New kaiju game from Matt Frank + Simon Strange [Archive]

[Gorosaurus Rex]

I'll donate anywhere between $50 and $200 dollars.

Are we still planning on doing DLC-style monster packs? For example, will the roster be constantly expanding?

Also, will plots change overtime as well as previously discussed? Will the plot of a Godzilla game change if I roll a Gamera character?

[Goji]

Well, I made my list extra complicated by saying "Showa, but I'd by okay with X version", which probably didn't help. Just put me down for whichever have the most votes so far.

[Godz]

I would like to see if Toho has a sound archive from other parts of their movies like punches landing, jets and ufo sounds. The older ones might make the game sound cheesy, it might be something to use sparingly.

Its crazy how sounds are made for videogames, I watched a developer diary and they used celery and a watermelon to make bones crunching!

I have a Toho FX CD that has 99% of the monsters' roars up to Final Wars, as well as a few of the UFO sounds.

[Grayshot954]

Okay just added your two votes.

[Supergeon]

However, I think people should be prepared for visuals somewhat *worse* than G:U. I'm planning to make the best game I can make for the money we raise - but my focus is on great monsters, great combat, and wide appeal. I will almost certainly not be spending $300,000 on city art, or $250,000 on a snazzy Menu system. I also want the game to run great on lots of older systems - so I really have no interest in pushing polygon counts, or per-pixel shaders, or any of that. We'll have great monsters, and fantastic online combat. That is the focus.

Honestly, this worries me. I'm not expecting Crysis here, but making the game look equal to or potentially ever "somewhat worse" than a 4.5-year-old Wii game? Now THAT'S a crisis. A lot of games have various graphical settings, and can run well on low-end PC's while offering quality graphics on higher settings. I'd argue that having a nice presentation is important too. If the menu system looks like something someone made with MS Paint, that's a serious problem. I've never played a game that was any good that had a shoddy menu scheme.

Yes, the gameplay is the most important thing, but if the game's gonna look like it's ten years old, I might as well just play a game that's actually ten years old, that I don't need to pay for additional content for.

Considering that this is a game that will be entirely funded by the fans, it seems like solid visuals would be a top concern. There's a reason AAA titles always look great. There's a reason that a lot of more obscure games are more fun to play, despite their lackluster visuals. People want to be wowed visually. They want to be impressed with what their money is paying for.

As a lifelong fan of Godzilla, I want the Big G to get the all-star treatment he deserves. I want him to wow and dazzle fans and non-fans alike on the PC. I think we as fans have put up with enough crap from people criticizing the franchise. Making an ugly game makes the series look bad. We fans deserve to better. The King of the Monsters deserves it.

I agree to some degree. I don't expect the game to look as good because it isn't funded by atari. So say goodbye to the awesome water rendering. However I am not a graphics snob. Gameplay first, graphics second for this guy. But, you will need an awesome art style (matt frank) to draw people in if the visuals will not be on par with current releases.


I also do not think that the menu system will be created in MS paint However I do not expect there to be a super flashy menu system (for some reason ESPN intro/outro comes to mind) Especially with contributor input on every level, we will be able to put our stamp of approval on facets of the game. Think about it though, Simon has always spoken out about NOT going for poly counts, 1080p blah blah. If G:U had monster detail on par with God of War do you think it would have made the game play better? Nah, you would just say "Hey Godzilla looks a lot better!".

[matrix]

Let me make sure I have some of this right, you can use PS3 controllers to play on PC? (if so, awesome) And, there are different versions of the game for different themes? Example-Godzilla version with godzilla monsters, King Kong version with king kong monsters? Please tell me if I have this right.

[Mr. Strange]

I'll donate anywhere between $50 and $200 dollars.

Are we still planning on doing DLC-style monster packs? For example, will the roster be constantly expanding?

Also, will plots change overtime as well as previously discussed? Will the plot of a Godzilla game change if I roll a Gamera character?

We are planning to release several games, all built on the same technology. The overall roster will be constantly expanding - the rate of expansion based on how much $ we earn from the initial release.

However, each game will be stand-alone. So the story in the first game won't ever change - but the story in the second game might refer to it. If you think of all the products together as a big MMO-style experience, then yes there will be a continuous evolving story.

