"realistic" graphics aren't about "graphics"

[@zerofourfiveone]

The Half Life head crab part reminded me of an observation by Stuart Maine in the collection "I'm Too Young to Die": "In my opinion the period 1993-1998 can be considered the golden era for level designers, because the technology of the time was perfectly balanced between realism and suggestion. During this period level designers had enough fidelity to create interesting, evocative environments, but graphics weren't so detailed that it was no longer feasible for a lone individual to create levels in a reasonable timeframe. By the 2000s, increases in scripting complexity and graphical power meant commercial level design had instead become about creating 'block-outs' of the environment before artists and others stepped in to help flesh this out with high detail geometry, lighting, textures, and audio."

[@Domarius64]

Yep and for this reason, my brothers and I were able to create our own environments in Duke 3D editor, with their own atmosphere, even though we were just kids and teenagers at the time - something that hasn't really been possible since, even with Minecraft.

Indie games exist.

[@savagedregime8176]

A trend I noticed in the Quake 1 mapping scene is that several modern maps or map packs were made by people with senior design roles at major studios. As if there's something there in terms of expression and creativity in the level design that keeps them coming back in their free time in spite of their day jobs working on much more advanced high profile games.

[@MaxOakland]

It’s still that golden era in the indie game world

[@Domarius64]

@@MaxOakland I agree, that's where all the fun stuff is still happening

[@Ojisan642]

It’s amazing how facial expressions in games went from Half Life 2’s G-man created by a psychologist, to Mass Effect Andromeda created by a psychopath, in only a dozen years.

[@АлёшаИнкогнитов]

That's hilarious. Both, the fact and the joke.

[@gendalfgray7889]

So true

[@Monkeymario.]

yea

[@diegovargasdiego]

Context?

[@ThePaperKhan]

​​@@diegovargasdiego Mass Effect Andromeda is infamous for its very static facial animations, very unmoving, while Gman had his expressions carefully constructed. Even today, games like starfield, have facial expressions worse than oblivion.

[@Pichuscute]

The problem is, with realism in modern video games, the answer to "what do these graphics communicate?" is often "nothing".

[@BloodEyePact]

I think that last line could be pithily summed up as "don't ask 'how good are these graphics?', but 'what good are these graphics?'".

[@aceman0000099]

And you'd wear a pith hat to sum it up as such

[@UnrecycleRubdish]

Don't ask what good graphics can you for you, ask what you can do for good graphics

[@gmunny46]

these videos are preposterously good and cover such an intrinsic, ineffable slice of our human experience and the only thing I could ever wish for is for it to go on

[@lennystudios3.14]

Exactly, that’s why I love these so much They feel so genuine

[@jonmv2000]

Agreed. Criminally undersubbed

[@PedroLimaPTS]

If you're into art, be it writing or drawing/painting for example, you will have to familiarize yourself with this. Reality offers infinite levels of information, but when you are portraying reality through a given medium, you are essentially, creating an idea. When you are drawing a tree, you are more than anything, sharing an idea of a tree, and no matter the media you will never be able to do it how reality does, so it becomes more about which information you will choose to pick to send the message of a tree. It's about what you choose to share, and how much you choose to share to get the message of the tree across. Sure the newest in graphics in video games are cool and all and sometimes can be really well used, but older games with older graphics understood this concept which I call "omission" really well (dunno if anybody calls it that way, or if there is a technical term for it, it's just a name I came up with while studying art by myself). What you choose to leave out and how much you can leave out and still be able to send the message you want to send.

[@wintermute5974]

There's a similar concept in psychology called 'closure', which refers to the way humans are very good at filling in the gaps in fragmented or partial visual stimuli, particularly with things like patterns or sequential images. It's what makes it possible for us to read a comic and understand something like an action scene presented in that format.

[@Jedai_Games]

L. N. Tolstoy would agree with you on the tree part.

[@vinsplayer2634]

Less realistic and detailed graphics tend to have great usage of color theory, which makes them really pleasant to look at, and helps you get immersed. Realistic graphics are supposed to make you feel immersed, but often they just do the opposite, because they fail at color theory, which makes them not pleasant enough to look at to immerse you, but also not realistic enough to immerse you.

[@FlameRat_YehLon]

Super agreed. I'm personally am against drawing from reference image/photo because of this. If I weren't seeing things with my own eyes I can't express my experience in art because I have no experience.

[@Jikkuryuu]

All those media portrayals of artists I've seen over the years talking about "capturing the essence of the subject" got only half their point across. This is the other hand reaching out and completing the idea. It's cool that video games in particular have given us language/experiences that we can use to discuss the fundamentals of art that have been around since forever.

