Stylistic slowdown...
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I had a question about this, and no, it is not one of those 'it's not a bug, it's a feature' things..
I remember playing Golden Sun and Golden Sun 2 on my GBA, and during some of the cooler parts of the battle screen the frame rate would dip into the 10s (a guess)...i thought it was really cool, even if they didnt intend for it to be that way.
My question was, could you pull this off in a shooter (side scroller) and get away with it? I mean, kind of like slow-mo in a WW2 action movie...it gives a sense of intensity that having regular film speed just doesnt have. I dont know how well it would work in something that is a clip or two faster than an RPG. Purposefully slowing down the framerate (or not even that, just the rate that everything moves) for a style effect.
Any thoughts?
i take it you don't mean bullet-time (i.e. the player can do it on purpose, to gain an advantage in the fight), you just mean to make it look cool? sure, why not, if you don't have it happen all too much it could be sweet.
it wouldn't be too hard to a computer to tell that the missile you just shot is definitely going to hit the right spot and do enough damage to end the fight; at this point you can slow it all down, zoom in or pan, and use the whole screen on the bad guy blowing up :) i also always liked it when the "good guy" flies through or out of the explosion, even though we all knew it was going to happen and that it would have really killed him :)
it wouldn't be too hard to a computer to tell that the missile you just shot is definitely going to hit the right spot and do enough damage to end the fight; at this point you can slow it all down, zoom in or pan, and use the whole screen on the bad guy blowing up :) i also always liked it when the "good guy" flies through or out of the explosion, even though we all knew it was going to happen and that it would have really killed him :)
Experimenting with time in games I would say is a bit of a trend right
now. Max Payne started it I think, with all these Matrixesque "bullet time"
type effects, and now there is this new Prince Of Persia game that even
allows you to go BACK in time a little.
There is actually also a japanese arcade 2d-shooter called Espgaluda (which
is available on PS2) that has some fun with slowing and speeding up time.
So go for it, and add a little bit of a motion blur while you're at it.
now. Max Payne started it I think, with all these Matrixesque "bullet time"
type effects, and now there is this new Prince Of Persia game that even
allows you to go BACK in time a little.
There is actually also a japanese arcade 2d-shooter called Espgaluda (which
is available on PS2) that has some fun with slowing and speeding up time.
So go for it, and add a little bit of a motion blur while you're at it.
Didn't Viewtiful Joe do this? I never bothered to play it because the character designs were ridiculous, but I believe the major gameplay gimmicks--oops, "mechanics"--revolved around slowing down and speeding up time.
U kno I've noticed that on alot of games nowadays, Magazines make comments in there reviews like "The framerate stays consistent except at times when things get intense and it dips slightly" but they like to use this statement negatively, as tho its a problem the developers should have fixed if they had the oppotunity..
In my oppinion, in some cases I agree but for the most part I think that a lowered framerate at the instance the action in a game gets 'too hot', is something i've always enjoyed..
For example, Lets say i'm playing a third-person action game and i'm running around with a gun shooting with a hundred enemies on screen.. Now a huge boss-type enemy emerges and I soend the next 5 mins letting rip all the ammo I have trying to bring him down.. Then suddenly, as I throw my last grenade, the impact creates a massive explosion, catching the boss and ten other enemies in the blast radius.. Every single one of the enemies (including the boss) explode in a massive array of flying debris and particles effects fill the screen with blast flares, sparks, twisted metal fragments and bits of entrails..
In most games an instance like this would probably take a heck of a alot of effort to stop it from slowing down but in my oppinion.. why bother?
I mean even tho this slow-motion instance is a by-product of the processor going into overdrive with all the information to process, I still feel like it really does add to the overall feel of the scale and magnitude of the action.. Being able to drag out the action and watch all the particles and bits of debree fly past your character as you jump for cover in the barrage of flying bits is something i've always thought was cool..
Its just like in the movies when there's an explosion and everything slos down to show the action as the hero(s) take that final leave of faith to escape the blast.. Its just really cool and I think that this slow-down instance is sometimes complained about a little too much when its not a hinderance to the action, but an enhancement..