[Mr. Strange]

Let me make sure I have some of this right, you can use PS3 controllers to play on PC? (if so, awesome) And, there are different versions of the game for different themes? Example-Godzilla version with godzilla monsters, King Kong version with king kong monsters? Please tell me if I have this right.

1 - Yes, plug in PS3 or 360 controllers (or any other joystick with enough buttons) to play on PC. Windows has been supporting this functionality for 8 years now - you can do it right now and check it out!

2 - There will only be 1 version of the game. However, we will release several games built on the same technology, and each release will (hopefully) focus on different licensed monsters. The different games are stand-alone products, like different LEGO sets. But you can combine pieces of them, if you like.

[Mr. Strange]

However, I think people should be prepared for visuals somewhat *worse* than G:U. I'm planning to make the best game I can make for the money we raise - but my focus is on great monsters, great combat, and wide appeal. I will almost certainly not be spending $300,000 on city art, or $250,000 on a snazzy Menu system. I also want the game to run great on lots of older systems - so I really have no interest in pushing polygon counts, or per-pixel shaders, or any of that. We'll have great monsters, and fantastic online combat. That is the focus.

Honestly, this worries me. I'm not expecting Crysis here, but making the game look equal to or potentially ever "somewhat worse" than a 4.5-year-old Wii game? Now THAT'S a crisis. A lot of games have various graphical settings, and can run well on low-end PC's while offering quality graphics on higher settings. I'd argue that having a nice presentation is important too. If the menu system looks like something someone made with MS Paint, that's a serious problem. I've never played a game that was any good that had a shoddy menu scheme.

Yes, the gameplay is the most important thing, but if the game's gonna look like it's ten years old, I might as well just play a game that's actually ten years old, that I don't need to pay for additional content for.

Considering that this is a game that will be entirely funded by the fans, it seems like solid visuals would be a top concern. There's a reason AAA titles always look great. There's a reason that a lot of more obscure games are more fun to play, despite their lackluster visuals. People want to be wowed visually. They want to be impressed with what their money is paying for.

As a lifelong fan of Godzilla, I want the Big G to get the all-star treatment he deserves. I want him to wow and dazzle fans and non-fans alike on the PC. I think we as fans have put up with enough crap from people criticizing the franchise. Making an ugly game makes the series look bad. We fans deserve to better. The King of the Monsters deserves it.

Visual quality all comes down to money. We've specced out a game I can make for $300,000 - using the Spigot engine. People say they want something which can run on their low-end PCs, so that is what I'm planning to do.

If we get $1M in funding, we'll have lots of options to play with. People have said they would like a console release, which is about $300,000 on its own. If we'd rather put that into making the game look awesome, and require high-end PCs, we can totally do that - it is all up to the fans. But if we make the game at a level where we could back-port it to the PS3, it just won't look as good as the best-looking games on PC, because those require way more power than the PS3 can provide.

We also might be crossing wires on what "Good" and "Worse" mean. Lots of people on these boards say that the cities in G:U look worse than the cities in StE.

My hope is that by reducing the number of visual elements in the game (fewer menus, fewer environments, sparse to no buildings) we can still get something that has a really consistent aesthetic, even without a huge art budget.

Have you played my game Sun Stones (on iOS and Android phones)? I spent a total of $1000 on art for that entire game, and it's pretty stunning.

I agree to some degree. I don't expect the game to look as good because it isn't funded by atari. So say goodbye to the awesome water rendering.

Actually, since it's the same engine we can totally use exactly the same water rendering code.

[PopInPicsPresents]

I really don't care about the graphics, I'd be happy if it looked like DAMM to be honest.

[Supergeon]

I agree to some degree. I don't expect the game to look as good because it isn't funded by atari. So say goodbye to the awesome water rendering.

Actually, since it's the same engine we can totally use exactly the same water rendering code.

By that same ticket can you also use other assets from old games to save time?

[Mr. Strange]

I agree to some degree. I don't expect the game to look as good because it isn't funded by atari. So say goodbye to the awesome water rendering.

Actually, since it's the same engine we can totally use exactly the same water rendering code.

By that same ticket can you also use other assets from old games to save time?

That is an excellent question. All of the assets in the game are owned by Atari - I am only licensing the tech. But it is not impossible that I could license the assets from the game as well - that would be a contract with Atari. I'm already working in it, but have not heard back from them yet.

