Make Max more furry and less 3d

I really can't wait till the release of the new Sam & Max game.

Only thing bothering me though is that the characters seem to be so metallic and shiny. Especially Max has that 3D-look that I don't think fits. I mean, he's a furry animal, not a glossy 3d prototype model.

Okay, I know that his design is inspired from the comics and the old pixel art game, where he is all white and beige. That look does IMO look better in 2d, and I think it would be nice if you could put a couple of other structures on the characters in this new game, so that you get a better feel for them. You don't have to add fur, as in Monster Inc., only something that gives a less plastic look.

Try to find a more coarse and neutral look on the characters, and my happiness would be complete!

Well, the mistake from telltale is wanting to make the game 3D. I'd rather pay my game a few more buck and wait longer time between episodes than having an ugly looking 3D game. I mean, it's so terrible looking on pictures and so static when moving... It just does not fit with the Sam & Max universe. On a given resolution, 3D will never ever ever be as beautiful as 2D. Ok, 3D is less expensive, but hell, better a good looking game a bit expensive than a cheap game you won't be able to enjoy.

If the game is going to be episodic, why won't telltale make just *one* short episode in 2D once the game is launched and see how popular it will be and how well it sale just to be sure that it won't sell so much that "game earning less game cost" is better with 2D ?

I just hope that they add the option to change the resolution this time. I mean the Bone games look great anti aliased and all, on a regular monitor, put when you play them on a largeish flat screen they tend to get that blown up look if you don't run it at atleast 1280 by 1024.

Bah, in 3D you can force whatever resolution you wish, 2D is rescaled and 3D rendered in higher resolution. Even if it's not in the game (which is highly doubltful) geeks will manage with that.

[jp-30]

To play any future Sam & Max episodes in 2D, wear an eyepatch.

Am I the only one who finds the 3D art appealing? I think it's a very successful translation into the third dimension. In terms of furiness- I like the flat shading too. In fact, I'm pleased to see they've lost some of the ugly texture details from the shots from the LucasArts version- did you notice the grainy mess in Sam's fur on those shots? Also the lip-sync seems smoother now, like Sam's jaw is rigged a little better to move for some of those sounds.

I'm with you, I think they both look pretty much perfect. Max's teeth, in particular, were something that freaked me out about the Freelance Police version. I hope there's the same quality of lighting in the games (I remember seeing the engine being mentioned as capable of HDR somewhere...), because I think that may be contributing to just how good they both look.

The 3d looks fine to me. I don't really pay much attention to graphics unless they are just really bad and painful to the eyes, and these are not . Also, I don't recall max being THAT fluffy looking, so how does him in 3d look bad.

-= Dear God - I hope the developers will be reading this post [[-o<] =-
(maybe I should be swearing to make sure I get their attention - anyway...

I don't like the look of Bone, I didn't like the look of Grim Fandango or MI4 (not to mention the controls in MI4 - my god!) That's the sole reason why I haven't bought any of telltale games' titles.

I simply do not like the plastic coated look that has been dominating 3D AGs to date - and I really think it is too bad, because it really keeps me from seeing the charm and personality of the characters.
I think that even in the old days, which I know will never return, the very pixellized characters had more charm than now, because back then, the graphical representation of most AGs far exeeded the overall "realism" (or whatever) of other types of games (shoot-em-ups, sims, action, etc.).

Nowadays, the developers of AGs often have to slim down the game requirements (probably based on extensive market research - I hope). This means that they have to use basic shaders and that sort of stuff - Only, IMHO, maybe they shouldn't.

Many of you may not know the game "Sheep Dog 'n Wolf". When I tried this game back in 2001, I thought to myself: "Now there is a successful comic adaptation! Best ever, to be completely honest."
I think the engine concept (perhaps strongly updated and modified for the specific task) would be great for many of the future AGs of these times as it would allow the designers to REALLY bring back the charm to comic based AGs (non-human characters). The character animations are really funny and it is simply a great game! (although, by now maybe a bit out of date)
Take a look at this link (the actual game looks better than the screenshots) and this link.

If you are interrested in seeing the game in action, you can download it here .

I will never give up hoping.

I like the 3D look (sorry guys! [:">] ) - It took a while for LucasArts to sell it to me (along with the control system), but Grim Fandango was so good (escape from Monkey Island was just okay) that I was a little pissed at having to go back to point and click with bone.

Besides, it looks pretty much like the 'original' LucasArts sequel would have looked, (which was also in 3D) at least judging by the ads of the time.

Again, for me, a low polycount is fine, as long as the textures and stylisation works (ala WoW)

I'd rather move forward with the times than stick too much to nostalgia (will I get flamed for that?) [~:>]

I don't think we've seen enough to make much in the way of informed comments about the game's visual style. I can say though, that outside of Hit the Road (which is probably as much for pragmatic reasons as anything) and the TV series perhaps (which is probably more the nature of the medium than a definitive decision), Sam & Max have never really had a cell shaded type look when in seen in colour. They're almost always more 3 dimensionally shaded looking than just being flat colours. I have to admit, I can't see this plasticcy look on what little Telltale have released so far either. As for charm, it's too early to judge; once we've seen some in-game screenshots, then we can start complaining.

I forgot to mention that I think the S&M trailer looks great - lets hope it is in game graphics (although I'm pretty sure it isn't).

