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High Voltage Software reveals Gladiator A.D.
- Thread starter thefro
- Start date
AltogetherAndrews
Member
Haunted said:
That would be the art director, then. Honestly, it almost looks like they are working without one. And if they have one, they should probably look into demoting him to junior AD and scout for a more talented one to save their projects.
HVS are gawddamn genuises!!!! If they were making games for any other platform none would care and they would probably bomb. They went from obscurity to well known developer within a years time because they made the right choice in making Wii games.
I'm amazed more of the less known developers aren't taking this very same route. You want to take on the bigger 3rd parties and have an entire platform, that is selling millions, that they are completely ignoring.
They could literally become more popular than some 3rd parties from just this 1 generation if they play their cards right. The only other Wii developer with threads this big on GAF is named Nintendo.
I'm amazed more of the less known developers aren't taking this very same route. You want to take on the bigger 3rd parties and have an entire platform, that is selling millions, that they are completely ignoring.
They could literally become more popular than some 3rd parties from just this 1 generation if they play their cards right. The only other Wii developer with threads this big on GAF is named Nintendo.
Black-Wind
Member
Ok, than I will play as the squeaky wheel in this post . . .GDGF said:
I SEE 3-4 COLORS AT MOST! NONE OF WHICH ARE SKIN TONES AND RED IS THE ONLY ONE THAT STANDS OUT! MY EYES HURT FROM LOOKING AT IT FOR NO LONGER THAN A FEW SEC! WHY IS THIS!EmCeeGramr said:
gladiatorlolz.gif
/caps rant
At this rate they would have to make half the fighters females with crack-and-under-boob shots for me to rent it . . . or they would have to make this THE full on M+ weapon fighting game for me to think about buying it. I don't think it's a good idea to make M+ simply "optional" for a lil bit more control in a game thats got a 2010 release date.
Black-Wind said:
If you were really wanting things changed you could also email them feedback@high-voltage.com
They tend to take critiques into mind, they changed at least 3 things in The Conduit based on GAF emails.
jrricky said:No they dont. Im actually quite fond of the style they use with this over saturation. Wonderful! I love these guys. Animations are a step above from the older trailer and they still have over a year to finish this baby up.
You have poor taste then. HVS is obviously pandering to the stupid next gen brown filter trend. Fuck that.
abstract alien
Member
I actually got a "thank you" email from them for supporting the conduit and giving feed back todaymarkatisu said:
Who else got one?abstract alien said:I actually got a "thank you" email from them for supporting the conduit and giving feed back today
I emailed them earlier today to ask if they could add a Wii Channel for their games ala Wii Fit to make match making and friend management quicker. But I know they reply to people all the time, Frontier Games (developers of LostWinds) are like that as well.
abstract alien
Member
That would be nice....hell, Id just like a High Voltage channel so we can keep everything from them in order since nintendo doesnt want to help.markatisu said:
I beg to differ. I have LOTS of art style tastes and they are all justified rightfully.agrajag said:
I got nothing when I emailed them about Conduit and Gladiator, :-/abstract alien said:I actually got a "thank you" email from them for supporting the conduit and giving feed back today
jrricky said:No they dont. Im actually quite fond of the style they use with this over saturation. Wonderful! I love these guys. Animations are a step above from the older trailer and they still have over a year to finish this baby up.
I don't mean to sound snarky, but what in the world can you see in the current over-bloom/over-saturation that is visually appealing to you? The game looks muddied and rather off putting. If they were wanting to be visually inspired by 300, it seems like they've missed the best parts of the 300 art style and instead slapped everything down with a two-tone filter (besides red!).
I understand art-style is a subjective term and all, but I'm having a hard time seeing where this current style would be acceptable to anyone's tastes.
Black-Wind
Member
Email?markatisu said:
Damn . . . I guess Im going to have lay off the rage caps . . .
(Don't know if I should email now or wait till E3 is over when they are more likely to reply . . . I want a shirt too!)
Phife Dawg
Member
Second trailer looked less horrible than the first but still horrible.
abstract alien
Member
jrricky said:
Here is the letter they sent out to (almost)all who have provided feedback.
