Am I making things up?

[Stupot]

I was chatting to a friend and we got talking about the possibility of creating a game that starts of with deliberately average graphics but they get better or worse depending on how well you play?
Then I thought something similar to this had already been done.
I'm sure there's been a game where the graphics built up as you played, starting in a wireframe environment but gradually more and more polygons being added as you played?
I only have a vague memory of seeing or reading about something like this and it's quite possible I'm making it up.

Does anyone know what game I might be going on about, if indeed such a game exists?

(not necessarily an adventure game.. most probably a shoot 'em up or something).

[nulluser]

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[Andail]

Never heard of it...truthfully, I don't understand the point with it, granted of course that the very theme of the game isn't about our visual surroundings or graphics or whatever; a meta-representation of the game theme, so to speak.
Just having any random adventure game feature such a development seems a bit...strange.

[Stupot]

I'm pretty sure it wasn't an adventure game... It would have been about 5-10 years ago probably...(thats normally how far back my memory goes) so possiby it was on the playstation or maybe early ps2.

[BOYD1981]

Rez started off as all wireframes which got filled in with colour as you made progress.
i had an idea like yours when Darwinia was first announced and thought it actually would happen in that game, but alas it did not.

[Nikolas]

I had a similar idea, but never went through. I find it a very nice idea. No idea if it's been done before...

[fred]

We discussed a similar idea at a team production at my university once, where the player would be in control of a species of insects that would genetically evolve during the game. It would have been cool to implement that their sensory apparatus evolved as well, and allowed for more detailed graphics and sound at later stages in the game, but looking at it from a programming and assets point of view, we decided we didn't have time for it. Still, it would have been cool, but I agree that features like those should be integrated with story and game world in a way that makes sense.

[Ubel]

I also don't recall hearing an idea like this ever before and I think it's pretty innovative and interesting! It would be cool to see something like this!

[biothlebop]

I toyed with a similar (graphical adventure game) concept where a conscious robot that awakens to find its' systems malfunctioning.
The aim of the game would have been to firstly repair oneself, and then improve existing systems in order
to learn the reason why it awoke, to understand the world better or something like that.

The graphics could go through various phases as the robot improved it's perception of the environment.
Examples: black screen, static, detection of motion, still objects and distances, black and white, color, heat detection etc.

Especially it's current capability of abstraction and artificial intelligence would influence how the environment would be presented graphically in various ways.
Examples: learning to filter out uneccessary data, using symbols/ideas/fantasy and interlinking them with sensory perceptions
(the world or parts of it could look something like a fairy tale illustration momentarily or the robot could distinguish where objects end and begin).

[TheYak]

It has a cool-factor as far as gimmicks are concerned, but I'd really like to see the concept refined to having practical value.  The first thing that popped into my head while reading the idea was an adventure/rpg during which the more you succeeded in the game and role-played (i.e. not doing things like slaughtered a vendor on the street in order to acquire more potions or other things you probably wouldn't do if it were real life), the more immersed you became.  That is, the environment became more textures, the people animations more life-like, and the sound less tinny - surrounding you more and increasing the ambient factor. 

The net result being that the world came more alive to you and your perception seemed to increase the deeper you immersed yourself in the world.

It could also be more practical as far as technical details are concerned.  If you're the type of player that stops "to smell the roses" then you wouldn't require the low-polygon/high-framerate gameplay of the action-based type that might always be running about and mowing down enemies.

[Stupot]

I toyed with a similar (graphical adventure game) concept where a conscious robot that awakens to find its' systems malfunctioning.
The aim of the game would have been to firstly repair oneself, and then improve existing systems in order
to learn the reason why it awoke, to understand the world better or something like that.

The graphics could go through various phases as the robot improved it's perception of the environment.
Examples: black screen, static, detection of motion, still objects and distances, black and white, color, heat detection etc.

Especially it's current capability of abstraction and artificial intelligence would influence how the environment would be presented graphically in various ways.
Examples: learning to filter out uneccessary data, using symbols/ideas/fantasy and interlinking them with sensory perceptions
(the world or parts of it could look something like a fairy tale illustration momentarily or the robot could distinguish where objects end and begin).

