Antlions... the clue to valves progression?

[clarky003]

may seem vague, but alot of past screenshot images have revealed the Antlions with different texture maps...? different types of Antlions maybe,, but in the E3 video bugbait they dont have all of that quality pretty patterning like in some earlier screenshots, there actually a matt colour with some texture patterns.., its got me a bit confused, but its also quite noticeable how the graphics have changed from the earlier screenshots (like the first strider screenshot with the people with no detail on there faces... I was thinking perhaps this could give people some insight as to their progress. and their latest vid the Benchmark test vid .. which seemed another step up... seems like the material varies from a long time back to fairly close to present. dont games usually post screens when its pretty much complete though... or are valve playing this one differently :rolling:

 

[Neutrino]

.....and there latest vid the Benchmark test vid .. which seemed another step up...

Benchmark test vid? Where?

 

[clarky003]

u know the one with the Antlion guard in,,, with the slimey effects,, wind whisling on the roof tops down a narrow walkway.. that video,, sunset.. pretty sky.. refractions. shadows..

 

[ReZeroX]

hes talking about that high res video with the ant lion guard on the roof, and really reflective textures, and the floating spheres.

edit: durn, beat me to it

 

[clarky003]

thats the one, theres a massive difference right there in comparison to past stuff,my point its very advanced compared to early stuff, and trying to get a feel of the developement process, from not all that much material... theres drastic changes

 

[ComradeBadger]

Moved.

 

[mrchimp]

Yeah I'v noticed that too, I'm hopeing the very first screenshots were from some time before they first anounced HL2 otherwise it kind of shows valve havn't been doing much for the past 5 years and have only started building the main parts of the game receantly. Maybe two years ago the game was entirely different and valve scrapped it and started again or there just messing us around as usual.

 

[Xenome]

Mm for the record.. that Bink movie wasn't a benchmark..it doesn't test how your cpu runs hl2 in any way. Some people think this lol

 

[clarky003]

seems that way doesnt it, drastic changes. wonder im pretty sure everyone noticed, weither they wrote about it or raised the question before.
I dont know

 

[clarky003]

thanks Xenome,,... lol i was confused someone said it was a benchmark...

 

[clarky003]

lol,.moved. how is this rumours and speculation?? its pretty clear to see most of what ive stated is factual discussion,

 

[mrchimp]

Mm for the record.. that Bink movie wasn't a benchmark..it doesn't test how your cpu runs hl2 in any way. Some people think this lol

It tests how fast your CPU can decode a bink video.

 

[clarky003]

lol.. bit off topic

 

[The Dark Elf]

lol,.moved. how is this rumours and speculation?? its pretty clear to see most of what ive stated is factual discussion,

it was moved to rumors and speculation.. your _speculating_ on the screenshots and Valve's progression

There's nothing unusual to what their doing, they simply found hardware and technology improving over the course of development, so adjusted the quality accordingly, not to mention as they worked they learnt new things. So it all makes sense.

 

[clarky003]

yup and i tried to start a discussion on it.. but stiff answers like that dont help . neva mind fenric

 

[Dougy]

they were able to use DX9 when it got released.

thats why there was such a large jump, not becuase of them slacking for 5 years.

 

[clarky003]

oh right, gottcha, no ones really getting into this thread, with what I set out to address, comments on 'progression'... so you can close this thread now delete it if you must lol..., I just mentioned the DX9 trailer, as there latest vid. why does everyone start commenting on that? lol I do know its DX9 . i didnt ask why it looked so much better. :upstare: i wanted to hear peoples comments about the progression to that point

 

[The Dark Elf]

yup and i tried to start a discussion on it.. but stiff answers like that dont help . neva mind fenric

Stiff answers? wtf? I answered your questions exactly, you asked why it was moved, I answered you, you asked why the ant lions appear to look different, I gave you the answer that it was basically progress and keeping up with current technology. If you don't like the answers then don't ask the questions

And reading down, your attacking others too. Well damn, I guess we didn't read the rules on how to reply to clarky posts.. We so sorry. ;(

 

[mrchimp]

they were able to use DX9 when it got released.

thats why there was such a large jump, not becuase of them slacking for 5 years.

Some of the earliest screenshots look like there useing DX8 at the very least but the content looks a little off. TBH I'm not so sure whats going on, it would be quite nice to see snapshots of valves progression over the past 5 years to see how the games been proggresing and at what points the majority of what we will be playing was made.

