STRAFE: The Bleeding Edge Game set for '96 Release

[Chris]

Besides, almost all of the reason old games look the way they do when it comes to detail is because they knew most computers wouldn't have been able to handle anything beyond that at the time and did the best they could to add as much information as limitations could allow. There's working as best as you can with what you've got and then there's just using the "it's retro!" excuse to not put effort in.

That's exactly it. The quality people see in older games is from the creative design required to deal with inherent limitations. It was how they dealt with those limitations that determined if the result would be good, not simply having limitations. Retro is not a free pass to having low-quality assets... just the opposite, in fact; it's about putting in extra effort to make high-quality assets for a low-fidelity environment.

If you want to properly build a retro game, you should start with retro systems then do your best to work around the limitations imposed by such systems. But, especially for new/aspiring developers, it's a lot easier to do the best you can with everything you have at your disposal, than to purposely restrict yourself and not know how to work effectively in the environment you create for yourself.

[Blox]

So just to really accentuate the Minecraft Syndrome:
Strafe ("lol 1996")
Quake 2 (1997) (nice texture filtering)
BTSX E2 (glorious vanilla compatibility) or hell, Doom E1M1 (1993)
And yes, it's really nice how they completely remove all the dirt to really make things look nice and retro.

[leileilol]

The textures are like a cross between *insert failing minecraft the fps on Steam here* and that 1997 turd known as Defiance.

[mallo]

Except not because...

Except yes, he missed the joke, because making the graphic look worse was the joke. The "concept art" was drawn based on the scene, you can see this on the machine in the back plane.

You guys constantly bitch about graphics which is the last thing I'd expect to bitch about on a forum for an over 20-year old game half graphics of which don't exceed 100x100. Sure, the devs completely missed the point with them but hey, there's still gameplay. If the graphics suck but the game will play good, who cares?

[MetroidJunkie]

Except yes, he missed the joke, because making the graphic look worse was the joke. The "concept art" was drawn based on the scene, you can see this on the machine in the back plane.

You guys constantly bitch about graphics which is the last thing I'd expect to bitch about on a forum for an over 20-year old game half graphics of which don't exceed 100x100. Sure, the devs completely missed the point with them but hey, there's still gameplay. If the graphics suck but the game will play good, who cares?

Actually, my point wasn't that the graphics were downgraded, my point was how they were downgraded. Look at all the detailing and grit in the concept art. You can see wires sticking out of the machines, a busted panel on the floor, grit in the metallic flooring, a bright halo light, planetary bodies among the stars. Then look at the right, it's all gone. No wires, no grit, only pixel stars, no brightness to the light, all the panels are perfectly orderly, the textures are way too low res even by the standards of Doom and Quake. They made no effort to capture any of the atmosphere that was clearly in the concept art. 90's developers took what they had and tried to squeeze all the detail that they could, they had to creatively work with their limitations and you could still see plenty of detailing in the environments. Let's make a quick comparison.

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It just looks far too clean, orderly, and lacking in detail to be based on a 90's shooter. You're right, though, game-play trumps graphics and, if I thought the game-play were anything special, I could easily look past this but I don't see that. It looks like a pretty generic first person shooter to be honest, the only thing notable is the blood effect but, if I want good blood effects, Overgrowth still holds the crown in that regard in my opinion.

[Ixnatifual]

Advert is kind of gross, but the game looks cool from what I could make out.

[NeuralStunner]

It just looks far too clean, orderly, and lacking in detail to be based on a 90's shooter. You're right, though, game-play trumps graphics and, if I thought the game-play were anything special, I could easily look past this but I don't see that.

They're selling this game on its graphics, so it's not unreasonable to look at that critically. The sterile, pixel-trash look is generally awful even by 1996 shooter standards. I wouldn't have a problem with the game having its own style, but it's trying to be representative of its "contemporaries" and doing a bad job at it.

It would be nice if game makers would pick a tech level, build a good game on it, rather than trying to neuter a design for the sake of "retro" or "old-school". Or maybe I'm just going crazy, and that many people really are nostalgic for the sad results of cutting corners in the name of performance.

[mallo]

Actually, my point wasn't that the graphics were downgraded, my point was how they were downgraded. Look at all the detailing and grit in the concept art. You can see wires sticking out of the machines, a busted panel on the floor, grit in the metallic flooring, a bright halo light, planetary bodies among the stars. Then look at the right, it's all gone. No wires, no grit, only pixel stars, no brightness to the light, all the panels are perfectly orderly, the textures are way too low res even by the standards of Doom and Quake. They made no effort to capture any of the atmosphere that was clearly in the concept art. 90's developers took what they had and tried to squeeze all the detail that they could, they had to creatively work with their limitations and you could still see plenty of detailing in the environments.

You are right. They could add some more decorations. I back my comment about missing the joke.

[XanderK9]

The textures are somehow making me think of Blake Stone. Perhaps they have downgraded the graphics a couple of years too far.

Joking aside, I can't say that the game is selling to me this far. The trailer and the excessive amount of blood fountains haven't picked up my interest, but I think the website is worth a chuckle (well, a tiny bit).

[MetroidJunkie]

Just so it doesn't seem like I'm just ragging on the graphics, the game seems very bland overall. Only a machine-gun, shotgun, and rail gun (They claim there are other weapons but this isn't exactly a compelling first impression), the enemies don't exactly scream original either, the kindest thing I can say about this game is the clean environments have a sort of Half-Life vibe but Half-Life is more story and dialogue driven so it has a reason for that. The funny thing is the closest thing to interesting I've seen so far is that "secret level" that's basically their version of Wolfenstein 3D but it still doesn't seem that compelling when I can just play the real Wolfenstein 3D. XD


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMMb1JfPQ48#t=24s

[demo_the_man]

Gameboystien3d anyone?

[mallo]

There were apparently plans of putting Wolfenstein 3-D on the GameBoy, but they got nowhere.

[Hellstorm Archon]

[Big C]

Uuuuuugh, those sound effects and that music is as far from iD shooters as you can get. The former has even less oomph than Atari sound effects and the latter sounds like a shrill, budget attempt at emulating Alexander Brandon's Unreal soundtrack, but without any of the serenity he brought to it.

THUMBS DOWN.

[DoomRater]

All of this actually makes me wish they did polish the textures and made them... appropriate. At least there's strategy with the gore system in place- it seems like the only mechanic that's actually well thought out so far.