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Bound (PS4) |OT| Dance the night away
- Thread starter Triggerhappytel
- Start date
Again, thanks for nice comments! We ware not expecting so much good feedback, after press reviews 
.
Meanwhile Santa Monica Studio has launched the photomode contest! There's a lot of cool things to win. Unfortunately only US residents this time, but I will keep you updated since we will repeat that.
More info on game's webpage:
http://bound.playstation.com/photo-mode-contest/
-----
As for the pearl bug. Big soory for that one. It has too strong gravity field we already fixed that, and it will be ready for PSVR launch.
. Meanwhile Santa Monica Studio has launched the photomode contest! There's a lot of cool things to win. Unfortunately only US residents this time, but I will keep you updated since we will repeat that.
More info on game's webpage:
http://bound.playstation.com/photo-mode-contest/
-----
As for the pearl bug. Big soory for that one. It has too strong gravity field we already fixed that, and it will be ready for PSVR launch.
DangerMouse
Member
Yeah, it's gorgeous and the game seems cool too.
Already bought it, just need the time to play it.
Messofanego
Banned
Downloading now. Like Abzu, I just hope for a pretty experience with some interesting interactions.
That's pretty much it. At 60fps with a super clean IQ.
Jacksonlee
Member
Again, thanks for nice comments! We ware not expecting so much good feedback, after press reviews
Meanwhile Santa Monica Studio has launched the photomode contest! There's a lot of cool things to win. Unfortunately only US residents this time, but I will keep you updated since we will repeat that.
More info on game's webpage:
http://bound.playstation.com/photo-mode-contest/
-----
As for the pearl bug. Big soory for that one. It has too strong gravity field we already fixed that, and it will be ready for PSVR launch.
no Canadian love?
im spending too much time in photo mode. thank you for this game.
Man-is-Obsolete
Member
This game is amazing. Like I am seriously in love with the look of this game.
Hope more people play this, and I really hope it ends up on some GOTY lists.
Hope more people play this, and I really hope it ends up on some GOTY lists.
What type of rendering is this game using?
Shin-Ra
Junior Member
I was wondering if it was compute rendering & I'm guessing that it is because it's procedural generated.
Game of the Month for me, beating out ABZU and NMS which I both really liked. Bound is a game I love, though. I wasn't expecting that.
It's our own tech. It's super oldschool Forward rendering with one light and a lot time spent on calculating nice crispy shadows . We do the destruction effects on compute shaders, and in PSVR we are touching end of resources. The rendering pipeline is simple so it's easier for us to take advantage of PS4 hardware. porting to PC would be rough ... We don't have a PC at the office right now that handles it in 60, but we didn't take care of PC optimizations at all, so I guess it could be much better.
. We do the destruction effects on compute shaders, and in PSVR we are touching end of resources. The rendering pipeline is simple so it's easier for us to take advantage of PS4 hardware. porting to PC would be rough ... We don't have a PC at the office right now that handles it in 60, but we didn't take care of PC optimizations at all, so I guess it could be much better.
Shin-Ra
Junior Member
You have 4xMSAA during the majority of gameplay and TAA for photo mode still-refinement but I'm wondering what extra AA pass you added for theIt's our own tech. It's super oldschool Forward rendering with one light and a lot time spent on calculating nice crispy shadows
beach scenes
Same for me yeah! I guess the relationship between dancing and the story is not really clear yet (though it is there) [edit: never mind, pieces are falling into place and it's really something], but the gameplay interaction definitely feels more congruent or interesting than those other two games. Will give it love come award season.
Good eye! We put FXAA on top of 4xMSAA in
beach scenes
In VR we are rendering to 1.4x framebuffer for better quality. You will see it when comparing with other launch titles. We do a lot of enhancements in PSVR version. The biggest issue is the shadow aliasing in distant shadows, and visible ghosts on 60Hz objects comparing to 120Hz reprojected image but it's a matter of time I guess.