[@FerinitheBloodHusky]

thank you for not making this an hour long

[@aceman0000099]

Anti-video essay gang

[@viscountrainbows2857]

Feebly: Long man good

[@adzi6164]

for me, the quality of graphics is mostly about two aspects: 1) Readability - how well graphics convey what they are meant to represent, to facilitate gameplay? (taking into consideration the specific style of gameplay we are going for - a survival horror in dark environments can of course make seeing things more difficult because of darkness, while a military sim should allow for camouflage to blend in the surroundings) 2) Not being "ugly" - this is about elements of graphic looking really "undercooked" and inconsistent. Again, this also depends on the game as a whole. Many 3D games from the PS1 era have graphics that are obviously inferior to modern graphics, but they are still playable, because art direction makes sure they look as good as possible, not necessarily by going for "photorealism". Conversely, notice the graphical disaster of Mortal Kombat 1 on Switch.

[@KayleLang]

I don't think there is enough talk about readability sometimes. I remember when I tried Dota 2, I was impressed by the graphics from gameplay videos, but when I actually played it, the high detail graphics made it so hard for me to process everything. I completely miss how the enemy hero was right next to me and I was dead by the time I noticed him. I don't know if it's any better today, this was nearly 10 years ago, but I stop playing Dota 2 after a day or two of trying. It was too visually overwhelming to me.

[@filipkohout4704]

good example of this is mirrors edge(2007). 1) is conpletely fucking perfect on it and 2) the game isn't ugly, it has Its own art style that won't ever look ugly, even though It's 16 years lld

[@ahdog8]

​@@KayleLangLOL I did not know about MK1 on the switch, that is horrendous!

[@dycedargselderbrother5353]

There is a pretty good example of readability, or the lack thereof, in this video: that Pong remake at 1:20. It features lanes and bumpers that appear to do nothing, existing merely for aesthetic flavor. Even though I know it's fake, my brain keeps processing it as if it's a pinball board, with pinball board expectations. I'd get used to it eventually, but that's the opposite of what should be happening. The black and white original is an upgrade in the graphical design department because it conveys more relevant information.

[@AnthonyFlack]

@@dycedargselderbrother5353 - another example from the video, sad to say, is Aladdin on the Genesis. The cartoon animation is done really well, and Dave Perry and his team really were masters of that style of Genesis platform game, but all the same it does represent the era when character hitboxes became very hard to read, and a degree of precision was lost.

[@pscm9447]

Incredible video! The "you get the idea" is such a good way of explaining it, and I would even go as far as saying that it's actually what lacks in games today ; our brains are wired to fill gaps and make sense of abstract things. (Think for example of these little "test" where letters in a text were removed or replaced with numbers and you can still read it instantly.) We kinda do the same when reading books and having to imagine the scenes that are written. So making games "too realistic" actually kinda stimulate less imagination, which is supposed to be the main reason for art/entertainment in the first place. That's also why older games each had such a distinct atmosphere ; our brains were filling the gaps with more limited, distinctive things (textures/meshes,etc) while nowadays, every AAA games tend to look the same, because they're getting nearer and nearer to the reality it tries to simulate.

[@bardfm]

Your imagination will always be higher fidelity than any computer!

[@NedInYaHead]

0:01 I really like the subtle, subliminal pong sounds throughout the intro bit about ouija boards. Feels like the video was leading up to it even if we weren't aware that that was the case.

[@Mrnotpib]

It also spells out S E N D N U Before cutting out.

[@LokiScarletWasHere]

That face gman made when the guy mentioned feeling new feelings. Oh my.

[@Moechella444]

The fact that this is the same channel that I used to listen to VGM mixes on blows my mind. I love what this channel has become and appreciate the effort you've been putting into these videos.

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

I mean, it's still mostly about the music! Even with my narrated videos: of the 7 WIP scripts I have open rn, 5 of them are more about music than games. I've just become more comfortable with my own voice (metaphorically and literally), and people seem to respond to that! It's been lovely.

[@DanicciMMO]

You really voiced the thought I had for a long time but could never point my finger at when exactly old graphics doesn't matter: it's indeed not about the imagination, it's about a threshold of immersion. Great video, mr. GSTChad. P.S. Never change the sound quality of your vids, it's too fucking cozy

[@egoalter1276]

Not so much immersion, but functionality. Elite from 1984 works, and Ultima Underworld from 1992 does not, because the latter fills two thirds of the screen with an unnecesseary grey HUD.

[@OhmiKuma]

This is really thoughtful and well-presented. As someone who's been playing games for a long time I often crave games that are more game-like I think for that very reason. The "conversation" between myself and the game is more important to me than flashy cinematic scenes or "realism" in graphics. Quite a few "Triple A" games are disappointing to me because of a lack of creativity in game-design these days and older games excel at it because that's all they had as a method of communication to the player.

[@Greybell]

I like games that are simple enough for me to digest. A game that I can easily understand helps me to immerse myself in the game world and lore. I learned that grinding takes away the fun and time, so I avoid overly long games. I also like games that give me multiple options. Depending on the gameplay, I may be overwhelmed at first but as I got invested in the gameplay mechanics, I might be able to master them quickly. Fallout New Vegas was my first experience with freedom of options in a game and it's still one of the best games I've ever played. The graphics are objectively outdated (with a strong orange filter), but the characters and writing and the gameplay are what make the game great. Even if it's a long game, it isn't grindy or require too much time to level up.

