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Rookie
OVR: 3
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: LA CA USA
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Making APF2K9 NeXT GeN...
Making APF2K9 NeXT GeN...
I've seen a lot written, without actually saying much, wherein others have complained about Visual Concepts' "recycling" of an "old" videogame engine for the production of All Pro Football 2K8. Personally, I don't see what all the hoopla is about, because the game looks better than ever before. Thus, better than anything else out there, IMHO.
However, I have taken some time to consider the relative merits of the argument that states, "They should have made it NeXT GeN!" Which loosely translated, means they want to see prettier graphics, that could not possibly have been matched on any older console - not even close. Visually, there are two main things to consider: 1) Polygonal Models & 2) Graphical Effects.
Polygonal Models
There are some relatively minor aspects of the 2K Football graphics models that need to be upgraded.
From the outset, when you first fire up a game, one of those foibles is immediately visible. During the coin toss, it seems most everyone's head is sort of balanced at a canted angle on their necks. It makes for a very distracting visual, especially with certain guys, like Dan Marino, who look like they have a tumor growing out of the side of their neck. This simply MUST be fixed. You can't have players that only look "right" (more or less) while wearing their helmets.
Articulation points for the player models are in my opinion still the best available in any football game. That does not mean they cannot be improved however. In particular it is time that Visual Concepts worked on separating the hips from the upper chest by giving players an actual waist. There have been those who have expressed dismay for years over the stretchy torso these players have. I could understand the shortcut on Dreamcast, I could live with it on Xbox, but truly it should have been left behind with the journey to Xbox 360. There was no reason at all to stick to this particular tried and true graphical shortcut.
Something that is not quite as obvious in realtime, but shows up from time to time in replays, is the poor means that arm animation is handled, particularly for Defenders. The animation script will switch from one set to another quickly, but you see in the replays that a left handed person reaches through his own head to try to intercept a ball that is on his right side. You see a fallen Defender dislocate both shoulders to rotate his arms back and overhead before pushing up from the ground. Dude, that's gotta hurt!
It is high time that Visual Concepts were to bite the bullet and stop using the puppet hands for all players. Sure, a linebacker or lineman might point a finger every once in a while. It's a nice touch to see wide receivers strike a pose with their fingertips touching prior to the ball being snapped. But for the most part every player has the exact same shape of hand during almost any other active animated sequence. Blocking, throwing, catching, hiking, tackling - it doesn't matter, they all have the same "shovel hand". Even those few "varied" hand positions are just prosthetic, immobile "gloves" stuck on the end of someone's arm. What I'm saying is that there should finally be, especially on systems like Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, individually articulated fingers for the players on the field. For criminysake Sega had this in Virtua Fighter 2 well over a decade ago on hardware that was nowhere near as powerful. I want to see an offensive lineman's hand close on the fabric of a linebacker's uniform when he is holding him. I want to see a corner pulling the shirtails of a receiver that is about to burn him. I want to see how Terry Bradshaw puts his thumb on the end of the ball while Troy Aikman wraps his around it instead.
Graphical Effects
Honestly, even if the player models themselves were left completely alone, a LOT could be done simply by throwing more graphical effects at those existing polygons.
Compare an HDTV capture of Jerry Rice on APF2K8 to a composite shot of him in NFL2K5 and the difference is obvious. There has been a definite upgrade, overall, since then. However, compare that same HDTV shot with characters from Gears of War, Ninja Gaiden II, HALO III, Mass Effect or Too Human and there is a profound difference as well. Visual Concepts must live up to their name and up the ante considerably.
True, we have 60 fps animation with high definition visuals now, which certainly puts programming talent and processors to task. Most of the "flagship" titles mentioned above on Xbox 360 only run at 30 fps, so this is an enormous feat in its own right. It doesn't matter. I expect more of Visual Concepts. They have had 60 fps since NFL2K on Dreamcast. Anything less would be just wrong, even though they upped the overall resolution.
Yes, the textures used on players faces and their uniforms are much higher quality than ever before. But why is the head referree, the umpire, have the exact same face with a pallette swap between the black guy and white guy versions? Why does the graphical quality drop off greatly with every other ref on the field? Why do the generic players only have perhaps three or four different faces, which only vary based upon skin tone and overall weight? What happened to the create a player feature from your NBA2K franchise, which allowed you to create almost any face you wanted including receding hairlines and facial hair if you wanted?
Sure, they are currently using Depth of Field during cinematics and replays. But as used it is really more for the sake of hiding graphical defects than anything else. It is precisely because of that fact that I am so sick of seeing DoF used on so many damned PS2 games. That is a cheap trick and Visual Concepts should not have to resort to such tactics. They should simply be better. I believe the main reason that DoF is in this game at all is to make up for the gawdawful effort made with the "grass" texture on the field. I think this is the same basic texture they used on Road to the Rose Bowl on Dreamcast. C'mon guys, I know the DoF makes it pretty much unnoticeable during actual gameplay, but DAMN, I know it's there and should look WAY better. FIX IT.
So yes, even MORE passes with graphical filters and texture layers should be applied at every possible opportunity. There's a lot of talk about "lighting" but I think that often that is a misnomer. What is most important, far more than sticking fake light sources everywhere, is to get the SHADOWS done correctly. Right now they simply fall to the ground. No. When a someone stands or walks or runs or tackles, their shadow should fall on their own body, on other players, on the ball and on the ground.
These things would go a long way toward making a lot of fools shut up. Yeah, I know there are those who will never be satisfied. Never mind them. But please make an effort to at least satisfy your own sense of ambition in this regard. I am positive you can do a lot better. Take care, happy gaming, enjoy life!
Toyoniya Hiyaku, Noromuoy!
Red Ronin, The Cybernetic Samurai
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A giant robot constructed on the authority of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the U.N. by Stark Enterprises, the original RED RONIN was created to stop the global menace perpetuated by the continued existence of Godzilla. He failed.
[Red Ronin's posts are Closed Captioned for the Humour Impaired.]
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09-12-2007, 11:45 PM
