Support NeoGAF

[Xtyle]

In 2d and 3d games there have been many techniques and cheats that were used across different platforms and some were system specific.

I remember in the old days, there was this thing called grourd shading (can't spell it correctly)
that was used in many games during the 32 bit/n64 time. Games like Spyro used it I believe.

and in 2d, when there was a color limitation, they used black and red dots mixed together to created the color dark red (don't see this returning though).

what are some techniques that were once useful and widely used but are now abandoned, which do you see returning someday?

This also includes all other areas of game developing such as programming.

 

[sasimirobot]

rob the robot?

gyroscopes are used in the wii yeah...

 

[Xtyle]

I am thinking that normal mapping/bump mapping might be abandoned one day when the systems become fast enough to render all the high polys

 

[Napoleonthechimp]

First of all, learn how to spell... Secondly... no that's it.

 

[badcrumble]

Trepanation?

 

[M3wThr33]

Dithering for Spyro is almost insulting to use today.
And gouraud shading is probably used on the DS, still.
And Dithering, too, come to think of it.

 

[Manmademan]

Trepanation?

I'm thinking virgin sacrifices. GAF does have a surplus, you know

 

[Hooker]

I am thinking that normal mapping/bump mapping might be abandoned one day when the systems become fast enough to render all the high polys

Nah, I'd love that, but don't count on it (I HATE normalmapping, few companies do it well)



It's less expensive (for the GPU) to put another texture-layer onto something than to model everything. Hell, CGI full motion pictures have discovered texture layers upon layers upon layers for the different effects.

 

[PjotrStroganov]

Dithering for Spyro is almost insulting to use today.
And gouraud shading is probably used on the DS, still.
And Dithering, too, come to think of it.

On PSP too. Alot.

 

[djtiesto]

Voxels.

 

[Xtyle]

is gouraud shading doable on todays higher res models?
can't developers used that in someways to stylize certain games...and that way, save texture memory in some ways? i am not a 3d expert so I am not sure how these things work exactly

 

[Dilbert]

Designing a control interface for sticks and buttons, rather than waggle and magic elves.

 

[Shig]

Next-gen = Vectrex 1080

 

[Tiktaalik]

I remember when Spyro came out it was really impressive to me how they handled draw distance. Up until that time most 3D platformers I had played had been on the N64, and their solution to draw distance was massive amounts of fog. Spyro on the other hand seemed to make objects in the distance just loose polygons and detail, but the transition was so smooth as you approached that it looked really good. That was a huge leap forward I thought.

Do folks still use this technique? Probably. It's all so much higher poly though so it probably goes completely unnoticed.

 

[Kaeru]

Designing a control interface for sticks and buttons, rather than waggle and magic elves.

but then it wouldn't be next gen, would it?

 

[DaCocoBrova]

Deferred rendering.

 

[godhandiscen]

I remember when Spyro came out it was really impressive to me how they handled draw distance. Up until that time most 3D platformers I had played had been on the N64, and their solution to draw distance was massive amounts of fog. Spyro on the other hand seemed to make objects in the distance just loose polygons and detail, but the transition was so smooth as you approached that it looked really good. That was a huge leap forward I thought.

Do folks still use this technique? Probably. It's all so much higher poly though so it probably goes completely unnoticed.

Thats LOD and its commonly used.
I am not sure if the Pro's still use gouraud shading, but I did in a project with OpenGl during spring. Check it out here, they give a very basic explanation of how it is done.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gouraud_shading

 

[linkboy]

Blast Processing

 

[Giard]

Blast Processing

Beaten

 

[dark10x]

and in 2d, when there was a color limitation, they used black and red dots mixed together to created the color dark red (don't see this returning though).

Dithering, basically, and you still see this today...especially on the Wii.

 

[Deleted member 20415]

Mode-7 bitches! Bring it back!

 

[Gattsu25]

Mode-7 bitches! Bring it back!

**** no, I hated that shit. Being a PC centric gamer at the time, Mode 7 looked horrendous.

 

[Shrike_Priest]

I hope that someone will make an effort to make a next gen game using pre-rendered backgrounds.

It won't work for all gameplay-types, but RPGs for instance would still work without any real problems with pre-rendered backgrounds. They have in the past, and very few of them gain a lot by being free-roaming 3D.

