![3D or not 3D... That's the question... [Tech Demo]](https://img5.xaiju.com/storage/7/qt/sd/d38796-019e8319-fa14-72c8-b94b-cb5a3f5b23ad.jpg)
3D or not 3D... That's the question... [Tech Demo]
Added 2020-10-24 04:34:42 +0000 UTCHi folks!
I always been curious about working with a real time 3D system and this tech demo is the result of a couple o weeks messing with the third dimension Unity offers. Main main goal was to make a proof of concept of a very basic character clothing system and learning a bit about Unity's real time illumination system. I don't plan to use player controlled character movement in a 3D game yet (it's a huge pain to make it right), but to build scenes with characters than can be much more dynamic than those in a 2D game.
But... Is real time 3D really better than 2D ? Of course, there are pros and cons.
The Good
It's MUCH easier to implements concepts of character/environment customization in a realtime 3D game, and it's my main interest on trying it. On a 2D game, each combination of customization/pose/animation needs to be pre-rendered or combined in some paper doll system that most of the time and have a lot of limits in terms if animation.
Setting up characters and simple environments in a 3D game takes a more of work on the beginning, but once the foundation is done it's a lot easier to expand animation, illumination and camera angles without having to render countless images again and again (and waiting a lot for these renders). Animations can be combined in real time and produce some nice results.
The Bad
One more dimension adds a plethora of possible new problems. It demands better system specs, it can generate more different results in different hardware / drivers, it asks for a lot of work in optimization of models, textures and low level stuff I not much into, like real time shaders. Stuff like hair and "fluids" are also very hard to make right in real time 3D.
The Ugly, I mean... the Art
Which one looks better? Well... This is a mostly based on personal opinion. 3D can have great visuals (if you have a big team on a studio), but making a 2D scene "beautiful" is much easier in a one man army. It's hard to tell if I could make something not much visually below the previous games. Also, there are "license complications" when using some third party assets in a real time 3D system.
So... What's you opinion? Run the tech demo, move the camera around, try different clothes and "shapes". Then post what do you think of it.. It would be cool to hear your thoughts.
[DOWNLOAD] (winx64)
3d-tech-demo.7z
Peace !
Comments
I don't really have much to add since you've already accurately laid out the pros and cons in play. So I think it mostly hinges on how central that customization/variation is to the next thing you want to work on. 3d is probably the way to go if you really want more customization options going forward, but I also think there's no getting around that it won't ever look as good as a rendered and paperdolled 2d scene. Once you factor in shapekey tweens and multiple clothing mesh options and paired animations and so on as a solo dev you'll quickly start stacking up enough edge case ugliness/uncanny valley type defects you could spend years just trying to tweak those away. So I think it certainly comes with a non-trivial drop in visual quality. How much of that you find acceptable is up to you.
José
2020-10-27 22:03:42 +0000 UTCNice. To be seen in terms of the workload for you, but if it does not end up "sucking away" all your energy, then it is certainly something nice to have.
A
2020-10-26 00:13:09 +0000 UTCI much prefer 3D. I cannot comment on the increased work involved. That is likely the ‘deal’ breaker’ You should do what you enjoy and are good at. As we have seen so many times in movies, the big CGI means very little if the story is crap.
robertash
2020-10-25 16:13:54 +0000 UTCWell - it's not bad, but "premade" 3d cgs imo looks better, cuz they have more details and looks more human for me. But overall if the game will be good it doesn't matter as much - just do what makes you happy
ataly
2020-10-25 15:12:03 +0000 UTCContinue to produce games that you are happy with (we’ll eat them up). As experimentation and learning the 3D creation world approaches parity, then revisit the switch. Taking however long it takes.
Hammer
2020-10-24 17:47:34 +0000 UTCI'm really conflicted, from your description it seems like 3d would only give you better animations and worse everything else (time spent, visuals, HW investment, more complications). The choice looks pretty straightforward, but if the effort isn't too much I'd advise to delve a little deeper to have a better estimate of what you could actually achieve (in terms of quality, time spent, etc.. for example recreating one scene of GRH)
Enrico
2020-10-24 10:18:06 +0000 UTCThe Architect, your 3D Tech Demo is a very good idea, and was fun to use. We live in a 3D world, and I much prefer 3D games to 2D games. I don't the technical differences between rendering a scene in 2D or 3D (there are probably techniques to alter 2D scenes that won't affect 3D, and to alter 3D scenes that won't affect 2D). I agree (and understand) that one person (vs a team) can only do so much. The character clothing system is an excellent idea, but I think could use at least 2 additional clothing categories: Outfits and Outerwear. Outfits would be any clothing that would be worn as outer wear (i.e., cop, dress, etc.), and would be displayed over any Top/Bottom worn. Outerwear (i.e., coats, jackets, etc) would be displayed over any Outfits and Tops/Bottoms worn. I understand that it's a first attempt at a basic clothing system, and you could already be planning even more categories (i.e., hats, gloves, belts, and many other clothing accessories). There is a visible gap (across the abdomen) between the cop Top and either skirt. That your are taking steps such as this tech demo bodes well (I think) for the future of your projects.
Decopauge123
2020-10-24 10:08:38 +0000 UTC
