Started playing Majora's Mask. Digging the atmosphere of the game, and HOLY EFF THAT MOON FACE IS RIGHT OVER TOP ME AGHHHH But other than that, I'm in love.

It wasn't detail necessarily I was looking at in the Borderlands screenshot, only the outlines and overall visual clarity. Although...



A quick google shows me this example, which looks a little better. Foreground is clearly distinguished from background, partly due to contrast in the textures, but also a blue fog that obscures the outlines as well as the model itself. The lines are still pretty rigid, but it's improved.

I'd still say it's a nice thing to have: you can take as long as you like to read, say, a magazine spread, but you still need clarity.

I like Borderland's art style, but I agree about the cel-shading- hence my post above on what might possibly help.

Since other people have mentioned cel-shading, I figured I'd throw in my two cents. Is it technically possible to create a cel-shading renderer that would 'ink' outlines with more varied width?

Take a look at a game like Borderlands- in fact, let's use the screenshot from earlier in the thread.



Looks pretty good, nice and clean. However... look at the cliff in the background. Why is that line as thick as the one wrapping around the player's gun? It doesn't really mess up depth perception, since there are still other indicators, but there's a missed opportunity here. On top of that, the inks are uniform, and kinda flat.



Here's a great example of what I'm talking about. This is a sample page from Katsuhiro Otomo's Domu, a precursor to Akira- note how on the bottom panel the playground is obviously in the foreground, while the buildings in the distance are drawn with a thinner line. There's still meticulous amounts of detail like modern gamers crave, but there's a greater sense of space. Even in the face on the top panel, one side of the face and body are given more visual weight. It's subtle, but it gives a greater sense of dynamism.

Now I am coming from an artist's perspective, not a programmer, so I have no idea what it would take to implement an engine that varied line widths based on proximity to the viewer camera. It'd be awesome if one could even dynamically color outlines, so that objects in the distance could be given a lighter edge to increase visibility. An example:

I would like to mention that there is a way to transfer games from one Wii to another. I've had to do this twice for my console, once because it had major bugs and once because it was stolen. In both instances, I talked to an NoA representative and explained my situation, including my account and serial number for the console. They were able to essentially deactivate the account on one machine and activate it with another. I had to redownload all of my VC games and wasn't able to transfer saves, but at least I had my games.

Perhaps a heavily modified version of the Adventure Game Studio?

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the Sly Cooper games- the first is a great hub-based platformer, much like the Mario 64 clones of its day, but had some light stealth elements to fit in with its suave thief persona. The next two games became a pseudo-sandbox stealth platformer with a ton of variety in missions, with each level culminating in a giant Ocean's Eleven style heist. The second and third are interesting to me, because they are two of the most satisfying games I've played, in the same way that I find a movie like Hot Fuzz satsifying.

Each of the missions in the level is some small part of the big heist, and each gameplay mechanic that gets used in the earlier parts is brought back up again for the finale. It's a videogame equivalent to what screenwriters call 'plants', little ideas or quips that become massively important later on, or foreshadow major events.

I feel like part of the reason the 3D platformer died was twofold:

1)Awkward camera angles that made it hard to judge jumps and/or see your character. A LOT of these games either had auto cameras that were put in preset spots, or else were in the player's control and got stuck on scenery or popped through it.

2)Collect-a-thons. It may be an easy way to get extra gameplay out of an area, but taknig it overboard killed the mini-genre. Look at something like DK64, which had a bajillion different types of doodads to collect for no other purpose but collecting. At least Psychonauts made its doodads interesting; they were little doodles of characters and objects from the game you could view in a separate gallery menu.

In a way, the rise and decline of the 3D platformer is similar to the arc of the GTA style game. While there are still successful sandbox games, there aren't nearly as many as there used to be five years ago. Like the numerous GTA clones that sprang up, it seemed like a lot of studios tried to make their own version of Mario 64 without doing enough to either set it apart from the crowd or give it enough polish, resulting in a lot of titles with repetitive missions, bland level designs, and wonky camera controls. A new fad came and the industry chased after it, leaving the budding genre in the dust for the vultures. Here's hoping that with more indies trying out 3D tech, we'll see some quality indie 3D platformers. Super Cave Story 64, anyone?