[@Squidbush8563]

I've always found it interesting how hands have ALWAYS been a point of difficulty. It's been really in the spotlight lately with AI image generation. The hands in an AI generated image almost always give it away because of the extreme difficulty for human hands to look natural. It's very rare to look at hands in any computer generated human portrayal (whether in video games,, or AI image generation)and consider them natural looking.

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

it's really tempting to make that its own video. even if it's not intentional, the way that hands become symbolic is fascinating!

[@BrooksMoses]

It's not just computer graphics, either. Hands are, by far, the part of the human body that artists complain about drawing the most! One of the reasons that there are so many historical sketches of hands is not just the symbolism; it's that they are very difficult to get right, and you practice what's difficult to get better at it.

[@keltzar1]

I think a big part of it is they are something that we see so incredibly frequently so we really easily pick up on when something's wrong. Like, it's not often that we study the exact shape of blades of grass, or the texture of bark on a tree, but we all look at our hands constantly as we do things with them.

[@ennexthefox]

0:30 While the Ouija board starts spelling "SEND NUDES", I completely stopped listening to what you were talking about.

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

I figured it'd be a fairly harmless joke within 6-7 character, but I do realize it may come off as purely icky. If that's how you felt upon decoding the joke, I can't fault you for that. apologies.

[@ennexthefox]

@@GSTChannelVEVO Oh no no not at all, I was laughing! I'm sorry I came off as being icky about this. What I meant is once I started seeing where the board was going, 100% of my concentration went towards seeing if you were, in fact, spelling out "SEND NUDES" :-D

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

@@ennexthefox oh, whoops! I get so many negative comments that I initially parsed yours with that tone. this reading is much nicer. very happy to see my joke land

[@ennexthefox]

@@GSTChannelVEVO As much as I like to think I have a sophisticated sense of humor, dumb stuff like this will always make me laugh! Sorry I again I caused you stress - I don't get why anyone would send negative comments at you, but I also know how much they can hurt.

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

@@ennexthefox lol, same. hence the inclusion in the first place. :P and yeah don't worry about me! I'm usually pretty unassailable. I understand most negative comments as people that are just outside of my target audience, so to speak. But if the comment is "your thoughtless action caused me harm" then that *will* get to me. seeing how this case wasn't that, all is well, I think.

[@_TheAntagonist_]

Nah imma keep my pitchfork unsheathed on that Molyneux thing. He isn't "excited" he's lying. Literally every part of that demo was faked, there wasn't a technology to be excited about and he knew that. Taken with the larger context of his vast history of outright fabricating features for games he worked on it's pretty clear he's a conman who is wiling to tell the audience literally any lie to to trick people into buying the product he's pushing. He was here to push the kinect, so he lied about what it could do. He doesn't believe a word of what he is saying. It's what he does, its extremely scummy, and I think apologism for his behavior is very, very misplaced.

[@dominod5640]

yeah every hype man inflates the utility of their tech and energetically paints a picture of the amazing future it offers and the new connections with people it's going to form. His enthusiasm isn't unique, it's very commercial, and it felt like that example was picked just to be contrarian I dunno I feel like mundane things like more robust stories and game mechanics will probably draw deeper connections with people and we don't have to wait for Molyneux or whoever else to design a psuedo carnival trick that fools someone into reacting. Like, a cheaply made horror game can trick me into jumping in my seat with a jumpscare. That isn't a meaningful connection though. I connect more with SH2 because of its story and design

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

It may be from my ignorance, but my read on the guy is that he's someone who will get hyped about some WIP concept he's working with, fully believe it, and then hold press conferences talking about it as if the final product is 100% guaranteed to match his vision, when he should know better than to announce his chickens before the hatch. ultimately, that's a lie, but I don't believe it's intended to be conniving or malicious. having said all that, I don't think I can really argue against your perspective here. Despite literally describing "never trust Molyneux" as "a bit harsh" in my video... I think it's a good mantra to follow, lol.

[@CreamusG]

@@GSTChannelVEVO To my knowledge about project Milo, it's perhaps the least awful lie that he told. Mainly because he did actually have a team working on it, but it was never greenlit by his publisher (Microsoft in this case.) So it was a premature announcement before he even had the right to say it was going to happen.

