The footage for the new "Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale" (not sure about that name) does resemble Super Smash Bros. but is it fair to call it a "copy"? I really don't think so. I am sure Sony are well aware of how many people are going to make the comparison but I think the comparisons exists for two main reasons:
1. Lack of similar games
How many platforming-based fighting/party games are there? Not many. This is why PSASBR is commonly compared to Smash Bros. If there were more games of this style, people would just say "oh, Sony is releasing a game of X genre". These games are about as similar to each other as Street Fighter is to Tekken, Ridge Racer is to Sega Rally and Mario is to Rayman. Of course this is all based on the information we have at the moment.
2. Minor artificial similarities
Little things such as having the health bars at the bottom of the screen and the different coloured player arrows above the characters' heads. These things make the games "look" more similar without actually demonstrating similarity. When it comes to the user interface, it could very much just be that the designs are user-friendly in that specific way.
Another thing to add, is that I am noticing people are showing disliking for this game which confuses me. How would anybody know at this point whether this game is any better or worse than a Smash Bros. game? And even if it does turn out to be worse, it could still be good! If Smash Bros. is considered to be a good game, then a game that is similar may also be good.
Friday 27 April 2012
Tuesday 3 April 2012
The Benefits Of Palette Swaps
A palette swap is where an image is used multiple times but with the colours altered in order to distinguish them from each other. For example, you encounter a "wolf" which is a brown, then you encounter a "night wolf" which uses the same image, but is grey. Palette swaps can cover many things other than enemies, such as weapons or environments, but I shall use enemies as a prime example here. People love to hate on palette swaps, but why? They say "because it's lazy" or "because it lacks variety" but are palette swaps really all that bad? Not at all! and here's why...
To start off I think people look at palette swaps the wrong way round, they see a final goal and think of palette swaps as a means to fill in the blanks. This is how they perceive it:
Designer: Hey artist, we have 100 enemies planned for this game, can you make 100 models for us?
Artist: Yeah sure.
*Artist starts working on models*
Artist: Wow, making 100 models sure does take a lot of work, hm... I know! I'll just take the 70 that I've got and make a bunch of recolours!
*Artist shows the designer the models*
Designer: Artist! Y U NO MAKE 100 UNIQUE MODELS!?
To start off I think people look at palette swaps the wrong way round, they see a final goal and think of palette swaps as a means to fill in the blanks. This is how they perceive it:
Designer: Hey artist, we have 100 enemies planned for this game, can you make 100 models for us?
Artist: Yeah sure.
*Artist starts working on models*
Artist: Wow, making 100 models sure does take a lot of work, hm... I know! I'll just take the 70 that I've got and make a bunch of recolours!
*Artist shows the designer the models*
Designer: Artist! Y U NO MAKE 100 UNIQUE MODELS!?
Is that really how we should think of the design process? I think it is an inaccurate representation, so here are six alternatives that I propose:
(Disclaimer: ok, I have to say that all these examples I give are very simplified, they are not meant to represent any particular game company, or any specific business practises. Rather they are a small way of representing different ways to approach the situation.)
1. More non-art work can be done
Designer: Hey artist, Our observations tell us that you are skilled enough to make 70 models by the deadline, could you do that and make another 30 palette swaps? we need 100 enemies by the deadline.
Artist: Well, it's a challenge, but I can get the job done.
2. Easier to reach the goals
Designer: Hey artist, how many unique enemy models can you make by the deadline?
Artist: Well 70 if I put all my efforts into it.
Designer: 70? Great, we are hoping for 100 enemies, with 70 unique models we'll only need 30 palette swaps.
3. More flexibility
Artist: Hey designer, I can do 70 unique enemy models within this deadline.
Designer: Oh, with 70 models be could probably make up to 300 different enemies! We have 100 planned, but with that many unique models we now have the possibility of going much higher than that!
4. Not a wasted effort
Programmer: Hey artist, unfortunately I didn't hit my target of programming all 100 enemies, instead I only managed to do 80, so we are going to have to drop out 20 enemies from what we had planned, sorry you have to lose 20 of the models you worked on.
Artist: Oh, that's a shame, but 30 of the enemies were just palette swaps, so the ones you remove there are not a wasted effort.
5. Consistency and recognition
Designer: Hey artist, we have a forest area designed for the beginning of the game where we're going to have lots of wolves, but we also plan to have the player go back there later on. We don't want the player to think they're fighting the weak wolves again, nor do we want them to be confused as to why the wolves they're fighting are suddenly stronger. How can we fix this?
Artist: Hm, we could use a palette swap, that way it's clearly the same theme, but with a new challenge.
6. To accommodate for new or late ideas
Tester: Well I was testing out that cave area, and I found that after a few battles against those spiders, their attack patterns became too obvious. They were hard to start with but since I learned their attack pattern, the rest of the cave just became boring. Maybe if there were some variations on those spiders, the entire cave would be fun and not just the start.
Designer: Hm, I see...
All these scenarios lead to one main idea... that palette swaps may require less work, but it's work that would not be necessary anyway. The alternative to having palette swaps isn't "more work will be put into making the models", the alternative is "the same amount of work will be done, but with less content"
Designer: Hey artist, Our observations tell us that you are skilled enough to make 70 models by the deadline, could you do that and make another 30 palette swaps? we need 100 enemies by the deadline.
Artist: Well, it's a challenge, but I can get the job done.
2. Easier to reach the goals
Designer: Hey artist, how many unique enemy models can you make by the deadline?
Artist: Well 70 if I put all my efforts into it.
Designer: 70? Great, we are hoping for 100 enemies, with 70 unique models we'll only need 30 palette swaps.
3. More flexibility
Artist: Hey designer, I can do 70 unique enemy models within this deadline.
Designer: Oh, with 70 models be could probably make up to 300 different enemies! We have 100 planned, but with that many unique models we now have the possibility of going much higher than that!
4. Not a wasted effort
Programmer: Hey artist, unfortunately I didn't hit my target of programming all 100 enemies, instead I only managed to do 80, so we are going to have to drop out 20 enemies from what we had planned, sorry you have to lose 20 of the models you worked on.
Artist: Oh, that's a shame, but 30 of the enemies were just palette swaps, so the ones you remove there are not a wasted effort.
5. Consistency and recognition
Designer: Hey artist, we have a forest area designed for the beginning of the game where we're going to have lots of wolves, but we also plan to have the player go back there later on. We don't want the player to think they're fighting the weak wolves again, nor do we want them to be confused as to why the wolves they're fighting are suddenly stronger. How can we fix this?
Artist: Hm, we could use a palette swap, that way it's clearly the same theme, but with a new challenge.
6. To accommodate for new or late ideas
Tester: Well I was testing out that cave area, and I found that after a few battles against those spiders, their attack patterns became too obvious. They were hard to start with but since I learned their attack pattern, the rest of the cave just became boring. Maybe if there were some variations on those spiders, the entire cave would be fun and not just the start.
Designer: Hm, I see...
All these scenarios lead to one main idea... that palette swaps may require less work, but it's work that would not be necessary anyway. The alternative to having palette swaps isn't "more work will be put into making the models", the alternative is "the same amount of work will be done, but with less content"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)