AuthorTopic: Flashback HD & The terrible truth of remakes  (Read 44034 times)

Offline Crow

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Re: Flashback HD & The terrible truth of remakes

Reply #50 on: July 15, 2013, 06:53:55 pm
I realize this has its flaws, but I absolutely love it. Is that bad? :'(
« Last Edit: July 15, 2013, 07:37:18 pm by Crow »
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Offline Reo

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Re: Flashback HD & The terrible truth of remakes

Reply #51 on: July 15, 2013, 07:13:25 pm
The overuse of different filters and stock textures is really what stops a lot of digital art from being enjoyable to me, I realise they are massive time savers and a quick way to make something look presentable but it often looks souless IMO. Digital art does not have to look like an oil painting but it shows when actual work has gone into it.

Offline Conzeit

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Re: Flashback HD & The terrible truth of remakes

Reply #52 on: July 15, 2013, 07:18:40 pm
Crow, that isnt bad but there is no way in hell this would be well recieved in a board like this :p

what this guys does is like what so many "custom" spriters do where they just frankenstenize and graft together a bunch of things to kind of "fill" the shapes, instead of drawing or creating volume. Funny how he gets all the praise for the same thing just because this looks so much more like current AAA 3D games

What I dislike most about this is that everything has the same amount of depth, which makes it all just fall flat...there's no ambience anywhere. I'd like to see what he'd do if he were challenged to make an image with only pure white and pure black. He'd probably go looking for dore engravings and then graft a bunch of them together :p

Offline Crow

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Re: Flashback HD & The terrible truth of remakes

Reply #53 on: July 15, 2013, 07:38:04 pm
What I dislike most about this is that everything has the same amount of depth, which makes it all just fall flat...there's no ambience anywhere.

Yes, I agree. I like the general style, though, and if you would get some serious depth in there, I'm sure it'd be rather good.
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Offline PypeBros

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Re: Flashback HD & The terrible truth of remakes

Reply #54 on: July 15, 2013, 07:47:27 pm
there's a depth problem, there's the light problem ... and then there's that odd feel that this level of detail is miss-matching with the content of the scene. As if "we shouldn't be able to see all that detail". To some extent, I found the swapper, which is claymodel scanned and converted into volumetric textures (or something alike) to bring more atmosphere and a more believable virtual reality.

Offline Mathias

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Re: Flashback HD & The terrible truth of remakes

Reply #55 on: July 15, 2013, 08:04:31 pm
The mother brain chamber re-do is just an amusing novetly, to me. Fun to look at, buy yeah I agree with the general opinions. Composition. It is a tad boring. Helm's "too literal" comment is a good way to put it. But . . . I think that's just the way he decided to HD interpret the scene - preserving certain attributes, while taking others up a notch. He didn't get real creative, probably not seeing the forest from the trees. Been there done that.


WOW. The Swapper looks sooo beautiful. Geeze . . .
I used to be obsessed with clay. My fingers would stay waxy for days. I could get back into it, easily . . .
Thanks for the link. (Hah, I love the guy's accent. And he gets pretty emotional about the gameplay hehe . . .)

Offline junkboy

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Re: Flashback HD & The terrible truth of remakes

Reply #56 on: July 15, 2013, 08:56:43 pm
I've gotta say I admire the craftmanship of that dude. The way he cobbled together Samus' armor from a bunch of photos of scooters was pretty damn impressive. Very unique way of working. I wonder how he would've channeled that creativity pre-Google Image Search.

Offline Helm

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Re: Flashback HD & The terrible truth of remakes

Reply #57 on: July 15, 2013, 09:23:45 pm
I guess he would have buckled up and put the work towards learning to represent volumes and forms like most illustrators / designers.

Offline RAV

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Re: Flashback HD & The terrible truth of remakes

Reply #58 on: July 15, 2013, 11:19:35 pm
Tools based productivity, like this photo-sourcing style, is not an expression of laziness but a shift of creative focus. Tools free up spontaneous creativity, and tools empower unlikely people to care for something else than was possible for them to care for before, in a transcendental effort.

So it is not fair to judge the quality of what the tool did for him, but what else he could afford to accomplish instead. For example, Mathias, you would not want your little-dude animation to be judged in terms of pixel quality, but the effort you put into many fun animations you could come up with and implement pretty much because you did not have to care about pixel quality.

Of course, this video of a literal remake is not a good example, it's the worst case that looks lazy. He showcases an impressive skill though nontheless, in how something can be created non-traditional; I think he should not so much be criticised for lacking classic skills but watched for cleverness in what he does. Other than that there is nothing else to criticise but resulted pixel work in direct comparison. And this is a board of pixel specialists after all. But I thought I'd mention this in the larger scope of this thread. Games are very complex amalgamations of disciplines. Developers have to cover an overwhelming number of aspects -- and they excel in that one specifically which is their dearest interest in taking on all the other trouble. Their work should be held towards what was important for them to realize.

Good 3d assets can be costly to produce. But their advantage is that when done they are immensely flexible in employment, and polishing gameplay needs flexibility above all, as does the creative process toying around for new gameplay in the first place. That is how such a game should be judged for then. But again, that Flashback remake is not a good example of this either.

I'm always excited to see people find new ways of expressing creativity, even or especially when they put care into something else than I do.
« Last Edit: July 16, 2013, 02:27:52 am by RAV »

Offline Helm

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Re: Flashback HD & The terrible truth of remakes

Reply #59 on: July 16, 2013, 12:42:28 am
I follow your reasoning but I would find more cause to be excited if I didn't have to be potentially excited. I'd have to see something awe-inspiring made in this method to celebrate how new tools have helped actify unlikely artists etc etc. This has occured, for example, with the use of photo texture in concept art.  I am of an essentialist mindset, generally, when it comes both to new and old art. Great art = I am paying attention. Potentially great art down the line = not so much.