[@_TheAntagonist_]

@@GSTChannelVEVO The man has made some good games and I have a hard time believing that can be done with zero passion, but during his BAFTA speech he apologized to his team for making up features to "stop journalists from going to sleep", which to me reads less like believing his original vision will arrive fully intact, and more like making features up on the spot to keep the hype train going. And regardless of intention there, video games are a group effort because they're really hard to make. If no one on your team has ever heard of "trees that grow in realtime" or "grass that remembers every blade you cut", or what have you prior to a random interview, particularly if you are close to release I don't think there's really any reasonable way to believe those features will actually make it into the game. If it was a mistake made once and learned from I'd be more understanding, but it's a pattern of behaviour spanning many years and many projects. Additionally specific to the project Milo thing, the entire point of a tech demo is to show people that the technology is real and is working now. When Nvidia puts out a cool tesselation tech demo or what have you, it's running on an actual card and you can expect that technology to reach games in a few months to years depending on how difficult it is to implement. If you have to hire an actress to pretend to catch a pair of goggles and then claim "everyone does that" for a technology that does not exist and will never materialize from the platform you are saying it's already working on, you are very intentionally misleading people about what to expect and I don't have much to say other than "Don't do that it's obviously really unethical." I hope I haven't come off as hostile, and I appreciate you taking the time to read and reply to my comment, but have serious bones to pick with that man.

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

don't worry, you haven't come off as hostile at all! I realize that a lot of people have plenty of bones to pick with Molyneux, and for good reasons. I have a bit more sympathy towards him (even if it may be misplaced) but I also don't think he's "innocent", I guess? I brought up Project Milo because it's a funny piece of gaming history. an infamous lie. but on the surface, the clip has several elements that linked back to my broader thesis. I really like how they tried so hard to convey how immersive the game (er..."game") is by pantomiming that goggle catch. Maybe "why did they shoot the video like this" would've been a better framing...

[@BrandonFoy]

Love this deep dive! “You get the idea” is such a great philosophy.

[@uhpkkim]

"the VGM DJ set channel posting really good essays about the philosophy of Good Graphix" has been an unexpected pleasant treat during this miserable past couple months

[@bouncypear_net]

I'm so glad you saw the Dario Casali developer commentary videos, too. What a great little series, with some great insight into the minds of the staff.

[@BenLJackson]

"Threw a spanner in that-" love how much more exponentially vast that was than a wrench.

[@sutirk]

And then there's triple A games that throws hints, screenshots, diagrams, looped videos of a certain in-game action and walls of text in your face every 5 minutes of their turorial (which is the first 2 hours of gameplay) Some studios have forgotten the meaning of immersion

[@c99kfm]

I realized during your discussion that many modern games aren't, in fact, a conversation between a developer who has something to say and the player. They are tech demos, where the "game" is mostly a showcase for the new, cool tech. This holds particularly true for most AAA games.

[@Jar3xe]

Love your presentation of videos, it's felt nostalgic for some reason. As for the content, you really open my mind that it isn't about a graphic, but how developer express through that graphics in particular

[@ClareHehe]

you're content is so high quality i really hope you get the success you deserve ^^

[@reneablackheart9563]

I've gotten so used to thinking of video games as just another medium for art like cinema or literature that I forgot that not everyone sees them that way.

[@AirborneViper]

the sound design in this video is so so good

[@AcrosArchive]

You're quite good at this! You bring up a lot of good points in a very well executed style.

[@nathanheim248]

I think that playerrs crave immersion. We all have the underlying need for some kind of hero arc in our lives, sometimes all we get is a digital universe because of the mundanity of average everyday life.

[@PingerSurprise]

Example: Whether we play Virtua Racing or Forza, as soon as we're given an actual wheel to play them, we feel completely transported into the game.

[@Bestmann3n]

For me a better explanation is that we crave agency, and that's the unique thing that games provide that neither music, movies or literature (or indeed tragically even our IRL lives) do.

[@ClareHehe]

video games are amazing ^^

[@scytheslash]

@@Bestmann3n yeah that's a much better way of putting it. I honestly can't care about immersion when i don't know where i'm supposed to be going be it IRL or in a game. To me, tuning out is a much more fundamental human experience than "immersion" and people who keep insisting that "immersion" is what makes or breaks a story are deliberately ignoring people who read books. You tune out your surroundings first and THEN immerse, if you want to. I can't claim to have been fully immersed in anything as much as focused on something and avoidant/ignorant of my surroundings. The reasons for tuning out can be many but a big one, as you said, is craving agency.

[@NuniaBiznaz]

@@scytheslash I mean, I think for some people tuning out their surroundings and being completely focused on something IS being immersed, and you just have a different understand of the word/terminology than others might?

[@Zagupi]

Love those two musical bits you got there, especially the one at the end of the video

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

i still think it's funny to "force" people to listen to my music like this, but I've gotten so many kind comments about it! :P

[@SpartyMarty]

​@@GSTChannelVEVO have you posted any of your music? I'd love to listen to it more, especially that last song

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

​@@SpartyMarty I post my tunes to scibot900 on youtube and soundsfromsci on bandcamp. I'd recommend this video as a sort of sampler: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aYLCl5VtbqZsjMU I haven't released that last song anywhere yet, but plan to some time next year (along with everything else I've written for my own videos)!

