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Do you miss pre-rendered sprites/visuals at all?
- Thread starter Huey
- Start date
Dead Cells uses a pre-rendered pipeline to quickly iterate on animation and characters & reduce ingame overhead
For a more traditional 90s look, theres Beeny which is deliberately riffing on DKC's visuals
Yes I do. Fear effect 1 and 2 are one of my fav games when it comes to pre rendered/FMV backgrounds, stunning work.
too bad the remake got cancelled.
too bad the remake got cancelled.
I very much miss pre-rendered backgrounds, yeah.
They pretty much peaked in the Gamecube era, just imagine what modern technology could do with them!
They pretty much peaked in the Gamecube era, just imagine what modern technology could do with them!
I have a fond nostalgia for it and do celebrate when contemporary devs try to emulate it, but I would not exactly describe my feeling as "missing" it.
Like it's still an aesthetic that I adore but I don't find myself clamoring for it to be more common than it currently is.
Edit: slight elaboration—in my mind, it was an awesome way to work within limits of the hardware of the time but I have found myself continuously impressed more with the artistry and design of realtime graphics as they came to replace prerendered style. Like knowing that the entire scene was built in 3D still kinda drives more of my appreciation, personally—even if it means the painstakingly elaborate and dreamlike qualities of prerendered sorta gets lost. I still clamor to examine detail that fit into a game's 3D rendering budget more than a game that feels more like it was built to be a green screen backdrop, if that makes sense. I don't mean that insultingly, I just feel like that's how my interpretation of prerendered works. 3D feels like an elaborately built stage to examine; prerendered feels like it was built to be imposed behind a very limited rendered shot. And game artists did wondrous work within that limit, but it's not a thing that I think necessarily elicits my appreciation quite as deeply.
Like it's still an aesthetic that I adore but I don't find myself clamoring for it to be more common than it currently is.
Edit: slight elaboration—in my mind, it was an awesome way to work within limits of the hardware of the time but I have found myself continuously impressed more with the artistry and design of realtime graphics as they came to replace prerendered style. Like knowing that the entire scene was built in 3D still kinda drives more of my appreciation, personally—even if it means the painstakingly elaborate and dreamlike qualities of prerendered sorta gets lost. I still clamor to examine detail that fit into a game's 3D rendering budget more than a game that feels more like it was built to be a green screen backdrop, if that makes sense. I don't mean that insultingly, I just feel like that's how my interpretation of prerendered works. 3D feels like an elaborately built stage to examine; prerendered feels like it was built to be imposed behind a very limited rendered shot. And game artists did wondrous work within that limit, but it's not a thing that I think necessarily elicits my appreciation quite as deeply.
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i wouldn't say i "miss" them, necessarily, but rather, unlike most people, i never really had much of a problem with them. i figured a lot of games, like the dkc series in particular, looked particularly fine, if not great.
wait...how the hell do you have lighting change like that in a prerendered environment?
wait...how the hell do you have lighting change like that in a prerendered environment?
Pre-rendered animation frames. They lit the set and did a bunch of renders, then pieced it together to animate the background.
OP
OP
The backgrounds are basically videos, including the lighting, just at very high fidelity. The real trick the game plays is a 3D lighting model that lights what were very high fidelity character models in a way that mirrors the lighting that's playing in the rendered backgrounds. So if there's a light on the wall to the left, the light you're seeing in the environment is a video but the light on the character is a light you can't see lighting the 3D character model. It's an amazing trick but creates an incredible sense of blending between the characters and the environments, particularly at the original GameCube resolution. It's why this was the absolute height of pre rendered environments.
No I don't. I liked DKC at the time. It was novel. Pulstar and Blazing Star look good on the Neo Geo. I also don't mind PS1 games having static rendered backgrounds. Nothing else seems to work for me with that look.
I have a couple modern games with that prerendered look. Actraiser Renaissance and Sol Cresta. Both look pretty ugly to me.
I have a couple modern games with that prerendered look. Actraiser Renaissance and Sol Cresta. Both look pretty ugly to me.
Sprites no, they were pretty fucking hideous, but backgrounds absolutely. They lead to better dungeon design in RPGs imo. Like, the developers being forced to justify every screen in the original Shadow Hearts meant they couldn't succumb to the copy-pasted corridors of Shadow Hearts: Covenant.
Thank you for mentioning Fear Effect. Those games were the coolest looking thing when I was a child.Yes I do. Fear effect 1 and 2 are one of my fav games when it comes to pre rendered/FMV backgrounds, stunning work.
too bad the remake got cancelled.
Pre rendered environments yes but specially fixed camera angles…
they can look so cool and atmospheric.
i don't understand , specially now with subscription models, why we don't have more smaller games with 5 to 10 hours with different styles like fixed camera angles, pre rendered environments and etc…
they can look so cool and atmospheric.
i don't understand , specially now with subscription models, why we don't have more smaller games with 5 to 10 hours with different styles like fixed camera angles, pre rendered environments and etc…
I miss the old-school PS1 Horror and JRPG pre-rendered look. I do not miss the DKC/SMRPG pre-rendered sprite look at all.
