MGS1 Case Study - Calling all you lowpoly fiends!
polycounter lvl 15
Hi all! The goal of this thread is to do an interactive case of the graphics of Metal Gear Solid 1 with the Polycount community. This is my favorite game of all time, and I can still remember just how absorbed I was with everything about this when I was growing up. Now I would like to study and appreciate it from a more artistic and technical perspective. I have a passion for lowpoly models, and even with all photo-realistic graphics of today, I'm still captivated by that grungy, raw, unfiltered look. 
First a small technical breakdown of what is known:
*) Polys:
-360,000 flat shaded, tris per second
-180,000 texture mapped, 4-bit (16 colors) gouraud shaded tris per second
*) No hardware lighting on the PS1. Thus any lighting you see in the game is baked into the texture itself. Whether this was done via offline rendering, hand painted, or both, I do not know.
*) Hardware was limited to only two types of shading:
1. Flat shading - one brightness value is applied for the entire primitive
2. Gouraud shading - unique brightness value can be assigned per vertex, and the hardware will interpolate the values in between
*) 24-bit, 16-bit color depth
*) Support for 4-bit (16 colors), and 8-bit (256 colors) CLUT (Color Look-up Table). This would be indexed color mode in photoshop. etc.
Sources:
http://psx.rules.org/gpu.txt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_technical_specifications
http://www.gamepilgrimage.com/Consolehistory.htm#Saturnandps1
I'll start off by focusing on the texturing in MGS. I put together a collage of screen grabs, with the goal of trying to analyse different aspects of the texturing. I hope that more experience artists will be able to share their thoughts and techniques, as I am not much of a texture artist. NOTE: There are a mix of screens from MGS (PS1) and MGS Integral (PC) as I just grabbed what was available.
[Modular vs. Unique]
The artists were really something else. They really got every inch out of modular models and textures. There are a few variations of the shipping crates which are placed strategically to fake the lighting from the dock lamps in images 1. Another great example of modular texture use is the elevator scene in image 2. The level design lends itself to using such techniques. However, there are numerous places where we encounter unique shadows and lighting - images 4 and 6. Managing modular textures is somewhat straight forward, but what happens when you deal with unique lighting/shadows while while working under hardware constraints? My guess is that each scene was worked out before hand to fit to the memory constraints of the PS1. I would guess the artists populate the bulk of the scene with enough modular parts, and use unique models and textures sparingly, but strategically, to decrease the repetition. Thoughts?
[Color Palette]
I tried to grab a few different shots that compare the colors used in MGS1. Images 7 and 8 are especially nice because they deviate from the cold, hard theme which most of the previous levels embrace. I love the overall color scheme of MGS1. It really plays into the whole mystique and black ops feel. What types of techniques do you guys use when trying to come up with a cohesive color palette? This is the area that I feel is the most important, and yet I struggle the the most with. How do I tie all of my textures in together in a complementary palette that isn't plagued by mundane colors?
[Color Tint]
Compare and contrast the the color tint of snakes model between images 3 and 5. Notice orange-yellow color tint in image 3 compared to the blueish tint of 5. Do you think this was achieved with vertex shading, or is this just an illusion due to the nature of the colors in the scene? Another great example is image 9. The boss battle with Vulcan Raven has a chilling and bleak feel to it. Is it possible that they only shade character models to match the mood and coloring of a level? Snake and Raven both have relatively neutral color palettes to start with, so that may also play a part. Thoughts?
[Detail]
This might be a tough one as the fidelity of the textures are so low by today's standards, but for the time period when MGS1 came out, I remember being blown away by the "realistic" graphics and detail. Anyone have any input on how they achieve levels of detail even when working with very small texture resolution?
I hope this thread spawns some interest. Please share your thoughts and comments!
First a small technical breakdown of what is known:
*) Polys:
-360,000 flat shaded, tris per second
-180,000 texture mapped, 4-bit (16 colors) gouraud shaded tris per second
*) No hardware lighting on the PS1. Thus any lighting you see in the game is baked into the texture itself. Whether this was done via offline rendering, hand painted, or both, I do not know.
*) Hardware was limited to only two types of shading:
1. Flat shading - one brightness value is applied for the entire primitive
2. Gouraud shading - unique brightness value can be assigned per vertex, and the hardware will interpolate the values in between
*) 24-bit, 16-bit color depth
*) Support for 4-bit (16 colors), and 8-bit (256 colors) CLUT (Color Look-up Table). This would be indexed color mode in photoshop. etc.
Sources:
http://psx.rules.org/gpu.txt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_technical_specifications
http://www.gamepilgrimage.com/Consolehistory.htm#Saturnandps1
I'll start off by focusing on the texturing in MGS. I put together a collage of screen grabs, with the goal of trying to analyse different aspects of the texturing. I hope that more experience artists will be able to share their thoughts and techniques, as I am not much of a texture artist. NOTE: There are a mix of screens from MGS (PS1) and MGS Integral (PC) as I just grabbed what was available.
[Modular vs. Unique]
The artists were really something else. They really got every inch out of modular models and textures. There are a few variations of the shipping crates which are placed strategically to fake the lighting from the dock lamps in images 1. Another great example of modular texture use is the elevator scene in image 2. The level design lends itself to using such techniques. However, there are numerous places where we encounter unique shadows and lighting - images 4 and 6. Managing modular textures is somewhat straight forward, but what happens when you deal with unique lighting/shadows while while working under hardware constraints? My guess is that each scene was worked out before hand to fit to the memory constraints of the PS1. I would guess the artists populate the bulk of the scene with enough modular parts, and use unique models and textures sparingly, but strategically, to decrease the repetition. Thoughts?
[Color Palette]
I tried to grab a few different shots that compare the colors used in MGS1. Images 7 and 8 are especially nice because they deviate from the cold, hard theme which most of the previous levels embrace. I love the overall color scheme of MGS1. It really plays into the whole mystique and black ops feel. What types of techniques do you guys use when trying to come up with a cohesive color palette? This is the area that I feel is the most important, and yet I struggle the the most with. How do I tie all of my textures in together in a complementary palette that isn't plagued by mundane colors?
[Color Tint]
Compare and contrast the the color tint of snakes model between images 3 and 5. Notice orange-yellow color tint in image 3 compared to the blueish tint of 5. Do you think this was achieved with vertex shading, or is this just an illusion due to the nature of the colors in the scene? Another great example is image 9. The boss battle with Vulcan Raven has a chilling and bleak feel to it. Is it possible that they only shade character models to match the mood and coloring of a level? Snake and Raven both have relatively neutral color palettes to start with, so that may also play a part. Thoughts?
[Detail]
This might be a tough one as the fidelity of the textures are so low by today's standards, but for the time period when MGS1 came out, I remember being blown away by the "realistic" graphics and detail. Anyone have any input on how they achieve levels of detail even when working with very small texture resolution?
I hope this thread spawns some interest. Please share your thoughts and comments!
Replies
it's been a while but google should still spit out a link or two.