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[Go_Ly_Dow]

Just thinking here, some of the biggest games released or releasing are reusing a lot of assets and systems. Such as environments, models, animations and more.

These games reused a fair chunk of the work put into the previous games:

• God of War Ragnarock (GOW 2018)
• Zelda Tears of the Kingdom (BoTW 2017)
• Spiderman 2 (Spiderman 2018)

These games possibly reused some work from previous games? Share your thoughts:

• Elden Ring
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Pokemon? (out the loop)
• Star Wars Jedi Survivor
• Plague Tale Requeim
• Resident Evil 4 (anything reused from RE2, 3, 7 and 8?)

These games seem to have built everything from scratch/ground up?:

• Callisto Protocol
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Final Fantasy XVI
• Starfield

Probably missed a fair few. HL, FFXVI and Starfield are 3 massive games all built from scratch, so I think it's a safe bet to assume all 3 will see sequels of some kind, assuming they are financially successesful.

Are there any games where you feel devs reused too much or too little? Share your thoughts.

 

[cormack12]

I don't mind if it makes the dev cycle shorter, but it doesn't seem to have in those games tbh.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

I don't mind if it makes the dev cycle shorter, but it doesn't seem to have in those games tbh.

Should have taken out the 'asset' from the title to be honest, more so focusing on reuse in general, which includes assets but not limited to.

I think its interesting that some games releasing soon are built entirely from the ground up, whilst a lot of popular games recently have taken massive chunks from the previous games.

 

[mrmustard]

If i would be a dev, i would reuse stuff as well. It's cheaper and saves lots of time.

As a gamer it sometimes feels like more of the same and the 'Oh, Ah, Uh' effect is gone and i think it's the reason why some call them expansions.

 

[GigaBowser]

TOTK should not be on the list changes almost everythings even in Hyrules it's just supposed to bees the same place

 

[Beer Baelly]

Starfield will still use old ass Skyrim assets.

 

[StueyDuck]

There's a difference between asset reuse and blatant copy/paste.

Using the same 2 second anim to get in a boat shouldn't be an issue.

Stealing an entire story cutscene animatic from your prior game but changing the characters is just bad. IE the call of duty Ghosts copy/paste job for that car crash scene

 

[MidGenRefresh]

New Vegas is one of the GOATs and it reuses loads from Fallout 3. It was made in 18 months which is simply unbelievable by today’s standards. So I’d say reuse as much as it makes sense if it means we get bangers like New Vegas.

 

[cormack12]

Should have taken out the 'asset' from the title to be honest, more so focusing on reuse in general, which includes assets but not limited to.

I think its interesting that some games releasing soon are built entirely from the ground up, whilst a lot of popular games recently have taken massive chunks from the previous games.

Things get iterated on as well, like animations which obviously improve as efficiency gets better.

Personally I hate the new trend of new game, new map for every game (some sequels would be fine in old settings). I'd like to see some games keep at least part of their world/setting but just accelerate time/era's to keep some familiarity or even better accentuate change.

Then others really benefit (e.g. Rapture v Colombia) from a complete switch. Hard to tell. Like if they ever do remaster RDR I'd like it to still be on the RDR2 map.

 

[L*][*N*K]

I absolutely don't care, as long as the end result is a game I care about assets are the last thing I even bother with.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

There's a difference between asset reuse and blatant copy/paste.

Using the same 2 second anim to get in a boat shouldn't be an issue.

Stealing an entire story cutscene animatic from your prior game but changing the characters is just bad. IE the call of duty Ghosts copy/paste job for that car crash scene

That's ridiculous.

 

[cormack12]

There's a difference between asset reuse and blatant copy/paste.

Using the same 2 second anim to get in a boat shouldn't be an issue.

Stealing an entire story cutscene animatic from your prior game but changing the characters is just bad. IE the call of duty Ghosts copy/paste job for that car crash scene

 

[Portugeezer]

If it cuts development time for something so innocuous, I'm all for it. Criticising a high quality animation because it's the same/similar seems silly.

TOTK should not be on the list changes almost everythings even in Hyrules it's just supposed to bees the same place

All those games do.

 

[YukiOnna]

Asset re-use is pretty normal, so I don't really view it as a negative. They should to shorten development as much as possible and help with cost tbh.

Final Fantasy XVI also re-uses some assets though: Several monsters have made its way in from FF14 (Bull, Adamontoise, etc,) Mechanic animations and moves are re-used a little bit (Bahamut uses Twintania's divebomb and Nidhogg's Akh Morn the same way, Garuda has some stuff as well) and I believe some have pointed out animations similar to DMC.