HVS, I love you
I'd like to chime in to say that it is pretty bold of HVS to announce and release media from internal original IPs a year out from planned release. Bold in that nothing is going to be anywhere near finished and it is likely to attract the sort of negative criticism seen in this thread.
But these are tough times in the industry. Licensed project work is hard to come by, and hotly contested as numerous developers scramble for work to stay alive. Placing original IP is even harder in this climate. However, releasing Conduit details and media when they didn't have a publisher probably contributed to them getting a publishing deal and getting one faster than they otherwise might. Why not try to repeat that successful process?
So, IMO, cut them some slack for doing something unconventional during a challenging period in the industry, take advantage of the opportunity they present in being responsive to community feedback, and don't be too judgemental until the thing actually gets closer to release and into the hands of someone who can actually play it.
But these are tough times in the industry. Licensed project work is hard to come by, and hotly contested as numerous developers scramble for work to stay alive. Placing original IP is even harder in this climate. However, releasing Conduit details and media when they didn't have a publisher probably contributed to them getting a publishing deal and getting one faster than they otherwise might. Why not try to repeat that successful process?
So, IMO, cut them some slack for doing something unconventional during a challenging period in the industry, take advantage of the opportunity they present in being responsive to community feedback, and don't be too judgemental until the thing actually gets closer to release and into the hands of someone who can actually play it.
Mario said:
I got to disagree. I think The Conduit was in a different situation. It was their first self funded game and they had tried to get publishers interested. If they were so interested with that game why would they not just keep it under wraps and pitch their other projects now that they have some connection and people are interested in this type of a game for the Wii.
I don't mind them revealing it and saying its there and what the concept is but blowing it out like this and showing very unrefined build can't help them that much. Like you said people just get a negative impression of the game and its going to be hard to shake that. Why not just wait a while and show a much improved version closer to release. You don't need to catch the e3 hype announcing a game now. Hell it might be worse because it will get lost in the bigger things that are much further along. They could have done this unveil with IGN at any time.
Whoever is working on this within HVS I hope has nothing to do with their two FPS games. This is the definition of "overcooked". They have so many effects going on with those characters that it looks like a fuddled mess. They need to kill this and put whatever resources they can into their two better looking FPS's. That contradicts my first statement but I'm assuming they'll just be doing grunt work.
abstract alien
Member
I thought the exact same thing, but I kept it to myself :lol That game would be awesome!pakkit said:
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Dascu said:
Day 1.
bdouble said:
Developers are dropping like flies. They may not have the ability to wait a while. Or they may be finding it prudent to secure their future sooner rather than later.
I don't think negative comments from the hardcore online is really going to impact sales negatively down the track. Certainly it is a worthy tradeoff if it moves them towards a publishing deal.
AltogetherAndrews
Member
Mario said:
See though, I'm not buying your argument that anyone should temper their criticism based on the situation the developer is in. They are trying to reap the benefits of public exposure and has gotten IGN onboard with full force, so they are going to have to deal with the less savory bits too.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
AltogetherAndrews said:
Which HVS have done so with The Conduit better than most developers. They've continuously shaped the game based on hands-on reports and opinions by the general public, been extremely open to questions asked by the general public, and while promoting their game always said that those complaining should wait until they play it before they give final judgement.
I'm not going to jump on to the HVS worship bandwagon that seems to passing through the various gaming avenues of the internet, but I'm also not paying for a ticket to the HVS troll wagon that seems to be following close behind. I honestly think that, with Gladiator A.D so far from release, if enough people complained about the excessive orange filtering, especially those who give hands-on reports when the time comes, HVS would start tweaking it in favour of the public.
At least they're not releasing a ton of bullshots, target renders, and CGI videos and marketing them as the game they intend to make. Everything they've shown Wii related is in-engine and in-game, and usually ends up looking better as time goes by.
