Why isn't there an HD mod pack?

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

I suppose, but I meant that Isometric or Kotor-like (zoomed-in isometric rpgs) games don't get made on it often. Unreal was named after the FPS it was used to develop, right? Mass Effect may have had an RPG conversation style, but it was a third person shooter (an FPS from a different camera angle), and as far as I've seen, that's the only games developed with it. Unity (or maybe Source) is generally the best for a game like Kotor.

 

However, just because its easier to use for a certain thing doesn't mean you can't reprogram it with a turn-based algorithm. (It would just be much harder)

Um... I think any type of game is going to be equally hard on Unreal as it is in Unity. RPG or FPS.

[Guest]

to get back to topic, well, ive thought about this several times, what if Kotor is retextured in HD with exactly the same designs, characters, panels and whatnot. 

Basically like Skyrim HD. 

 

And came to the conclusion - it just wont look good. Especially TSL is full of recycled textures that are wrongly placed and in particular the panel designs are really bad.

You just have to throw a lot of them out of the window by hex editing the area models and put in tex that "would fit" that world. 

 

I mustn't have been specific enough; I understand what you mean by the reused textures and such; but what I effectively mean isn't using the same textures in every area that they were originally used it- but perhaps instead keeping the look and feel faithful to the original, one idea perhaps could be to go back to the concept art from the game and basing it upon what you see there. 

 

[Jorak Uln 458]

@LucytheAlien:

Well that's true e.g for my K1 Overhaul series. However, if you might take a look at the TSL Origins one - with the exception of the Harbinger - the modules Telos, and the upcoming Dantooine & Nar Shaddaa are quite near the original look.

Concept art is a good reference too, but also don't forget that technically lots of techniques nowadays were impossible back then for developers.

For example ambient lighting or the vector based animations e.g. on light sources or panels and engine based limitations have their influence on the end product.

That said i doubt that Obsidian/BW would create the games with all that simplistic designs 1:1 if it were in 2016.
So i feel some changes e.g. from metal tile floor to rubber floor are even necessary to shrug off the age of the games.

And that not only recreating but importantly redesigning process takes its time which is also the reason i assume why lots of textures so far haven't been covered.

[Guest]

That's an entirely fair and positive post, my only gripe would be- don't improve too much lol;

What I mean being don't overcomplicate, the rest of the game will need to be put up to par with your work afterwards and we all know that isn't going to happen. For instance, really most of K1 & 2 is comprised of corridors and IMO you do too much high detail textures and you reveal it's only twelve polygons or whatever y'know?

[zbyl2 811]

I suppose, but I meant that Isometric or Kotor-like (zoomed-in isometric rpgs) games don't get made on it often. Unreal was named after the FPS it was used to develop, right? Mass Effect may have had an RPG conversation style, but it was a third person shooter (an FPS from a different camera angle), and as far as I've seen, that's the only games developed with it. Unity (or maybe Source) is generally the best for a game like Kotor.

However, just because its easier to use for a certain thing doesn't mean you can't reprogram it with a turn-based algorithm. (It would just be much harder)

See, that's what people who never used either engine usually say but the truth is: If the game is developed well, you won't be able to tell whether it uses Unreal, Unity or its own engine.

 

Either tool you use, you still have to program RPG functionality from scratch so it simply doesn't matter which engine you use. There are a lot of non-shooters developed with Unreal just like there are a lot of FPSes made with Unity.

 

The reason why Unity got so popular for isometric lower budget Kickstarter RPGs and such is because it is much easier to get started with, it's the easiest engine to learn to use, its Asset Store has a lot of products that can really speed up your development, and until recently had the best pricing plan.

 

Note that when all recent "big" isometric rpgs were starting development, UE4 wasn't even out yet.

 

I love Unity but fact is that Unreal runs better overall (Unity is hell to optimize) and isn't a bad choice for RPGs at all, especially 3D KOTOR-like ones. At the end of the day it's like arguing whether your HD reskin would look better if you made it in Photoshop or Gimp.

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

See, that's what people who never used either engine usually say but the truth is: If the game is developed well, you won't be able to tell whether it uses Unreal, Unity or its own engine.

 

Either tool you use, you still have to program RPG functionality from scratch so it simply doesn't matter which engine you use. There are a lot of non-shooters developed with Unreal just like there are a lot of FPSes made with Unity.

 

The reason why Unity got so popular for isometric lower budget Kickstarter RPGs and such is because it is much easier to get started with, it's the easiest engine to learn to use, its Asset Store has a lot of products that can really speed up your development, and until recently had the best pricing plan.

 

Note that when all recent "big" isometric rpgs were starting development, UE4 wasn't even out yet.

 

I love Unity but fact is that Unreal runs better overall (Unity is hell to optimize) and isn't a bad choice for RPGs at all, especially 3D KOTOR-like ones. At the end of the day it's like arguing whether your HD reskin would look better if you made it in Photoshop or Gimp.

For reference, Unity is Gimp.

 

Also, Unity was originally made and designed for... well designers who simply wanted a quick and easy way to get 3D models into a virtual space, thus its poor emphasis on actual in-game performance.

[Malkior 476]

See, that's what people who never used either engine usually say but the truth is, if the game is developed well you won't be able to tell whether it uses unreal, unity or its own engine.

 

Either tool you use you still have to program RPG functionality from scratch so it simply doesn't matter which engine you use. There are a lot of non-shooters developed with unreal just like there are a lot of FPSes made in Unity.

 

Rason why unity got so popular for isonetric lower budget kickstarter RPGs and such is because it is much easier to get started with, it's the easiest engine to learn to use, its Asset Store has a lot of products that can really speed up your development, and until recently had the best pricing plan.

 

Note that when all recent "big" isometric rpgs were starting development ue4 wasn't even out yet.

 

I love unity but fact is that unreal runs better overall (unity is hell to optimize) and isn't a bad choice for RPGs at all, especially 3D kotor-like ones. At the end of the day it's like arguing whether your HD reskin would look better if you made it in photoshop or gimp.

I see. I have rather limited experience in either, so I suppose I will have to rescind my statement. It makes sense that cultural perception would color one's analysis of a products capabilities, but it is unfortunate just the same.

 

Well, I guess if it's ease-of-use versus product performance, I would side with Unreal for Kotor, too.

[zbyl2 811]

It's cool, Malkior. I know that not everyone is a game developer and a lot of people who aren't (or downloaded Unity last week and are now making an MMO) spread misinformation. But since Unity development has been my main source of income for past few years, I've been around the gamedev community when UE4 came out and a lot of studios started switching, and then again when Unreal became free, and I've participated in numerous "which is better" discussions... and it all comes down to personal preference.

Anyway, I'll let you guys get back on topic