[@pulse27]

THAT OUIJI BOARD IN THE INTRO THO 😭

[@doublinx2]

4:35 I never would have guessed using the Valve sting as a 'vine boom sound' would work so well but it does 💀

[@modernrecipes]

super good stuff. "you get the idea" is kind of the philosophy of rimworld art if u read the design docs.

[@AmodeusR]

The video's theme made me realize something, indeed, realistic graphics aren't about graphics, realistic graphics were in its beginning a pursuit for immersion, but somewhere through this path of seeking for more realistic graphics, it stopped being about immersion and started being only about itself. Not by coincidente we have so many games with crazy reallistically graphics, but very poor impact and immersion quality. It's a shame people forgot why we sought realistic graphics at the first place.

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

It's why the horse balls in Red Dead Redemption 2 were joked about so much. What does it add to the gameplay? To the immersion? To the experience? (I'm not talking about the entire game here. But that tiny thing they added ended up hurting more than it helps, even ever so slightly)

[@s3rs312]

@@shytendeakatamanoir9740 How does it hurt more than it helps? I doubt it did any real harm. I haven't played the game, but after watching many videos showing the details the developers put in, I found them quite nice and enjoyable. They add to the immersion (especially the railway workers *actually* putting nails down onto the track). I got your point, but the example of horse balls seems nitpicky to me. (Wow, I spent my time writing a paragraph about horse balls in a game I never played.)

[@unleashedbread6146]

@@s3rs312Basically it is about the time/value of small details in a video game. Personally the game isn’t more fun to me knowing that somebody probably spend 2-3 hours modeling the horse testicles. Those 2-3 hours of dev time add up and in my opinion would be better suited towards not making every gunfight feel exactly the same. The focus of the realism vs good gameplay relative to the horse balls is lopsided (pun intended).

[@vinsplayer2634]

@@s3rs312 It adds nothing good, but it does take away some space on your disk and decrease performance. That's kind of how I feel about all realism in video games. And realistic graphics also make it harder to focus on actual gameplay elements. I'd actually rather play the same game with less realism than with more realism.

[@s3rs312]

@@vinsplayer2634 It depends on the degree of realism you go with, I guess? But how much until it becomes too realistic? Take bullet holes that appears when you shoot a wall in FPS, for example. Does that qualify as "distracting graphics" or "nice immersion"? I disagree that realistic graphic distract you from game elements; I think the problem lies in game design. A lot of low-effort game created using Unreal Engine has real-as-shit textures, but everything still looks like shit and blurry due to the design of the game elements. However, another game made with older engine does not have as good textures, but every game elements combine beautifully to make it look more real than the other game, and easy to play as well.

[@Avatarded]

Watched 3 videos on this channel in a row and they're all winners. Gotta mention that for the algorithm. This topic specifically is one that more people should talk about in reference to game making.

[@supernicral]

One of the best gaming video essays ive seen in a while

[@neniv]

Interesting and welcome change of pace from the focus on the music, love these deep dives into what makes games feel better than reality sometimes.

[@edgarguinartlopez8341]

In the 90s, I started developing simple Flight Simulator aircraft models. The first software I used to do so was so limited that you need to build the whole aircraft joining triangles (polygons) in a three-dimensional space... thanks God were simple models! :) And before of that, I was involved in a little didactical game (prince of Persia kind) as graphic designer, the images, backgrounds and animations need to be made one pixel at a time using a graphical editor I don't even remember... Also, I developed (just for fun) a very simple basketball game in Turbo-Pascal for two players just using ascii chars, nothing of images involved :) What a times! Many good memories :) Thanks for sharing friend!

[@davidaitken8503]

The problem is so much of this expensive tech developers seem to be expected to spend countless man-hours on regardless of whether or not there particular game design needs it for any particular reason. I don't understand why there is so much facial customization, for example, in Souls games when you almost never see them, at least not close enough for all of that detail to matter.

[@Narko_Marko]

i feel like that isn't even that hard to create, they already have a model editor and a bunch of textures, hair styles and stuff they use for their own characters, they just give that ability to the player. To me it is a problem when people are angry that a game doesn't look good but also demand more content. Like Halo infinite, people were angry with the trailer that it didn't look good so they remade half the game and then people were confused on why the game launched with no maps and stuff that a 14 year old halo 3 had.

[@awah4676]

Re: the Milo section (ok its Re: most of the video now) I don't think it's correct to characterise what the technology behind Milo is doing as "dissolving a barrier". Technology in general has never sought to dissolve but to create or, recreate. And I think this continues here. The player isn't reaching toward an ever thinner membrane toward a game, a game is ... "impressing" itself and its frameworks onto a player. The player is not closer to Milo, Milo is simply directing and prompting the player in particular ways, namely the call-and-response techniques of children's shows and I think that was a deliberate choice. There still occurs to construction of the barrier between player and game, and like all games players are not "immersed" in the world or logic of a game. They experience the rules or effects of the systems, often as the highly discrete parts they are, and can come to understand and play against them. The more advanced AI of the combine soldiers in half life did not, in fact, immerse players deeper into a world of insurgency combat. Players can learn how the combine soldiers "want" to move, how they tend to position themselves and can, essentially, metagame. They are not immersing themselves as a tactical mastermind, they are learning how to get a pinball stuck between two bumpers for a ludicrous high score.

