Will games ever look realistic?

[orangecat]

I just want to talk to you guys and see what you think. Personally I don't think games will ever look realistic because the game developers won't be bothered to put that kind of detail. Think about it game trailers look super nice but theres no reason why a really high end gaming system can't look nearly as good or lets say some time from now we have computers 100 times more powerful then we have now even then will a developer want to spend 30+ hours designing a quiver of arrows that is insanely detailed for a game? I do think that the rendering side of it will look super awesome but the level of detail will never be there. This is just an example but look at Crysis 3, The rendering is pretty nice (even though its not "realistic") but there are tons of in game assets that the game developers simply did not put as much time into. One might say its for optimization reasons and sure sometimes it is but when a game has an Ultra setting in its graphics I feel as if no detail shoudl be left out and so far we have yet to see any games like that. I love watching Pixar movies and other stuff like that because sure the animation is really nice and sure the rendering is really nice but the environments are so detailed its almost like they have taken them right out of reality sometimes and I just can't see game developers putting that kind of money or time into the game.

[helping]

throw yourself in a cryotherapy chamber for 100 years and if humanity still functions, we'll probably have it.

There's no way it will be based on pushing polygons. It will have to be some advanced type of ray-tracing

It could be. If the polygon count was high enough (hence future alien tech), the difference wouldn't be perceivable anyway.

[Ryan Leech]

There's no way it will be based on pushing polygons. It will have to be some advanced type of ray-tracing

[wng_kingsley7]

Why push the gaming industry if you don't want things to look better? I doubt anyone want master chief to look like he did during the original Halo or Lara Croft to be blocky >_>

Halo Master Cheif from Halo to Halo 4.

http://www.gadgetreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/SPvsp.jpg

Lara Croft

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/092/b/f/tomb_raider_evolution_by_ruby290930-d608wu6.png

[orangecat]

There's no way it will be based on pushing polygons. It will have to be some advanced type of ray-tracing

We already can do the rendering just fine we just need faster hardware.

[orangecat]

Why push the gaming industry if you don't want things to look better? I doubt anyone want master chief to look like he did during the original Halo or Lara Croft to be blocky >_>

Halo Master Cheif from Halo to Halo 4.

http://www.gadgetreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/SPvsp.jpg

Lara Croft

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/092/b/f/tomb_raider_evolution_by_ruby290930-d608wu6.png

But I think we have hit a point where the game devs wont go much higher unless they need to sure the quality got much much betetr because hardware got faster but think about how long it takes to model all the game assets and texture them and all that then try and 10x the detail.

[orangecat]

throw yourself in a cryotherapy chamber for 100 years and if humanity still functions, we'll probably have it.

It could be. If the polygon count was high enough (hence future alien tech), the difference wouldn't be perceivable anyway.

I hope you are right it woudl be sweet to see but i think its going to be more work to make the environments more realistic unless we find some way to make it easier.

[Le Lion de Barreras]

It'll depend on the game. Games like Crysis, Tomb Raider, etc. want games to look as realistic as possible. However going into other games like Bastion, The Wolf Among us will drift into different art styles. But for a game too look very realistic is decades away.

[Yoinkerman]

We'd be so much closer if everything wasn't so freaking shiny.

[Ryan Leech]

We already can do the rendering just fine we just need faster hardware.

We are going to need quantum power and some advanced ray tracing before it becomes a possibility

[TheRetiredSlave]

"Look" realistic? Sure.. I'd bet that if you took a screenshot of a beautifully modded Skyrim and compared it to a picture from a generic smartphone camera, many average people wouldn't really be able to tell much of a difference.. 20 years from now, if ray-tracing techniques, graphics engines, and hardware all improve, I wouldn't be surprised if a video game's graphics could rival photos taken of real objects..

 

"Feel" realistic is an entirely different story, however..

[wng_kingsley7]

But I think we have hit a point where the game devs wont go much higher unless they need to sure the quality got much much betetr because hardware got faster but think about how long it takes to model all the game assets and texture them and all that then try and 10x the detail.

Other than people modding and making real life celebrities like Jessica alba in skyrim, aesthetic is next to nothing the best thing in games however the ai in games lack a lot of human intellect which should be the next focus.

[juretrn]

Ever heard of 3D scanning?

[orangecat]

We are going to need quantum power and some advanced ray tracing before it becomes a possibility

Have you not ever seen a real time raytracing demo? We are getting there but yes we are going to need supercomputers before it becomes good enough to be called realistic...

[orangecat]

Ever heard of 3D scanning?

Even so we are going to need some serious advancments in that technology because I have never seen any 3d scanned objects that look nearly as good as the original.