What I'm trying to say is that 3D is the way to go - they just have to work harder at making the characters more...ehh...err... charming? I know they already are, but I just feel that some of the charm gets lost in an embossy, glossy and plastic-like look and feel.

In my last post I forgot to mention XIII - do anyone remember this game? Those who have in fact played it will probably agree that the cartoon effects work pretty well! At least, that's what I think...

take a look for yourself here .

Btw - sorry if I made it sound like a complaint. I was only trying to give input as I think some aspects of 3D AGs can be improved on.

that's all that was to it - honestly :-s

Btw - sorry if I made it sound like a complaint. I was only trying to give input as I think some aspects of 3D AGs can be improved on.

that's all that was to it - honestly :-s

It's cool man - Everyone heres chatting because they dig Sam & Max & its definitly a bonus to hear the thoughts and ideas of other fans [>-]

once we've seen some in-game screenshots, then we can start complaining.

This is the Internet. It's never too early to start complaining.

I'm collage study for MAYA 3d and Real time fur rendering is cool yes but 3d fur do not mix to well at gaming speed there is a hardware issues for it. the fur is just a "shader covering" for the 3d.

Asking them to be that would raise the hardware requirements for the game by a lot in fact until just a few years ago fur in real time for games was considerd almost impossible to do at any decent speed.

It got limted use on the xbox and gamecube due to the speed requirements though you see it all the time on film now a days Like shrek "donkey" and the big blue hairy guy on monsters inc. I am 99% sure that took lots of computers a few days to draw just one frame.

and I am sure it still does asking a standard desktop comptuer at th is time to do that would take weeks to do just in a couple minutes would not happen..

In film rendering you watch the computer spit out high quaitly hairs on the subject's final version at a very very slow pace. Then when finsihed they are all edited togeather into the film at the full 29 frames a secound.

Games have to draw the animations as fast as you click the buttons meaining it has to put out all the final version of the scene at least 30 times every second to be enjoyable watching or it will be no fun to wait for it sprinkle hair all over sam and max when you click walk.


The newer powerful GPU like XBOX 360 will make it more common though less fancy than films. A game like viva pinyata has the effect all over.

Game rendering fur is Pretty well limited to this right now.
and used sparingly in favor of speed and low computer requriements.

ATI's bear/monkey pretty yes?
http://www.ati.com/developer/demos/r9700.html
and the older Nvidia geforce 4 werewolf.

But you need a 9700 pro or later in real game with buildings or wheat ever you would need more.

Sam and max on screen both realy fuzzy would be quite straining on older computers and if they did that they would have to add hair on all the people on the screen or they would just look out of place.

I'm sure telltale wants everybody to play it even if they have a really old PC and do not buy video cards often.

I think they look great just they way they are the comic never had fur and I don't blame them who would want to draw tons of fur by hand? It would take hours

The bump mapping look on the wall is awsome enough for me.

as well let's no forget that since 3d GPU makes some "shortcuts" and optimizations while rendering with shaders
a) expect some graphic glitches.
b) it might not look as you intended to.
c) i like the "3D plastic" look, and if dont like it, try this - use some post-rendering effect to make it 320x240 and pixelated.
it works! (and no.. its not a joke. try it)

YEs they do make short cuts lots of them make modern gaming grpahics look high quailty with less time.

Doom 3 using normal mapping wich is just simply Fancy wallpaper to make it look better than it does..

Using other things the hardware is capable of doing to make "illusions" to make things look more than they appear to be has been used since games has started and they work great.

But the wider scope of people they want to buy like just abot everybody girls boys adults kids not all have fancy cards that even have the modern "short cuts"

Like the ever horrible built in Motherboard based graphics that come with common store bought computers at wal mart or laptops ETC are barely even considered cut out to be graphics proccessing.

At least right now on the future even bargain basement computer graphics will have fancy special effects like fur at high speed.

I forgot to mention that I think the S&M trailer looks great - lets hope it is in game graphics (although I'm pretty sure it isn't).

What I'm trying to say is that 3D is the way to go - they just have to work harder at making the characters more...ehh...err... charming? I know they already are, but I just feel that some of the charm gets lost in an embossy, glossy and plastic-like look and feel.

In my last post I forgot to mention XIII - do anyone remember this game? Those who have in fact played it will probably agree that the cartoon effects work pretty well! At least, that's what I think...

take a look for yourself here .

The trailers graphics have slight aliasing since no graphics card has antialiasing that is good enough to truely cover it.

The drawers in there office shimmer since it is a straight edge it stands out even when the best antialiasing is going.

The gril of the car and window trim are other jagged edges and himering things that is not realy telltale fault just the nature of 3D that give away it is all in game.

I am going to say it is all In game it is very possible to get everything seen in the trailer into the game these days.

There are plenty of games that include furry characters that genuinly look furry (e.g Black & White 2)

But I'm not too sure if it would really fit into the 'style' of Sam & Max - especialy given it's comic book roots.

The graphics do look very similar to the never-released sequal (from a couple of years ago) so potentially it could look better and still be within equivelent spec - So maybe they'll up the graphics for the second series? - But then again - adventure gamers are pretty notorious for having crappy PC's.

For now I'm more interested in getting a solid Sam & Max adventure - I can gripe about the small stuff later

(I always though since they'd pretty much finished the Sam & Max sequel that even if LucasArts didn’t want to publicise and release the game, they could have at least made it available to download – Sorry, I know that’s not relevant, but it still p*sses me off  )