Shin-Ra
Junior Member
I'm surprised, the results look better to me than even Tearaway Unfolded's 8xMSAA + FXAA in scenes of similar contrast. Maybe because there's fewer of those
'real life'
I noticed more shadow aliasing in the VR footage which isn't a surprise with the extra rendering workload.
What a beautiful game. Just got done with my first run, and I was really enraptured throughout. This is probably the most beautiful game with a photo mode ever, and the animation is out of this world. Will definitely continue dancing away through another playthrough in time, don't really understand why there are trophies for speed running the game when all I wanted to do was hold the dance poses forever!
Messofanego
Banned
Only a few minutes in, and already impressed with the stylish animations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc8TwNGS7fA
The camera is fantastic, too.
The camera is fantastic, too.
First off, can I join others on this thread saying thanks for an amazing game and experience. The story and concept is refreshing in games, tackling a rarely address subject in gaming in a quite unique way - I liken it to a short story, and it feels a lot more 'literary' than movie inspired, which is rare in games.
I'm very excited to hear about the 1.4x framebuffer for PSVR, and suspect that given the 30 minutes I spent just staring around at everything in the first level that my PSVR experience will be something I've long wished for in terms of art design and immersion.
One question that you probably can't answer atm, but I'm going to ask anyway...Neo mode? I know the game is already out and technically doens't need the patch, but given your company roots in demoscene I can well imagine that its something you're going to do just because
Messofanego
Banned
Are there any desktop wallpapers?
I'm guessing the PS4 image compression won't look so great if I took a screenshot...
I'm guessing the PS4 image compression won't look so great if I took a screenshot...
Seriously, I spent like 30 minutes in that first area alone, fooling around and enjoying the aesthetics.
Use the PNG feature to avoid the compression and let the photomode render the image to the best quality (see the percentages whenever you move the camera).
Your game is beautiful man. And I don't mean the graphics (though those too). Reviewers are drunk.Again, thanks for nice comments! We ware not expecting so much good feedback, after press reviews
Messofanego
Banned
Thanks!
Thank you
1.4x framebuffer is used to boost up antialiasing quality in the center of the PSVR screen. It means that we render to 2688 x 1512 screen. Basically in VR the worst you can get is aliasing because it hurts your eyes. On the other hand the image can't be blurry since it will also hurt your eyes but in different way (you won't be able to catch the focus). That's why we decided that we need push hard to have the best possible rendering in PSVR. Super simple pipeline + 4xMSAA and we are there. The only thing is the sahdows aliasing. If VR will be popular, then I believe new techniques will pop out.
One question that you probably can't answer atm, but I'm going to ask anyway...Neo mode? I know the game is already out and technically doens't need the patch, but given your company roots in demoscene I can well imagine that its something you're going to do just because
Yeah I'll skip that answer for a better time. But imagine this 4K photomode
- almost ready for HQ prints .Thanks again for kind words - the team is reading and appreciates that!
Man-is-Obsolete
Member
This game is gorgeous and really good
Don't worry too much about press and give yourself the credit when its due.irkutsk12 said:Again, thanks for nice comments! We ware not expecting so much good feedback, after press reviews
Bound IMO sets a new benchmark for stylized visuals, surpassing even the likes of Journey in that regard. And while it's obviously more "gamey" (in fact, I found it closer to Flower than Journey in that regard to stick with the comparison theme) - I enjoyed the take on mechanics as well.
Not completely done with the game, so I can't speak for the narrative yet - but I'm enjoying the 'journey' so far, and looking forward to trying it again in VR later this year.
Again, thanks for nice comments! We ware not expecting so much good feedback, after press reviews
Meanwhile Santa Monica Studio has launched the photomode contest! There's a lot of cool things to win. Unfortunately only US residents this time, but I will keep you updated since we will repeat that.
More info on game's webpage:
http://bound.playstation.com/photo-mode-contest/
-----
As for the pearl bug. Big soory for that one. It has too strong gravity field we already fixed that, and it will be ready for PSVR launch.
Hey there - to start with, awesome game. That said, I ran into a game breaking bug you might want to be aware of, if you don't know about it already. I'll spoiler tag it for anyone still playing, but the gist of it is... don't try and backtrack on the Shout level or you may end up triggering things in the wrong order and get completely stuck.
