Backbreaker Preview

[allBthere]

Quote: Originally Posted by mugginns

I'm not really sure what this post means. Do you have some videos of franchise mode in Backbreaker? Or season mode? Or leagues? Or even player customization?

No I don't, but I do know that the company plans on releasing the game on the xbox360 and playstation3.

Do you have a viable working definition as to what a tech demo is?

[jmood88]

Quote:

A tech demo (technology demonstration) is a prototype, rough example or an otherwise incomplete version of a product, put together with the primary purpose of showcasing the idea, performance, method or the features of the product. They can be used as demonstrations to the investors, partners, journalists or even to potential customers in order to convince them of the viability of the chosen approach.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_demo\

This game seems to fit that definition based on the media released.

[JRod]

Quote: Originally Posted by allBthere

so madden is a tech demo w/ a franchise mode then in that case... oh and by the way, wii sports isn't a tech demo - just thought i'd let you know instead of mentioning our most anticipated games, we should all change it to the seemingly now-interchangeable term - our most anticipated tech demo's. did you'all hear rockstar's new tech demo is getting 10/10s? gta4 is a great tech demo.

Actually Wii sports was a Tech Demo.

[allBthere]

jmood wrote :
"A tech demo (technology demonstration) is a prototype, rough example or an otherwise incomplete version of a product, put together with the primary purpose of showcasing the idea, performance, method or the features of the product. They can be used as demonstrations to the investors, partners, journalists or even to potential customers in order to convince them of the viability of the chosen approach."

do you know that Backbreaker is an 'incomplete version of a product'?
if this is the case, we can say that any game made by a company that uses an in-house developed engine where we do not have a full understanding of what the game will offer - is a tech demo. Gears of war then is a Tech Demo showcasing unreal engine 3 etc.. Do you believe this?
If the game has the same exact feature set as APF - will it be considered a tech demo? It's like the game is being faulted for using a new engine

[allBthere]

Quote: Originally Posted by JRod

Actually Wii sports was a Tech Demo.

Actually Wii sports is not a tech demo. It was packaged with the system -so what? I've played it.

What would you rather own; NFL tour or Wii Sports? Which game has more gamplay options, more lastability, and is higher quality?

People play wii sports because it's a fun game, and continue to play it well after buying the console.

Just because a game showcases an engine/control scheme etc.. doesn't mean that it can in fairness be reduced to a 'tech demo' in title. I think we can say "this game can also be seen as a tech demo because ______" but in this case we can clearly say the same thing about AAA titles like Gears of War.

[jmood88]

Quote: Originally Posted by allBthere

do you know that Backbreaker is an 'incomplete version of a product'?

It's not being faulted for anything, people just aren't buying into this being an actual game yet when we've seen bits and pieces of things and a clip of a possible minigame. I don't know what Backbreaker is but I do know that they've released videos that have no sound(because it wasn't ready yet), they've shown very short clips of two or three people, and part of a minigame. Have we even seen different teams yet? All I remember seeing are the same two teams every single time.

Quote:

if this is the case, we can say that any game made by a company that uses an in-house developed engine where we do not have a full understanding of what the game will offer - is a tech demo.

No you really can't say that. People are saying that this game is a tech demo because of the lack of things shown.

Quote:

Gears of war then is a Tech Demo showcasing unreal engine 3 etc.. Do you believe this?

You're really reaching for comparisons. The tech demo video for Unreal 3 is actually pretty close to what we've seen of this game, just bits and pieces highlighting the engine.

[allBthere]

Quote: Originally Posted by jmood88

It's not being faulted for anything, people just aren't buying into this being an actual game yet when we've seen bits and pieces of things and a clip of a possible minigame. I don't know what Backbreaker is but I do know that they've released videos that have no sound(because it wasn't ready yet), they've shown very short clips of two or three people, and part of a minigame. Have we even seen different teams yet? All I remember seeing are the same two teams every single time. No you really can't say that. People are saying that this game is a tech demo because of the lack of things shown. You're really reaching for comparisons. The tech demo video for Unreal 3 is actually pretty close to what we've seen of this game, just bits and pieces highlighting the engine.

bold#1
this is my problem - there are hundreds of game with a lack of 'things shown' yet they are not called tech demos. It seems people are saying this AS A RESULT of the fact that the new and exciting euphoria engine is being used.

Bold#2
I used the gears example to prove a point which is: the logical line of reasoning used to call backbreaker a tech demo can be used in crazy scenarios like epics gears of war - by exposing this i was hoping to show that it's the line of reasoning itself which is crazy. Also natural motion already has a bunch of actual tech demo vids, the backbreakergame.com website is not an extention of those, but it's own entity.

You actually sound as if you're skeptical that they are making a football game; is that the case?
Do you think the dev diaries about the control scheme were lies?
I didn't even think it was debatable that they're making a football game for consoles, - I'm pretty sure though that the main point you guys are making is that they are making this product to shop the engine, but you are not clear as to what that meas for the game itself.