[orangecat]

"Look" realistic? Sure.. I'd bet that if you took a screenshot of a beautifully modded Skyrim and compared it to a picture from a generic smartphone camera, many average people wouldn't really be able to tell much of a difference.. 20 years from now, if ray-tracing techniques, graphics engines, and hardware all improve, I wouldn't be surprised if a video game's graphics could rival photos taken of real objects..

 

"Feel" realistic is an entirely different story, however..

I just wonder hwo far we ca go with the gore before it becomes to real and you can't tell the difference form a video and a game.

[AlwaysFSX]

"Look" realistic? Sure.. I'd bet that if you took a screenshot of a beautifully modded Skyrim and compared it to a picture from a generic smartphone camera, many average people wouldn't really be able to tell much of a difference.. 20 years from now, if ray-tracing techniques, graphics engines, and hardware all improve, I wouldn't be surprised if a video game's graphics could rival photos taken of real objects..

 

"Feel" realistic is an entirely different story, however..

Skyrim looks bad even when it's modded.

 

This however, does not look very computer generated.

[Hidden Orange]

Ever heard of 3D scanning?

I can only think of Kojima Productions since they uploaded a video about it. I don't know about other developers who do this or mentioned using 3D scanning. Maybe the guys at Activision since Kevin Spacey's looks like Kevin Spacey albeit video game-ified along with Bioware inserting er... Jessica Chobot?

 

Anyway, I think we will get to a point where games look like real-life. The big question is when. For me, as games are another form of art, it's how well we can trick others into believing it's real. Photos, portraits, etc., are just illusions created by pixels, lines, and different colors. My only issue is when games involve more aquatic life... I have a phobia of fish so it'll be a problem for me. That said, I hope that other art styles don't die out. We need more Transistors, Child of Lights, and Wind Wakers.

[jezza39]

Not a matter of if but when, looking at a sports game I was playing (MLB 14: The Show) the faces look completely smooth, the ballparks look like you're there etc. Still can tell it's a game, but I'm sure it will be in the next decade where we can start saying "wow this looks like real life"

[WestcoastPCBuilder]

I'd go further than 'looking' realistic and rather 'being' realistic.

 

Stretch it being surgically implanted and manipulating your synapses and frontal lobe and limbic system to the point that you ARE in the game.

 

In reality, you'll be running naked down 1st avenue holding a broom as a gun, but your mind will think you are in a cryo suit charging right into the militia with your batman belt on.

[ShadowCaptain]

 even then will a developer want to spend 30+ hours designing a quiver of arrows that is insanely detailed for a game? I do think that the rendering side of it will look super awesome but the level of detail will never be there.

 

Modern imaging equiptment can scan items in, and it will only get better, Thus saving loads of time having an artist sit and create the item out of nothing

 

 

 

 

Also as far as rendering goes there have been big leap forwards, for example I remember these videos about unlimited detail, interesting watch

[Mooshi]

No matter how realistic, there is always the eerie uncanny valley effect where something falls just short of looking lifelike and creates a weird effect. You see, ultra graphics and realistic are not one and the same. In fact, I'm a fan of toony Nintendo style which pulls this off nicely. The Legend of Zelda series (barring toon Link) has a a nice blend of fantasy with detail. The end result is stunning imo. Square Enix is also good with this, even if their new games are just movies with gameplay. The models have high detail, but they aren't going for true to life realism. There is enough difference where it creates a nice visual effect instead of the uncanny valley. Image fidelity should be the number one goal, even if something has a toony style.

 

For organic objects, I can see we're already getting there. Look at modern racing titles, I don't think graphics could improve much off that, maybe the physics, but for organic objects, newer titles already nailed it. For people, I'm not really a fan of ultra realistic for the reason given in the first paragraph.

[Jogostar]

We'd be so much closer if everything wasn't so freaking shiny.

 

 

Skyrim looks bad even when it's modded.

 

This however, does not look very computer generated.

 

Again, it looks waaay to shiny.

[Kevinkt]

Why push the gaming industry if you don't want things to look better? I doubt anyone want master chief to look like he did during the original Halo or Lara Croft to be blocky >_>

Halo Master Cheif from Halo to Halo 4.

http://www.gadgetreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/SPvsp.jpg

Lara Croft

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/092/b/f/tomb_raider_evolution_by_ruby290930-d608wu6.png

halo two looks better than three,,,,,,,,,,

[tobben]

better looking is one thing but i don't see why anyone would want lifelike realistic graphics, that's just boring, if anything i want the opposite, come up with more diverse interesting art styles, need to push improved physics and more interaction with the environment rather than shinier graphics. 

 

although if you stop and think about it, this entire discussion is mostly related to generic games/triple a titles.