[ゴジラ]

Graphics aren't really something to worry over, more or less fans are more concerned about different matters. What new monster to add, figuring out what gameplay elements should return (Or possibly be added), and overall just thinking over reasonable ideas. I think most of here know that graphics aren't going to be like the Wii. But so long as it looks good overall and bares enjoyable gameplay with loads of content then I'd say that everyone is a happy camper.


Now Mr. Strange can you possibly give us some kind of idea upon the range that the graphics will look like? Will it look something like STE? Or possibly DAMM? Or maybe, something close to say like this?

(Ultraman Fighting Evolution 0 PSP)

[Mr. Strange]

Now Mr. Strange can you possibly give us some kind of idea upon the range that the graphics will look like? Will it look something like STE? Or possibly DAMM? Or maybe, something close to say like this?

Ok, now I'm getting to be sorry I said anything...

Let's be very specific about what I plan for the visuals on this game:

1 - Monsters. Meshes will be on par with G:U - significantly better than DAMM or StE. Textures will be reviewed by fans, so all of the tiny details people complain about will be eliminated.

2 - Animations. Monster animations will be world-class - on par or better than anything you've ever seen.

3 - VFX. These will probably end up being very similar to the VFX used in G:U and StE. It's the same particle system. If I can hire someone to spend some time making these look better I will.

4 - Terrain. The fighting environments will probably be on par with StE - but sparser. I don't have a huge budget for building environments, so just putting something together that uses few assets but has a good visual cohesion is what I am aiming for.

5 - Objects (buildings) - I simply don't have time or money to create thousands of unique buildings for the games. We are probably going to use a modest number of simple buildings, and that will be it. Moving to just a couple cities, and focusing more on open environments (volcano, ocean, etc) will help a lot here.

6 - Menus. The menus will look great. When I said I wouldn't be spending big $$ on them, I meant I wouldn't have animated 3D scenes behind them (like in StE) or dozens of menus nested in menus.

[Supergeon]

I agree to some degree. I don't expect the game to look as good because it isn't funded by atari. So say goodbye to the awesome water rendering.

Actually, since it's the same engine we can totally use exactly the same water rendering code.

By that same ticket can you also use other assets from old games to save time?

That is an excellent question. All of the assets in the game are owned by Atari - I am only licensing the tech. But it is not impossible that I could license the assets from the game as well - that would be a contract with Atari. I'm already working in it, but have not heard back from them yet.

That would be a huge break If you did attain the rights. I guess let us know how that goes. Who knows maybe they will just foot the bill for everything

[Godz]

"5 - Objects (buildings) - I simply don't have time or money to create thousands of unique buildings for the games. We are probably going to use a modest number of simple buildings, and that will be it. Moving to just a couple cities, and focusing more on open environments (volcano, ocean, etc) will help a lot here."

I'd rather have buildings that destroy well than unique buildings. I don't care if there are only 5 different buildings (but lots of them), as long as they are trashed satisfyingly, thats all I care about. Like someone else said earlier in this thread, I hated in the Atari games how you couldn't "wade through" some of the smaller buildings and had to target them with low attacks instead.

[MechaJahgeezilla]

So it will be like this

Godzilla Game Release
Original Monster Game Release

and they can be easily modded so that Godzilla can be used in the second game?

Also, I found the perfect picture for this game in general

[Legionmaster]

Also, I found the perfect picture for this game in general

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1wvy ... o2_500.jpg

That's been posted a few times about this game already, and has been way overused on the Internet in general for years.

[W2daERN]

Well, I made my list extra complicated by saying "Showa, but I'd by okay with X version", which probably didn't help.

I think a lot of us feel the same way. For example, I voted for Millenium Anguirus, Ebirah, etc. but would rather have the Showa versions than not have them in. Like I said in my last post, I think that the roster should be decided by total votes (i.e. "Godzilla" vs. "Anguirus") and then decide which version by version votes (i.e. "Showa Godzilla" vs. "Heisei Godzilla").

[W2daERN]

^ agreed. GU needed all those different buildings only because it's schtick was being able to fight in real-world cities. I wouldn't mind some generic cities, but I would prefer some more wide-open environments like islands, valleys, and plains, with few or no buildings. The one thing I'd like to suggest is to get rid of the invisible walls. I'd prefer natural barriers like cliffs or mountains, or even just leave barriers out entirely. The GU maps were large enough that most players would get bored of wading through the water long before reaching the edge, and all the interesting stuff was right outside (like the volcano).