I hope that I'm correct when I say that the main goal as of now is to remake the characters. That is to add details to the 3d models without getting far from the originals and to get the texture resolutions higher by redrawing them, again adding detail where necessary without getting far from the originals.
Let's discuss other possible/impossible easy-to-reach/hard-to-reach goals here; plus of course other possible goal related discussions like "How a certain goal may be reached"... "Which ones to focus on"... etc.
I hope this won't make a mess of a thread.
I'll try to keep it clean by making a kind of index here on this post.
Goal(s) discussion thread
Moderator: ScummVM Team
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JohnnyWalker2001
- Posts: 405
- Joined: Mon Oct 16, 2006 1:27 pm
- Location: London, UK
Hi Jon,
Yes, that's always been the goal of this project. It's probably good to remind people of what the original aim was:
http://forums.residualvm.org/viewtopic. ... 00&start=0
http://grimfandangodeluxe.blogspot.co.u ... u-now.html
To clarify the goals in a little more detail:
1. Textures will be at 4x their original resolution.
2. Models will have a higher polygon count to smoothen off the edges/make fingers become actually 3D, etc.
3. The resolution will be increased by some multiple of original (presumably 1280x960).
The idea is to simply make GF look like you remember it looking...
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CHANGES THAT ARE *NOT* PART OF THIS PROJECT
With projects like this, there's always those who want to suggest different improvements or more extreme changes.
The following is a list of some of the changes that have been proposed on the forum since the beginning of the project.
While it would be great to see some of these become a reality, it's important to keep the aims of this project realistic. So please remember: None of these are part of the GF Deluxe project -- nor will they ever be, unless something radical happens.
1. Make Grim Fandango Widescreen -- This is probably the most popular secondary suggestion. Graphically (outside of the videos) it probably wouldn't be all that hard to add a little extra to the sides of the image. There'd be no need to add new walkpaths, it would purely be aesthetic. But technically, I believe this offers quite the challenge, and is outside of my understanding :-/
2. Add 24-bit Textures -- This really falls under "Improve Texture Quality", so is still part of the main goals, but it's very technically challenging, too, so we never see it become a reality.
3. Increase Background Resolution -- This is something that could be done if the x2 game resolution was implemented, but it would probably be a simple filtering job in Photoshop.
4. Add Point And Click Support -- Giucam attempted this with his Improving Grim Project, and it appears to be impossible. (He added some other really sweet things, though: http://forums.residualvm.org/viewtopic.php?t=203 )
5. Redo the Videos -- It would be nice to up the resolution of the videos, and to switch Manny for his hires model in them, but this is way outside what I think this project is about. Also what is possible. But I'm sure there's some who would like to work on that.
6. Remaking the Entire Game in 3D
Yes, that's always been the goal of this project. It's probably good to remind people of what the original aim was:
http://forums.residualvm.org/viewtopic. ... 00&start=0
And:JohnnyWalker2001 wrote:With ResidualVM now opening up Grim Fandango to us all, I was wondering if a Remastering process could be started. The way I see it there are two things which could be done:
1. Improve texture quality.
2. Remodel the characters.
http://grimfandangodeluxe.blogspot.co.u ... u-now.html
(Which added the tertiary goal of getting the game at running x2 its current resolution (in order for us to see the extra detail added by the models).)JohnnyWalker2001 wrote: 1. Increase the texture quality
2. Adding polygons to the game models
3. Upping the game resolution to 1280x960
To clarify the goals in a little more detail:
1. Textures will be at 4x their original resolution.
2. Models will have a higher polygon count to smoothen off the edges/make fingers become actually 3D, etc.
3. The resolution will be increased by some multiple of original (presumably 1280x960).
The idea is to simply make GF look like you remember it looking...
---
CHANGES THAT ARE *NOT* PART OF THIS PROJECT
With projects like this, there's always those who want to suggest different improvements or more extreme changes.
The following is a list of some of the changes that have been proposed on the forum since the beginning of the project.
While it would be great to see some of these become a reality, it's important to keep the aims of this project realistic. So please remember: None of these are part of the GF Deluxe project -- nor will they ever be, unless something radical happens.
1. Make Grim Fandango Widescreen -- This is probably the most popular secondary suggestion. Graphically (outside of the videos) it probably wouldn't be all that hard to add a little extra to the sides of the image. There'd be no need to add new walkpaths, it would purely be aesthetic. But technically, I believe this offers quite the challenge, and is outside of my understanding :-/
2. Add 24-bit Textures -- This really falls under "Improve Texture Quality", so is still part of the main goals, but it's very technically challenging, too, so we never see it become a reality.
3. Increase Background Resolution -- This is something that could be done if the x2 game resolution was implemented, but it would probably be a simple filtering job in Photoshop.
4. Add Point And Click Support -- Giucam attempted this with his Improving Grim Project, and it appears to be impossible. (He added some other really sweet things, though: http://forums.residualvm.org/viewtopic.php?t=203 )
5. Redo the Videos -- It would be nice to up the resolution of the videos, and to switch Manny for his hires model in them, but this is way outside what I think this project is about. Also what is possible. But I'm sure there's some who would like to work on that.
6. Remaking the Entire Game in 3D
Last edited by nuphonic on Sun Feb 23, 2014 3:58 pm, edited 5 times in total.
In the old thread, I had suggested the possibility of using the depth maps to render the game in stereoscopic 3D. It should be possible to use 2D + depth rendering to move the viewpoint of the pre-rendered backgrounds horizontally, and then add the polygon models back into the shifted scene by moving the real in-game camera to match.
It's a pretty big task to change the way the game engine draws everything, but it's much more feasible than trying to rebuild all the environments in polygons.
It's a pretty big task to change the way the game engine draws everything, but it's much more feasible than trying to rebuild all the environments in polygons.
I agree, it would be more feasible, though I'm not sure how much data the depth maps actually hold. Also I'm not entirely sure what's needed to do something like this, I'd wait for someone more knowledgeable to reply, maybe giucam or somaen?gsm wrote:...It's a pretty big task to change the way the game engine draws everything, but it's much more feasible than trying to rebuild all the environments in polygons.
I personally strongly dislike the words 'stereoscopic' and '3D' in any combination forming or within a sentence, but if it's doable, why not do it?
In any case, the whole 3D re-creation (in my mind) was mainly to be able to get the backgrounds in a higher resolution, and maybe even fill out missing image parts for eventual widescreen support.