[@EdKolis]

This must be the explanation why Nintendo manages to stay relevant. They figured out, unlike everyone else, that innovation in graphics are less meaningful than innovations in controls. Every Nintendo console since at least the N64 has had some sort of controller gimmick!

[@KudoRedfox]

I wouldn't call them innovating, maybe in N64 era but past them i'll just call them consistent

[@tommarnt]

7:00 why does the npc sync with your voice so well

[@0b4y3mi]

Doesn't feel accidental

[@lopodyr]

As a game developer, this reminds of the difference between immersion (a deep engagement) and presence (the sense that your are "there"). It pays back a lot to learn the difference when you make games. Having the world react to you makes it feel more engaging and more immersive, but it's because it makes you feel the physicality of the game first. It allows you to feel like you can touch the game world. That matters so much more than a static photorealistic world in which you interact with nothing.

[@gendalfgray7889]

When people talk about good graphics in old games they talking about overall design, readability, quality, feeling. Not about amount of pixels or some render engine.

[@joaopedrosambatti2474]

your video is great, and i thought about a really cool example of your point. there's this rally simulator called "Richard Burns Rally", it's a ps2 era sim, with "bad graphics", however, since everyone interacts with it using a steering wheel and it feels so natural, the imersion factor is beyond what you see objectively.

[@Basipek]

This is much like defining art: it's not about drawing what's visible, but something that resembles it.

[@Apollo1428]

I dont mean to be that guy but here i am. Most mainstream games nowadays have zero replay value. In 10 years im not gonna look back at warzone and think "boy, did that game have a compelling story" dont get me wrong, there are TONS of amazing games, but theyre mostly all indie passion projects. Big mainstream developers dont make games for anything but money anymore, which really dilutes the industry and drastically lowers the standards for a "good" game.

[@danielismyname3727]

I bet you're a really good writer. You have a way with words, keep up the good work

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

usually i'll hear someone compliment my writing and blush and bashfully say "golly gee" and such, but the "I bet" you've prefaced your sentence with has thrown me off, lol I'm not sure what I'd write beyond humble youtube videos

[@butteredcoffee4210]

You are so seriously underrated. This deserves millions of views.

[@johnfizzelo3443]

I remember playing the Xbox 360 a few years back thinking graphics had peaked and didn't need to get better. When the Xbox One came out I thought it was unnecessarily overkill. Nowadays I still enjoy 360 games on my PC but I do look for graphical overhaul mods.

[@Mikko-Maggie-More]

4:47 this is the hardest transition I've ever heard

[@Thumb_]

1:40 ow my ears

[@goblintonight8979]

I love your track you use at the end in the HL2EP2 outpost. We need that comp please!!

[@greydevorator49]

4:20 Ah yes, The only way to hold a photo, with my palm blocking the view of 90% of the image.

[@dliessmgg]

I'm firmly in the camp of "i want shorter games with worse graphics and i'm not joking", but you've convinced me that sometimes there's an actual reason for better graphics & it's not always numberwanging.

[@l3onardomgbr]

this... did not feel like 12 minutes, wow, really good video, thumbs up👍

[@hemangchauhan2864]

I was watching "What Makes a Game Immersive" video by Game Grumps ; to then watch this! Those are all the reasons why I find the medium of games so fascinating

[@Sanpaku-san]

This is pne of the cosiest and thought provoking videos ive seen in a while

[@notbutz9737]

putting the two titles together, you get "they keep saying these are the best graphics yet... 'realistic' graphics aren't about 'graphics'"

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

I didn't intend for them to flow into a single sentence, but hey: it almost makes sense! kind of! I'd prolly change the second title to "but it's not about the graphics" if I wanted it to flow better

[@thomasboehnlein5205]

You're not a KZbinr. You're a philosophy professor. And it is AMAZING.

[@_zurr]

Really appreciate the end gag of acronyms turning into the goodbye.

[@breakfastforone2510]

that 3 letter outro was really clever

[@WarroZenMusic]

Loved the final reflection thank you!

[@FarmerSlideJoeBob]

For real I don't need to hyper realistic graphics. The Artdesign is more important too me, than the push to more realistic graphics🤔🙂

[@Addi_the_Hun]

i really like the part at 2:16 where u put an ear pearcing high pitched noise to destroy my poor 20 year old ears

[@VictorCampos87]

If I had to define the evolution of gaming over the last 30 years in a single sentence, it would probably be: _"Why do we all have to wear these ridiculous ties?"_

[@nickgamernb3784]

Extremely underrated content, keep up the great work!

[@perplent8488]

Hey awesome video! Very well made and I’m surprised you don’t have more attention. Just a little note, you have Half-Life marked as 1999 when it came out in 1998. Very interesting video though!

