Is this video representative of how missions will actually look and play?

CommanderPablo · Sep 18, 2014

I'm sure you have all seen it but the mission video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE8B4KptyVI

Will we actually get missions like that? With the comms chatter, capital ship vs capital ship combat etc or is the comms meant to be other `real` players?

How accurate is that video to what we will see in the final game? I know the ship models etc are already like that but the cinematic feel of that video isn't in game (yet?)

Tempered · Sep 19, 2014

I would hope so, since that video is the reason I increased my pledge to include pre-beta access. But at this point, I'm calling "bait and switch"!

Still love the game, just not sure how close they will actually get to that level of immersion.

Rhaedas · Sep 19, 2014

I don't see that as a mission, like the ones you get at the station, but more of an idealistic player to player interaction through supercruise and communications, as well as player contracts and payment of services rendered. But it could be part of a generated one as well. It would be cool if long term events could be pushed out by players to call for more backup from other systems, and spread via GalNet. So then, yes, a price for assistance could have been already set, and it's a matter of getting there in time.

Iskariot · Sep 19, 2014

That is of course a very cinematic trailer, but a lot of it won't be difficult to implement.

General non-specific comms chatter could be implemented and I have proposed so on several occasions, because it adds an incredible lot to the experience and immersion (compare for example the Homeworld games).

I do not expect to get extended voice comms with AI in the game. That would be an unrealistic expectation.

It will not be difficult to implement urgent requests for help targeted at players when they are in the neighborhood. These could very well be voiced, but you would not be able to interact with them by voice. You will most likely be able to simply accept or reject such a mission.

Capital ship vs capital ship combat will be witnessed in the game. No doubt about that.

kb_Nomad · Sep 19, 2014

We don't know
However if that is/was the vision, IF the dev's can do it, we'll play it.

KB

CMDR DeadPorkins · Sep 19, 2014

To the OP, I doubt it will look that good and be as impressive. Been let down too many times by trailers in the past to believe it. Remember the hype with that amazing Kiilzone 2 trailer, or that Aliens: Colonial Marines trailer, or more recently Watch Dogs? It never ends up looking like what they show in the end. I guess there's too many kinks to work out or it would just require more horsepower than the average PC rig could handle.

I raised this "visual" issue on an earlier thread that I called "Pushing the Bounderies: Elite/StarCitizen". No one really had a clear answer, but some said that the Cobra Engine is capable of this level of graphical quality and we might expect advanced options in the future for higher end, cutting edge immersion factor.

Most others said that the game looks just fine as it is, so only time will tell. But I have to say that playing the game as it is now looks only vaguely similar to the demo trailer that the OP is showing. Actually, the game we're playing now looks dry by comparison.

There are good demo's out there, such as Edwin Stowe's work, that demonstrate how impressive the visuals are in the game's current state. It does look good, don't misconstrue my criticism. But the soft, atmospheric lighting and modeling effects of that trailer just don't exist yet in the actual beta.

I'm holding out hope nevertheless. :S

CommanderPablo · Sep 19, 2014

That is of course a very cinematic trailer, but a lot of it won't be difficult to implement.

Cinematic indeed but obviously made using the in-game engine which was one of the reasons I was wondering. Currently this is kind of the federal distress signal area right? With the dreadnought? But currently there is no comms chatter from the dreadnought asking for help etc. Yeah it will be (hopefully) easy enough to jump into something like this with a group of friends and play a similar scenario though...

Alphasite · Sep 19, 2014

They've said in one of the early newsletters that all NPC chatter will be text only. Although TtoS integration would be nice.

Myspace Kaitsu80 · Sep 19, 2014

It will be exactly like in a trailer (dont know about coms or so speedy warp to fight), it´s made with game engine (including graphics). You have already been able to fly inside Fed Impeccable, too.

It´s just that 3rd person view used in that video that fools you to expect something more/else...

Ttaskmaster · Sep 19, 2014

The ability to include both random comms chatter and specific phrases triggered by specific events has existed since 2003... they had just this in Freelancer.

Examples of specific phrases were limited to things like "I'm gonna take you down", "Engaging target", "I'm takin' hits", "Hull failing... cannnnn't... brreeeeeeaaaaatheeeeee....." and the obvious, "AAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH - BOOOM!!".

However, some modded servers did add a load more as well.

The only parts I'd wonder about getting right would be the ship/system specific ones - "This is [Damocles] in the [Auriolis] system. We're under attack and need help, Commander. Will you save us?" sort of things.

But most of that was feasible back then, so I'd expect a fair amount to be feasible now. It would just need a fair bit of voice work and planning to implement, probably on a similar scale to all the different Mass Effect dialogues.

Tinman · Sep 19, 2014

Personally I think that is already pretty close to what we see in the game currently and as development moves forward we will get closer and closer.

At least they aren't like the "somewhat misleading" trailers we see in EVE Online:

Trailer

Actual gameplay

TrueFranco · Sep 19, 2014

On my rig at 4K res game actually looks better than that trailer, and with the DK2, well that is another history that nobody can explain how imersive is until you try it for yourself.

Iskariot · Sep 19, 2014

Tinman said:
Personally I think that is already pretty close to what we see in the game currently and as development moves forward we will get closer and closer.

At least they aren't like the "somewhat misleading" trailers we see in EVE Online:

Trailer

Actual gameplay

That is so true. It is the trailers and game art that kept enticing me again and again and then after I study what the game is actually about I always come to the conclusion that it is not my thing at all. And then the next trailer is released and again I am fascinated and have to remind myself that the game has nothing to do with that at all.

dumbo · Sep 19, 2014

AFAICT the videos produced by FD were used as targets for the design.