AltogetherAndrews
Member
EatChildren said:
So what you're saying is that we should give them shit for it in hopes that enough of a stink will inspire them to maybe hire a decent art director? I agree, and I'm doing my part.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
AltogetherAndrews said:
I'm saying that HVS have shown they listen to the public. If enough people bitch they'll take notice and probably tinker with the 'problem'. Everyone is entitled to bitch, I just don't think it sucks as much as so many people here do.
Personally, I think if they really tone down the orange filter and focus more on clean colour usage rather than trying to dull everything the game would look fantastic. The blood, for example, looks practically black due to the mesh of reds and orange/brown filtering. Otherwise, I have no major problems with anything graphically related.
flarkminator
Member
Good
God
What the fuck am I supposed to take away from that trailer other than a cloud of sadness and shame knowing that somewhere out there someone was happy with that.
God
What the fuck am I supposed to take away from that trailer other than a cloud of sadness and shame knowing that somewhere out there someone was happy with that.
AltogetherAndrews said:
I am not suggesting that they won't have to deal with negative criticism. In a world where every screenshot is scrutinised to the last pixel and even great looking games get some snide comments, they would have to be naive to think they wouldn't attract negative comments (and I don't think they are).
What I am suggesting is people
- put the release of this media in context and don't assume this approach won't be effective for them, when it has worked in the past (they are an independent developer looking for a publishing deal at a time when publishing deals for original IP are very rare)
- state their criticism in a constructive way, and take advantage of the opportunity that HVS has historically been very responsive to feedback
- recognise that the game is a year away from an intended release date, so has ample opportunity to improve and more than likely will as time passes and publisher money is injected
It's interesting, on the one hand, I'm really impressed by the amount of texture work and lighting, it reminded me of Soul Calibur. At the same time, I think it's a bit too much, because everything looking so shiny was really distracting and literally irritated my eyes. I guess we'll wait and see.
grenadeguru
Member
Agreed. That game had serious potential that just begs for a sequel. Unfortunatley I believe LucasArts still has the rights to it and they are more than a little risk averse these days.Rated-Rsuperstar said:
Anyways I wonder if pieces of armor fly off in this game.
Developer walk through on Gametrailers
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-gladiator-ad/50804
Ugh. they're bragging about that animation?
EDIT:
another gameplay vid, looks a bit better but it needs a lot of work. Man gets stabbed and beheaded with a club....
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-gladiator-ad/50801
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-gladiator-ad/50804
Ugh. they're bragging about that animation?
EDIT:
another gameplay vid, looks a bit better but it needs a lot of work. Man gets stabbed and beheaded with a club....
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-gladiator-ad/50801
rollingstart
Banned
I've hated on this game before, and I still think it's one of the ugliest games ever, but that gametrailer video made the gameplay seem pretty fun, especially if it uses Motion Plus.
grenadeguru said:
Their new president is in love with their old IPs, even those not ending in "-ar Wars" or "-diana Jones". I know literally nothing about what could be on the way, but since the Monkey Island announcement, the chances of getting a Gladius sequel have definitely gone up. Keep your fingers crossed.
Black-Wind
Member
Looks better than before. Not sure about the gameplay . . . you don't seem to move to fare.
Looks much better in motion, I always find it funny that HVS screenshots are sooooo bad but yet their games when played/showed do not represent that (I know the Wii sucks at having screenshots taken from it but damn).
I love the ending though, its one thing I have complained about with Red Steel and what I see in Red Steel 2 in that finishing someone never feels or looks satisfying.
I love the ending though, its one thing I have complained about with Red Steel and what I see in Red Steel 2 in that finishing someone never feels or looks satisfying.
AltogetherAndrews
Member
markatisu said:
No, it really doesn't.
Anton Sugar
Member
Wish it had more of a free roaming + lock on system.
No, it doesn't. The screenshots left something to the imagination (and boy howdy look at this thread for imagination-land). Nor is the "looks better in motion" excuse some Wii-exclusive phenomenon: Only the most horrendous/unfinished games (and zoomed-in PC RTS games, why do they think I care what my units look like up close?) on any system actually look worse in motion, and this happens to be one of those.markatisu said: