Project Offset or The Future of Gaming

[stray]

I'm not really thinking holodeck - that would take a lot more than graphics and probably won't happen in our lifetime.  What I'm thinking is more along the lines of:

1) Anyone with a PC will be able to create cinema-quality films on a very modest budget.  This will undoubtedly lead to some very badass sci-fi/fantasy indy films, which are currently a bit constrained by their special effects budgets.

Heh, here I was thinking that you just wanted more realistic pr0n.

Anyways, that's great and all, but if 3D tries to take over filmmaking too much (and I'm speaking mainly of acting) then I'm going to become the next Ted Kaczynski (for thespians). Digital artists make lousy actors (and not necessarily good photographers either). No matter how good they can portray the surface, they'll never really be able to convey all the subtleties and range of emotions that flesh and blood is capable of (let alone the subtleties and range of an entire cast of characters). It's an art form founded in psychology. Not visuals......At least good acting is.

And if you're not just talking about 3D, but post production for video and film, then I'm cool with that. HD/Pro Tools/and a PC or Mac are making many things possible already (with things like green screening being out of reach for budget minded -- but even having that opportunity will become cheaper as it becomes more common). If someone isn't already trying that (or something) now, then they shouldn't even bother trying it later on their personal Pixar machines (to spare all of us the pain). By that thinking, they're already telling me that they've underestimated what good filmmaking is about in the first place.

[Sky]

Once graphics hit their theoretical limit, all the R&D time will go towards things like AI

Shit, I've been saying that since I started pc gaming. I really wish AI weren't such a red-headed stepchild of programming. We don't need badass reaperbot AI that can smoke players instantly, we need Homerbot AI - something that can realistically make human mistakes and be fooled in a convincing manner, something with a real memory space that knows how to independantly interact with other npcs. I spend a lot of time studying how AI interacts with each other when I'm in a game that has some interesting programming (Thief series, NOLF 2, there are a few with decent (or at least interesting/funny) rudimentary AI).

with things like green screening being out of reach for budget minded

Really? Why is something that was high tech on 70's local news stations still out of reach? That's nuts.

[stray]

Really? Why is something that was high tech on 70's local news stations still out of reach? That's nuts.

I'm just talking about the cost of renting studio spaces, especially since the big ones are mainly in cities where everything is expensive. The screens don't cost anything.

[Merusk]

Ai is Hard, graphics are 'simple.'  Expect that after this 'theoretical limit' is reached then the focus will shift to better framerates with lower processor/ power requirements, and showing more shit onscreen (pushing the clip plane) rather than  AI.  20 years from now you'll still be aching for an AI better than your 3 year-old behind the screen.

But I'm just pessimistic like that.

[schild]

1920x1080p version.

Not being able to run this video at full speed is a sign that I need a new computer. And it's only 98MB or so. Sigh.

[Kail]

Expect that after this 'theoretical limit' is reached then the focus will shift to better framerates with lower processor/ power requirements, and showing more shit onscreen (pushing the clip plane) rather than  AI.

<nod>  Yeah, that's my guess, too.  I mean, the original Quake engine could render things "photo realistically..." assuming you limit it to certain things, from a certain distance at a certain angle, and you only interact with them in certain ways, and so on.  The old Unreal engine can render more types of things, from different distances and more angles and you can interact with them in more ways... and so on.  This game, Project Offset, looks very nice, but I don't care how pie-in-the-sky, next gen their stuff is, there is a lot of stuff it won't be able to do.  There is some angle where you'll be able to tell that this leaf is a 2d sprite.  There is some distance where the textures will appear blurry when you zoom in on them.  It's all just going to be a bit harder to spot than before, but it'll be there.  The march of progress might someday give us a game where everything is modelled down to the molecular level, and then some kid will look at it and say "Crap, that's unrealistic, where are the tau muons?"

[Samwise]

Kail, you're making the assumption that the game interface includes an electron microscope.     Real human eyes can't "zoom in" to an infinite degree on a texture.  There's no reason to think that most games would need to provide that facility in order to provide a level of detail equalling our perceptions of the real world.

[Murgos]

I thought his point was that it's all illusion anyway.

Following from that, art direction is far more important than the ability to render zillions of true color pixels in real time.

[Soln]

Let's hope whatever they produce doesn't go the way of EQ2 with teh shinny and teh voicovers and the general lack of goodness.  Otherwise, very impressive.

[JoeTF]

That video stuttered like mad, video-wise. Audio was ok. Looking at the stats said it dropped 3000 frames, even though I had downloaded it. WMP on OSX. Oh well.

Try to argue that Macs are faster than PCs now:P

Decoding of HDTV res AVC codec requires some serious processing power on your rig.

[Sky]

Try to argue that Macs are faster than PCs now:P

Yeah, because I'm always doing that.

And if I were to brag about the speed of macs, I'd brag about the g4 emac I use at work.

Because I'm trying to be a kindler, gentler Sky this week, I won't call you a douche.

[raydeen]

Rise from your grave!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw_QBGUYmy0&eurl=

Not sure if this footage is new to anyone but it impressed the hell out of me.

[Sky]

Pretty. Wonder if it'll be any good, though. Some great tech.

[Samwise]

Some of that footage is old (the stuff at the end), but the dragon in the cave thing was new.  And SEXY.  As Straz said earlier in this thread, a fanboi is me.

[Alkiera]

I've been following this over the last year, that video on YouTube is months old... but still pretty.

I keep checking by their site, and not really seeing much new lately.  The latest news on the site is from the end of October, for example, saying they have a publisher, but they're keeping quiet on the project for awhile.

--
Alkiera

[Strazos]

Yeah, pretty sure that game is going to require I build a new rig.

I hope I can at least use the same Lian-Li case I have been using for 4+ years.

[dr_dre]

new news .

http://www.projectoffset.com/news.php

intel is participating in the project. One way or the other it does sound like its a good thing.

[Venkman]

I'm with a few others here: call when there's a publisher. All of this is nice, but it was nice two years ago too.

[Krakrok]

"participating" was an understatement. Says "Intel has acquired Offset Software.". Guess Intel needed something to pump Havok on Quad Cores with.

[Azazel]

So what was this thread about initially, anyway?

[Fabricated]

Looks like the new oblivion really. It'll be changed to focus on consoles and thereby be ruined like most good pieces of tech.

[dr_dre]

I think its a win win situation here where buyer and seller enhance each others technology.
So "participating" might be the case .. At least i hope :)

[UnSub]

So what was this thread about initially, anyway?

Apparently the future of gaming is on its way. I look forward to being notified when it arrives.

[lamaros]

I dunno about you guys, but I'm off to watch I AM LEGEND.

[schild]

Look at the date of the original post. When trolling be sure you're not nearly 3 years late and said company ALREADY failed to deliver.

[lamaros]

So any joke is trolling now is it? Or just ones that reference you in some way? Lighten up partner, and read the few posts before mine.

[Sky]

All I know is I'm getting the lifetime sub.

[UnSub]

Look at the date of the original post. When trolling be sure you're not nearly 3 years late and said company ALREADY failed to deliver.

That was part of the joke.

To be fair, I spent 3 or 4 minutes trying to get the link the original post to work before checking the posting dates.

[Fabricated]

Look at the date of the original post. When trolling be sure you're not nearly 3 years late and said company ALREADY failed to deliver.

Heh, I remember distinctly hearing the name years ago but didn't know it had floundered uselessly already. I figured it had become a new Duke Nukem Forever, locked in vaporware land.