* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Thursday, July 3, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    BTS Announce Their Big Return and Yes, They Already Have Some Major Plans in the Works – Yahoo

    BTS Announce Their Big Return and Yes, They Already Have Some Major Plans in the Works – Yahoo

    Nantucket Dance Festival opens July 8 – The Inquirer and Mirror

    Nantucket Dance Festival Launches with Thrilling Performances Beginning July 8

    A Secret Society, Ritualistic Killings, and a Century-Old Curse Netflix and YRF Entertainment’s ‘Mandala Murders’ Premieres July 25 – About Netflix

    A Secret Society, Ritualistic Killings, and a Century-Old Curse: Dive into the Chilling World of ‘Mandala Murders’ Premiering July 25

    Susquehanna Raises Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN) Price Target. – Yahoo Finance

    Susquehanna Raises Price Target for Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN)

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    Netflix unveils Dallas immersive venue for fans of hit shows like ‘Squid Game,’ ‘Stranger Things’ – Houston Chronicle

    Step Inside Netflix’s New Dallas Immersive Experience Featuring Hits Like ‘Squid Game’ and ‘Stranger Things

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Inspira Technologies Secures Landmark $22.5M Deal: Major Revenue Breakthrough After FDA Clearance – Stock Titan

    Inspira Technologies Secures Landmark $22.5M Deal: Major Revenue Breakthrough After FDA Clearance – Stock Titan

    Meiwu Technology Company Limited and Shenzhen Zhinuo – GlobeNewswire

    Meiwu Technology Company Limited and Shenzhen Zhinuo – GlobeNewswire

    Owls inspire new revolutionary noise reduction technology – KTEN

    Owls inspire new revolutionary noise reduction technology – KTEN

    New center coming to Mizzou will focus on energy research and technology – Columbia Missourian

    Mizzou Launches Innovative New Center Dedicated to Energy Research and Technology

    Mirrors in space and underwater curtains: can technology buy us enough time to save the Arctic ice caps? – The Guardian

    Can Technology Like Space Mirrors and Underwater Curtains Buy Us Time to Save the Arctic Ice Caps?

    Naples restaurant owner prepares for hurricane season with new flood technology – Fox4Now.com

    Naples restaurant owner prepares for hurricane season with new flood technology – Fox4Now.com

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    BTS Announce Their Big Return and Yes, They Already Have Some Major Plans in the Works – Yahoo

    BTS Announce Their Big Return and Yes, They Already Have Some Major Plans in the Works – Yahoo

    Nantucket Dance Festival opens July 8 – The Inquirer and Mirror

    Nantucket Dance Festival Launches with Thrilling Performances Beginning July 8

    A Secret Society, Ritualistic Killings, and a Century-Old Curse Netflix and YRF Entertainment’s ‘Mandala Murders’ Premieres July 25 – About Netflix

    A Secret Society, Ritualistic Killings, and a Century-Old Curse: Dive into the Chilling World of ‘Mandala Murders’ Premiering July 25

    Susquehanna Raises Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN) Price Target. – Yahoo Finance

    Susquehanna Raises Price Target for Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN)

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    Netflix unveils Dallas immersive venue for fans of hit shows like ‘Squid Game,’ ‘Stranger Things’ – Houston Chronicle

    Step Inside Netflix’s New Dallas Immersive Experience Featuring Hits Like ‘Squid Game’ and ‘Stranger Things

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Inspira Technologies Secures Landmark $22.5M Deal: Major Revenue Breakthrough After FDA Clearance – Stock Titan

    Inspira Technologies Secures Landmark $22.5M Deal: Major Revenue Breakthrough After FDA Clearance – Stock Titan

    Meiwu Technology Company Limited and Shenzhen Zhinuo – GlobeNewswire

    Meiwu Technology Company Limited and Shenzhen Zhinuo – GlobeNewswire

    Owls inspire new revolutionary noise reduction technology – KTEN

    Owls inspire new revolutionary noise reduction technology – KTEN

    New center coming to Mizzou will focus on energy research and technology – Columbia Missourian

    Mizzou Launches Innovative New Center Dedicated to Energy Research and Technology

    Mirrors in space and underwater curtains: can technology buy us enough time to save the Arctic ice caps? – The Guardian

    Can Technology Like Space Mirrors and Underwater Curtains Buy Us Time to Save the Arctic Ice Caps?

