Graphics in Deception

[ne0nblack]

Hey everybody,
I just finished Convergence and started playing Deception as I can´t get enough of Rosangela(Lauren) and Joey. The whole series blew me away honestly, I just love the storytelling, atmosphere and old school graphics.

Talking graphics I must admit, however, that I´m a bit disappointed regarding the graphics in Blackwell Deception. At first I was suprised about the menus, character closeups and more stuff being kinda HD compared to the other games, really great. BUT I really think that the character graphics of Joey and Rosa in game are a lot worse here, I find them so much better in Convergence actually. Rosa looks awfully flat and bumpy, just really different. What happenend?? 

Does anyone share my opinion here?

Nevertheless, I think I´m getting over this and enjoy Deception anyway. 

I´m really curious about what Deception is gonna be like storywise...

[Livie]

Dave actually wrote about this on his blog when "The Blackwell Deception" was published: http://nygamedev.blogspot.no/2011/11/graphics-and-budget.html

Oh and just for the record, Deception rocks.

[ne0nblack]

Thanks a lot for this interesting article, Livie!!

That explains everything, great to get such an insight into the development of the Blackwell Games.

I admit I presumed, quite greenly, that consecutive titles would necessarily share the same "qualities".

Nonetheless I really really love the old school graphics style of the series and all Wadjeteye Games! Just of the series, in fact, the Convergence graphics are the best to me personally. : )

[hi]

I've just started Deception recently as well.  And yes, the game is now (thankfully!) rendered in default 640x480.  Player portraits look fantastic as well.  But the backgrounds are relatively cheap CG work.

I'm not sure if I'd particularly criticize the character sprites or animations without making a closer comparison.  They've been different in each game so far, and that's more of an artistic decision.  Rosa certainly has more awkwardness shown in her walk and posture, but I'm sure that's intentional.

Bumping to 640x480 alone is huge though, glad to see that change.

[coolio]

The graphics were real ugly and playing the GOG bundle in sequence it was really jarring going from 3 to 4. I also don't see what he's referring to wrt "improved gameplay" as it was the same old Blackwell game to me, trust me playing them literally one after the other I'd notice any improvements there.

Frankly it seems like he has realized his fans aren't going anywhere so he might as well skimp cause they aren't going to care so long as they get their next fix, much like Jeff Vogel who's been coasting making the same game for years. I'm interested in how the next Blackwell game turns out to see if I'll be dropping the Blackwell series like I've dropped Vogel's.

[Sslaxx]

How many remakes of Exile do you need? But the same criticism can not be levelled here. Wadjet Eye isn't exactly able to spend EA or Bethesda levels of money here. It's still a tiny company by comparison.

And "same old Blackwell"? Really? You haven't noticed the direction the games are going in is definitely not "same old"?

If you don't enjoy them, don't play them. Why is that such a hard lesson to learn? I don't think the graphics in Deception are all that bad. Considering that the game was made when things were looking ropey for Wadjet Eye Games, it's pretty good.

[martinhcoat]

Yet to play Deception.

[SirPrimalform]

Oof, just finished Convergence and started Deception and I'm finding the resolution mixing quite jarring. I found the 640x480 text mixed with 320x240 graphics in the previous games ugly*, but tolerable.

It's even worse in this one though! I hope for the next game Dave goes with one resolution or the other. I'd be fine with the whole game being 640x480, but if some of the graphics are going to be low res, I'd rather the rest were too.


*In case it's not clear, it's not low resolutions I find ugly, it's the mixing of resolutions.

[DaveGilbert]

One day I might go back and redo those Deception portraits. I had so little money when I made Deception that I took what I could get.

[GazPumped]

The recent screenshots for Epiphany look very nice !

It looks like Dave has money to invest back in the serie, it's great ... I can't wait !!

[choobs]

So I just played Deception for the first time over the last few days.  I played the original version first, then installed the new version with the updated portraits with Commentary on and I have to say the new portraits fit the game so much better and look great.  The old portraits were well done, but the cartoony look just didn't fit.  The sprites are still nowhere as good as there rest of the games but it looks noticeably better now.

[Rissa]

New character portraits?
That's interesting - I just went and had a look at the game screenshots, and they look just great! I too never liked the old ones, they just didn't match the style of the games.

Will there be a way to update our games or would we have to re-purchase them to get the new portraits?

[DaveGilbert]

Hi Rissa! No, you won't have to repurchase. Your original download link should get you the new version.

[Rissa]

Thanks for your quick reply!
I got mine through the Indie Royale Bundle/Desura. No matter if I try the direct download or get it throug the Desura downloader, I still get the original version.
Next thing to try would be Steam, (edit: the Steam version is updated) but I'd prefer a DRM free version that I can just put on my external HDD just like all my other AGS games...

Is there a chance that the games at Desura will be updated as well?

[DaveGilbert]

Desura! I knew I forgot to update somewhere.

I'll get it up there.