Game technology - Ain't it great! Celebrating gaming technology

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L. Scofield

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Mod: It's good to have debates and enjoy the cut-and-thrust of pitted wits from time to time, but all too often we turn everything into a competition and turn all-and-sundry into needless fights of contrary opinion. This thread takes a very different and special role. Post all the moments of technical excellence (not gameplay and art/design) you've appreciated over the years. You can't be wrong, and there is no 'best'. It's just a chance to share developer achievements just as we would share a movie or book or piece of music without it turning into a fight about how another movie, book or song is better.

Killzone 2/3 hit reactions and death animations blended with ragdoll (good ragdoll):


Alan Wake's volumetric lighting/shadowing system

 
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-Kilzone 2-3 AI
-LBP (1&2 or 2) RT GI,volumetric lighting ,fluid systems procedural shaders , physics (hard,soft ,fluids)...(probably more, the engine design is amazing)

-RDR sky technology, endorphyn.
-GT5 HDR lighting + car shaders.
-Uncharted animation system.

Just on top of my head.
 
I admit I haven't played a lot of newer games but seeing starcraft 2 in-game rendered cut scenes certainly blew my mind.
 
For particles and particle physics I'll name Cryostasis with PhysX (NV HW based). Tons of particles (upto ~30-60k particles) fluid dynamics, procedural particle effects and more.


For water effects I'll probably put Silent Hunter 5 as the one. It's the 3D deformable water tech, foam, wave effect, how they collide with objects, rain effects and underwater effects. Pretty much all that is water related in this game is well done and for obvious reasons.

 
I applaud this thread as a positive recognition of what developers get right and how they advance the art. No nitpicking of compromises they have to make; just a hearty salute of their hard work.
 
 
Shifty Geezer said:
I applaud this thread as a positive recognition of what developers get right and how they advance the art. No nitpicking of compromises they have to make; just a hearty salute of their hard work.
Click to expand...
I wish all the users and fans had been able to talk about these subjects without it deteriorating into a shouting match, but that's the way these things go in the Internet...

(((interference))) said:
RDR - Best open world environment
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I raise the bet and show some great videos of this unforgettable game, Oblivion. I remember a developer saying that he wondered how Bethesda managed to achieve some features in their engine. Bethesda are great developers:


The music brings me good memories....:cry:


I will also add:

- Halo Reach AI and HDR

- Some UC2 landscapes

- Dead Space and F.E.A.R. shadows

- Mass Effect 1 (especially Salarians and Asari) textures on close-ups during dialogues. ME2 close-ups look worse to me for some reason

- RDR horse animation

- Alan Wake volumetric fog and particles
 
Resident Evil 5

- Most impressive cut-scenes, rendered in real-time.
- most consistently impressive looking character models.

And although this is probably more artistic than technical:

- "Sheva special achievement "award for the creation of a genuinely attractive female character model that isn't creepy nor resembles a porn star.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MztXNdpLjg0&feature=related

res-evil-heroines-431.jpg


Amazing work
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_on_Fractalus
http://www.electriceggplant.com/rescue.html

A little archaic, perhaps, but this was the first procedurally generated, open world, 2D sprite based emulation of a 3D World game I ever experienced... it was what inspired me to pursue Computer Science, seeing what they could do with an 8-bit 6502 processor, 48K of RAM and limited GPU/resolution.

It was also the first game that actually scared me when the little pilot I was rescuing turned into an alien Jaggi.
 
Best dynamic animation system - Natural Motion's Euphoria

This video blows my mind every time I see it. Btw, this is actual gameplay from Back Breaker, but viewed in replay mode. The physics look like that during gameplay, but there may be some slight visual improvements in replay mode. From memory, replay and gameplay are very close.

Also seen to great effect in Red Dead Redemption with all of the cool shooting guys off their horses in bullet-time, or watching them crumble to the ground and roll off of a cliff-side. Couldn't find good vids though.
 
I have to post one of my all-time favorite games. It's hard to believe that this came out in summer 1999, 12 years ago.

Combining voxel based landscapes with polygonal models, realtime shadows, depth of field and realistic water reflections, Outcast looked spectacular, and I think it's a beautfiul game to this very day. What an achievement.
outcast-18orf.jpg


 
Cool to see Outcast in high resolution. That has got to be one of the weirdest running animations in gaming history. It's more like a frolic.
 
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