Graphics vs ideas; the tide has turned

[Saxon]

This is the old debate, how can games survive with low graphics. I have seen it re-hashed many times and have always sided with the crowd that felt content was more important. However, I think I have finally slid to the other side and was wondering if others were feeling the same.

I was at a friend’s house this weekend and he was running Neverwinter Nights 2 on his machine. It is gorgeous. Truly. I have been using the same computer for five years, so my experience of the new graphics was limited and what I saw was breathtaking. And a pretty good game too.

That night I was back at home playing Dominions 3, a game with more content than you can imagine. The graphics had been acceptable to me before, but after what I had seen, I started thinking. I had tried out Scallywag a week or three back and was taken aback by the graphics. My comments on the forum were related to another concern, as I know that Shrapnel games don’t focus on graphics. However, after seeing what else is on the market, I was stunned. The gap is too big, but there is worse.

I know the arguments about small developers, big business killing fresh ideas and community participation. However, you can find free games of similar or better quality on the net. Some are community built, others are just people who felt like putting their invention on the net. Some are mods of other games. I have long refrained from pointing out a free game that cleans the clock of one Shrapnel product, as I deeply respect Shrapnel’s open forum policy on a money making business website. However, when the free games are meeting or beating some of the games for sale and the other commercial games for have much higher quality graphics, I fear for the business model.

In any case, I don’t think any serious person argues that pretty graphics are more important than a good game idea. Playing cards answer that question. The issue is if a good game idea is enough now, if it can be used as a justification for graphics that are well behind the industry standard. The growth of mods or moddibility as a selling point makes me think that this business model is going down the hobby market route, like people who build their own planes. I don’t fly with them, I fly with Boeing. Also, the fancy games have mods and many, many people modding them.

Remember, before anyone flames me, (though this is a sleepy part of the forums) that this is coming from someone who has all three Dominions, SE4, Strange Adventures and Coliseum. This is someone who was one of the faithful and is now thinking of leaving the flock. I am not some Unreal fan boy who dropped in by accident. I am someone who has just bought a new computer and has installed a graphics card and is wondering why I would buy another game here when I can get good games with great graphics elsewhere. I can even occasionally get great games with great graphics.

In short, the graphics around here stink and it is a problem. When you start losing the old believers, it is not a good thing.