GEO-MOD 2.0 for future GTA's

[XTREME0235]

Think about it for one second, destructible environments like Red Faction Guerrilla for example.

I mean, i understand that it could possible lag up the game and all in something like Multiplayer, but maybe not, we don't know that.

I for one would think it would be kick ass, it just means that it would be hard to find cover and stuff, but it would still be possible to hide under the ruble and what not.

 

Plus, with the weight of buildings and stuff, if having the majority of the side of the buildings being crumbled, the rest of it would tip on it's own weight.

Having the inside of the buildings being able to burn to the ground would be insane as hell, i would call for great Machinima making and other awesome videos.

I mean, R* has already done a little bit of it so far with there being a warehouse at the docks on the 3rd island, and when you shoot the bottom of the pillars, the concrete crumbles off and reveals the inner supporting pole. Or the penis concrete statue in Middle park, which just decintegrates into pieces when shot in different spots.

 

Give me your opinions and reasons as to why you believe it would be a win or fail on R*'s behalf to do so.

If you can, try and not get into an argument or say something to possibly get involved in an argument, as this is just a friendly poll on opinions.

 

Thanks,

XTREME0235.

[LordDastardly]

In RF:G, the setting was the moon, occupied by mostly empty buildings. You have to ask some questions:

 

1) Why were the buildings empty?

2) Why were there never huge numbers of buildings in the same place at once?

3) What was the most 'hyped' feature of Red Faction?

 

 

If you destroy the side of a skyscraper, you expect to see more than a few columns inside. Destroying only empty buildings would drastically decrease the immersion as would seeing the same furniture over and over and over and over again. Therefore, R* would have to not only furnish EVERY SINGLE BUILDING IN THE GAME, but also have multiple, as in, thousands, of differnt types of furniture.

 

RF:G was only a midly populated setting, when there were buildings together it was only ever a small amount - and even then you get the occasional, (very occasional), lag. In a city like LC, having destructable environments as well as fully furnished buildings would make the game unplayable but would also take a ridiculous amount of development time.

 

Finally, the main feature of RF:G was the destructibilty - if the environments weren't destructable the game would have been a huge flop - the destructability holds up what is otherwise weak gameplay. On the other hand, GTA has huge amounts to do and the game is polished and there are so many different great features, over just one, that the destructibilty would most likely dominate the development and cause other features to become inferior and less well made.

 

Therefore, I think that destructable environments are a definite "NO", atleast on this generation of consoles. At the same time, if R* were to include destructable environments, as long as the game is still good, I would most certainly buy it.

[Suihkubad]

It would be cool to knock down entire skyscrapers, but in the next ten years it will be impossible. If you could knock down every single wall in the game, every single building would have to have an interior. Trees and fences should be able to be knocked down

[XTREME0235]

Nice to see your opinions guys, and yes LordDastardly i have to agree with you on the interior part of this, it would take more than what it usually takes for R* to make a GTA game, but who knows right, only surprises can define us in this gaming era.

[Paulo_Adriel]

Brazil here:

 

Would be mass, GTA SAN ANDREAS similar to that RED GUERRILLA

 

[Oldsmobile]

You do realize that the Geo-Mod engine was created (and, I assume, owned) by the developers of the Saint's Row franchise. Allowing Rockstar to use the Geo-Mod engine would be like loaning ammunition to the enemy, and they're already throwing rocks at a tank as it is...

[Jewstinian]

This is the first time I've seen you without using green as your text color.

 

 

On topic, someone inform me of GEO-Mod. I was never good with modifications and don't plan on it.

[kmanmx]

I'm laughing just thinking about the development costs and technical problems with such a game.

 

These have already been mentioned, but every home building would have to be decorated and furnished, you would need at least 50 different variants of every furniture type so when you smash up 10 buildings you see some variation. You could have the buildings randomly furnished by building some bespoke software to do it, the software could simply find the room size, and put a sofa, some art, a plantpot and TV. It would look generic but it would be okay. If you wanted each interior lovingly made like on GTA4, that would take MASSIVE amounts of works. We are talking a team of 50+ artists building just interiors for many years.

 

Geomod 2.0 is actually not very good. It doesn't model weight, building strength very well. You could have a house stand up supported by one corner. While not perfect, whatever engine or method used in the game Demolition Company is superior - I actually played this game and modded it myself and uploaded a video, it's pretty fun.

You get the idea. Sorry for crappy phone recording.

 

Anyway, the destruction in that is better than Geomod. It's definitely not perfect, at all. But it's better. It was only made by a crappy cheap developer using probably generic physics engine, Rockstar North could make something far better if they wanted too.

 

BUT! It would never run.. not on consoles.. not on PC... not on a top end enthusiast gaming PC. That destruction company game uses a fair amount of CPU, and you are only destroying one small building at a time with nothing going on. If you factor in the CPU needing to calculate AI vehicles, peds, the much bigger buildings, naturalmotion animation engine, plus the other very complicated things.. you realize why this game could never be made at the moment.

 

What if a player decides he will get his jet up to 500mph, and then fly at building height down a street, essentially crashing his plane into 20+ buildings. That would be the first thing everyone is going to want to do, which is fair enough. If this game had an improved version of GeoMod up to Rockstars standards it would literally run at about 1fps on current gen consoles. I'm not joking or exaggerating in anyway.

 

If I were to wager on what kind of system requirements you need, assuming next gen consoles have CPU's 7x more powerful than the CPU in the PS3, i'd guess you would need four of those next gen consoles linked together.

So in other words, the generation *after* next gen, will probably be capable of atleast some sort of city wide destruction in GTA.

 

And then there is the question of would you want it. Yes, it would be cool, but how do you get around the fact that if you crash into a skyscraper, it falls and collapses onto 100 other buildings, what happens ? Do they magically rebuild in 10 minutes, are they gone forever ? how is the rubble and mess cleared up, does it just dissapear after 20 seconds ? is it worth the mammoth amount of time effort and money required to implement such a thing ?

[Nebby]

 

Brazil here:

 

Would be mass, GTA SAN ANDREAS similar to that RED GUERRILLA

 

What?

 

Nice bump - too.

[Jason]

In theory it could be fun, it could really be hilarious in multiplayer. But because of technical limitations it's obviously not possible at the moment, and probably won't be next generation either, at least not for a map the size of GTA's anyway. If it were possible today, I'd personally rather have it not in GTA. I think it could definitely suit some games, possibly games like Saints Row, but I don't think it'd suit GTA. For single player it also messes the hell of continuity which is something Rockstar cares deeply about, so I can't see them ever doing it for that reason alone.

[MenuET]

Actually, it's not a bad idea

[Chickenwing]

Interior problem will completely rule it out...

[bayz101]

Keep in mind that this topic is old as dirt.