Indie | Kiss My Three Dimensional Ass
Kiss My Three Dimensional Ass
But put these glasses on first…
Fraser McMillan is not the sort of man to be impressed by dark glasses.
QUICK NOTE: short, tongue in cheek article this week because it was, well, nice and easy to write and I’ve spent the last couple of days working overtime and making ready to go to T in the Park, to which I dash tomorrow until Monday. Something of a tenuous link to indie stuff but my point remains valid. Cheers!
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It’s the future, we’re told. It’s a paradigm shift, we’re told. It’ll revolutionise how we consume our media, we’re told. Our brains will melt and our eyes leap from their sockets, we’re told. Sound familiar?
3D is back and, seemingly, here to stay. Until people refuse to buy any more pairs of cheaply made RealD specs and boycott the latest dimensionally retrofitted family film, we’re stuck with it. “Maybe it’s time to get a 3D TV?” Sony begs of us in its latest – admittedly impressive – advertisement. “Or not” is my response. That PS3 floating at the bottom right of the final image reminded me of a depressing reality; 3D is upon us not just in tired cinematic form, but is furthermore about to invade our video games. Woo fucking hoo.
Perhaps one should withhold assent until the stuff is actually available. I’ll admit that, though as much for the hardware and potential lineup as the touted effect, I’m interested in Nintendo’s 3DS. That it both requires no glasses and can be
adjusted or turned off according to preference makes it, however, somewhat more attractive than Sony’s flawed and seemingly unimpressive efforts. Reports have also been almost uniformly positive. I’ll have no quarrels with a 3D that doesn’t require darkened specs and won’t demand a couple of preemptive paracetamol just to get through without a migraine the size of a small Pacific island.
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3D as a concept is something I’m indifferent to in the first place. Since Mario 64, my eyes have done a perfectly fine job of translating moving 2D game images into 3D ones. Coins popping out of the screen and wing cap Mario swooshing an inch from my face are all well and good, but ultimately, the experience would be little enhanced at the best of times, not to mention that within five minutes of initial amazement and adjustment the effect is virtually nil.
But, as always, the new shiny thing will be foisted upon a wilfully idiotic body of consumers until it’s ubiquitous. That Sony advert was nothing if not clever. Perhaps I do need to see every craggy edge of Fabio Capello’s granite jaw protruding from the set when I tune in to delight in England’s next hammering? Maybe Jason Staham should literally be able to reach from the screen and rip my throat out mid-way through a brainless Sky Box Office rental of Crank 3D? Why shouldn’t Sly Cooper’s fuzzy tail be waggling in my face as I negotiate the smoky back-streets of Paris (Hilton)?
Because none of these things need to happen. Because it’s pointless. Because it’s silly expensive. All of the above apply especially to the last of those examples. HD was no Technicolour, and 3D isn’t anywhere close to the former. As the next generation of gaming machines are announced and we’re forced to immerse ourselves completely in every
gruesomely eviscerated organ hanging from Marcus’ chainsaw, though, there will still be those that stick to something a little more traditional. Old-hat it may be, but 2D-2D is still ripe for far more exploration than 3D ever will be. This, my friends, is where indie steps in.
There are plenty great 2D-3D indie games, don’t get me wrong. Raptor Safari is particularly close to my heart, and Unity, Unreal and Source in particular are fascinating toolkits that have produced some of the best independent titles ever made. But 2D is the community’s bread and butter. Post-1990s it had all but disappeared, but then along came the internet and two dimensions were viable again. Countless individuals or small studios are able to breathe new life into the side-scrolling, RPG, puzzle, arcade/high-score, adventure and strategy genres without a polygon in sight. DEFCON, VVVVVV, Braid, The Shivah and Digital: A Love Story are but a handful of the cream of the crop, with more graphically 3D but 2D planar games, such as Trials 2 and Trine, accompanying them.
And, as we are thrust into a post-2D world, digital distribution services and forums will be able to keep the soul of video gaming alive. This has rubbed off on the mainstream largely thanks to Xbox Live Arcade, with Capcom in particular returning to their roots with Bionic Commando Rearmed and in a more literal sense Mega Man 9 and 10. There’s an appetite for polished versions of 2D classics as Sega has discovered with Sonic and co. reappearing in digital form to some success. Monkey Island has been refitted and thrown back out there for a new generation to enjoy, alongside countless others.
The big publishers doubtless love 3D. It gives them another excuse to retrofit, repackage and most importantly resell old concepts wrapped crudely in cellophane, as well as tell us just how awesome the next few years will be. As popular titles move increasingly towards 3D, though, it’s more important than ever that the independent spirit remains with 2D. Thankfully, we’re not quite done with it yet, and nor should we be.
Just a small counterpoint, but at present a quality first person platforming experience is extremely hard to execute in game development. A large part of this is due to the absence of near field depth perception. 3D stands to solve this challenge handily.