[Zaxx]

Another great looking retro shooter is happening! In a few weeks there's going to be a trailer along with the Steam page getting set up so we'll know what Prodeus will be exactly but in the meantime here's a new screenshot (with a lot of additional stuff on the Twitter page):
https://twitter.com/...202542452350984

[NightFright]

Yay, another shooter using Unity. But well, it looks better than Dusk or Project Warlock, so maybe it's worth checking once it's available.

[Zaxx]

What's wrong with Unity? I admit I don't like the look of Dusk but it's because of the aesthetic choices they made not because of the engine. On the other hand I quite like how Amid Evil - another Unity game or is it UE4? - looks, there I don't mind the chunky enemies because it's nice and colorful and the weapon "models" are sprites so they are not ugly like in Dusk.

[MetHy]

Looks a lot like Doom.

[----]

It looks really good.

I wish this and other retro shooters would stop using "the same corridors in space as in every other retro shooter" again and again and again, though.

[OpenMaw]

Zaxx, on 07 November 2018 - 09:55 AM, said:

What's wrong with Unity? I admit I don't like the look of Dusk but it's because of the aesthetic choices they made not because of the engine. On the other hand I quite like how Amid Evil - another Unity game or is it UE4? - looks, there I don't mind the chunky enemies because it's nice and colorful and the weapon "models" are sprites so they are not ugly like in Dusk.

Amid Evil uses UE4, and it's one of the examples where the negine in question greatly influences the choice. Amid Evil would lack one of it's stylistic choices (High res 2D sprites with real-time normal and specular mapping applied) if it was in Unity.

Unity is "fine" but it takes a significant amount of work to get great performance out of it once you start pushing graphics. Even Dusk had issues early on .

[HulkNukem]

I don't get what makes this a retro shooter?
All it looks like is a low res filter applied over it.
The assets look really well done and I like the look of the levels, though.

[Aristotle Gumball]

HulkNukem, on 07 November 2018 - 01:54 PM, said:

I don't get what makes this a retro shooter?
All it looks like is a low res filter applied over it.

Yep. Also the obnoxious HUD.

[Lunick]

The obnoxious HUD gives me STRAFE vibes and that's not a good thing.

However, there is talent working on this game. If you go through the Twitter account you will see gameplay and such but also a level designer from Overkill / Raven Software

[Zaxx]

HulkNukem, on 07 November 2018 - 01:54 PM, said:

I don't get what makes this a retro shooter?
All it looks like is a low res filter applied over it.

It's almost as if they've made low res scans / recreations of handmade sculptures... different times, different methods, dude.

[OpenMaw]

It looks okay. A little too overtly derivative of Doom 2016, IMO, and i'm not too sure what to make of that strange retro-pixelated filter thing they're doing. Seems to be more of a gimmick, to me. With DUSK it makes sense. Dusk is designed and developed by basically one guy, and he set out with a very particular aesthetic he was trying to capture. It makes sense for his guns to have 80 to 200 polygons in them, because he was going for the look of Quake. This looks more or less like any current gen shooter, with a filter on the enemies. They seem to be sprites with a large number of rotations, looking at the way they jitter around. ... Very strange.

[TerminX]

I think they're models that are rendered with the angles locked to a limited set of values to simulate using sprites:

https://twitter.com/...435487266385921

[Aristotle Gumball]

That just looks really strange, like it's stuck half way between two worlds. Retro works when there's a clear line drawn from the present to the past, this seems to be mixing too many disparate elements to arouse any nostalgic feelings.

[OpenMaw]

TerminX, on 08 November 2018 - 01:36 AM, said:

I think they're models that are rendered with the angles locked to a limited set of values to simulate using sprites:

https://twitter.com/...435487266385921

That is such an odd choice.

[Hendricks266]

TerminX, on 08 November 2018 - 01:36 AM, said:

I think they're models that are rendered with the angles locked to a limited set of values to simulate using sprites:

https://twitter.com/...435487266385921

/me sounds the poseury alarm

[NightFright]

I hope this filter can be turned off since I find it rather annoying.

[HulkNukem]

Zaxx, on 07 November 2018 - 09:30 PM, said:

It's almost as if they've made low res scans / recreations of handmade sculptures... different times, different methods, dude.

Huh? I don't get what you're saying.

This would look better if they just dropped the filter.
The models look too high quality to have the filter and jerky animations to pull off a retro look, instead it looks like an afterthought. It would look 100000x better if they just got rid of them and made it look like a modern game with old school gameplay.
Like I said before, the models and level art look real good, and it appears they are handcrafting the levels which is a plus, and the little bit of gameplay I've seen looks fun, it looks like some real talent is behind it.

[Zaxx]

HulkNukem, on 08 November 2018 - 01:33 PM, said:

Huh? I don't get what you're saying.

