SHP Forums

I'm incredibly excited about this game. And now that I've seen the trailer, even more so. If I can say so, I'm more excited about this game than Moebius!

I have thought that the main reason the FMV games usually fell short is that they were ahead of their times. Any realism that they could add was lost because of the limited technology of the time; poor video compression compounded by storage limitations, cruder green screen methods, etc. A modern attempt has a much better chance of being pulled off effectively with modern codecs, better CG work and DVDs and other methods in general.

I always felt the lack of interactivity was FMV's main drawback. You basically clicked here or there and the character (or multiple characters) acted out the scene. It's similar to QT events, where you don't really control anything, just click or do some minor action and the game take over.

Granted, the Tex Murphy games always had better interaction with the game setting because they let you roam around in a 3D environment and only went to FMV when in a conversation or showcasing a piece of the story. That was, unfortunately, unusual for FMV. Maybe if more games followed that pattern, FMV wouldn't have been so bad.

Back when FMV first appeared, technology in general was pretty limited. You have VGA (or at best SVGA) and crude 3D graphics, where often gouraud shading was the best you could get. So I never really thought that FMV's technical limitations were its main fault, especially since some FMV games (like Wing Commander IV) used actual film, as opposed to video.

I think they're taking a risk by using FMV -- even with modern technology -- in a new Tex Murphy game. They might be able to get away with it, considering it's a Kickstarter/Indie game now, so people often expect unusual concepts.

Even so, it's an odd choice. I'd imagine FMV is still more expensive than 3D graphics (if for no other reason, you need to pay actors more to be on camera, as opposed to only voicing the the characters), so it might not be the best use of the funds received through the Kickstarter campaign.

I agree with you in terms of the lack of interactivity, but it does not inherently have to be a characteristic of FMV. As to a Tex game, its fans (and KS backers) are probably the best receptive to a modern FMV game. In fact, it would probably be something that the backers might complain about if it weren't FMV.

I am not sure about cost. Chris Jones would be the bulk of the talent used and he is probably more concerned about making Tex Murphy viable again. Obviously, there would be a wide range in terms of how high profile of actors used. Also consider that 3-D can be expensive. Even today, low end 3-D can diminish a game. But without seeing numbers, it is hard to say which would have a higher price tag.

Looks great. Love the cheesiness and the overall look. Can't wait to play this game.

Love the trailer. I'd rather see this as an FMV game with cheesy effects than watch them try to convert Tex into a 3D character. And it's been a while since anyone's really tried to make a serious FMV game, so I'm curious to see how modern technology will factor into this.

Datadog wrote:I'm curious to see how modern technology will factor into this.

Me too

This looks great
The last 'Triple A' game I can remember that used FMVs was the Alan Wake DLC and there, as with the C&C games for instance, it was used to cheesy effect. Granted,it's not the same as building a whole game on it but I wonder if there's not some kind of disconnect on an immersion level with this technique.