This would be great. Ã, The best thing about it would that the more the robot can see and understand, the more you could do as a player. Ã, For example you might come to a door that needs a red key, but you can only currently see in black and white, but later in the game you will bre able to interpret colour and the red door will be open to you...

Thats a basic (and bad) example, but it shows how a system like this could be used to open the game up more naturally.

[Mr Flibble]

I think this is a great idea, and if you develop it right, it has the potential to be an incredible game.

Tying it in with the puzzles as suggested sounds like fun too, but it'd also be nice to have it tied with the theme of the game. Sam and Max with varying degrees of graphics wouldn't work, you know? You have to get the topic of the game right for this to work to full effectiveness.

But go for it I say.

[Erenan]

Yeah, it seems that for this to work the changes in the visuals would have to be a reflection of something thematic in game, like biothlebop's robot idea, which honestly sounds to me like it could be a really immersive gaming experience.

[ManicMatt]

Has anyone played Okami on playstation 2?

It's a beautiful game, and it looks like a world painted with caligraphy and inks. In it, the world has been tainted by a dark force, and the trees have darkened and shrivelled up. You play a wolf-god and literally paint things on the screen, and before your very eyes, the trees spring up into a beautiful blossom of lovely colours! But it's not just the trees, it's all the nature and people too.

[Radiant]

Samba Del Amigo does something like that.

It's a cute gimmick but it would probably only work in a small game, otherwise it falls flat after awhile.

[Vince Twelve]

I think Boyd got it.  You're probably remembering Rez.  It's a rhythm/on-rails-shooter with an incredible presentation.  Before it came out it was being hyped as doing just what you describe, but in reality, the game didn't quite pull it off.  It's still a great game though.

The world starts out empty and then wireframe baddies come in and as you kill them (in rhythm) you build up the music and the world starts to flesh out with wireframe/polygons/effects.  But it's not quite as amazing as it sounds.  I once tried to play through the game without shooting (except where necessary) and the game seemed to build up the music and world in pretty much the same way, so your effect on the whole thing is limited.

It's still an amazing game to play and the last level, in particular, is mindblowing.  In the last level, you go through the evolution of the world.  Starting deep in the ocean, small creatures start appearing, then larger vertabrates, then eventually you leave the ocean and go onto land where small creatures and bugs start appearing and eventually quadrupedal creatures, then into the sky, then into space etc...  The game is pretty short, (though there are some ridiculously difficult unlockables that you can struggle with forever) but I go back to the game occasionally just to play through the last level.

I do think it's a great idea.  Something that could be done to great effect in an adventure game.  I had a similar idea where you're playing as an amnesiac who goes back into his memories and as he unlocks more and more of his memories, the graphics become clearer and more realistic.  It could play into the gameplay in that certain objects or characters might be unrecognizable (and hence non-interactable) until you had unlocked enough memories and cleared up the graphics a bit.

Please do try to make something unique out of your idea.  I'd love to see what you come up with!

[Stupot]

Yeh maybe It was Rez I was thinking of... I never did play it and it was around the sort of time I'm thinking of... towards the death of the Dreamcast.

I could never be able to programme a game with the sort of things we're talking about, I have barely started my first game, although I think someone should do something.
Biothlebop robot game and your amnesia quest are both great ideas. I reckon we should put a call out for a team and see if we can come up with some sort of plan.
I can't get too involved cos I'm going to Japan in April for a year, and much as I love AGS, I'd rather spend that time seeing it.

[Vince Twelve]

Rez came out on the Dreamcast as well.  And here in japan, it came with a nice accessory (link may be NSFW) that was great for getting your girlfriend involved in gaming...

And if you're coming to Japan to teach, you're going to have plenty of freetime sitting at your desk (like I'm doing right now) that you can use to make AGS games!

[Haddas]

Remember Black&White by Lionhead?

Not necessarily better or worse graphics, but different.

Not saying this idea isn't cool aswell, because it is.

[Jon]

I think that this could be similar to the video game, 'Star Wars: Knights of the old republic' in which if you do 'Bad' things (e.g. kill people) you turn more demonic, and if you do 'Good' things (e.g. heal people) you turn more Holy. This seemed to work quite well.