Although, you have to consider that the slow-down would be cool but to a degree.. If it slows to nearly a grinding halt (like 2 fps) then maybe u need to consider fixing the problem cuz I doubt it would create the same effect..
In my oppinion, in some cases I agree but for the most part I think that a lowered framerate at the instance the action in a game gets 'too hot', is something i've always enjoyed..
For example, Lets say i'm playing a third-person action game and i'm running around with a gun shooting with a hundred enemies on screen.. Now a huge boss-type enemy emerges and I soend the next 5 mins letting rip all the ammo I have trying to bring him down.. Then suddenly, as I throw my last grenade, the impact creates a massive explosion, catching the boss and ten other enemies in the blast radius.. Every single one of the enemies (including the boss) explode in a massive array of flying debris and particles effects fill the screen with blast flares, sparks, twisted metal fragments and bits of entrails..
In most games an instance like this would probably take a heck of a alot of effort to stop it from slowing down but in my oppinion.. why bother?
I mean even tho this slow-motion instance is a by-product of the processor going into overdrive with all the information to process, I still feel like it really does add to the overall feel of the scale and magnitude of the action.. Being able to drag out the action and watch all the particles and bits of debree fly past your character as you jump for cover in the barrage of flying bits is something i've always thought was cool..
Its just like in the movies when there's an explosion and everything slos down to show the action as the hero(s) take that final leave of faith to escape the blast.. Its just really cool and I think that this slow-down instance is sometimes complained about a little too much when its not a hinderance to the action, but an enhancement..
Although, you have to consider that the slow-down would be cool but to a degree.. If it slows to nearly a grinding halt (like 2 fps) then maybe u need to consider fixing the problem cuz I doubt it would create the same effect..
ArchangelMorph: the problem is that at those end of fight sequences, the framerate may dip, but so does your reaction possiblity. Firstly because input is processed less often (most probably at least) and second (and more important) you miss a lot of information due to the slow framerate. Items and bullets and particles still move at the original speed, there's just less frames in a second. This means it's like looking at a slide show.
I do agree that purposefully slowing down such a scene (the speed of the movements) so the framerate can handle the amount of movement and still 'look' fluid is a very powerful design opportunity.
[Edited by - rick_appleton on March 19, 2005 4:01:38 AM]
I do agree that purposefully slowing down such a scene (the speed of the movements) so the framerate can handle the amount of movement and still 'look' fluid is a very powerful design opportunity.
[Edited by - rick_appleton on March 19, 2005 4:01:38 AM]
I think you have to look at RPGs and FPSs with different perspectives in this.
In an RPG it would not hinder gameplay, at least if it is not in a real time combat. Manipulating the time-scale here would be lika doing it in a movie; the time slowdown can be used to emphasize the current events and the player, who is just watching the sequence, would probably like it.
In an FPS however i think it would hinder gameplay since the gameplay relies so much in timing of what you do. I know I for one would frantically hit the Esc key when the sequence starts because it messes up my concentration.
Regards
In an RPG it would not hinder gameplay, at least if it is not in a real time combat. Manipulating the time-scale here would be lika doing it in a movie; the time slowdown can be used to emphasize the current events and the player, who is just watching the sequence, would probably like it.
In an FPS however i think it would hinder gameplay since the gameplay relies so much in timing of what you do. I know I for one would frantically hit the Esc key when the sequence starts because it messes up my concentration.
Regards
Quote:Original post by rick_appleton
ArchangelMorph: the problem is that at those end of fight sequences, the framerate may dip, but so does your reaction possiblity. Firstly because input is processed less often (most probably at least) and second (and more important) you miss a lot of information due to the slow framerate. Items and bullets and particles still move at the original speed, there's just less frames in a second. This means it's like looking at a slide show.
This depends on how you implement your game loop. You can either always wait for one frame to finish processing before you begin the next, or you can start dropping frames as a given frame takes too long. The former means that you always see the same number of frames for a given action (regardless of processing power or current stress), and the latter means that the game always plays at the same speed, but may be choppy. The former also gives you more time to react to things happening, so it makes games a bit easier.
I generally prefer the former, myself. Of course, if slowdown is present all the time, then it's not so good. But for singleplayer games especially, I'd rather see everything going on around me than have a reliable gameplay speed.
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