Crow Country does a clever job with using filters and shading to give off the pre-rendered background look while actually being realtime geometry.
There's a demo for it on Steam:
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1996010/Crow_Country/
Oh I like the look of this!
Yes I do. Fear effect 1 and 2 are one of my fav games when it comes to pre rendered/FMV backgrounds, stunning work.
too bad the remake got cancelled.
Was going to mention Fear Effect. I don't think it's a very good game, but its use of prerendered video was masterful.
I can see the attraction of a lot of these screenshots from PC games and even PS1 games but at the time of the mid/late 16-bit era when this style was starting to get used, I thought those SNES and Mega Drive games were supremely ugly. Like everything it can be done well or poorly, a tool to be used.
The PS1 Final Fantasy games did some really impressive stuff, even for someone like me who didn't play them until the past 5 years.
But, I'm not sure how much can't just be done by real time environments nowadays, and those are just more flexible.
As a kid, I hated the prerendered stuff in OOT, because it always looked out of place with the characters and rest of the game. Was also not a huge fan of the DKC look.
But, I'm not sure how much can't just be done by real time environments nowadays, and those are just more flexible.
As a kid, I hated the prerendered stuff in OOT, because it always looked out of place with the characters and rest of the game. Was also not a huge fan of the DKC look.
I don't miss them at all. I loved them at the time, they blew my mind, but what we have now is superior. It's just not really something that feels like a real aesthetic like other retro visuals but rather a technological stop-gap.
I remember being fairly disappointed back then that we exchanged the large worlds that you can easily create in the SNES era with areas that are just a few screens of animated pictures. Sure it looked nice but a lot of flexibility in level design was lost and even back then it was obvious that you were just running on a picture or video.
Nowadays you could easily make it look great as well, use fixed camera angles and it actually feels like the character is in the scene. Syberia:The world before looks better than the other Syberia games yet is fully 3D now.
Nowadays you could easily make it look great as well, use fixed camera angles and it actually feels like the character is in the scene. Syberia:The world before looks better than the other Syberia games yet is fully 3D now.
Nope. The leap in visual fidelity made the idea of having pre-rendered backgrounds obsolete. It has its charm in classic titles, but that's it.
I don't miss pre-rendered sprites. I never really liked that look, except for a rare few titles. I always preferred good pixel art over rendered sprites.
Exactly what I was going to say. It was a way developers could almost fake high quality 3d characters in a period when it was impossible to do it in real time.
There's just no need now as in-game characters are incredibly detailed these days and with modern animation systems are able to interact with their environments in a far more natural manner than pre-rendered sprites ever could.
Nope, they were always a stopgap measure, and there was never any reason to keep them after they were no longer necessary. They have zero advantages or appeal over actual rendered environments or characters to me, and games that use them are universally repulsive now.
Yes, pre-rendered CGI is still leagues beyond real-time. Would love to see a jrpg blending top-tier pre-rendered cgi and real time graphics of today like FF did in the 90s.
Love the aesthetic of pre-rendered backgrounds, creating towns made of static dioramas to explore. Also eases some of the burden of modeling detailed cities extensively. I very much mean I'd like it in a modern sense though, not some pastiche of the retro games, using pre-rendered techniques but with modern methods.
Love the aesthetic of pre-rendered backgrounds, creating towns made of static dioramas to explore. Also eases some of the burden of modeling detailed cities extensively. I very much mean I'd like it in a modern sense though, not some pastiche of the retro games, using pre-rendered techniques but with modern methods.
Sprites: god no, they were ugly as shit back in the 90s and they look even worse now. I always hated the way a game like Donkey Kong Country looked. Even when tech got better, we still had incredibly awful stuff like the characters in Planescape Torment. I guess they looked high tech and cool back then but I never got the appeal. It was like taking crazy pills: a game like Little Big Adventure got praised for its graphics and The Dig got points docked because it was "low res".
VS
Backgrounds: they were a neat trick to get around technical limitations, but now they're not needed anymore. Commandos had really cool looking backgrounds with a ton of details, they looked more like miniatures than real environments, and this only added to the charm.
However, modern games like Shadow Tactics use a 3D engine for the same result and much better flexibility.
Backgrounds: they were a neat trick to get around technical limitations, but now they're not needed anymore. Commandos had really cool looking backgrounds with a ton of details, they looked more like miniatures than real environments, and this only added to the charm.
However, modern games like Shadow Tactics use a 3D engine for the same result and much better flexibility.
I liked how pre-rendered backgrounds looked, but most of them were very static without any animated elements and lacking in interactivity. Even though they were low-res and blocky, I have more nostalgia for the look of games like Breath of Fire III and IV with 2D sprites on fully 3D backgrounds.
