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ctalkeb on 01 March 2014
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nitekrawler1285 said:
ctalkeb said:
Norris2k said:

We are still to see how far the current gen games will improve. Kilzone is 1080p. texture are very clean, effects everywhere, it's colorfull, there is no clipping.

Diminishing return is not a philosophical discussion, it's a fact. This generation mostly add a lot of memory that solve the problem of blurry textures and limitations  in map sizes. What can be done behond that ?

 

Go back and read my earlier comment. While the above image is true enough, it's only a part of the picture, since we're not talking about static, unlit, untextured models with no environment interaction.

We've not even started to hit any roof for deminishing returns.

You can spend all kinds of money to improve all of those facets but that time spent polishing graphics does not equal GTA sales.  The only way to say that time spent on such trivial things isn't diminishing returns would be if you can correlate more game sales or higher profitability to them and you simply can't do that. 

I can tell you for sure time spent on the graphics will lower your profitability. Those are extra bodies or extra time spent by people whom cost about 30-60k per year simply add to the cost of the game. 

We aren't saying that no one will notice the improved graphics.  I'm sure graphics enthusiasts everywhere will appreciate it.  Return usually isn't measured in appreciation from graphics enthusiasts. It's normally defined in dollars and profit.  Amazing graphics cost a lot of money to produce but no one can show that it substantially increases sales.  

 


Sure, but I'm not talking about economical results, I'm talking about visual ones - which is what the above image is about. We're also not necessarily talking about time spent on graphics, but time (work time and processor time) spent on physics and lighting. That's not something that applies to just one game, but to multiple productions - or is even sellable as middleware.

As I mentioned elsewhere, animation is a different issue, but you're sure to see more physics-influenced systems there as well.