So, here's what happened. Playing the Shout level, at some point there's a shortcut that involves climbing a few sets of ladders - one of them has a few pearls floating around its base, along with a stream of small attached pearls in a line around it. These ladders take you to the very end of the level.
I ended up finding that shortcut before taking the normal path, since the game encourages you to explore. Because I saw it took me to the end of the level, I turned around and went back down what the "normal" path through the level is to try and get any memory shards I missed. Because of this, I entered the area where the dad and mom yell at each other from the wrong direction. That meant that I was never able to trigger the mom leaving, and the dad remained stuck yelling at his initial position. I tried for a good hour every possible thing I could do to get back to the end of the level, but because the dad's roar kills you when you're on a balance beam, ladder, etc, there was absolutely no way to escape.
I ended up finding that shortcut before taking the normal path, since the game encourages you to explore. Because I saw it took me to the end of the level, I turned around and went back down what the "normal" path through the level is to try and get any memory shards I missed. Because of this, I entered the area where the dad and mom yell at each other from the wrong direction. That meant that I was never able to trigger the mom leaving, and the dad remained stuck yelling at his initial position. I tried for a good hour every possible thing I could do to get back to the end of the level, but because the dad's roar kills you when you're on a balance beam, ladder, etc, there was absolutely no way to escape.
Because there's no option to go back to the beach, or restart the level, I was stuck having to restart a brand new game. Extremely frustrating as it happened to be my final level. I'd put a lot of time into slowly and carefully exploring each of the levels, and felt like I got punished for it. Having to start a new game to actually advance, I found myself rushing back through everything... it just kind of killed my mood for it.
Anyway, I hope you consider adding a level restart option, or at least fix that specific issue I described so that others don't encounter it. Other than that... absolutely gorgeous game; very calming and enjoyable. I stopped to take tons of pictures; certainly the game with the most beautiful moments I wanted to capture and preserve that I can remember in a long while. This is the first I'd heard that it's going to support PSVR - I'm tremendously looking forward to that now!
Hi,
Yes we know that bug, and you are unfortunately the second person that reports it
Cool, glad you guys are aware of it. After the initial frustration passed, it was really nice reflecting back on my time with the game... what an absolutely beautiful experience. Cheers to the team, I can't believe the game isn't getting more attention.
Just finished it for the first time. What a captivating and mesmerizing experience. In awe. Now to start finding the shortcuts and secrets. I have a feeling the platinum will be pretty challenging, but I'll try to get it.
I didn't even bother with photomode, because it'd be too time-consuming: every image was a perfect screenshot.
Man, 2016 has been a stellar year for indie games.
Yeah, there's no buzz at all for this game, what a shame.
I didn't even bother with photomode, because it'd be too time-consuming: every image was a perfect screenshot.
Man, 2016 has been a stellar year for indie games.
Yeah, there's no buzz at all for this game, what a shame.
Hey all! Wanted to give a quick hello. I'm the Santa Monica Studio External Development Community Manager.
Wanted to also give a quick heads-up to anyone interested - Plastic is hosting a livestream/developer talk in about 10 minutes at https://www.twitch.tv/bonzajplc
Wanted to also give a quick heads-up to anyone interested - Plastic is hosting a livestream/developer talk in about 10 minutes at https://www.twitch.tv/bonzajplc
taizuke
Member
Saw this actually when you guys ended your session. Wish i could've been there.
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
Amazing presentation... had to get it... poor wallet ... because someone alerted me to Primal arriving on PS4 as an emulated PS2 Classics, Castle of Illusion was being delisted on PS3, Abzu released, and there was a big discount on Sonic CD on PS3/Taxman edition...
... because someone alerted me to Primal arriving on PS4 as an emulated PS2 Classics, Castle of Illusion was being delisted on PS3, Abzu released, and there was a big discount on Sonic CD on PS3/Taxman edition...
