Flying

After a couple of days of trial and error, I've managed to get the basics of the engine working. Now any vehicle can manoeuvre mid-air!

It's far from perfect and lots of tweaking is required to get it to a satisfactory point such as car specs, weight, rotation speed etc. But as it stands, it's at a decent stage that I'm happy with.

1st Model Finished

UV Unwrapping & Texturing

Since my last post I've decided to continue re-creating the main vehicle of the game. Figured since I've got a foot-hold with the engine, I should really focus on the assets since theyre the most time consuming aspect.

Last time I posted about the car I had finished most of the modelling. I've had to recreate the car's engine because the original cylinder was skewed / squashed and didnt look right.
Now I have moved onto texturing it. The model is completely unwrapped, as I'm using symmetry I can allocate more UV real estate to better inprove quality. Here is the progress so far:

(Full model UVW map)

(Almost fully textured UVW map)

As you can see progress is being made! It takes a long time, constantly switching between Max and Photoshop to ensure things look OK. Once it's imported in-engine and has a reflective shader applied to it, it should look rather good.

 

Video: UI Progress

This video shows the progression of my project so far. The focus of this milestone is getting all the UI elements working (which they are bar a mileage guage). In the video you can see a side-by-side comparison of the two.

(Best viewed in fullscreen)

As you can see from the video, the speed, timer, minimap (minus current position) and coins all work exactly the same.

In relation to this video, see my previous post for a more indepth look at the animated coins: UI: Coins

Known Issues to work on:

• Camera tilting (lerp broken)
• Add Mileage coding and UI element
• Replace stock car

UI: Coins

Quick update:

Since the engine is working as far as a standard racing game goes, I wanted to put more effort into recreating the UI from the original game. Most of the UI is easily recreatable since a lot of it is just text, the most complex element is the rotating coins.

These are originally 64x64 and look very pixelated, I then upscaled them and this is the result:

The new sprites are 256x265, they look clean and will upscale nicely in HD resolutions. The only downside to these is that I couldn't find the original font used for the "2049". I have them saved as templates, so if i ever do come across a similar font I can easily change it.

The next step is to render the coin spinning and exporting the frames to either make a gif or just use the frames as an amination. Then finally, add it all in-game.

Project Progress #2

So this weekend, I decided to try and get a basic engine for me to build upon and start working on my remake.

After folllowing many tutorials on setting up vehicle physics and testing various engine packages. I found one that provides a pure basic car setup, with decent physics. From this I've managed to tweak the whole project to play and feel just how I want it to.

I even managed to setup a simple UI that mimics the original, but more on this down the line...

Next I need to import my custom vehicle I created from my previous posts and set that up. Once that drives how I want, I will then move on to the next stage of the project. Which is to get the flying working in-engine!

Then I can begin creating all the assets needed to build a complete track.

Stage Issues

Whilst trying to get a start on my final project, I've come across many obstacles and have realised just how large this project is going to be. Even though I limited myself to recreating just one official stage, the sheer scope of recreating it is a mammoth task.

Because I want to recreate the first track and stay truthful to it's original design, I have been ripping assets from my copy. This process is very tedious as the software only captures small sections at a time. On top of this any models acquired are usually contorted due to information being taking from the in-games camera perspective.

The first track has been split up into 10 sections, all of which need stitching together and fixing because each section become slightly distorted. But it serves as a great outline for me to recreate specific parts from.

The next step is to 'lift' the most basic aspects of the stage (such as the roads) and remodel them to remove unwanted rotations. After which I can then start to recreate everything from scratch, using the previously ripped model as a reference,

Main Vehicle

I've been busy recreating the main vehicle from the game I want to remake; progress is almost complete. It is now at a stage where I have modelled more detail into the mesh and can now unwrap and texture it next.

(3DS MAX Render)

(In-game model view)

As you can see from the reference image, that the vehicle is very close to it's original design, more so than it appears in-game on the consoles.

Next-Generation RTX Re-releases

Whilst doing some general browsing on the subject of remakes, I came across something new...

