Minecraft Graphics.

[Sylveria]

Graphics add nothing except cost and primarily serve to placate people who enjoy shiny objects. Immersion is a state of mind, graphical quality has no influence in that. If you can't get immersed, its because you have no interest in it, but because your game doesn't push enough polygons.

Now, since you're question is could a game like Minecraft with high res crap be good, yes, it could. However, the processing demand would be ridiculous, the development times and costs would be astronomical, and the game would either look very odd as it tried to retain a "blocky" aesthetic or it would take obscene amounts of time due to how small the pieces you'd be forced to work with would be to retain a "high res" look, and I still would bet money that the depth and freedom of the game would be very restricted compared to MC. Not to mention I don't see how it would be doable in a first-person point of view due to the size and volume of components one would need to "build" with extremely small polygons. Honestly, the more I think about it, I don't think it would work or else you'd be spending days to build a high-res brick rather than a big blocky building.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

Lern2Texture Pack.
My Minecraft looks great.

See? Even my Godswood is awesome.

What texture pack is that? It looks really good. I love that sword :3

 

[Maeta]

I prefer these blocky, simple graphics over quite a few games as some of the superior visuals make me feel slightly ill for no particular reason, but I can only tolerate them for a short time, whereas minecraft donesn't have so much a problem for me... I don't know what it is, but also I feel that the simple graphics hold a bit of charm to them, and make me think a little bit of my childhood.

 

[Hummmy]

Graphics add nothing except cost and primarily serve to placate people who enjoy shiny objects.

Now, now. Don't get too crazy here.

Look, I'm a huge fan of the Silent Hill games.
Silent Hill vs Silent Hill 2

You know why Silent Hill 2 is considered better? It's not all just narrative and story (and an engine upgrade obviously), it's cause it looks better, the walls are dirtier, the monsters look scarier, you feel like you get a better mental image of what the town should really look like and it really adds a lot to the whole atmosphere of the game.

Sure graphics can't be your pure selling point. I for one hated Crysis 2. I don't care how good it looked, that game was just boring..

 

[Toaster Hunter]

Mincraft's graphics are its charm. If it was more realistic, then it just wouldn't be Minecraft

 

[laughingstock2909]

You know, I'm surprised no one has ever done one of those ultra-terrifying, high detail, realistic renders of Minecraft.

I did find this animation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRrwFzEDinA

I do think that that animation is awesome for minecraft, it still doesn't feel comfortable for me, minecraft and games that have similar content and games of that graphical quality (minecraft) suit the aesthetic that the developer is trying to get across.

 

[LiquidGrape]

I'm not trying to bash Minecraft here. I do think it's perfectly fine the way it is, I play a shitload of it. But sooner or later it has to advance, yeah?

But this isn't a matter of advancing. It's a particular aesthetic, immediately recogniseable, and it's part of what has made the game the success-story it is. I think I can safely say that a visual approach with more emphasis on fidelity wouldn't have tickled the interest of nearly as many people.

For comparative purposes: would anyone seriously suggest that colourising Carol Reed's The Third Man [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_third_man] would be an improvement?


Black-and-white films aren't somehow lesser than films in colour, because they do have a very deliberately thought-out aesthetic.
The naïvité of Minecraft is simply the same principle transposed onto another medium.

 

[The-Epicly-Named-Man]

As you said, there are high res texture packs, like this one; http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/127377-16x-32x-64x-128x-256x18-lb-photo-realism-18-compatible-9132011/
And as you said, the higher res version of that pack (ie: 256x) turns the game into a slide show on normal PCs and laptops, even with the Optifine mod.
You can't ignore those facts, otherwise this isn't a debate, it's a one-sided rant.
Use the aforementioned texturepack if you really care about "realism" (in a game about fighting skeletons and mining meter cubed blocks with your fist, no less), everyone else will stick to using the Default, Revival or Painterly packs.

 

[TheMagicLemur]

Oh my g... *facepalm*

Guys, stop tearing me apart here.. Go back and read over the thread and point out to me where I've said Minecraft graphics are bad. Go ahead, I'll wait....



No where. I like Minecraft's graphics! There is nothing wrong with them.

I'm just saying, times change, technology changes.
Surely we'll get to a realistic Minecraft game sooner or later, yes?

Yeah, I'm sure that eventually we'll have a game that is a pure, literal sandbox with realistic physics and high-poly everything. But it wouldn't be Minecraft. It's an entirely different theoretical game. So what the hell is your point, exactly?

Don't get mad at us because you aren't good at asking questions clearly and concisely.

 

[Cheesus333]

I love Minecraft's style. It's perfectly distinctive and iconic: you see even one block and you know what game it's from. It also makes for fantastic landscapes, especially with the recent dynamic lighting updates.

I have always wondered what a realistic version of the game would look like, though. Like with smooth hills that you dig clumps out of, or chipping rock away chunk by chunk and letting tiny trickles of water through the cracks. It would be a different game entirely, I think.

 

[twaddle]

The real question here should be "As long as gameplay is good, can developers get away with publishing games with lower quality graphics?" I think the idea is sound personally

 

[Hummmy]

*sigh*

I'm off to bed.
Thanks for the "replies" everyone.