    Naples restaurant owner prepares for hurricane season with new flood technology – Fox4Now.com

    Naples restaurant owner prepares for hurricane season with new flood technology – Fox4Now.com

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Entertainment

Blockbuster games are in the grip of a “fidelity death cult”, says former Dragon Age producer

June 26, 2024
in Entertainment
Blockbuster games are in the grip of a “fidelity death cult”, says former Dragon Age producer
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

It’s “a trap that dev teams are kind of laying upon themselves”

Three characters from Dragon Age: The Veilguard - a horned warrior with a staff, an archer, and a rogue

Image credit: EA

Dragon Age: The Veilguard consultant and former Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah has published a Youtube video addressing the question: “why do AAA games take so long?” It’s a tidy 25 minutes or so, and gets a fair way into the weeds of a variety of topics, from the current enthusiasm for live service “forever games” over ‘finite’, narrative-led affairs, to the “misleading” announcement of highly-demanded sequels years before they enter full production, in order to pump up a publisher’s brand during a dry spell.

One thing I wanted to fish out and drop on your plate is Darrah’s discussion of what he terms “the fidelity death cult” – that is, the desire for ever greater levels of lifelike visual detail and “intricacy”.

Watch on YouTube

“We are also in a period of something I’ve called the fidelity death cult,” Darrah explains in the vid, around the eight minute mark, “where a lot of games are trying for hyper-realistic art styles, hyper-high fidelity, hyper-customisation, hyper-intricacy. These things, while they don’t contribute to a larger size, while they don’t help you make a forever game, they still take a lot more time. When you are concerned about the way people’s hair moves on their back, that’s going to take time that you in the past wouldn’t have done. You would have just spray-painted their hairdo on, or given them a hair cap, or something pretty static. Now, you’re introducing new avenues of complexity.”

He extends the point to encompass player dislike of things in games they consider to have been “recycled”, from chunks of recurring environment to animation systems. “Similarly, we currently see from players quite a bit of pushback on the reuse of systems and assets, so even though I might be making a sequel to a game that came out just a couple of years ago, I might feel within the dev team that we can’t reuse any of our assets, because we’re going to get pushback from the players. And so while I might have been able to reuse some of those animations, or some of those models, or some of those areas, I might feel the need to recreate them to avoid that backlash. So I’m introducing additional time into the development process that otherwise would have allowed the game to come out sooner.”

Interestingly, Darrah notes that while the emphasis on giving players endless things to do, access and consume in “forever games” reflects audience research showing that this makes the game more enticing, the “fidelity death cult” and avoidance of asset reuse comes “more from a fear of backlash, as opposed to any more specific research that says that this is necessary”. He suggests that prioritising original asset creation and fidelity is “a trap that dev teams are kind of laying upon themselves”, pointing to Baldur’s Gate 3 as the “perfect example” of a game that has gotten away with downplaying “minor visual fidelity things that at the end of the day, often don’t matter that much”.

That the creed of ever-quantifiably-higher fidelity sponges up a lot of time and energy without really adding anything to games is a familiar argument, but always worth repeating. To slide into a bit of journalist navel-gazing, I’ll add that games that valorise fidelity for its own sake can be boring to write about, albeit partly because enthusiast readerships tend to want us to write about them in a certain way.