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

yeah that's an awkward and silly mistake that I've made before. I'm pretty sure I was reading some reviews from 1999 while I was editing that section, then the date of the reviews slipped in there. oh well, it's not a huge deal I suppose!

[@HammerStern0]

Thank you for this wonderful video.

[@NPNGPhotography]

Bro your editing style is so so so good

[@Domarius64]

That last bit was very "Have a cup of coffee" from Earthbound moment...

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

it was subconscious, but now that you've named it: yeah! that is exactly the vibe I was channeling!

[@Domarius64]

@@GSTChannelVEVO hahah nice!

[@Random_Person.]

atari 2600 has the best graphics ever

[@ark8705]

Nah, pong consoles definitely takes the cake

[@Random_Person.]

@@ark8705 false pong consoles while having beautiful graphics are also all the same the atari 2600 is able to produce the beautiful graphics of pong while add more i mean look at pitfall

[@wumpusthehunted2628]

Wrong. Right era, but Zork was never (couldn't fit) ported to the 2600. Worked fine on an Atari 800 or even the graphic powerhouse trash80.

[@jagel7947]

!!!! The music transition at 4:49 is amazing!

[@ravenmillieweikel3847]

1:40 There is a HORRIBLE high-pitched noise here that people in their 20s and above likely can not hear. I had to skip the section entirely, and my ears rang for a bit after clicking away. It's a great video, however that one thing makes it nearly impossible for me to enjoy it. I apologize if I seem overly critical, however it's something that needs mentioning, especially when most people watching this video won't even notice it. To clarify, the section I am mentioning is specifically when both the Sega Genesis and the television are on screen at the same time. It is likely caused by the cathode ray tube from the television. I recommend putting a high-pass filter on any footage of that specific television in the future.

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

yeah I completely missed that :( I don't want to re-render and re-upload for 30 seconds of footage, so I've just added a note in the description. sorry about that.

[@ravenmillieweikel3847]

@@GSTChannelVEVO Thanks. Just keep it in mind please. Me and everyone else below the age of 20 would probably like to be able to enjoy the video comfortably and without suffering hearing damage.

[@xxdarklink93xx]

I think you have some misconception about age. Everyone can hear that CRT whine

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

@@xxdarklink93xx fwiw, I'm well above 20 and didn't notice the whine until I listened to the clip at a higher volume. (And I had been editing at a super low volume, since that *usually* helps with balance.)

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

@TelPhi_ 15.7kHz 😔

[@WreckItRolfe]

I think one of the best graphical 'levels' for seeing what was going on but still looking somewhat realistic was around the Half Life 2/Modern Warfare era

[@MrStronglime]

That's why VR is so interesting. There's a lot of ground yet to cover. For native VR, we have to rely on old graphic techniques, but with modern controls. It's a strange but funny juxtaposition. PCVR has all the tools, hardware and software, to build something great. Yet, so far, only few managed to. I'm excited about Unreal 5 giving everybody the possibility to do face animations with Metahumans and futuristic graphics with Nanite. But many don't realize. These things? They take time.

[@gswanson]

My issue with VR is that for decades it's been this sort of ideal of this ultimate evolution of what a game can be. Like something games have been working towards the whole time. I don't know if that's really the case. I think the people who are most excited about it want to be in the game. But at this moment, I see VR as a physical impediment to getting into a game. It's uncomfortable. It causes me to sweat profusely into my eyeballs. Often times instead of making me feel like I'm in another reality, it is constantly reminding me that I'm wearing a dumb thing on my head. Meanwhile, I have a Nintendo Switch next to my bed. I can grab it and within moments I am in the world of Witcher 3 (or whatever else I'm playing.) There's barely any barrier between me and the game I am playing. And because of this I can be instantly immersed into the world of the Witcher, meanwhile VR involves me moving furniture around, and strapping things tightly to my face. But when I play a game on my Switch I can so easily lose myself in the world of the game.

[@MrStronglime]

You are not wrong, but I've been seeing what each iteration gave me in terms of comfortability and immersion. When we get VR headsets who weigh as glasses (And we are starting to get the first ones), AR games are going to be a game changer. Some games make me feel immersed, like HL Alyx, but I'm more interested in the modern controls, rather than immersion. We will get there on both fronts. Boot up any VR game with good face animations, even Gmod, and you'll perceive characters way differently. AR doesn't require you to move anything. The Meta quest 3 passthrough is sufficient. In 5 years it will be good. Then it will become perfect. VR Will still require you a suitable space, though. So that's my take: VR, full immersion, takes effort, AR, quick game, put on the glasses. @@gswanson

[@PosthumanHeresy]

​@@gswansonThe elephant in the room is pretty obvious when you point this out. The prospect of fully immersive VR as a mainstream device is impossible... as long as it costs money. You're going to need an entire room of tech to make it good due to things like body tracking and turning it from goggles to something like Disney's digital soundstage. If you want good VR, you want Holodecks. You want Holodecks? You need the TNG Federation's economic structure. The Federation is communist.

