Knack [PS4]

[MrFox]

I have absolutely no issues with the general look of the game. It's just that the gameplay clips I've seen thus far all looked incredibly one-note and bland: run along a narrow path, punch things and enter the occasional hidden room. Trying to bring back the spirit of mascot platformers is all well and good, but J&D as well and R&C did just that without neglecting to update the gameplay.

Well to be honest, R&C has turned to crap for the last several years (it's like they're not even trying to make a good game anymore), Sony never made a new J&D since the PS2. There hasn't been a new story-driven platformer franchise for over 10 years, all we got was sequels and HD ports. (J&D 2001, R&C 2002, Sly 2002). That's why I'm really excited about Knack, I just want more games like this, the genre has been neglected for too long. If it makes money, maybe the next one will have more budget...

 

[patsu]

But Deep Down has intensive fluid simulations and has four of those tornadoes at a time too, but it still manages to look the best !

I only saw Deep Down with one tornado. ^_^

The Knack tornado reacts with other projectiles and loose particles. I don't know how the Deep
Down one behaves at the moment.

I would think Knack has more room to play with those sort of things.

I have absolutely no issues with the general look of the game. It's just that the gameplay clips I've seen thus far all looked incredibly one-note and bland: run along a narrow path, punch things and enter the occasional hidden room. Trying to bring back the spirit of mascot platformers is all well and good, but J&D as well and R&C did just that without neglecting to update the gameplay.

At first, I thought Knack could grow bigger than a building like Katamari and that PS2 game, War of the Monsters. ^_^

 

[XpiderMX]

Where are the shadows (including self-shadows)?

 

[DrJay24]

Where are the shadows (including self-shadows)?

What are you referring to? The media on the previous page has plenty of shadows.

 

[XpiderMX]

What are you referring to? The media on the previous page has plenty of shadows.

Here:

No self-shadows:

Only the typical shadows.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

I only saw Deep Down with one tornado. ^_^

The Knack tornado reacts with other projectiles and loose particles. I don't know how the Deep
Down one behaves at the moment.

I would think Knack has more room to play with those sort of things.



At first, I thought Knack could grow bigger than a building like Katamari and that PS2 game, War of the Monsters. ^_^

He can ! But I don't feel the scale the way the camera shows the scene.

 

[djskribbles]

Are there more attacks other than punch, the jump attack and special attacks?

 

[Sigfried1977]

Here:

No self-shadows:

Only the typical shadows.

No idea whether Knack has them in general or not, but in this articular screen shot there shouldn't be any one way or the other as everyone's in the shade.

 

[Brad Grenz]

The guy on the left's arm sure seem to be casting a shadow on his orange vest. But otherwise, yeah, they're all in a shadow.

 

[patsu]

Are there more attacks other than punch, the jump attack and special attacks?

Those are the moves available in the demo. I haven't seen any ranged attack.

 

[betan]

I feel like Knack is recycling textures and vegetation from a PS2 game or something.

Size mechanics is promising, but hopefully we will see attack variety and some sort of defend/counter move.

 

[patsu]

Can Knack really grow to building size ? Really ? I haven't seen any media suggesting so yet. RenegadeRocks, are you sure ?

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Can Knack really grow to building size ? Really ? I haven't seen any media suggesting so yet. RenegadeRocks, are you sure ?

oh yes, there are numerous videos of it . He can lift tanks an throw at choppers, etc when he gets big and Cerny sowed how enemies which were very difficult when Knack was small can be crushed easily when Knack gets big. Pretty much all initial videos had the giant Knack.

The thing is it looks more like Knack is in a toy world of small buildings than "Knack has grown bigger than a building" !

 

[XpiderMX]

No idea whether Knack has them in general or not, but in this articular screen shot there shouldn't be any one way or the other as everyone's in the shade.

It looks like each one can cast their own body shadow, over the terrain and over other character(s), but I can't see self shadows, for example, ther arm casting shadows over their own body.

 

[DrJay24]

It looks like each one can cast their own body shadow, over the terrain and over other character(s), but I can't see self shadows, for example, ther arm casting shadows over their own body.

They must have gave up shadows for better shaders. It's all about the shaders these days.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

They must have gave up shadows for better shaders. It's all about the shaders these days.

....you cracked me up there !

 

[Sigfried1977]

It looks like each one can cast their own body shadow, over the terrain and over other character(s), but I can't see self shadows, for example, ther arm casting shadows over their own body.

That's because they shouldn't in a situation like that (realistically there's always light bouncing around of course). Maybe they really don't do it all, but it's perfectly fine in that particular screenshot. You get a bit of SSAO to darken some spots, but that's it. Anything more than that would be flat out wrong.

 

[patsu]

oh yes, there are numerous videos of it . He can lift tanks an throw at choppers, etc when he gets big and Cerny sowed how enemies which were very difficult when Knack was small can be crushed easily when Knack gets big. Pretty much all initial videos had the giant Knack.

The thing is it looks more like Knack is in a toy world of small buildings than "Knack has grown bigger than a building" !

I didn't see all of those videos.

I suppose it's nothing like "War of the Monsters". Would be a cool PS4 game.

 

[milk]

It looks like each one can cast their own body shadow, over the terrain and over other character(s), but I can't see self shadows, for example, ther arm casting shadows over their own body.

Shadows don't even work on a character based fashion in most game engines nowadays. Modern engines render global shadow-maps for every shadowed lightsourse that cover any geometry, dynamic or not, and latter the light samples from that map universally as well. There is not such thing as self-shadow vs. character-environment shadows on these engines, and Knack seems to be like that.

 

[XpiderMX]

That's because they shouldn't in a situation like that (realistically there's always light bouncing around of course). Maybe they really don't do it all, but it's perfectly fine in that particular screenshot. You get a bit of SSAO to darken some spots, but that's it. Anything more than that would be flat out wrong.

Just look more pics, I can't find any pics with self-shadowing. Maybe there are some of them, but I can't find them.