New Irrgheist SF-Racer prototypes

Monochrome · Post by **Monochrome** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:41 am

Dorth wrote:ahan... I worked at EA. My roommate works at EA. Even Penny-Arcade, which were pretty hard EA basher a couple of years ago, have said plenty of good things about all aspects of EA recently, with a few exceptions. What's your source? Maxis is an old studio that I love, yet the Sims project was thought by many heads together. You just hate and opposing you is fanboyism. Get over yourself. Here in Montréal, they're one of the best studio to work for. Heh, not only that, but more than half title made here are originals. There's an entire division of the studio that work on possible new game before submitting the idea. If it is approved, it becomes the project of the studio. Most EA studios are similar. Don't speak of things you know naught.

Yeah, now you're just running from the facts by hidding behind a shell of falacious reality. Just because its a nice place to work at, it doesnt mean its a benevolent or creative company at all(take Hank Scorpio's Globulex :p). As for sources you can check all over the gaming news regarding the EA's attempts to acquire TakeTwo and, if you're in the mood, dig some archives and learn a bit about gaming history by reading the controversial Origin acquisition, the Ultima 8 and Ultima 9 milestone rush, and so on.

Also Penny-Arcade sucks. As do all game related comics.

CuteAlien · Post by **CuteAlien** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:28 am

I certainly realize that EA and Irrgheist are the two big evil game companies in this world fighting it out for world domination ... still I'd like to mention that sequels also have some obvious advantages. Not the stuff that they sell better (which they usually do, but we're so small that we could probably at best buy another beer at the next release party), but a sequel simply allows you to start from another level. You can explore an idea in much more depth because you don't need to spend 95% of your time working at the basics.

Take the graphics for example. For H-Craft Philipp (who does the graphics) had to work without really knowing which parts would work in the end and which wouldn't as the game was certainly written at the same time. We had an early prototype, but that's not the same. This time he can start with a working game and so he can try out completely new stuff, which might no longer work in another genre which needs another level layout.

Halifax · Post by **Halifax** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:10 am

Monochrome wrote:EA is one of the reasons why the industry is sinking more and more into graphical extravaganza while fading away from concept originality; you shouldnt use them as business model.

Uhmm, yes that is totally right...not! If I recall correctly, id software started this whole graphics race, and epic games is continuing it. EA games is just a follower.

And as CuteAlien said, there are multiple benefits to sequels, and you shouldn't disband games just because they are sequels. That's simply stupid. And in no way are you going to make me reconsider with bullcrap covered in eloquence.

FuzzYspo0N · Post by **FuzzYspo0N** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:01 am

or the lack thereof!

monochrome sorry to say but,stating your opinion (even if you had chosen to use capitals) does not turn it into fact, and will not convince the people that you know ANYTHING of value if u act that way.

I think a wipeout clone isnt necessarily a bad thing. Wipeout was an awesome game, and it really was fun to play. it had outstanding graphics for its time and the graphics here and on the irrgheist site look great too. If there were never any clones of any games "on principle" then i would maybe agree to not make a game similar, but there has been tons going on.

Half life one was great, half two was great. EVEN though they are VERY similar to a HUGE amount of other FPS games that came before (in terms of gameplay) that doesnt make them stupid.

Even if it is like wipeout, it isnt wipeout. simple enough imo...

My only objection would be sci fi racer on a dirt rally track? thats not really logical at all D:

Looks good all round though. keep it up!

flipmode · Post by **flipmode** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:17 am

Hello everyone:)

To introduce myself on the first post, I am Philipp, the guy in charge of these projects. CuteAlien was so kind to post the screens here as he is a longtime member on this forum. But since he withdraws from Irrgheist I thought it`s time to show up here so he doesn`t have to care about a project he actually doesn`t work on.

First of all thanks for the comments, I am really happy most of you guys seem to like the first screenshots.

As for the sequel talk...I can just agree to what was said above. Building up on technology you already have simply offers new options. I think throwing away everything after the first game isn`t very smart.
Personally, after finishing a game I tend to look at it`s weak points and instantly want to start over to deliver something improved.
However, the new projects are no direct sequels anyway, they just share the technology and the genre with H-Craft.

@FuzzYspoON: Your positive comments made my day, but why do you think scifi racing and rally shouldn`t be mixed up? In my opinion it`s a nice little change from the typical scifi racer themes. Maybe it`s not very likely but there`s at least hope some bits of rough nature will be preserved in the future;)

JP · Post by JP » Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:48 am

Welcome to the forum flipmode, the screenshots do look incredible, i remember the H-Craft looking really impressive when it was released and this just goes even further!

I completely agree with you about the sequel thing, i don't see any danger in it really. I do think that certain industries are hell bent on rehashing old work, bringing it back for a remake or a sequel just because it's got some success or nostalgia to it but just making a first sequel to a racing game like this is no problem at all!

I also don't see too much of a problem of having your sci-fi crafts racing on rally tracks, it's something a bit different and could be quite cool, it's a bit like the pod racers in star wars episode 1 which are racing through the desert, no one complained about that heh

Monochrome · Post by **Monochrome** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:47 am

Halifax wrote:Uhmm, yes that is totally right...not! If I recall correctly, id software started this whole graphics race, and epic games is continuing it. EA games is just a follower.

