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Back in 1995: New Indie horror game with early PS/SS low-poly style

H

Hayama Akito

Member
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx2ZK_CpGS8

http://backin1995.com/

Made in Japan (Doujin Soft) Back in 1995 is a new horror game made in Unity. The author on the official website commented (in Japanese) that he wanted to make this game with early PlayStation/Sega Saturn polygon aesthetics because that age of gaming was his "retro" time, not the 8/16-bit era.

Looks interesting, but i'm pretty sure some people loves 8-bit style but can't stand low-poly these days. I wonder how this kind of games will be received now.
 
T

TetraGenesis

Member
I know it's meant to serve a thematic purpose but, while I'm okay with a low poly mid-90s aesthetic, I'm not down to play something at a mid-90s resolution. Yikes.

(But it serves a purpose so I respect it and I'd try it.)
 
kunonabi

kunonabi

Member
It's a much better idea than trying to shoe horn a SH clone into 2D like the abysmal Lone Survivor tried. That said this could use quite a bit of work.
 
B

Bloodrage

Banned
Screens

screenshot1.jpg

screenshot2.jpg

screenshot3.jpg
 
R

Remark

Banned
Would take this over 8-bit/16-bit. So tired of seeing 8-bit/16-bit gamnes thank god more 3D games are coming from indies
 
K

KatamariOnTheRocks

Member
TetraGenesis said:
I know it's meant to serve a thematic purpose but, while I'm okay with a low poly mid-90s aesthetic, I'm not down to play something at a mid-90s resolution. Yikes.

(But it serves a purpose so I respect it and I'd try it.)
Click to expand...

Looks interesting, I'm also of the age that the art style of polygons from the PS1/N64 era hold that special place in my heart that I hope to eventually use in a game I'm planning. I agree about the resolution though, while I really enjoy the aesthetic and have no problem with games "aging" or "holding up" since I feel a game is and always will be as good as it was the day it came out as long as you don't hold it to expectations that were established years after it was even created, I always replay old games in modern resolutions whenever possible and am so thankful for tools like GeDoSaTo to help with games that don't natively support higher resolutions.
 
V

Visualante2

Member
It's a weird choice to make, horror is the first genre cited when people ask "do higher graphics matter?". Perhaps I'm being unreasonable but I expected something that looked more like Mizzurna Falls if they wanted to make it look like that era. I guess a lot changed from 95 to 98 though.
 
R

real_slime

Banned
Looks interesting, if it comes up again or I remember when it is out, I'll check it out.

Still waiting for the late 90's survival horror nostalgia period to kick in though.
 
Blueingreen

Blueingreen

Member
Finally, I'm so bored of the 2D 16 bit aesthetic, can we move on to another gen to indulge in.

Cosmo Clock 21 said:
Looks like he kept the early PS era framerate too
Click to expand...

Call me crazy I quite like it, it gives it a very surreal quality similar to those old horror silent films, but I can see why it won't fly with allot of people.
 
N

NightShift

Member
I've been waiting for someone to make a PSone style survive horror indie game for a good while. I will definitely keep this on my radar.
 
TheMan

TheMan

Member
yuck. early 3d is only nostalgic cause it was such a cool transition from 2d art at the time...technically it all looks like shit now and most of that stuff is unplayable. It doesn't hold the charm that old 2d stuff does because it's just too ugly.
 
M

MagnoSauce

Member
I'm of the opinion that the technical limitations that existed during that period were extremely beneficial to the games and is a large reason why so many horror games were successful back then. It's very good that something like this is being attempted. Obviously the audience is limited, like you can see already from the responses in this thread.

It also raises questions about which part of the technical limitations are most important for the games. People won't play a game on PC at 240p, even though the low resolution contributed a lot to the creepy factor of games like Silent Hill. In fact, I think it's best done on a CRT TV, but I'm not sure that's going to be reproducible.

I also think primitive 3D will get huge in indie games soon, so maybe I'm just crazy.
 
Y

Yoday

Member
Remark said:
Would take this over 8-bit/16-bit. So tired of seeing 8-bit/16-bit gamnes thank god more 3D games are coming from indies
Click to expand...
This, so much this. I played plenty of games in the 8-16 bit era, but the dawn of the 32-bit era is where I really got into gaming. There is just something about 3D worlds that captivated me in a way that 2D games never could and still don't. That said, going so far as to keep the jagged and pixelated textures is going a bit overboard. Those are the technical limitations of the area that make it hard to go back to the PS1 era of gaming. I really want to see more indie developers in the 3D space, but I think they should be focusing more on the PS2/Xbox era than the PS1 era, much like how 2D games focus more on the 16-bit era than the 8-bit era. High resolution and solid framerate PS2 era games from indies would be far more acceptable than the mess that was the PS1 era, and this is coming from someone who still fairly regularly revisits PS1 games.
 
