Software techniques can get patented (well, in the US, and this is a point of contention since so far software patents have been more disruptive to development than anything), however there’s nothing patentable in Xrd’s graphics tech.
It’s important to understand the techniques they use to produce the current look really aren’t anything groundbreaking, in fact everything related to the cell look is very classic techniques, and there’s an interesting offscreen rendering trick that further contributes to the 2d feel by allowing compositing of 3D models as if they were 2D sprites which is a simple and logical evolution of the work they did on BB and P4A but was actually pioneered in games by Donkey Kong Country Returns (if not before). There may also be signed distance fields involved, a technique to display sharp drawn details that’s usually used for text, but that’s a 2007 technique too.
Instead it’s superior artistry and polish that enabled them to produce the result that’s impressing us so much right now. Nothing less but nothing more. They used what they had learned through using 3d models as a basis for BB and P4A’s pixel art and applied all that know-how of making them feel 2D to real time, and polished the hell out of it.
Actually i think that the 3d transition is there to force the player to commit to to following the opponent into the air, removing the impossible dusts, that is why we get the 2nd following where you dash on the ground to compensate for the lose of the impossible dusts.
You may be right regarding the nature of the techniques used, but I’m regarding the results. My point was that the composition of these supposed old-hat techniques seems to address a very real problem voiced in the 2D art development community - 2D assets are considered expensive, cumbersome, and inflexible in modern game development. The gameplay aspects specific to the art-form being just as expensive, cumbersome, and inflexible as a result. Arc’s results seems to have solved a problem - a very important one that allows for more diversity in video game art.
Well, there’s two aspects to this: the first is, Arc really hadn’t thought much on how to better do 2D since their early days, and specifically the way they were storing sprites was dreadfully inefficient in terms of memory. The cumbersome and inflexible are entirely a consequence of that outdated way they did things, and why a game like skullgirls is able to store more frames with more layers and higher resolution with the same memory budget (for the technically inclined, this is because the arc games tend to store their sprites as raw rectangles which results in tons of wasted texture space, while games like skullgirls decompose the sprites into collection of small tiles, which means empty spaces and flat areas can be very efficiently compressed).
Second aspect is Arc’s choice for Xrd doesn’t solve the problem with 2D assets - it just decides to drop it and use 3D techniques instead, which are not less expensive but differently expensive. You drop the costs on inbetweening but you raise them because of the rigging (setting up the 3d “puppets”), any movement that’s just articulation becomes cheaper but any movement that changes topology (ie any kind of crazy darkstalkers/skullgirls type of movement) becomes tons more expensive. It’s a choice, and so they haven’t solved anything, they’ve merely decided they’re more comfortable with expensive 3D than expensive 2D. It’s a good choice with respect to the market but irrelevant to the 2D artform.
I haven’t played any of the incarnations of guilty gear characters since the original xbox one. But I fell in love with it aesthetically and I also think it’s genuinely a good competitive game. Now this might just be me getting into a tizzy while I sit here in my small humble and frail apartment but I just haven’t seen anything in the recent games to make me want to spend some hard earned cash on it but this one seems like the end result of a long and checkered development history that should encompass things that will make any guilty gear fan happy. I remember being such an eddie nerd but I like venom too. Also, i’m really excited about the new chances that are being taken graphic wise, it should make for an interesting game.
I’m largely going to acquiesce to you because you clearly know more about software programming than I - but you really don’t think that once the engine is established this route will save them money in the grand scheme? Especially when it comes to updating the title with revisions and DLC? I’m not trying to force the issue, but I find it hard to imagine this choice could be “irrelevant to the 2D art form” and “still be a good choice in respect to the market” when the whole point of creating this engine, it seems, was to get a game championing 2D art on the market. The notion of the models being 3D can’t be the selling point to any market if they look 2D to the casual eye. So what are the advantages?
I think one thing to keep in mind is that it is currently easier to get resources (in terms of tools and people) to work on stuff with a 3D engine (UE3 at that) then it is to do so for 2D sprites.
I do think it’ll give them the same expenses as any 3D fighting game company. As I said on another forum it’s them future-proofing their series in the sense they can now do alternate costumes, are resolution-independent and it’d easier to find 3D animators and programmers. But those are all advantages inherent to a 3D game. It’s a good choice for the market because 3D games are the big thing in the market so it’s easy to find staff for them.
It’s irrelevant to the 2D art form because it’s not a 2D game that has managed to snag the same advantages as a 3D game, it’s a 3D game where tons of care have been put to make it look as if it were 2D, so it’s the other way: it’s relevant to the 3D art form. It’s not championing 2D art because it’s deciding it’s more practical to go 3D instead of trying to solve the problems 2D has been facing (Disney’s paperman tech would be a more relevant approach to the problem). Xrd’s triumph lies in making that 3D look stellar. And don’t get me wrong, it is a triumph, each screenshot of hwich I will obsessively hunt. But for 3D artists.