 

[DEAD ORIGINAL]

Think about old games like GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas all used same assets hell even the two portable ones did who cares when the games are fun

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

TOTK should not be on the list changes almost everythings even in Hyrules it's just supposed to bees the same place

Oooohh... It definately should.

 

[RoadHazard]

TOTK should not be on the list changes almost everythings even in Hyrules it's just supposed to bees the same place

 

[squarealex]

FFX-2, the thread

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Asset re-use is pretty normal, so I don't really view it as a negative. They should to shorten development as much as possible and help with cost tbh.

Final Fantasy XVI also re-uses some assets though: Several monsters have made its way in from FF14 (Bull, Adamontoise, etc,) Mechanic animations and moves are re-used a little bit (Bahamut uses Twintania's divebomb and Nidhogg's Akh Morn the same way, Garuda has some stuff as well) and I believe some have pointed out animations similar to DMC.

Think that's stretching with FFXVI. The dev team has the DMC combat designer, but they haven't gone to Capcom for animations, all has been built from the ground up. Same with the monsters, they have reused or been inspired by series staples from an artistic perspective but iterationd, models, animation etc.. for the game have still been built from scratch.

 

[hyperbertha]

I think the level of reuse is forgivable depending on how much the game expands in some way from previous. Forgivable for horizon fw (major graphics upgrade), and Zelda ( gameplay expanded), elden ring ( completely new open world). Unforgivable for Ragnarok and likely Spiderman 2, because they are just dlc.

 

[brian0057]

Just so we're clear. Are we working under the notion that reusing assets is a bad thing?
Because it's not.

 

[SeraphJan]

I don't think there is anything wrong with asset reuse as long as the quality of the asset was good in the first place

 

[nkarafo]

I never understood the point of this.

The drawings are different. They still had to make those frames one by one. So what's the gain? That they didn't have to do new motion captures? Is that so much work?

 

[RoboFu]

I mean how many different lamps and couches can you make? Lol

In Spider-Man it’s New York. There are cars, stop lights, trash cans and buildings. How many times should they remake the same things? And would they really be any different?

 

[cormack12]

I don't think there is anything wrong with asset reuse as long as the quality of the asset was good in the first place

I agree

 

[KungFucius]

TOTK should not be on the list changes almost everythings even in Hyrules it's just supposed to bees the same place

It still reuses some assets that are really not a big deal. Same overall map + inverted map,.

Things that remained the same but had some changes/additions:

• enemies
• weapons
• resources
• armor & upgrade system
• cooking
• horses
• weather system (only change here is frog suit and anti slip potion)
• shrine system

It makes sense to reuse all of that in a direct sequel and a lot of it should be reused in the next game except for the breaking and the overly grindy upgrades for armor. Let me keep the cool weapon I made until I find something I like more and make environmental resistance a power, not a fucking armor attribute. Switching to shit armor because of the weather is tedious.

Regardless of what was kept, so much more new stuff was added. Flaws and all it is still one of the best games ever and it's only real competitors for me are philosophical ones that broke new grounds or childhood nostalgia.

 

[Fermbiz]

NRS and their fighting games such as Jason from MKX amd Terminator in MK11 they share some of the same moves.

 

[CGNoire]

Reusing assets and Special Effects between Generations should be seen as Pure Blasphemy. Shits Lame.

If its inside the same gen then as long as its not overboard noticable I can see it being ok in certain circumstances.

 

[Drizzlehell]

I don't see a problem with it. If you're working with the same engine on a game that serves as a direct sequel set in the same general setting then it would be redundant to try and build everything again from the ground up. The games you mentioned were crafted as new experiences with significantly rebuilt levels and a whole new set of areas, new characters, items, enemies, etc. There's nothing wrong with reusing some of the props without even changing them too much, or basing your new models on the pre-existing assets, and simply tampering with or redesigning them to some degree.

There are plenty of examples of reused assets throughout the Mass Effect trilogy, for example, and it's one of the most obvious examples of it that I can think of, because there's a whole bunch of random props or buildings or minor character models that are being reused throughout the trilogy. However, it's not a big deal because: 1) they all take place in the same universe around the same time, and 2) the games introduce plenty of new stuff where it actually matters, such as during main missions or with new characters, enemy types, locations, etc.

 

[Captain Toad]

Starfield will still use old ass Skyrim assets.

Only when you fly to the planet where Skyrim is. There you can visit the entirety of the Elder Scrolls world.

 

[Hugare]

Assets as a whole (textures, models and etc.) I dont mind

But animations? I notice them instantly. I'm very sensitive to reused animations.

As soon as the Spider-Man 2 gameplay started I said "oh no". Just a bunch of reused animations.

Same with GOW Ragnarok, Horizon FW, Zelda TOTK and many others.

