassing because it says so much about the person failing said humour.

I dig Source physics and characters, but not its lighting effects.

Have you played Half-Life 2: Episode One with the developer's commentary, Bok? They are continually updating the models and lighting ...

I've been meaning to replay the game with commentary but haven't got around to it.

 

But yeah they should implement ray-traced shadows and the shiny object effects that FEAR and Doom 3 have. That plus its current physics and characters would make a killer engine indeed.

I hope they don't do the shiny objects effects that FEAR and Doom 3 have. That looks like it's the reason why all the people look plastic.

Edited February 12, 200718 yr by Tale

No I meant objects themselves, leave the characters as is.

Play it soon; I am just going through and there is a lot of interesting background design decision-making explained, as well as the engine updates (that is one of the first comments, number 7/8 of the second set of 10, IIRC, before we even get into the rapidly disintegrating citadel.)

I dig Source physics and characters, but not its lighting effects.

 

Source's uses Havok physics, so it's not really the source engine that's responsible for the awesome physics.

 

Source has a nice implementation of the Havok physic engine tho'.

Oh and the UE3 engine's characters don't look plastic to me, at all...

 

 

UE3:

 

 

 

How characters look have alot to do with the shaders implemented for character rendering, so technically, as long as the shader can be written and implemented any engine can look good.

 

That said UE3 does come with tools that allow for normal maps to be easily generated via Low Poly High Poly model comparison, the result of this process is the best i can recall, ever having seen.

 

Thus a model which ingame consists of say 6000 polys can be compared with a million poly model, the result given is somewhere inbetween.

 

UE3 engine also requires very little programming skill and put alot of power in the artsists hand for enviroment generation, that doesn't mean there's no code involved, just that effects can be built without a programmer. Also Unreal script is established and has been for quite some time.

Gotta love the fact that you chose a picture that totally looks like one of those miniature plastic figurines that you see in hobby shops..

Gotta love the fact that you chose a picture that totally looks like one of those miniature plastic figurines that you see in hobby shops..

 

 

I wouldn't know I don't frequent hobby shops or collect miniature plastic figures. Maybe you should try looking closer.

 

I do not see how a little specular lighting can make you believe that a character is plastic, what it does is show of the definition of the normal map, some people may consider it set too high... Dunno but when you combine it with HDR you get that oblivion style glow to the skin.

As long as the game is good, with a solid UI, good quest system, and different ways to complete quests etc, then I couldn't care less if they used a second gen graphical engine (as long as its optimised and runs well, bug free, etc). Hopefully they will capture the Alien feel as well.

 

Unfinished games that look shiny have been ****ting me up the wall.

I'm more worried about the story flow. NWN2 pretty much sucked in that regard, and even with MCA now being the Creative Director on Alien, I've my doubts about the final decisions J.E. is gonna make about the overall design...

My preference for RPGs is almost always for open-ended stories with few required critical path moments. I like worlds that are open for exploration but always offer a clear and viable "next step" to take in moving the story forward. It allows players to move at their own pace and in their own direction but gives them the ability to return to "the path" when they want to. My goal is to allow for freedom without being vague, direction without being restrictive. I hope that helps give an idea of what we are shooting for.

My preference for RPGs is almost always for open-ended stories with few required critical path moments. I like worlds that are open for exploration but always offer a clear and viable "next step" to take in moving the story forward. It allows players to move at their own pace and in their own direction but gives them the ability to return to "the path" when they want to. My goal is to allow for freedom without being vague, direction without being restrictive. I hope that helps give an idea of what we are shooting for.

That sounds pretty much like Fallout, which is exciting and welcoming.

 

NWN2 though started out pretty good (assembling all the Henchmen) until you reached Act2, where from here any sort of plot tension was cleared out and I was forced to hack myself through endless boring battles just to be turned into a stronghold keeper. Meh. But I'm sure you're gonna do better with Alien.

Gotta love the fact that you chose a picture that totally looks like one of those miniature plastic figurines that you see in hobby shops..

Fortunately the Aliens look plastic in the existing IP.

My preference for RPGs is almost always for open-ended stories with few required critical path moments. I like worlds that are open for exploration but always offer a clear and viable "next step" to take in moving the story forward. It allows players to move at their own pace and in their own direction but gives them the ability to return to "the path" when they want to. My goal is to allow for freedom without being vague, direction without being restrictive. I hope that helps give an idea of what we are shooting for.

That sounds pretty much like Fallout, which is exciting and welcoming.

 

NWN2 though started out pretty good (assembling all the Henchmen) until you reached Act2, where from here any sort of plot tension was cleared out and I was forced to hack myself through endless boring battles just to be turned into a stronghold keeper. Meh. But I'm sure you're gonna do better with Alien.

 

Gotta love how short people

I like worlds that are open for exploration but always offer a clear and viable "next step" to take in moving the story forward.

I LOVE YOU!!

Is there any chance of having Rich Ragsdale for the music? He did the scores for AvP1/AvP2/AvP Extinction and Aliens Colonial Marines. I just finished an interview with him - it'll be up sometime next week - but he said he'd be interested in returning.

His soundtrack catches the Alien mood very well, but his tracks are better suited for Action/Horror. Not that he can't make something that would fit better to the scope of an RPG though.

 

I personally prefer Mark Morgan, because I'm such a fanboi of him.

Edited February 14, 200718 yr by Morgoth

I wonder if Jesper Kyd is available for hire?

Damn, that's gotten me into some Hitman mood.

Indeed. The Hitman2 OST is one of his best works so far.

Elliot Goldenthal > ALL He did the score for Alien3, but I doubt he does video games. I guess I can dream.

What, no Jeremy Soule love?