This would look better if they just dropped the filter.
The models look too high quality to have the filter and jerky animations to pull off a retro look, instead it looks like an afterthought. It would look 100000x better if they just got rid of them and made it look like a modern game with old school gameplay.
Like I said before, the models and level art look real good, and it appears they are handcrafting the levels which is a plus, and the little bit of gameplay I've seen looks fun, it looks like some real talent is behind it.

But if you look at the maps it's clear that they are aiming for simplified map geometry, they have this "slightly improved classic Doom" feel to them... and that's why "downgrading" the enemy models work too. Sure, the models would look better if they've left them as they were but then the overall aesthetic wouldn't be coherent. I mean super detailed models running around on blocky maps would look like shit.

Btw. here's a video where you can see how detailed their models are so you can cry more :DD :

Anyway from looking at the weapon models I think that the filter won't be super agressive when you actually see all this stuff on your screen so you will notice the detailed models but only from up close.

[Mr. Tibbs]

I'm looking forward to seeing what my Raven boys Jason Mojica and Michael Voeller are cooking up. It looks very promising so far.

[Aristotle Gumball]

Zaxx, on 09 November 2018 - 12:02 PM, said:

But if you look at the maps it's clear that they are aiming for simplified map geometry, they have this "slightly improved classic Doom" feel to them... and that's why "downgrading" the enemy models work too. Sure, the models would look better if they've left them as they were but then the overall aesthetic wouldn't be coherent. I mean super detailed models running around on blocky maps would look like shit.

It's not that hard to make something vaguely modern-looking with just the basic tools Unity and Unreal gives you. The guy working on Dusk said it actually took him some effort to make Unity look as bad as he wanted it to look. Nailing a believable retro aesthetic is difficult on multiple levels. I'm not convinced by Prodeus at this point.

I mean, decent effects with low level geometry is just typical amateur design. Not saying devs are amateurs, but what matters is how your target audience takes it.

I'll wait until I see more gameplay video, maybe it'll be fun in spite of the awkward aesthetic.

[Zaxx]

thricecursed, on 09 November 2018 - 01:02 PM, said:

Not saying devs are amateurs

Well if you look at the game's website...

Honestly when I see Raven developers unshackled from slaving away on CoD I clap!

[HulkNukem]

Zaxx, on 09 November 2018 - 12:02 PM, said:

Btw. here's a video where you can see how detailed their models are so you can cry more :DD :

Oh okay, you are one of those people

[Zaxx]

HulkNukem, on 09 November 2018 - 03:35 PM, said:

Oh okay, you are one of those people

No, I did not mean it as "plz cry moar!", I just think that based on the stuff you bring up you expect a bit too much from a game that is developed by two people.

I mean just try thinking logically for a second and you'll get your answers.

Why do the models look like this?

- Because they want them to look this way
- Because it wouldn't fit the art style of the maps
- Because detailed models demand higher quality animations and they clearly don't have that

I'm sure you can come up with more reasons for this and if you keep on thinking logically it's likely that all of those will be good answers.

And really I think that this sort of criticism is pointless until we actually see the game in motion. GIFs and still screenshots can't show off how the game looks and feels.

[OpenMaw]

Zaxx, on 09 November 2018 - 12:02 PM, said:

Btw. here's a video where you can see how detailed their models are so you can cry more :DD :

[Zaxx]

Commando Nukem, on 09 November 2018 - 03:51 PM, said:

And you're a mindless idiot who is capable of misinterpreting a sentence just because there are words in there that are part of a meme. How about reading and getting the context instead?

Fuck, I hate that nowadays you can't even write a comment on the internet without some dumbos jumping at your throat because they misunderstood something. Well guess what, I'm offended by your stupidity that can lead you to disregard a whole post because there were two words in there you did not like. Fucking flower children.

[VGA]

TerminX, on 08 November 2018 - 01:36 AM, said:

I think they're models that are rendered with the angles locked to a limited set of values to simulate using sprites:

https://twitter.com/...435487266385921

This gave me a hard-on.

[Jimmy]

"Hey if it looks like shit it must be retro."

[OpenMaw]

Zaxx, on 09 November 2018 - 03:53 PM, said:

And you're a mindless idiot who is capable of misinterpreting a sentence just because there are words in there that are part of a meme. How about reading and getting the context instead?

Fuck, I hate that nowadays you can't even write a comment on the internet without some dumbos jumping at your throat because they misunderstood something. Well guess what, I'm offended by your stupidity that can lead you to disregard a whole post because there were two words in there you did not like. Fucking flower children.

It's a joke, not a dick, don't take it so hard.

[Zaxx]

Commando Nukem, on 17 November 2018 - 09:06 AM, said:

It's a joke, not a dick, don't take it so hard.

Meh, it was more of a reaction to Hulk's post.

[OpenMaw]

Zaxx, on 17 November 2018 - 09:40 AM, said:

Meh, it was more of a reaction to Hulk's post.