 

[clarky003]

lol fenric, < not trying to start an argument, nice try though, :stare: , I just thought they would be more detailed opinions than that.

 

[clarky003]

Mr chimp I agree, its not just the change to DX9 thats made the difference, detail in the screenshots is genuinely different , like characters with little detail and such.. as if they did it as a mock up, and then changed to the detailed character models or the game was planned out to look different and eventually changes where made .

 

[The Dark Elf]

lol fenric, < not trying to start an argument, nice try though, :stare: , I just thought they would be more detailed opinions than that.

Excuse me?

I answered your question twice now. *sighs* Sorry if you don't like the answer but really its not my problem. You wanted to know why, I gave you a plausable reason, progress, the game was taking a long time so instead of having outdated work in it they improved things, the same kind of answer as others. So I don't see why you have to take offence like that. If its issues toward me then can you get over it or take it to PM. Thanks Clarky.

Oh
Post #20 - 06:00pm
Post #21 - 06:04pm

please don't double post when you don't need to :\

Cheers.

 

[clarky003]

thanks fenric , lol.

 

[Jackal hit]

this reminds me of when i saw the first max payne screenshots, i was like "whoa that's pretty cool... " then when the game was nearing release the textures, models, everything was much much better. same thing goes with when i saw all the first halflife2 screens and videos... my reaction was like, "wow holy crap." but then i see the dx9 video, then look back on the old screens (even the new ones like with the scientists shooting at the scanners), there just isn't much polish. they probably left all the graphical polish and all the eye candy for late in the development, isn't that what most gaming companies do... finish the meat of the game, then make it pretty?

 

[clarky003]

im just thinkin the antlions looked prettier in some screenshots with clourful camo. and they where dull in the E3 vid, but wasnt that released after..? I thought the Antlions would of had all that camo colouring on them, but its not really there in the vids, just little black bits,

 

[clarky003]

isn't that what most gaming companies do... finish the meat of the game, then make it pretty?

I cant remember any other games company that have made the visual changes this apparent and left a few gaps in progression out here and there,, i dunno maybe Im a loon, but it seems like its all very new , from what seemed almost orgional HL style. I havnt seen games companies realse any developement material with such a drastic amount of change.

 

[Sulkdodds]

The Antlions certainly look better to me now than they did before, and not by much difference.

 

[clarky003]

agreed . but wheres the pretty patterns..

 

[Edcrab]

Thing is, I thought "meh" seeing HL2 screens. Nothing special, in my mind. The vids, however, were mind boggling... Barney Kliener ant-lion hydra BUGGY STRIDER *bursts*

What I remember is the early teaser video- basic tune, a few scenes from City 17. It included the hydra scene, but a version that, quite bluntly, was utter shite compared to the latest release; Alyx looking bored, no water splashes or fully rendered reflections. So anyone saying Valve have been sitting on their arse the whole time obviously hasn't been doing comparisons like you guys

 

[Cutey_Kaite]

im just thinkin the antlions looked prettier in some screenshots with clourful camo. and they where dull in the E3 vid, but wasnt that released after..? I thought the Antlions would of had all that camo colouring on them, but its not really there in the vids, just little black bits,

The video is like a year and a half old, so that why the screenshots might look better even though they were released before the video.

 

[Chewcky]

I would like to think it was more around the 2 year old mark.

 

[clarky003]

kool , I thought that was the case, just trying to sort things out in my mind about the 'what came first' bits, cause tryin to piece it together may give us a very good picture of the final product, it would be nice to imagine what those vids will look like right now, if they did an up to date bunch, with no clipping errors, and near perfect animation, and game fluidity, but mostly the clipping part, that seems apparent. .. Is this gonna be amazing , or what!.. if it keeps up like this.

 

[Letters]

I certainly remember some fascinating discussions on how much more like a certain body part they look like...

 

[clarky003]

lol. fascinating... letters, .. its an ANTLION GUARD. with legs and intelligence, comparing it to a todger, is a bit.. well... I suppose. lets not talk about that... ooo look over there, its Gabe >>>>

 

[Mountain Man]

isn't that what most gaming companies do... finish the meat of the game, then make it pretty?

Unless you're id, in which case you make a pretty engine then slap a half-assed game on top of it.

 

[Sulkdodds]

All too true. Luckily, I don't think that's what Valve are doing.
I just thought. I reckon the later Antlions look smoother but more bland...because they're in the dark. Ahem.

 

[clarky003]

ahem , lol .... so there covered in dust then