In Elden Ring it was passable, because it was a new IP and everything looked different enough from past FROM games (just enough)

One of the reasons why I want Sony to show some new IPs. Can't stand reused animations.

 

[NahaNago]

I'm for the most part okay with reusing assets. Like for me it would make sense for Squareenix to create monster assets that they can use in all of their games for a console generation.

I know it's not a sequel but Starfield still just seems like a weird addition in this discussion since I feel like the game will be pure asset reuse since they have to make 1,000 worlds.

 

[jm89]

Greedfall but not because of asset reuse from previous games but the excessive use of the same assets for the same game.

You see the below house.

Get use to it. That same house is used for NPCs and your own HQ. They differ only in the furniture slightly.

When you enter a house, the question is "i wonder how they arranged the furniture this time?"

 

[RCU005]

Reusing assets in a sequel is not entirely bad. I mean, how would Ragnarok not use the same world if this is a direct sequel? They still changed things to make it feel fresh.

TotK is another game entirely different. It’s like you see the same stuff, but doesn’t feel the same at all.

To me, reusing assets would be something like how Disney reused animations in different movies, or doing it in a blatant lazy way.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Philosophically, I have little qualm with it. But it must be done judiciously to ensure a sequel or new game does not forfeit its own identity by coupling itself too closely with what preceded it.

Case in point: does it really matter if the axe recall animations in God Of War are the same between the two games? While on the other hand, there are actual character animations present in Elden Ring that were originally introduced in Demon's Souls. The more you lean on asset re-use, the more you compromise your game to whatever did it first.

 

[CamHostage]

I never understood the point of this.

The drawings are different. They still had to make those frames one by one. So what's the gain? That they didn't have to do new motion captures? Is that so much work?

It's reused animation. Yes, it's a new character design and the drawings are changed for every frame, but they're tracing over the complex work of moving a body and adjusting for physics and keying identifiable poses. It's a cost-saving tactic, since lesser artists can do the work and no real head-scratcher challenges are involved in creating a whole new sequence (although the real cost saving/value has been debated by even Disney animators.)

It does happen in other mediums. Comics for example call it "swiping" (though that can range from a "loving homage" to an outright stolen trace, depending on who swipes and why.)

In games, the value of reusing material in a sequel or even a different work is obviously a time saver, but comparisons are tricky, plus so much material in games (code, assets) gets reused that we have marketplaces specifically for acquiring code components (plus licensable engines) and asset stores.

 

[geary]

Reusing asset is normal as long as tge dev cycle shortens to half.

 

[Danjin44]

Just like with everything else, there is smart way to do it and there is poor way.

All I care about is the end result.

 

[Melfice7]

Between sequels from the same generation? not a problem. Reusing it on different generations? fuck off. I miss real generations instead of this pc approach bullshit

 

[Fbh]

I don't really mind.
It all depends on how the assets are used and what is gained by reusing them. Sometimes it can help shorten the dev time, sometimes it can free up time and resources to work on awesome new game mechanics and content.

It's only really an issue if it feels like you are reusing a lot of assets but also not introducing new elements to make the new game feel unique and not just like more of the same.

 

[Lux R7]

It depends on how you reuse the assets, in general i honestly don't care if the game is fun and good.
For instance, blue smelter demon was the least problem of dark souls 2 (for me personally)

 

[cireza]

Only when you fly to the planet where Skyrim is. There you can visit the entirety of the Elder Scrolls world.

Having Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim bonus planets would be quite cool.

 

[Griffon]

I don't give a shit and honestly I don't even notice it.

As long as the gameplay is good and the game enjoyable, Nintendo could still be reusing Ocarina of Time assets for all I care.

 

[kunonabi]

The reuse in Zelda almost turned me off the game because the first several hours feels like a complete retread. Same weapons, same armors, etc. It's even worse because the entire structure and a lot of the other elements are exactly the same, dyeing clothes, the great fairies, exact same korok puzzles, etc.

It wasnt until like 40 hours in where I really started seeing substantially different things. I'm a way it's the opposite of botw for me where at 40 hours I had seen everything the game was going to offer and got sick of it. Thing is TotK is an exception most other games with that much reuse aren't going to suddenly become amazing.

 

[semiconscious]

tl/dr: sequels: asset reuse. original ips: no assets...

note: while eldin ring isn't strictly a sequel, it's about as close to being 'a sequel without actually being one' as you can get...

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Well in a lot of cases it does not make sense to recreate the same thing.

 

[Umbasaborne]

I dont think theres anything wrong with the practice. Games already take so inredibly long to produce. Imagine how much longer the next horizon might take if guerilla had to create every single asset again from scratch? Asset reuse is forward thinking, and efficient game design. Reusing the map in zelda likely gave the team room to crazy with the physics abilities, and build out two other massive layers of the world