If someone makes an engine with pre-rendered backgrounds/FMVs, optimised for this generation, it could look gorgeous. And by now the character-models in real-time games are good enough to blend in fairly well with CG, imagine what they could look like if they freed up resources with pre-rendered backgrounds. I'm fairly certain they could make them blend in very well.

 

[j^aws]

Full screen, 3:4 aspect ratio TATE games @ 60 Hz.

 

[GoutPatrol]

NURBS.

 

[temp]

**** no, I hated that shit. Being a PC centric gamer at the time, Mode 7 looked horrendous.

"**** you."

 

[dark10x]

Who the hell wants THAT to make a comeback? That looks absolutely awful. Is that actually attractive to ANYONE?!

 

[Deleted member 20415]

Who the hell wants THAT to make a comeback? That looks absolutely awful. Is that actually attractive to ANYONE?!

It was more a joke, but I don't mind it on some of my GBA games. At the time, Mode 7 was pretty awesome stuff - "3D" in the 16-bit age. Respect the past.

 

[Azure Dream]

Nice antialiasing on console games.


Because the Dreamcast spoiled me, apparently.

 

[Xtyle]

yea mode 7 should be back...like for cellphone...oh I forget, even cell phones' have proper 3d rendering now.

 

[Grampa Simpson]

Vsync would be nice. I can't express how much tearing ruins the experience for me. It's like modern developers don't spend any time learning to do things right like developers in the late 80's did. Bleh.

 

[Night_Trekker]

Prerendered backgrounds.

 

[Campster]

Health packs instead of a regeneratory health system?

Games that emphasize replayability over a single 40 hour quest?

Flight sims and adventure games?

First person shooters without hitscan weapons?

 

[dark10x]

Nice antialiasing on console games.


Because the Dreamcast spoiled me, apparently.

The Dreamcast *DID NOT* use anti-aliasing. It did support a form of it, but retail games never took advantage of it.

It was more a joke, but I don't mind it on some of my GBA games. At the time, Mode 7 was pretty awesome stuff - "3D" in the 16-bit age. Respect the past.

Oh yeah, it was very cool back in the early 90s. No doubt about it.

Health packs instead of a regeneratory health system?

No way. Health packs were terrible. Same deal with quick saving (checkpoints FTW).

 

[Campster]

Who the hell wants THAT to make a comeback? That looks absolutely awful. Is that actually attractive to ANYONE?!

Eh, it's got its own distinct aesthetic, which is more than I can say for most modern games.

 

[Xtyle]

hitscan weapons

what is that??

 

[Grayman]

hitscan weapons

what is that??

guns that instantly(or extremely fast) hit their target.

Non hitscan: grenade launchers, rockets(quake type), stuff that you can watch travel and have to lead.

 

[BamYouHaveAids]

AF and 60 fps

 

[Xtyle]

and all of this but no one mentioned 2d spirit art? I guess 2d is truly dead:lol

do next gen games still use midi sound?

 

[Ravidrath]

Blue skies.

 

[koam]

Characters with Hair

 

[Throwaway123456789]

do next gen games still use midi sound?

Nintendo still uses midi in most of their games. Zelda Twilight Princess for example.

 

[Xtyle]

characters with hair??

This?? http://i.tomorrow.msn.de/tom/pics/upload/tfmedia1/HBTAAkEaqt2.jpg

 

[Tiktaalik]

Blue skies.

hell yah

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

Humor.

 

[HAL_Laboratory]

I miss mode 7.

 

[pooteeweet]

Multiple save files. Those were the days.

 

[Deleted member 20415]

I miss mode 7.

I love the Mode-7 love that's coming out of this thread. I threw that in there, sorta as a joke, but I dig DS and GBA games that use it.

I want a DS pilotwings please.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

is gouraud shading doable on todays higher res models?

Its very doable, and extremely 'cheap' in terms of rendering, but with modern day graphics cards theres not much excuse to not use textures unless you're engine is pretty shitty or you're being lazy.

 

[Pimpbaa]

AF and 60 fps

AF for consoles would be a relatively new technique. It's the "next-gen" texture filtering that seems to be missing from too many games for the ps3 and especially the 360. All those nice high res textures going to waste due to trilinear only filtering.