For that specific mission:
- how does that mission work if another player jumps into the area? (does it spawn more ships? or become trivial? something else?).
- if you fail, the damocles is destroyed. If 100 players fail, then the federation have no battlecruisers left?

It should be "easy" for FD to setup the mission in the video, but maybe the mission itself isn't a great idea? (or needs a mechanic that the game doesn't have yet?)

In terms of voice-over, AFAICT text-to-speech is still not capable of what you'd want in a game like elite.

Jigsaw · Sep 19, 2014

Tempered said:
But at this point, I'm calling "bait and switch"!

Every trailer is a bait and switch at the moment, considering that there isn't even an external camera. So all the great visuals of the trailers are beyond our reach.

Just like all the great trailers for Need for Speed games. Adrenalin-pumping racing sequences with great camera angles, while there isn't even a replay function in Need for Speed games for many years now. Developer cams are always misleading, making games look way more exciting than they actually are. I don't blame them and the game is still great, but videos like that never represent the look and feel of the actual game. They can't.

scrufferpops · Sep 19, 2014

kb_Nomad said:
We don't know
However if that is/was the vision, IF the dev's can do it, we'll play it.

KB

Off topic ~

You have a more than passing resemblance to the ufo abductee investigator "Budd Hopkins"

Sorry, hehe, but the resemblance is uncanny!!

scrufferpops · Sep 19, 2014

Jigsaw said:
Every trailer is a bait and switch at the moment, considering that there isn't even an external camera. So all the great visuals of the trailers are beyond our reach.

Just like all the great trailers for Need for Speed games. Adrenalin-pumping racing sequences with great camera angles, while there isn't even a replay function in Need for Speed games for many years now. Developer cams are always misleading, making games look way more exciting than they actually are. I don't blame them and the game is still great, but videos like that never represent the look and feel of the actual game. They can't.

Well said and true. +1 +rep

ShadowGar · Sep 19, 2014

In regards to the Eve trailers, its a typical false advertisement scheme that I wish one day would damage all companies involved in the practice. Game companies seem to think its okay to mislead their customer base when this same tactic in other sectors is considered illegal in most countries.

I would giggle the day a game company is found guilty of false advertising and sued/fined out of existence. Sometimes you need to make an example. This would force companies to either release advertisements that included over 50% of actual gameplay in each advertisement or release nothing at all that can be considered a representation of gameplay.

This is the reason PC torrents became so big initially. Game developers used to send out demo copies of games, then they learned that if their game was awful they couldn't make money. Because an awful game and poor work deserves the same hype as a group that did better work, the removal of demos, stories of keeping secret about projects to stop competition,the false claims and fake commercial content would hype a game to the point that after purchase you would swear that you bought the wrong game. But the end result was profitable to developers now. No matter how crappy a game, this new method generated more sales then the old methods. Well, until people seen through that and torrented to play and then later buy if it was good, which more than likely it wasn't.

Its up to the consumer to stop purchasing games from companies that use dirty tactics and 100% CGI advertisements because their games would otherwise barely sell if it was standing on its own.

Someday, Since eve wont put legal disclaimers on their advertisements, someone will find a legal standing and trash the whole company in court.

Edit: Don't take my above rant as anything directed towards ED, it was just in reference to my opinion of trailers being used in other games like eve that bare no substance to the actual games they supposedly reference.

StayFrosty · Sep 19, 2014

To be honest, the game, even right now, isn't far off the trailer. It's only missing a couple features to be the same. Actually, this trailer doesn't show much: space, travel, teammates, fighting, capital ships, lasers, explosions and missiles.

The only thing that are somehow different are the extreme manoeuvrability of Sidewinders, and ships that don't just explode but instead bump around stuff. Aside from this, everything is in, and I'm actually thinking that it would be fun if we could recreate this trailer in-game.

Also you posted the wrong version, this one is much better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2VgApQ0joY

LawHunter · Sep 19, 2014

Ttaskmaster said:
The ability to include both random comms chatter and specific phrases triggered by specific events has existed since 2003... they had just this in Freelancer.

Examples of specific phrases were limited to things like "I'm gonna take you down", "Engaging target", "I'm takin' hits", "Hull failing... cannnnn't... brreeeeeeaaaaatheeeeee....." and the obvious, "AAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH - BOOOM!!".

However, some modded servers did add a load more as well.

The only parts I'd wonder about getting right would be the ship/system specific ones - "This is [Damocles] in the [Auriolis] system. We're under attack and need help, Commander. Will you save us?" sort of things.

But most of that was feasible back then, so I'd expect a fair amount to be feasible now. It would just need a fair bit of voice work and planning to implement, probably on a similar scale to all the different Mass Effect dialogues.

I have always wondered why synthetic voice isn't used in games much. I remember writing a shooter game in Visual Basic 6 about 12 years ago and used the windows text to speech to say certain things. It sounded pretty bad then but did the job.
However about 5 years ago I worked with a guy who got a blackberry phone that would speek text messages and it was very realistic. Better than my iPhone now.
I'm sure processing power is not an issue if a 5 year old phone could do it instantly.

Just imagine if they hired multiple voice actors to say the name of every planet and system. We are going to get 600 billion systems aren't we? The voice actors would be dead and buried before the job was done!