 

[crepesack]

I think he's just talking about a nicer skin. IMO everyone saying the game wouldn't be the game without the rough graphics is being ridiculous. It's like saying a car isn't the same car if you painted it over. Some people like the aesthetic others don't. The game remains unchanged.

 

[AmrasCalmacil]

Lern2Texture Pack.
My Minecraft looks great.

See? Even my Godswood is awesome.

What texture pack is that? It looks really good. I love that sword :3

It's the Dokucraft Continuation project. Can be found on the Minecraft forums under 'Dokucraft The Saga Continues', I think.

 

[The-Epicly-Named-Man]

*sigh*

I'm off to bed.
Thanks for the "replies" everyone.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
So, in other words; "I'm taking my ball and going home".
Honestly, just because no one agreed with you, doesn't mean everyone was wrong.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

It's the Dokucraft Continuation project. Can be found on the Minecraft forums under 'Dokucraft The Saga Continues', I think.

Sweet, thanks. Going to look that up.

 

[lacktheknack]

They've already come up with concept art for this.

<img width=500>http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/439/cavecv.jpg

<img width=500>http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/1779/lavac.jpg

If they actually pulled together some resources and did this, I'd be overjoyed.

Relevant thread:

http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/13525-minecraft-hd/

 

[Justanewguy]

So, essentially, what you seem to be implying is having a fully realistic version of Minecraft, without the blocks?

That idea is just pure silly.

This is one reason I hate asking questions which require some thinking to a large audience;
Cause I get people like you.

Your question essentially boiled down to "would minecraft work without blocks?"

Or else, you actually think that you could have realistic graphics with blocks, which wouldn't really make sense, because it'd still be blocks, and would therefore be ridiculous.

It has to look like blocks, otherwise you won't really know where one ends and the next begins. I suppose you could just have a nice fun game of "guess where the next part goes"?

Minecraft without blocks? It'd be like...real life or something.

No, but seriously, if we can do it in the real world, I'm positive that it wouldn't be a game of "guess where the next part goes." Most people in MineCraft tend to do one of two things, they either go in with a distinct plan and make something fabulously intricate, or they wing it and end up with something equally intricate but less structured. If we took away the blocks we'd still have to be able to create things, so we'd have to substitute in building materials of some sort, bricks, wooden planks, ect. Unfortunately I think those winging it would have far less ability to create than those who go in with a plan.

MineCraft without blocks is doable, I just think it would be less fun. A majority of the charm of that game is from being able to, as many people have said, play a modern version of legos. While building a house from scratch using bricks and wood planks would be rewarding, I have to feel like it'd be tedious too.

So...in summary. MineCraft without blocks is probably doable, but not as fun.

 

[MGlBlaze]

Yes, graphically Minecraft is very simple.

AESTHETICALLY it works well and looks nice, especially with a good texture pack or a few mods.

 

[No_Remainders]

So, essentially, what you seem to be implying is having a fully realistic version of Minecraft, without the blocks?

That idea is just pure silly.

This is one reason I hate asking questions which require some thinking to a large audience;
Cause I get people like you.

Your question essentially boiled down to "would minecraft work without blocks?"

Or else, you actually think that you could have realistic graphics with blocks, which wouldn't really make sense, because it'd still be blocks, and would therefore be ridiculous.

It has to look like blocks, otherwise you won't really know where one ends and the next begins. I suppose you could just have a nice fun game of "guess where the next part goes"?

Minecraft without blocks? It'd be like...real life or something.

No, but seriously, if we can do it in the real world, I'm positive that it wouldn't be a game of "guess where the next part goes." Most people in MineCraft tend to do one of two things, they either go in with a distinct plan and make something fabulously intricate, or they wing it and end up with something equally intricate but less structured. If we took away the blocks we'd still have to be able to create things, so we'd have to substitute in building materials of some sort, bricks, wooden planks, ect. Unfortunately I think those winging it would have far less ability to create than those who go in with a plan.

MineCraft without blocks is doable, I just think it would be less fun. A majority of the charm of that game is from being able to, as many people have said, play a modern version of legos. While building a house from scratch using bricks and wood planks would be rewarding, I have to feel like it'd be tedious too.

So...in summary. MineCraft without blocks is probably doable, but not as fun.

So, say you're digging... How are you proposing dirt is measured? Grains? How big is a grain? How many grains form a mound? What if I want to build a castle of dirt? How much dirt will I need? Will dirt stack in your inventory? Will you HAVE an inventory? Will using a shovel create a different gap in the ground than using your hands, or using an axe, or a pickaxe, or a door to dig with?

What about cutting down trees? Do the branches count as sticks, or planks? How do you know when something is a twig or a stick? How do 10 branches MAGICALLY turn into a plank?

Oh, I want to go mine some stone! If I break a stone will I pick all of it up, or just some of it? Will there be small chips coming off as I hit it with my pickaxe? Can I still use my hands to break stone? If I can't, does this mean I can't use my hands to break trees to make tools? But if I can't do that, how will I make tools in the first place?


See, Minecraft without blocks has one major problem. It's not plausible. You couldn't make a game in the style of Minecraft using life-like structures, it wouldn't work properly.