Backgrounds maybe. But in general i dont like prerendered stuff and I absolutely detest when I see nowadays money been thrown at CGI trailers/videos to promote games or incorporate them in the game.
There literally is no need for CGI these days, everything can be done exceptionally well with in game graphics.
There literally is no need for CGI these days, everything can be done exceptionally well with in game graphics.
Really? Huh. It's one of my favorite games of all time but I always thought the cutscenes were mediocre at best. And ugly as sin at worst 😂.
Absolutely phenomenal game though! A GOAT
on topic: no, I don't miss them. The only games that I have *some* nostalgia for is the infinity engine games. The isometric top down pulled back look did a pretty decent job of looking good in a lot of scenes. Note I mean actual gameplay, **not** the cutscenes (sorry Wanace!).
Most other games have aged like milk for me.
GHOST TRICK HAS THEM RIGHT HERE BAYBEEEE
View: https://media.giphy.com/media/agdf1ucB459HDiaZc5/giphy.gif?cid=790b7611o7l0da3s5e6b1m2iew1q1hxm40eyog7rhl9wlq67&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
View: https://media.giphy.com/media/GBZEJ4TWGtkuTDZQ4P/giphy.gif?cid=790b7611o7l0da3s5e6b1m2iew1q1hxm40eyog7rhl9wlq67&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
View: https://media.giphy.com/media/wykKLbh1ExsSq0Du8d/giphy.gif?cid=790b7611o7l0da3s5e6b1m2iew1q1hxm40eyog7rhl9wlq67&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
View: https://media.giphy.com/media/agdf1ucB459HDiaZc5/giphy.gif?cid=790b7611o7l0da3s5e6b1m2iew1q1hxm40eyog7rhl9wlq67&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
View: https://media.giphy.com/media/GBZEJ4TWGtkuTDZQ4P/giphy.gif?cid=790b7611o7l0da3s5e6b1m2iew1q1hxm40eyog7rhl9wlq67&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
View: https://media.giphy.com/media/wykKLbh1ExsSq0Du8d/giphy.gif?cid=790b7611o7l0da3s5e6b1m2iew1q1hxm40eyog7rhl9wlq67&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
I miss them dearly. In particular every time I replay REmake and sit in awe at how incredible it looked for a 2002 game.
Pre-rendered backgrounds = Absolutely yes… they are eternally beautiful and atmospheric
2D or pixel sprites = No, and this is why I can't get into 2D-HD style of games.. Star Ocean 2 R and the upcoming DQIII Remake is the only exceptions because I love these two franchises.
2D or pixel sprites = No, and this is why I can't get into 2D-HD style of games.. Star Ocean 2 R and the upcoming DQIII Remake is the only exceptions because I love these two franchises.
Backgrounds, yes, absolutely. They could pack so much detail into them
I always thought pre-rendered character sprites were off putting
I always thought pre-rendered character sprites were off putting
This.
I think without a proper CRT filter (or CRT for that matter) the sprites look quite weird.
There is something to be missed about how well a prerendered shot can set the mood compared to the modern day behind the player view. For example:
Also, I feel like while we have reached a close approximation of pre-rendered graphics in terms of raw geometry, we're still not there in terms of lighting. There's still something flat about how lighting works in modern real-time 3D graphics when you compare them to pre-rendered graphics, which can have infinite light sources, shadows, shading, and ray-casting, raytracing, etc. You just can't re-create the same level of atmospheric moody lighting/glow in real-time yet. And seeing how expensive raytracing is for real-time graphics, we're still a long, long way off.
Edit: And yes I miss them. I can only imagine what a AAA dev team with a proper budget would be able to create using pre-rendered assets today. I mean, sure, DKC looks primitive by today's standard, but imagine what they would be able to accomplish with today's rendering/modeling/animation tech, in high-def. It could be glorious.
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Pre-rendered backgrounds are generally still fine, if done well enough.
Sprites... some of them actually aged decently enough, but even in their heyday there were some that looked awful because they were just rendered as-is then scaled/reduced automatically by software into a sprite and animate and look awful. Then you also have stuff like Angel Eyes where it's a fighting game and some characters are sprites, some are pre-rendered sprites and they are jarring. Which is one of the many reasons I just prefer to play the PS1 port rather than the arcade version.
Sprites... some of them actually aged decently enough, but even in their heyday there were some that looked awful because they were just rendered as-is then scaled/reduced automatically by software into a sprite and animate and look awful. Then you also have stuff like Angel Eyes where it's a fighting game and some characters are sprites, some are pre-rendered sprites and they are jarring. Which is one of the many reasons I just prefer to play the PS1 port rather than the arcade version.
Absolutely. They had a unique charm to them. I don't ever see it for a mainstream AAA game or anything, but for indie games I'd love to see it a little more common.