(Now that I think about it, one could argue that sandbox games like GTA arose due to the popularity of titles like Mario 64- Space Silicon Valley is one such game frequently cited as a GTA predecessor, with the ability to commandeer multiple 'vehicles' to solve puzzles and proceed to the next area. Perhaps GTA III could be considered a 'grown-up' Mario 64. Certainly interesting food for thought.)

Should I work for free?

I'm right with you, 1982- part of the reason I've never gotten into dungeon crawlers is that the grimy dungeons typical of the genre never seemed visually appealing. The games that have pulled me towards them have been ones with stunning art direction, such as The Dark Spire and Etrian Odyssey.

Sad panda :c My Wii plays almost nothing but Brawl and Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom... but this is nothing more than a personal anecdote.

With a little help (and a bit of heckling) from my friends, I finally completed Ocarina of Time. It's strange, it feels like a part of my childhood is finally complete. I never owned an N64 as a kid, but my babysitter and her brother did, along with plenty of other consoles. They were majorly responsible for really getting me into videogames, and I fondly remember the nights that I tried, again and again, to tackle Ocarina of Time. I was pretty bad at games then, and I had only a small amount of time, so if I was lucky I might make it to the Goron City before I had to leave. I knew there was more to the game, much more- I just couldn't get to it. Years later when my grandmother found an N64 with that golden cartridge at a yard sale, I knew I had to take it on. But even that was a little while ago- I started it once more this summer, intending to finish it. Yep, I've had my problems with the title, and I do think it's aged a bit, but damnit if I didn't end up having a legitimately good time. 

I think one of the biggest misconceptions is the idea that generic as a term is always a bad idea. This is true, but only to a certain extent. A generic idea is a widely understood concept, and easily digested. We know what a generic tree looks like, and we know the basic gist of a zombie. We don't have to explain every single time they show up, unless they're a special type of zombie that defies common conceptions. This is where the specific comes from, and is how an author like J.K. Rowling excels. The Harry Potter books are filled with generic fantasy elements- wizards, witches, dragons, etc. But they are also given specific qualities that set them apart from other series. The most notable of these is their juxtaposition with modern-day Europe, a conflict which informs much of the story and setting. The entire concept of the Ministry of Magic is designed to deal with the specific setting of a world where magic universities exist unbeknownst to the general non-magic public, and provides some of the most interesting elements in the entire series. Rowling doesn't need to explain what a wizard is in this world, since they operate a lot off of  common (or rather, generic) conceptions of what a wizard is, allowing her to get to the real meat of the books, that is the story of The Boy Who Lived.

Anybody else interested in the quote about a new peripheral? A ten-dollar peripheral for current 3DS owners sounds a bit interesting to me.

It's only limiting if you blindly copy. The important thing is to not just copy an artist's style wholesale, but analyze what you find appealing about their work and assimilate some or all of those properties into your own work. On a similar note, master copies can be an excellent method for artists to break out of their own thought process and open their mind to new techniques.

Actually, Keita Takahashi (Katamari Damacy) is working on a playground design, but that's neither here nor there.

I think Earthbound even had the ability for you to automatically win fights against enemies of a low enough level; they'd run away from you, and if you caught up to them Ness would kick them and they'd explode in a shower of coins and EXP.

In an RPG, setting and art style are everything for me. I'm going to be journeying across the game map for at least 20-30 hours, so it'd better be damn interesting. Even a rather generic setting like the Dragon Quest games make grinding enjoyable through its cutesy art style and charming pun-filled dialogue.

On that note, if you have a big enough overworld, some sort of awesome transportation is a must. Final Fantasy games have their airships, Dragon Quest frequently uses pirate ships, Brutal Legend had that sweet hot rod, but see what you guys can come up with that stands out from the crowd.

Yu-Gi-Oh had one of its many many offshoots turned into a racing game. Imagine playing a card game and racing AT THE SAME TIME. Stupid and awesome at the same time- probably not nearly as fun in practice, though.

Was just playing Wonderputt and Ninja Golf and somebody should totally make a golf racing game (if it hasn't already been done).

If I remember right, Aqua Teen Hunger Force had a videogame that was part hack-n-slash, part kart racer, and part golf sim. I have no idea if it could possibly be any good.