Id only played a part in advancing game technologies since they opted for a more passive course of action instead of agressive competition methods. The graphics race is more recent than you think (started about 2001 when the golden age ended) and EA played a major role because it fed the whole graphics complex to an extreme.
The point is, I'm not even trying to contest CuteAliens sequel anymore (even though its pratically OT), I'm just trying to prove EA sucks; nothing else. Wipeout isnt even an EA game after all. My whole point is simply an answer to Dorth's corrosive insulting after I simply criticized EA's business methods. For disrupting this thread I am sorry but I certainly wont take personal offenses passively.

In retrospect I have promised sources and for those still lightly interested, here's a few recent ones:

http://kotaku.com/369449/analyst-calls- ... ite-knight
http://kotaku.com/369099/ea-expands-in+ ... ial-profit
http://kotaku.com/367302/eas-take+two-t ... updated%5D
http://www.destructoid.com/ea-admits-it ... 9491.phtml

As for CuteAliens project itself, feel free to create a sequel if you wish, but unless you are planning to expand to other platforms like Xbox and such, i really dont think its that worthwhile. If however you're sticking up with the idea, I would advise you to work simultaneously on a different project.

JP · Post by JP » Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:11 am

I wade into this argument with reluctance but those first two links you post just sound like they've been written by someone very sour at EA and are just reporting everything to do with EA as a bad thing and writing it in a very biased way...

The last link, about EA appealing to Take-Two's shareholders to try and force the takeover is a bit over the top though i have to say. If the company doesn't want to be taken over then that should be the end of it, using the shareholders to muscle your way in is a bit back handed imo!

Oh, and why do you think that a sequel should be put out on extra platforms? Most sequels tend to stick to the original platforms they were released on for the most part i would say (that's changing a bit now though i guess due to the console war being pretty lively and the high development cost of games meaning lots of sales need to be made to even break even).

Monochrome · Post by **Monochrome** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:31 am

JP wrote:I wade into this argument with reluctance but those first two links you post just sound like they've been written by someone very sour at EA and are just reporting everything to do with EA as a bad thing and writing it in a very biased way...

The last link, about EA appealing to Take-Two's shareholders to try and force the takeover is a bit over the top though i have to say. If the company doesn't want to be taken over then that should be the end of it, using the shareholders to muscle your way in is a bit back handed imo!

Kotaku's editors may sound harsh but they're the most reliable news source regarding the videogame industry i know. They have no taboos when it comes to criticize EA or anything else, but they're also not affraid to compliment someone when they do something right aswell. Its too bad i cant find the Origin vs EA article. That one had some serious controversy on it. I still managed to find a good one from destructoid, which i added, that describes the situation pretty well.

Oh, and why do you think that a sequel should be put out on extra platforms? Most sequels tend to stick to the original platforms they were released on for the most part i would say (that's changing a bit now though i guess due to the console war being pretty lively and the high development cost of games meaning lots of sales need to be made to even break even).

Well its not that h-craft championship is a known game by most people you see? By creating a simple Xbox live port i think they would benefit from simple advertising that would revert prospective players to the original game, thus temporarly increasing its sales. Plus even though i hate to admit it, the big bucks are now on the console market, so even if it is a sequel or whatever, its still a good business strategy i guess.

rogerborg · Post by **rogerborg** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:06 pm

For the record, I never get tired of reading these pointless arguments every time that I refer to EA.

You realise that's why I do it, right?

Monochrome · Post by **Monochrome** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:55 pm

rogerborg wrote:For the record, I never get tired of reading these pointless arguments every time that I refer to EA.

You realise that's why I do it, right?

I hate you.

bitplane · Post by **bitplane** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:15 pm

Screenshots look great CuteAlien, looking forward to it

flipmode · Post by **flipmode** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:54 pm

Thanks for the welcome JP:)
As you mentioned Star War`s pod racers I remembered they actually did a really good game there. It`s old and I had forgotten about it, but imo it was one of the best scifi racers ever done.

Since it apparently went unnoticed I`ll stress again that CuteAlien isn`t involved with this project.

I agree that expanding to platforms such as xbox live arcade would be a very good idea. Unfortunately this is by no means simple. There`s a lot of things to overcome, not only the technical side.

MasterGod · Post by **MasterGod** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:02 pm

flipmode wrote:Thanks for the welcome JP:)
As you mentioned Star War`s pod racers I remembered they actually did a really good game there. It`s old and I had forgotten about it, but imo it was one of the best scifi racers ever done.

The first thing I thought about was SW pod racing game which is awesome (and actually I played it last week

)

flipmode wrote:Since it apparently went unnoticed I`ll stress again that CuteAlien isn`t involved with this project.

Don't you guys get it that he wants such posts:

e.g. wrote:Screenshots look great flipmode, looking forward to it

lol..

flipmode · Post by **flipmode** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 4:06 pm

lol, I`ve actually been more concerned about the sequel-blaming upon his head, but certainly don`t mind the other thing either