If you think the game will be a tech demo - what does that mean? How would a "tech demo" football game differ from madden or APF in principle? In other words to call a game a tech demo, YOU are the one that needs criteria by which to call it that.

here is an example - " a football videogame ceases to be a 'game' and is a 'tech demo' in the event that it does not have a season mode." or some other criteria, follow?
or maybe it's a tech demo if you can only play 2 teams and play a single game at a time ? ----if this were the case as I've said in a different post it could be an XBLA title, which would have a heck of a lot more depth than other xbla titles.

If they release a retail game that you buy in a store, I think it's logical to assume that the game would have a season mode and we already know there is one minigame, and a uniform editor. I think I can assume a season mode and a variety of teams to make up a league for a number of reasons: 1) i'll give naturalmotion the benefit of the doubt that they are not complete morons 2) If they released a disc w/ 2 teams, tackle alley, and quckmatch only it would be slammed like few other games of this millenea, and sales would be next to nill 3) releasing a barebones game is cheaper and more effective for the company to do it over xbla and psn 4) even if you want to market your engine, you want people to at least take notice and create a CONSUMER DEMAND - which you cannot do if you sell 5k copies of a POS game; nobody's buying bomberman act zero's engine. Given my imo reasonable assumptions if that is all the game ships with, is that a tech demo and why?

[jmood88]

Quote: Originally Posted by allBthere

bold#1 this is my problem - there are hundreds of game with a lack of 'things shown' yet they are not called tech demos. It seems people are saying this AS A RESULT of the fact that the new and exciting euphoria engine is being used.

Which games? People are saying it because this is a company that has never made games before and isn't showing anything.

Quote:

Bold#2 I used the gears example to prove a point which is: the logical line of reasoning used to call backbreaker a tech demo can be used in crazy scenarios like epics gears of war - by exposing this i was hoping to show that it's the line of reasoning itself which is crazy. Also natural motion already has a bunch of actual tech demo vids, the backbreakergame.com website is not an extention of those, but it's own entity.

Your reasoning is faulty. There is absolutely no comparison between the two situations. The only thing that's similar is that they are using engines that they built. Epic, however showed the game to people(the media) before it came out, all the news about Backbreaker is coming from the team. No one has seen the game in action. Epic has also made games before so people don't really have a reason to be skeptical of them coming out with a game.

Quote:

You actually sound as if you're skeptical that they are making a football game; is that the case?

There has been nothing shown to suggest that a game is actually coming out. It has no release date, it hasn't been shown to the press, they haven't released any videos showing gameplay(outside of that one minigame video.) We haven't even seen more than two teams.

Quote:

Do you think the dev diaries about the control scheme were lies? I didn't even think it was debatable that they're making a football game for consoles, - I'm pretty sure though that the main point you guys are making is that they are making this product to shop the engine, but you are not clear as to what that meas for the game itself.

It's pretty clear that if this whole thing is a tech demo then it isn't going to be a full game.

Quote:

If you think the game will be a tech demo - what does that mean? How would a "tech demo" football game differ from madden or APF in principle? In other words to call a game a tech demo, YOU are the one that needs criteria by which to call it that.

I posted the definition of a tech demo and that's what this game is looking like right now. Madden and All Pro Football are full games, we don't know what this thing is going to be.

Quote:

here is an example - " a football videogame ceases to be a 'game' and is a 'tech demo' in the event that it does not have a season mode." or some other criteria, follow? or maybe it's a tech demo if you can only play 2 teams and play a single game at a time ? ----if this were the case as I've said in a different post it could be an XBLA title, which would have a heck of a lot more depth than other xbla titles.

A football game is a tech demo when you never see things working in concert. All we have seen are shots of tackling, a soundless pan of a stadium, and a few clips of the crowd. My criteria is pretty simple: show gameplay or I'll assume then I'll continue to speculate on whether it's a tech demo or not. If this was an established company that didn't have anything to gain by showing parts of their engine then my thinking would change but that's not the case with this game.

Quote:

If they release a retail game that you buy in a store, I think it's logical to assume that the game would have a season mode and we already know there is one minigame, and a uniform editor. I think I can assume a season mode and a variety of teams to make up a league for a number of reasons: 1) i'll give naturalmotion the benefit of the doubt that they are not complete morons 2) If they released a disc w/ 2 teams, tackle alley, and quckmatch only it would be slammed like few other games of this millenea, and sales would be next to nill 3) releasing a barebones game is cheaper and more effective for the company to do it over xbla and psn 4) even if you want to market your engine, you want people to at least take notice and create a CONSUMER DEMAND - which you cannot do if you sell 5k copies of a POS game; nobody's buying bomberman act zero's engine. Given my imo reasonable assumptions if that is all the game ships with, is that a tech demo and why?

Do you still not understand what a tech demo is? What I don't get is why you and a couple other people in here get so offended because people are talking about it being a tech demo.