[@Sanker1]

1:40 i love when TVs do that sound it makes me feel cozy

[@aaronfauth6904]

holy crap your next level. I am wyrdly caught up in your stuff. Please do not stop with your introspection. Evolution = understanding. Its like a level up system programmed in to the source itself. The truth may be clouded at the star but it is the right direction. And as we get closer to under standing we discover that in the pursuit of truth aka realism and connectedness. We are not accidently engaged with the illusion because we are immersed in the illusion. So many levels of understanding culminating in a certain flow of ideas. So much to learn.

[@MDPToaster]

I think I get the idea.

[@soulsview9560]

4:47 amazing musical transition

[@parmesanzero7678]

I’ve been having this conversation with game dev friends for years. There is an over-focus on graphic and sound fidelity and not enough on Impressionism and emotion. We learned this in other art forms centuries ago. There is room for both, but not every piece of art needs to try to be a recreation of reality. We crave novelty and things that EVOKE, not always things that re-create.

[@mr_rowboto]

Wittgensteinian! It's always is about the conversation. Absolutely brilliant.

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

10:58 The Kinect nowadays has unlocked that power for many people... the power of Full body tracking for the cost of free or $20 when most modern solutions cost at least $400 for worse fedlity.

[@Mittzys]

Amazing video! Subscribed

[@Blankult]

As a person who loves games and sees graphics mostly as a medium, rather than a measure of a game's quality, i have to say that if you feel the need to make a video explaining why graphics don't matter and it's actually the games themselves that matter, then you've already lost your argument. You don't need to convince anybody that graphics are cool and "enhance" the experience, so if it were that blunt and simple that video game graphics don't matter that much, why would you need to explain it? Anyway good video

[@_GLXC]

The first "new" technology that came out while I was conscious about games and how they were made was probably realtime Ray Tracing. I thought it looked good, but what really excited me about it was the fact that one of the uses was in Minecraft, because it really opened my mind to what I myself could build in that game. Sure, most developers can still just bake their lighting and have a good experience, but an example like Minecraft, where the world is way more interactible and dynamic, proved to me that there still is reason to have newer technologies to enhance the immersion of a game.

[@cloneddragon]

As a game developer, what excites me about hardware accelerated ray-tracing is the possibility of doing fully dynamic environments and non-static lighting. The world absolutely comes alive when you no longer have to lock everything in place for the light baker to work to hit the visual fidelity style gamer’s demand. But so far, the performance just isn't there to consider building a game around it. So RT continues to be a gimmick in most games.

[@KucheKlizma]

Emotional reasoning = because something feels novel, therefore it must be novel, therefore if we make something novel, it will also feel novel. Reality = Elden ring, 80s dungeon crawler, virtually nothing particularly novel in it -> novel experience.

[@leoff7]

This represents well what I consider to be where companies failed at when making motion input games, they weren't there to enhance the conversation between player and the game world, they were there because the "tool was inherently cool" in their eyes, which made them actually hinder immersion instead of improving it. Just dance makes you feel like an amazing dancer very quickly. Dance Central, by showing your actual movements, makes you feel like a dork with 2 left feet.

[@thatyoutubechannel9953]

I CACKLED at the bit where he says "where *are* your hands, doctor Freeman?" Oh my god that had no right to be so funny

[@ophelia6044]

funny how this video talks about graphics and conversations, and how I clicked on the video because I liked the thumbnail artwork and not because of the message it has on it.

[@redwheelbarrow5119]

Not sure what I just watched, but I liked it quite a lot.

[@ekko-p]

if youre wondering what that song was playing after he asked where freemans hands were, its called hazardous environments by valve.

[@yegorgribenuke6853]

This is so tastefully done. Real art.

[@samliedtke]

Dr. Ekman's work shows up just about everywhere.

[@oktayyildirim2911]

Good video, but I caught a couple mistakes in the captions: at 3:41, it says "obstensively" instead of "ostensibly", and 5:48, it says "through" instead of "threw".

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

thank you! I had some similar mistakes in a past script that stayed up for an embarrassingly long time, as everyone was presumably too shy to point them out. :P I've fixed these two!

[@supermagma]

how is this video so good

[@LARVideos]

"New interactive fidelity" That's why I consider VR to be the actual next generation of video games. And why those games are the ones that get me the most excited when something interesting is announced.

[@TheCoolerMaz]

This video is awesome but there is this really high pitched sound present in some of the older clips. If you clamped that out it would be really nice in the future.

[@flowerzika7852]

we need to appreciate art more

[@top_misha]

Love your videos! Is it your remix(?) of Hazardous Enviroments at 4:50. I think it sounds very cool!

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

I think "remix" overstates its relationship to the original track, as I just copied key, tempo, and the percussion... but yeah that's mine! thx!