The industry has found a new avenue of remakes to pursue, these are referred to as RTX-focused remasters. Whilst RTX technology is still new and not entirely accessible by everyone, it seems to be the next major leap in videogaming technology.
RTX is a new method of rendering real-time lighting, shadows and reflections and aims to revolutionise visual fidelity.

In this article by www.pcgamer.com Nvidia has started a new "remastering program" that aims to re-release classic games with new RTX rendering. 

So far Quake 2 has had this treatment and was free for anyone who owned the original, alternatively the first 3 levels were free if the game was not owned.
Currently Quake 2 is £3.99, considering how old the game is, seems a fair price.
While this sounds reasonable, this could only be the beginning...

If these new remasters become popular, more and more games will undoubtedly receive the same treatment, games from all generations-which isn't necessarily a bad thing-, as remasters will always be a part of the industry.
But, if there becomes different types of remasters, such as; HD, RTX, 4K or some other acronym. The only people that will be affected will be the gamers.
However, if this new technology is incorporated into newer remasters as standard, alongside other improves, then it will be a welcome addition.

Time will tell how these "new" remasters impact / affect the industry.

Project Progress #1

After a week of trial and error I have been trying to recreate core assets from Rush 2049 for use in my project as placeholders. Because of the scope of the project, there isn’t much time to model everything from scratch. It is paramount that I get certain models for references and scaling (which I presume would be available to an actual team if they were to attempt this).

So, after many, many attempts I finally managed to extract a core asset from the game!

I tried Dreamcast emulation, PlayStation 2, Nintendo 64, all to no avail. But then I made progress via GameCube emulation. It turns out the game was re-bundled into a collection and made available on each of the aforementioned consoles.

Once all the software was setup, the process started by ripping a game scene. Doing this creates a snapshot of all the meshes in that scene, I then had to sift through a very confusing scene to find objects I need:

(Here you can see many vehicles on top of one another)

I then export a specific mesh and then start to "clean" it up. by this I mean correct face alignments, out of place / duplicate vertices etc:

(Mesh is now clean, originally had many extra faces)

After it is satisfactory, I can then use it as a template and add more details into the mesh and improve its overall quality: 

(Improved face count through tessellation and then realigned stray verts to appear cleaner and added some model detail)

Although not complete, here is the progress so far:

(The model is now at stage where I can add a lot of detail and then unwrap & texture it for use in my project)

This post marks a milestone in my progress, because if I were to model this from scratch and any future models it would take days. Now I can rip anything too complex to model and improve them, which is much quicker.

This model is the most important as it’s the main vehicle that is going to be used and as such I wanted it to be as exact as possible.

Design and Progression

Today was pretty much focused on design. Analysing Rush and breaking it down to its core components. To the point where the majority of the game is mapped to a design document, which then will allow me to expand upon it's design and incorporate newer mechanics.

So far I've detailed mechanics I know and remember. The next phase is to methodically replay the game and tooth-comb my way through, to make sure nothing is over looked.

After which I can begin to build a project.
This will eventually allow me to show that not all re-releases are the same. That with some effort, older games can be rejuvenated and be relevant in a modern market without being a simple cash-grab that other re-releases are.

Then I will be able to offer a play-test my for my colleagues, in order for me to further my research into the subject and eventually offer a critical discussion and comparison.

Testing will encompass both aspects of my question: remasters and remakes. To achieve this I will offer the original game via an emulator with upscaled settings (which is what most remasters are) and then a play through of my remake project.

The final phase will be able to discuss my question: How are re-releases affecting design and creativity in the gaming industry?

Coincidence

After discussing what question I propose in my previous post, coincidentally today (4/10/19) just so happens to be the day that 'Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered' is released.

It was originally released in 2009 on past-gen hardware such as the Xbox 360, PS3 and Steam. So the game is not that old to begin with.
Looking into this new release, this 'remaster' is just a resolution and fps increase.

