CIC
Space Marshal
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Harsh? Sure some people may not like the game. But this smacks a little mean.
Oh, I thought you were saying that there wasn't anything epic about it.
You mean, like Standoff? You don't need the FS engine for that. And I think the problem isn't the contrast - we had certainly made conscious decisions to have sharp contrasts between the light and the darkness in some parts of Standoff. The problem relates more to the lack of contrast, with Saga being generally dark. And this of course is also a stylistic decision, they wanted to highlight all those little lights they have on their ships. It just didn't work out too well in the end.WC4, Privateer and Armada went with the whole subdued gritty style as well, so there's that. I think it's the whole sunlit/pitch black contrast FSO's got going that makes it look distinctly un-WCish. Heh, someone should totally make a black and white space-noir game in the FSO engine, that'd be something.
You mean, like Standoff? You don't need the FS engine for that. And I think the problem isn't the contrast - we had certainly made conscious decisions to have sharp contrasts between the light and the darkness in some parts of Standoff. The problem relates more to the lack of contrast, with Saga being generally dark. And this of course is also a stylistic decision, they wanted to highlight all those little lights they have on their ships. It just didn't work out too well in the end.
Pardon my bluntness, but all WC graphics engines suck big time visually, compared to modern engines, and the tools to work with them and script things suck even more.
The FSO engine was the graphically best and most accessible space game engine at that time, so it was used. There is a good reason nobody outside the WC community uses any WC engine. You have to be a WC-religious zealot to use them.
I am a programmer, so I know what I'm talking about.
Pardon my bluntness, but all WC graphics engines suck big time visually, compared to modern engines, and the tools to work with them and script things suck even more.
The FSO engine was the graphically best and most accessible space game engine at that time, so it was used. There is a good reason nobody outside the WC community uses any WC engine. You have to be a WC-religious zealot to use them. And it is the same zealots that say a game cannot be WC-ish if it doesn't use a WC engine. I don't mind if someone thinks like that, but they have to accept that most people don't think like that, and still can be WC fans and enjoy the game.
Also there are projects with the FSO engine that use colorful ships and bright space. Like Quarto said, it was a design decision to not do that, and lots of people like that. You can also make the ships fly like in WC2 or Prophecy with the FSO engine, but it was a design decision not to do that, but go with WC3 look and feel.
You guys cannot still be WC vs. FS, that's so 90s. Both were great game series, and each one would stay exactly as great if someone put it into the engine of the other one. If there was a FS1 or FS2 port into the WCP engine or even that of WC1, I'd play it. I just would never ever code that, because the best thing in FS is the engine. I was never as fond of the story (which is why I never finished FS2), I always have been a WC fan. But the engine is just better in almost any comparison possible.
Also @ChrisReid, what you said is wrong IMO. The earlier WC games had those colorful ships (too colorful for me in WC2 TBH, that game looked like your Super Soaker collection, with all that round, colorful stuff), the later ones (WC3 and later) aimed for a more realistic style (getting a bit more colorful in WCP again, but never as bad as WC2). Saying that colorful is WC-ish and not colorful is not WC-ish is just not correct.
EDIT: UE and Standoff had a nice balance between the WC2 style and the later ones, I liked that. If only the textures had been a bit more detailed. But that was because of the engine I think, not because of the guys' ability to texture.