Easy solution for "too many cutscenes" and length of storyboard

Story & Setting
#1

In the latest update video Dan talked about the length of the storyboard and how he has to look that the story doesn’t require too many cutscene. In the background he showed a glimpse of the current storyboard which is just gorgeous in my humble opinion. So how to solve that problem? Well, why not just using what you already have. Take that and transform it into a game asset!

You know a cult classic of video gaming already did something very similar. And it really made the game something special with a very strong atmosphere imho. I talk about this one…

You could even make a mix of traditional cutscenes shot in 3D and some cartoon like sequences like in Max Payne 2, for example to deliver some background information to the player that would be hard to show with in-engine cutscenes perhaps because the respective scene plays somewhere else (and it’d be also way less costly I guess).

Anyway, It would really be quite sad to just “cut” the storyboard and waste that storytelling and artistic potential. Use it instead. Not everything has to be a movie-like 3D cutscene imo. Games like Max Payne 2 or even recently Pillars of Eternity showed that more “abstract” solutions can work as well and even create a stronger sense of atmosphere and immersion by letting your brain do some of the work (you know, the best possible graphics engine, your imagination)… :wink:

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#2

I’m sorry but i don’t see how this would work in this game. I feel it would kill the atmosphere. It sure does work for some games tho.

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#3

I am with CoffeeLover. This can be a nice atmospheric idea, expecially in some noire games or dedective adventures. But it is not the right kind of solution for this game.

#4

This can work in actually every possible game. The mood and atmosphere is set with the mood and atmosphere of the pictures. I don’t see why it should only work in noire games.

For example, a similar (but far more limited and shorter) approach even works in Borderlands with a complete opposite mood and direction.

The tool is not the issue here, only what you do with it. It seems that some of you just can’t imagine it because it’s something that is rarely done in games or because you’re used to movie-like games. Just be a bit more open minded and don’t reject the idea before you have even seen it in action… :wink:

#5

I’m worried there will be too many cutscenes. I want this to be a game not an interactive movie with a cutscene every five seconds.

I can see where you’re coming from but i feel that a game trying to be as realistic and immersive as possible shouldn’t take this approach to their cutscenes.

#6

I don’t think that this will be a big issue based on all what I’ve learnt so far from the devs…

Immersion is a tricky thing. We tend to think that only obvious, movie-like things are immersive. I don’t think so and I don’t think that photo-realism is the ultimate way to make immersive and realistic games.

And also I actually don’t want the player to be interrupted by such sequences much during the game. But there could be some “major” story events, e.g. at the beginning of the game, at some crucial events and at the end, where some “background storytelling approach” could come in handy. Even Witcher 2 did so in the Enhanced Edition between the various acts with Dandelion telling the player what’s going on. Hell, in Witcher 2 there even were cartoons to tell the player events from the books. And still, Witcher 2 was one hell of an immersive game imho (and realisitic in the limitations of its game world). So I don’t see how a similar approach wouldn’t or couldn’t work for KCD…

#7

He even said they had too many cutscenes.

Whicher is fantasy though. This is trying to be a realistic historical game. I don’t want to see the cutscenes as a cartoon i want them to look as realistic as possible.

#8

This has nothing to do with fantasy. Max Payne was no fantasy, quite the opposite. “Realism” and “immersion” in games always work within its limitations. Movie-like cutscenes don’t make a game more realistic, only its content can be realistic or not. A book isn’t unrealistic because of its nature of a book.

Also nothing in KCD looks really lifelike right now. It’s just an uncanny valley version of medieval reality. It’s a dead-end to think that 3D graphics deliver more realism. They only offer a more movie-like experience. Actually, the human mind and imagination can deliver much more lifelike “graphics” than any available 3D engine…

And then again, I already said that I don’t want ALL cutscenes to be like that. I just think that it could be a tool for SOME purposes like delivering background information, e.g. about far away events or flashbacks or whatever.

By the way, if you actually want to have “realistic” cutscenes, they should all be made in first person view and only show what the main char would see. Everything else is just movie-like bull and in no way more immersive or realistic than any other storytelling tool imho…

Which indicates that Dan wants less cutscenes…

#9

I guess its just a difference of opinions. I personally feel that cartoon style cut scenes wouldn’t fit with KC:D.

Yeah first person cut scenes is something i defiantly feel would help with immersion and realism.

#10

Of course there can be different opinions on that, as always. But I think you should give it at least a fair chance before just refusing the idea in general. As I’ve said, it depends much on how you make it, where you use it and which mood and atmosphere you create with the art style and content you use.

It’s imho (no offense intended) a bit narrow-minded to talk something down without having seen an actual implementation…

#11

Ive seen it in games before i own the Witcher 2 and thought it worked well in that. I could sort of see it working with telling some back story for the game but i would feel more immersed in a game if the cutscenes were movie like instead of cartoon like.

#12

I’d say that also depends much on the actual quality and scope of the 3D cutscenes…

So far we can only speculate on that. But with the limited budget I don’t expect really impressive cutscenes tbh. They are amongst the most costly stuff in modern video games after all…

#13

wouldn’t fit. comic book aesthetics wouldn’t work at all. they’d have to do it all in medieval tapestry or manuscript style, and it’s going to take a long time even with 3 teams of those guys who did the map and the beer labels.

i know you’re in love with your own suggestions and want to defend it, but why ignore all the good stuff we’ve seen that indicates the performance captured cutscenes will not only be easier to do, but already shows promise of a good sense of direction and an eye for aesthetics? refresh your memory by watching the 1 hour livestream they did last year please.

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#14

I liked Max Payne ;-]

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#15

That’s a good idea - manuscript style sequences to present background/setting related stuff. Things the player character would already know, having been born and raised in his time (e.g. what kingdom this is, who is the ruler, who is the local lord and what their reputation is, etc.). It could also be used for flash-forwards to show the long-term effects of your actions - perhaps presented from the point of view of a monk 50 years later writing the history of events in the game.

Things the character experiences first-hand would probably work better in full cutscene format, though.

2 Likes
#16

That’s exactly what I wanted to say. The “in style” sequences shouldn’t substitute 3D in-engine cutscenes. They should just enhance the storytelling possibilities in occasions where such cutscenes make little scene or are hard to perform in a satisfying way.

I thought of something like this manuscript/tapestry style experience (which isn’t much different from Max Payne just with a different art direction and style, but basically the same design) but in the ways for example Witcher 2 used its comic strips, for stuff like background, settings, flash-backs, far-away events, huge events that probably cost too much money and time to make them in full 3D (I know we all want huge battles made in-engine in 3D but we have to stay realistic and I’d rather have stuff like that told and shown in another narrative design than not at all)…

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