Which leads to my reasoning behind my whole question. How does a simple re-release such as this affect the industry? This particular title more so than most as it's original release is still available on modern hardware.
While the game itself is considered a great success with the original receiving a decent 79 rating on Metacritic, it seems as though this re-releases was completely unnecessary. Currently as of publishing this post, the new remaster is floating around the 30 rating on the same site.

Whilst I personally regard the original quite highly, I initially was rather hyped for this re-release. Though purely for nostalgia reasons and quite possibly Gamerscore. But owning the original, there seems to be little incentive to buy this newer version for very little extra benefits.
Some consensus appears to be that big movie companies like to offer these re-releases whilst there is anticipation for a new movie instalment.

Expanding on The Question

During design research, we discussed how to phrase a question, the core components of it and how to analyse it and break it down to it's basic aspects.

I initially thought on how I want to research how remasters and remakes are affecting the industry. Because compared to the previous generation it appears to be more dominated by these types of releases with very few new titles being released.

I finally summed up my question as follows: How are game remasters affecting the industry?

After today however I believe this is too vague and somewhat un-researchable. Karl explained how our questions should be composed of no more than 3 main points at our level of research. With this in mind I have expanded upon my question:

How are re-releases affecting design and creativity in the gaming industry?

Using the method demonstrated today I can break this question down into its main points:

How are re-releases affecting design and creativity in the gaming industry?

While creativity may be considered un-researchable it does have aspects related to this question that can be researched. Like for example; look at various companies releases over a period of time, including new I.P.s, re-releases. And see how their 'new' titles improve in terms of unique mechanics, gameplay, setting etc.
Design on the other hand would be more precise as it would focus more on specific mechanics.

The question may still be a bit vague and require a more precise path of questioning. Like: How are re-releases affecting the industry and how it impacts creativity?

The Big Question

I want to look into how re-releases are affecting the industry...

• If shameless remasters are having an impact?
• If remakes are furthering design or just cash grabs?
• Why re-releases are such big business?
• How they try to bridge generational gaps?
• If they are stifling creativity?

I then want to take my findings and apply it to a remake of my own, in two forms if possible.

• A updated version of a classic game i.e. resolution upgrade (probably in the form of an emulator)
• An actual remake of said classic game

By doing the two I want to gauge responses and see what the general consensus is in regards to the subject and the questions pointed above. And to show that remakes are worth the effort.

One on One Discussion

So after explaining my proposal: Whether re-releases are affecting the industry? We discussed various things, like how; modern games / sequels are themselves basically remakes. Franchises which are constantly built upon remakes such as the Zelda series.

I discussed what I want to achieve and where I was going with this idea. Ultimately, I would like to recreate a level from a game I consider a classic and overdue are remake; San Francisco Rush 2049. This game has been on a number of platforms but was initially released in 1999 for the Arcade and then on the N64 / DC in 2000.
But rather than just recreate a game for a final project, I want to back the reasoning with research and delve into design more.

The whole reason I chose this game is due to one of it's more unique mechanics and that is aerial acrobatics. Which is unusual because Rush is a racing game, the genre is not typically associated with anything other than racing on 4 wheels.
What this mechanic does, is enable the player to rotate their vehicle mid-air. By doing this, the car gains slightly more airtime and is able to reposition to prevent a crash or land on another platform. This opens up the game and adds a whole new dimension. Now it's not only a racing game but an adventure too.

Rush uses this mechanic to drive the design and influences its level creation. Whilst at first it seems like a standard racer, if the player explores they find alternate routes, higher pathways, triggers for events, collectibles, etc. 
The collectibles are only obtainable if said mechanic is used. This in turn rewards the player by providing certain unlockables.

Being such an old game (19 years old) and not seeing this same mechanic in anything recent, I believe that it would make a great candidate to base my proposal on. The only game to use something similar was Sonic Racing Transformed. Instead of just adding a sublime mechanic, this game entirely changes the gameplay at points to either flying or sailing.

So eventually I want to be able to show that: yes remakes can be more than just a cash grab, they can influence creativity, offering the same nostalgia they once did for previous players and even be relevant to a modern crowd.