S
Steve.1981
Unconfirmed Member
Thought this game looked intriguing so I took a punt on it a few days ago, and I'm very glad I did. It's beautiful. It really is a feast for the senses, and that's not hyperbole.
I think my favourite part so far was the first time I
Loved it.
My only (small) complaint would be that I fall off. A lot. It doesn't ruin my enjoyment of the game, but I kind of wonder why it's even possible, or why it happens at all. I understand the game is a platformer (in a way), but it's not exactly skill based and there's no way to fail or lose progress or anything like that. When I fall off, I'm automatically put back right where I was. It just seems to pointlessly break up the 'flow' of how I'm moving through the game.
But anyway, it's just a small hiccup in an otherwise spellbinding experience. The game overall feels great, it sounds great, the animations and artwork are (as they say) god tier, I feel moved by where the 'story' is going...in a word, it's special.
Edit: Finished my first playthrough last night. Loved it. Will definitely continue to spend time with this one, replaying and looking for secrets and stuff. Congratulations to everyone involved in the making of the game. It's fantastic.
I think my favourite part so far was the first time I
reached one of the yellow & red 'slides', and the music kicked it up a notch as I rushed along picking up speed. It was thrilling and I was irresistibly reminded of Journey.
My only (small) complaint would be that I fall off. A lot. It doesn't ruin my enjoyment of the game, but I kind of wonder why it's even possible, or why it happens at all. I understand the game is a platformer (in a way), but it's not exactly skill based and there's no way to fail or lose progress or anything like that. When I fall off, I'm automatically put back right where I was. It just seems to pointlessly break up the 'flow' of how I'm moving through the game.
But anyway, it's just a small hiccup in an otherwise spellbinding experience. The game overall feels great, it sounds great, the animations and artwork are (as they say) god tier, I feel moved by where the 'story' is going...in a word, it's special.
Edit: Finished my first playthrough last night. Loved it. Will definitely continue to spend time with this one, replaying and looking for secrets and stuff. Congratulations to everyone involved in the making of the game. It's fantastic.
No worries! We're hoping to do another one in a couple of weeks with Plastic. Here's the full archive too: https://www.twitch.tv/bonzajplc/v/86829325
I think that we got a lot of attention from the high profile press. But for narrative titles, that are currently not a main stream genre, reviews such as "Fantastic experience! 7/10" just kill the game. We still got PSVR to launch, but right now what kind of game it is and we shouldn't promote it as as 3D platformer, but as an emotional experience, that you can sink into and do a lot of modern art photography during the playthrough
.
Shin-Ra
Junior Member
That was confirmation enough for me.Yeah I'll skip that answer for a better time. But imagine this 4K photomode
Thanks again for kind words - the team is reading and appreciates that!
Dangansona
Member
I think I'm a bit confused about how the notebook works for selecting levels. I've played like 4 or 5 now and I have three pages left to choose from that I feel I've done already?
Nah they're different, but it allows you to pick the order you beat the levels in.
DirgeExtinction
Member
I've only played this game as a demo in Best Buy, but it looks gorgeous.
PlayStation also just released a sort of music video for the game.
Heinali: The Ocean That I Found
It looks really cool and the animations are very nice and pretty.
PlayStation also just released a sort of music video for the game.
Heinali: The Ocean That I Found
It looks really cool and the animations are very nice and pretty.
Triggerhappytel
Member
Just finished this. It's an achingly beautiful game with fairly rudimentary gameplay. I like artsy fartsy pretentious stuff like this and this was a definite improvement on Plastic's last couple of games. I'd have liked the actual platforming to be a bit more complex and involving, and there were a lot of times where I fell to my death because I couldn't properly see where I was jumping to. As I said before, the voxel visual style is ridiculously beautiful, and I love how much detail there is, and how the environment is constantly in motion. It's a stunning game, but one that's sadly a bit shallow. Still, I enjoyed it and I don't regret picking it up. Just maybe not at full price.
For anyone that enjoyed the music of Bound, the soundtrack is officially out today including iTunes, Spotify and Google Play. Here's the trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQd813ysG_k