Homeworld Remastered.

Muzzoid

Ok i was skeptical of Gearbox here. But man. It looks like they are delivering.

Seriously as my favorite game ever, this is incredible.

*Original composer remastering the audio
*Original voice actress for Karen S'jet
*Original artist for the cutscenes
*Original coders working on it.
*Multiplayer with all races from both games.

I have a few nitpicks about some of the details, but man who am i to complain.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txTWqEHwDBY[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRtqy0CGur4[/ame]

Muzzoid

That being said as soon as the mod tools are coming out I'm going into every single fucking texture and removing the AO, and making everything matte.

pior

Yeah, I have to admit I am not a huge fan of the updated shot in the before/after comparison, but you are right, it will probably be all moddable.

Hype !

ambershee

I'm very likely to pick this up. I do agree that something of the original art style has been lost, but it still looks quite reasonable.

rollin

regarding the textures.. the ones from hw2 are still mind blowing. It's very difficult to make them with normalmaps and stuff without making the objects look small.

Muzzoid

I think the biggest issue is that AO and dirt only happens with small objects in the way they did it in the new version, so exaggerating it makes everything feel tiny.

Sastrei

Muzz - Why remove AO from the textures? As someone who is about to start revamping my models for a new Homeworld mod by including AO bakes, you've piqued my curiousity. ^_^

Aaaand you ninja'd my post and answered my question, lol. Thanks!

pior

Sas : basically if an AO pass is used as heavy dirt pass on a model, you run the risk of it looking like a scale maquette rather than the real thing. Since the HW spaceships are so huge there is no real reason for them to have heavy weathering and beveled panels.

Like this :



(and I've been ninjaed by you getting ninjaed )

Muzzoid

Pretty much what Pior said.



AO isn't a bad thing, but it's bad when people abuse it. Gearbox has a habit of abusing visual effects, and pushing things too far.

I think that the flagship is the worst culprit i saw. It literally looks like it's been dipped in oil and god came across and wiped it off with a giant tissue leaving it in the gaps.

Compare it to the old one. It has small details, but the small details just add visual interest, they don't take up any visual weight and that is SUPER important. Basically homeworld is super iconic because it focused on super readable shapes and colours, and going and adding overdone AO screws up the read so that details are more important than overall forms.

I think it's mostly fustrating because it's literally a matter of turning down the strength of a layer in their PSDs.

EDIT: Also notice how the saturation is much lower.

Must be all the HD doing that. (It might be post processing shaders.)

JamesTKirk

I think the problem is that lightning conditions in space are very different from what we have gotten used to on earth. It lacks sunlight scattered in an atmosphere, shadows from which Ao was intended to simulate in the first place.
And if this was meant to be dirt pass what kind of black space substance could have stuck into all the ship's crevices?

Other than that this is wonderful news. I loved the original game.

skyline5gtr

Cant wait i really hope its worth the 30 price tag tho

HitmonInfinity

At first I kinda thought the texture complaint was just ranting, but I have to say, you guys are right. Keep it light and bright like the original!

Even still, it looks pretty great. I never played the originals, but I might pick it up.

Sastrei

Very illuminating! I'm definitely seeing what you're talking about. My mod is gonna be LEGO ships, so making them look small isn't going to be too much of a worry.

I'll forgive them that particular sin though. ^_^ Can't wait to play it! And it will be hilarious if the first thing the community does is turn around and make new textures for the ships again.

-Stefan-

Muzzoid

And it will be hilarious if the first thing the community does is turn around and make new textures for the ships again.

Without a doubt. It absolutely needs to be done. It will just be a shame if i can't fix the textures in multiplayer.

ambershee

JamesTKirk wrote: »

And if this was meant to be dirt pass what kind of black space substance could have stuck into all the ship's crevices?

Well, dirt?

Space isn't empty, you know!

pior

My mod is gonna be LEGO ships

Oooooh yeah ! Do you have any screenshots to share ? Also, any insights on how you are building the ships ?

(I would think that it could be possible to build them in a regular 3d program ... but there are also some dedicated Lego editors floating around, so, I am curious to hear more !)

Zwebbie

The comparison shot above and the comparative video of the intro sequences has got me thinking. I've heard it said of film that while black and white movies may lack colour, colour movies also lack black and white -- that is to say, there is a quality in the black and white picture that isn't 'superseded' by the advent of colour. This feels the same to me; the diffuse only look of the original art was better at capturing that vibrant, bright and clear Chris Foss look, while all the new technology hides it under a layer of not just AO, but also deep normal maps, speculars, bloom and a blueish filter. We've recognised in the last few years that pixel art and WoW-esque art are not just technological limitations but stylistic choices with the own charms. Perhaps it's time we do so for art like the original Homeworld's as well?

Sastrei

pior wrote: »

Oooooh yeah ! Do you have any screenshots to share ? Also, any insights on how you are building the ships ?

(I would think that it could be possible to build them in a regular 3d program ... but there are also some dedicated Lego editors floating around, so, I am curious to hear more !)

Thanks Pior! I end up using both. Blender for the game models, starting with an imported model from a LEGO editor for reference.

I don't want to derail this thread, so I'll drop a screenshot here and link to the new thread I started over here: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=147933

918_dev_05 by Sastrei87, on Flickr

Sastrei

Two cool new things to share! Gearbox released a new Homeworld trailer with the most footage yet of Homeworld 1 ships.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA7FbYAmrX0[/ame]



And second thing, I've teamed up with Flickr user Legodrome to launch a Homeworld project on LEGO Ideas. It's a platform for proposing new set ideas to LEGO. Stop on by to click the "Support" button! https://ideas.lego.com/projects/94765

skyline5gtr

cant wait oo

Muzzoid

100k preorder sales fak.

skyline5gtr

cant wait cant wait cant wait, this is done so well. Take notes devs

Muzzoid

3 hours till it unlocks!!!!

dfacto

So I'm curious, what's the verdict?

huffer

Very positive!

Muzzoid

Yep, they did a good job. It's a buy.

my concerns with shitty colours are mostly fixed by choosing better army colors.

There are a bunch of little HW1 gameplay tweaks that still need to happen, but gearbox are listening.

Mostly to do with little AI things, really nitpicky stuff.