The associated traditions of realism and photorealism are, in themselves, complex, exciting and evolving, but within video game culture, those traditions are typically boiled down to numbers and buzzwords – higher polygon counts, more animated objects per scene, more lens flare per NPC tear, with a corresponding need for more potent, dirtier pieces of hardware to run games on. Mind you, if there’s a preference for interpreting realism and photorealism this way, that reflects the audience tastes that both “AAA” developers and journalists have cultivated for themselves over the decades, by consenting to the whim of the marketing machine. I’ve written my share of articles about higher resolutions and posh new species of shader. One thing I’d like to ask Darrah is: how exactly should blockbuster game developers unravel the “fidelity death cult”? How should they persuade more tech-devoted players to get over the sight of some sprayed-on hair?

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Rock Paper Shotgun – https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/blockbuster-games-are-in-the-grip-of-a-fidelity-death-cult-says-former-dragon-age-producer

Tags: blockbusterentertainmentgames
Previous Post

Palworld devs heard “nothing at all” from Pokémon creators despite everyone calling it ‘Pokémon with guns’

Next Post

House of the Dragon: You Won’t Believe How Daemon Dies

LensToLens: Wetlands guard bird species from plateau to urban landscape – Xinhua

How Wetlands Protect Bird Species from Plateaus to Urban Landscapes

July 3, 2025
Commentary: Vatican defends science from politics, ideology and misinformation – The Salt Lake Tribune

Vatican Takes a Bold Stand: Defending Science from Politics, Ideology, and Misinformation

July 2, 2025
Scientists Merged 3 Human Brains by Thought Alone – Popular Mechanics

Scientists Achieve Mind-Blowing Feat by Merging Three Human Brains Through Thought Alone

July 3, 2025
Retired woman shares inside look at lifestyle after moving into unconventional tiny home: ‘The best decision I’ve ever made’ – The Cool Down

Retired Woman Reveals Life-Changing Joys of Living in an Unconventional Tiny Home: “The Best Decision I’ve Ever Made

July 2, 2025
​​World Rural Development Day: Refugee-Led Farming Projects That Are Feeding the World – USA for UNHCR

​​World Rural Development Day: Refugee-Led Farming Projects That Are Feeding the World – USA for UNHCR

July 2, 2025
Trump’s economy: A weak link in MAGA’s chain – The Hill

Trump’s economy: A weak link in MAGA’s chain – The Hill

July 2, 2025
BTS Announce Their Big Return and Yes, They Already Have Some Major Plans in the Works – Yahoo

BTS Announce Their Big Return and Yes, They Already Have Some Major Plans in the Works – Yahoo

July 2, 2025
About 17 Million More People Could be Uninsured due to the Big Beautiful Bill and other Policy Changes – KFF

How the Big Beautiful Bill and Policy Changes Could Leave 17 Million More People Uninsured

July 2, 2025
Politics and science can mix – High Country News

When Politics Meets Science: Finding Common Ground for a Better Future

July 2, 2025
Inspira Technologies Secures Landmark $22.5M Deal: Major Revenue Breakthrough After FDA Clearance – Stock Titan

Inspira Technologies Secures Landmark $22.5M Deal: Major Revenue Breakthrough After FDA Clearance – Stock Titan

July 2, 2025

Categories

Archives

July 2025
MTWTFSS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031 
« Jun    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (702)
  • Economy (728)
  • Entertainment (21,616)
  • General (15,679)
  • Health (9,767)
  • Lifestyle (732)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (729)
  • Politics (735)
  • Science (15,946)
  • Sports (21,225)
  • Technology (15,712)
  • World (709)

Recent News

LensToLens: Wetlands guard bird species from plateau to urban landscape – Xinhua

How Wetlands Protect Bird Species from Plateaus to Urban Landscapes

July 3, 2025
Commentary: Vatican defends science from politics, ideology and misinformation – The Salt Lake Tribune

Vatican Takes a Bold Stand: Defending Science from Politics, Ideology, and Misinformation

July 2, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version