V

velociraptor

Junior Member
MagnoSauce said:
I'm of the opinion that the technical limitations that existed during that period were extremely beneficial to the games and is a large reason why so many horror games were successful back then. It's very good that something like this is being attempted. Obviously the audience is limited, like you can see already from the responses in this thread.

It also raises questions about which part of the technical limitations are most important for the games. People won't play a game on PC at 240p, even though the low resolution contributed a lot to the creepy factor of games like Silent Hill. In fact, I think it's best done on a CRT TV, but I'm not sure that's going to be reproducible.
Click to expand...
I agree. Surprisingly, the terrible framerate seems to amplify the fear factor and overall creepiness.
 
C

Corpekata

Banned
I'd rather have 16 bit emulation that this sort of 32 bit style, and I say that as someone that really got into games around the Psone and N64 eras. Just doesn't hold up in the same ways.
 
K

Komo

Banned
deathday said:
There's a limit to my nostalgia.
Click to expand...

Pretty much this.

I grew up with the original Playstation but no amount of nostalgia can hype me for playing another game with those graphics

With that said though, the dev nailed the look perfectly.
 
K

KatamariOnTheRocks

Member
Ishida said:
I do it all the time, and I have an absolute blast playing dem games. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Click to expand...

Hey man, didn't you know that after a certain amount of time passes, the things that you enjoy suddenly turn to shit, and then you're never allowed to enjoy them again. It's too bad you can't enjoy something based on its merit and only based on when it was created. I hate that I can't listen to Classical Music since the "Aged Badly" mark has passed.
 
T

ThoseDeafMutes

Member
PS1/N64 3D graphics are utterly abysmal. And I say that as someone whose first console was the N64 and has tons of nostalgia for it. Making a conscious effort to make your game look that bad has got to be violating some kind of decency law.
 
I

Ishida

Banned
KatamariOnTheRocks said:
Hey man, didn't you know that after a certain amount of time passes, the things that you enjoy suddenly turn to shit, and then you're never allowed to enjoy them again. It's too bad you can't enjoy something based on its merit and only based on when it was created. I hate that I can't listen to Classical Music since the "Aged Badly" mark has passed.
Click to expand...

I agree.

I've never understood this "aged poorly" bullshit.
 
V

ViviOggi

Member
I'm really excited about indie devs finally having the tools to feasibly make early 3D-style games, low poly art can look amazing when done right but yeah aping the resolution is just not a good idea. I need more games that look like Drift Stage.
 
R

RedSwirl

Junior Member
It'd be interesting if he actually made it to run within the PS1's actual hardware limitations, or at least roughly around them.
 
I

IvorB

Member
I'll probably get jumped on for saying this, but is there something indie devs have against modern graphics?
 
L

Lights and Waves

Member
Sorry, but not. These graphics are enjoyable for games from the era because we can pardon them on account of nostalgia. This stylization benefits the game in no way other than creating buzz.
 
C

Camjo-Z

Member
IvorB said:
I'll probably get jumped on for saying this, but is there something indie devs have against modern graphics?
Click to expand...

If you're talking 3D graphics, it's because it takes a lot of time and money. If you're talking 2D graphics... beats me.
 
F

Finale Fireworker

Member
It's pretty apparent who was born when based on the comments in this thread. I've been anticipating more games that look like this for years.

To people who think this game's style looks unplayable and bad, there is a whole generation of gamers who feels the same way about 8-Bit.
 
D

Dictator93

Member
ThoseDeafMutes said:
PS1/N64 3D graphics are utterly abysmal. And I say that as someone whose first console was the N64 and has tons of nostalgia for it. Making a conscious effort to make your game look that bad has got to be violating some kind of decency law.
Click to expand...
I think it depends on the game. Aesthetically, a good couple 3D games were and are still really nice looking. Especially once you throw on some AA / AF... I think they look really great still.
Turok 2 for example:
turok2_2015_04_13_01_h1se1.png

turok2_2015_04_13_02_31sur.png

turok2_2015_04_13_02_htsij.png
Click to expand...



No one should try and replicate their performance though.
 
E

EctoPrime

Member
If you added texture filtering it would look more like a N64 game with those low res textures. The Playstation can display far higher res textures.

Displaying static menus in 480i, dropping to some lower res like 512x200 during gameplay and having videos running at 15fps while loading after every room would approach a PS style experience. Dont forget moving the camera with the shoulder buttons.
 
S

Somnium986

Member
Can't say I'm surprised by all the flak the graphics are getting. Personally, I like this style, at least when it comes to survival horror. Silent Hill without question has aged rather poorly, but there's a certain added level of creepiness it gets from it's dated graphics. Just hope this game has decent tank style controls. looking forward to seeing more.
 
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