id Software's John Carmack wants a total step-change in how games are made, and feels this won't come from Microsoft and Sony's next generation consoles.
The man behind DOOM is currently working on a new Virtual Reality headset, slated to launch alongside a new edition of DOOM 3. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Carmack argued that peripherals of this sort will lead to more interesting games than bulkier processors and ram buffers.
"Sony and Microsoft are going to fight over gigaflops and teraflops and GPUs and all this," he said. "In the end, it won't make that much difference. When you get to this, it makes a really big difference in the experience. Nintendo went and brought motion into the gaming sphere and while only having a tenth of the processing power was able to outsell all of them in all of these ways. I think someone has an opportunity to do this here. It takes a whole ecosystem though, but it is almost perfect."
"In many ways I am not all that excited about the next generation. It will let us do everything we want to do now, with the knobs turned up."
"If you take a current game like Halo which is a 30 hertz game at 720p," Carmack went on. "If you run that at 1080p, 60 frames with high dynamic frame buffers, all of a sudden you've sucked up all the power you have in the next-generation. It will be what we already have, but a lot better.
"You will be able to redesign with a focus on [Direct X 11], but it will not really change anyone's world. It will look a lot better, it will move towards the movie rendering experience and that is better and better, but it's not like the first time you've ever played an FPS. It won't be like putting yourself in the virtual world."
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9 comments so far...
bamozzy on 20 Jun '12 said:
That is why I don't think we are in great demand for the next generation just yet - granted games may look a little better and run a bit smoother too but they won't improve the overall gameplay and story lines. This generation still has yet to reach its apex in terms of graphical capability - games are still improving on console and look a lot better than they did when the consoles first came out and better even than games that came out a year or 2 ago.
I do think however that they certainly need to be working on the next generation of console now but as their isn't a 'rush' for it they can ensure that problems are all fixed before releasing - we don't want a repeat of the RROD that plagued the original 360!
Bezza89 on 20 Jun '12 said:
Oh pish posh!
Games are getting very boring now, so much so I can predict how enemies will react in every FPS. Next-gen isn't just about improved frame rates, better resolutions - whilst I'd love that too, I want developers to be able to run more complex AI mechanisms that constitute more than an enemy shooting at me, chucking a grenade, running off, or not on harder difficulties. Then there is AI for companions/friendlies/meatshields; most are in these days for co-op reasons, but if you don't play co-op you're generally stuck with some retard for 5 hours. Which brings me to length, perhaps more power will encourage bigger game worlds, more open pathways to allow developers to create bigger levels and not worry about ugly assets or something.
Then there's the new IPs. A perfect time to launch is when your game looks stupidly better than anything you've seen before and that will introduce a new IP to people, as well as utilising new tech perhaps.
We need next-gen to make the sequels we're getting a bit more interesting, and maybe even let new games get sequels. Not just 'Even his pixels have pixels' mentality. (Ripping Yarns reference).
Chameleon on 20 Jun '12 said:
Amen
bamozzy on 21 Jun '12 said:
According to this article - all next gen will do is improve the graphical presentation - all the additional power will be utilised for the this. AI, Bigger Worlds, more game play etc will not be improved by the next generation and to be honest I kind of understand where he is coming from. Those aspects are purely down to the developers and programmers. It is up to them to improve these aspects by programming them and making games bigger and better. I am sure you could do this on the current generation IF the developers were capable of doing so - granted the games wouldn't run as well as they would on next gen and would probably be 720p and 30fps.
Do you honestly think that developers are suddenly going to make bigger game worlds with enhanced AI just because they have a new console and more power? NO - they are still learning how to develop AI in games. Halo had great AI for its time and some still think it had the best in any game - that is 10 years ago on the OLD and original xbox! It also had immense gaming environments too - the next generation didn't really improve those aspects BUT they certainly made games look a lot better!
I understand that this article is merely saying that the next generation will utilise the additional power to enhance the overall look of games - something that I agree with. It will not improve the aspects to which you are referring as that will be down to the developers - I am sure that if they were able to do those things now they would! Maybe in a few more years when they have learnt how to do those things they will BUT I don't think a next generation console is necessary for that - that is down to coding and in terms of game size - disc space etc. If we do not get bluray for example - I can actually see games getting smaller in terms of gameplay as the enhanced graphical capability will take up more space.
Chameleon on 21 Jun '12 said:
And that's another reason why we DO need the next generation - because the current generation is running low on disc space, if nothing else. Do you really think the next console will be coming WITHOUT blu-ray? Or at least an equivalent, in terms of space.
But back to the AI for a sec - with more horsepower, developers OUGHT to be able to use it to improve AI routines. Yes, it'll be down to the developers, and they haven't made huge leaps in that regard on this gen, but the graphical niceties that gamers now expect mean there is no room left on the disc to improve until the next gen (see above).
Bezza89 on 21 Jun '12 said:
This article is John Carmack or whoever from iD software - he's the one who goes around banging on about graphics and how Rage was 100gb etc. Of course he'll say this. I'm saying he is wrong, and that developers will make bigger changes with more power because most of them are banging on about how restricted they are on consoles. Not all, but a lot of them.
There are more scalable engines now, look at Anvil for UBIsoft, Frostbite 2, Unreal 4, cyrengine 3, they'll use them to make really beautiful games, and will likely license them to a lot of people who are already familiar with them - but not everyone can afford to get the best graphics and so they'll use the extra power to make their games better.
Give me next-gen so developers have the option of doing better, if they don't, we'll still have games that run a lot better, we'll have new IPs - CoD only became 'good/popular' in 2007 - let's have a new CoD, not a sequel a new version of it... you know what I mean.
CunningSmile on 21 Jun '12 said:
Carmack has always been a junky for graphics. He's been very vocal over the years that they are the end goal in game design and everything else, story characters AI, is secondary...probably why I found Rage to be very disappointing.
Clanger67 on 21 Jun '12 said:
SidTheSloth on 22 Jun '12 said:
The AI thing is one area i'd really like to see improved on next gen, but just like this gen i'm not sure it will ever be given the attention or indeed horsepower it truly deserves.
It's not that i think a lot of developers can't be arsed (more on this shortly), i think it's more to do with the 'immediate' results you can see from a months work on a game engine or graphics/artwork development. Comparing the visuals of a screenshot/video to real life/file etc is quite an easy task for the eyes and brain and can quickly influence a consumer with regards to buying a product so it's no wonder this is an area of focus. All sorts of stores spend millions every year on refining and researching packaging, knowing at the moment of selecting an item off a shelf, the more enticing is often the one chosen -irrespective of price difference.
Factor in the complexity and lack of any real foundation to base an AI routine on and you can see why so many get it wrong? I criticise the AI in FIFA, but i don't for one minute envy the team who're responsible for that nightmarish piece of coding. I've no doubt it's expertly written, but the thing has to constantly factor in the immediate past, present & future for every player on the pitch - is it any wonder the game can sometimes seem a bit forumlaic? (Some) Humans are capable of independent & spontaneuous thought & action, the only way that's ever going into a game is if its coded - there's no magic 'do this randomly' button that they can select for someone like robben to maybe pass once in a while.
What my big worry is though, is that now with games such as FIFA and certainly with fighting games, it 'seems' (key word) that AI is maybe not being refined as much as it could be as the majority of players are playing multiplayer. I'll again use FIFA as my reference, it's my favourite FIFA so far in so many ways, but it's also the one i've played the least for years as i don't particularly like playing online with it and i find the AI to be particularly bad this year.
Funny how phone calls interrupt your train of thought - i've lost where i was going with this so may pop back to edit when i remember what i was talking about!