2D Sprites or 3D Models? [poll added]

[benzei]

Id preffer 2D, works better and looks better. But whatever works, graphics have never been all that important to me.

[Sticks]

Isometric but the decision of 2d or 3d should fall to whichever the art team can churn out the quickest and best.

[returnity]

Well definitely not "full top-down" but isometric view is the best for these type of games imho. Actually the way infinity engine games handled this was very optimal. I still play those games with resolution and wide-screen patches and they still don't cease to amaze me. I prefer those games' graphics over say Dragon Age: Origins any day. Character equipment's detail level is of course a plus here, but I can live without it.

I'm not a tech guy as you might have understood but when I as a simple gamer look at the screen, the first striking object is the background's detail level and as long as there's enough care and love put into it, well no problem for me.. I still remember way too many locations from Baldur's Gate Series pixel by pixel, whereas modern day's full-3d, ubergraphics games are for the most part "forgettable" to say the least.

[Felicia]

i'm a bit inclined to 2D here possibly because the best cRPGs were always 2D or 2D/3D mix. however...this time i would like to see a full 3D game doing the isometric perspective thing properly! (requiem for van buren? )

Totally agree. I really like the graphics of Starcraft 2. Of course, I don't expect anything that intricate for Wasteland 2... but I would *love* seeing something that nice. Big fan of 3D isometric.

[Gamescook]

I think I'd rather see 3D models. Unless there's a style or fluidity to be had with the sprites' art style (remember Capcom's spritework on their Playstation and arcade games in the late nineties? Like BUTTER, they were so smooth.) 3D models would be the more flexible option, as they can allow for more dynamic scenes and camera angles.

[undecaf]

I'm partial for a mix of both, but which ever way it looks and works better suits me fine.

[Frogacuda]

3D models (be they pre-rendered or real-time), for many reasons.

1) In a game with a far camera overhead view like this, it's going to be cheaper. You can reuse a lot of stock animations and models and just re-skin them to make a variety of NPCs without having to do a lot of work, rather than having to redo all the animations. You don't really need a lot of custom per-character animations in this like you would in, say, an adventure game, so making these animations interchangeable saves a lot of time.

2) It gives the developers a lot of tools in terms of presentation. This game's not going to be able to afford a lot of cut scenes and the like, but just by playing with the camera at key moments, they can get a more cinematic presentation than they could in pure 2D.

3) It's just going to broaden the game's appeal.

[Fippy_Darkpaw]

It will most likely be 3D models since 2D has a lot of drawbacks: more tedious to create art assets, fixed frame rate, and usually something low like 30, and doesn't scale well to different screen resolutions.

Look at the fully 3D version of Fallout 3 that Black Isle canned back in 2003. This is what I picture Wasteland 2 engine looking something like:

http://youtu.be/1uuDKrY7eW0
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Van_Buren

[jimirillo]

I’m inclined to vote for 3D models, I think they would scale better for people using different resolutions (I find that playing fallout these days in High res, things are a bit too small, whereas on a tablet it would probably be just right), and although gameplay is far more important than eye candy, I still think things like realtime shadows and lighting can add a lot to the atmosphere. If on the other hand, the game features things like character portraits, I would much rather see these as hand drawn, the rendered portraits in Jagged Alliance Back in Action or Neverwinter Nights 2 were not a patch on the ones in the original games.

[Gizmo]

While I'm all for the benefits of 3d models, these days I bet they could do 2D using SVG sprites if they wanted to.

* I am surprised that no one has mentioned a Voxel based engine ~especially since you could dig in Wasteland. I can envision some interesting level design using a destructible voxel game world; or possibly 3d sprites over just a voxel landscape.

[Myst]

High definition 2D sprites/environments all the way.

3D just gets too much in the way of the artist. It's the same with point-and-click adventure games; you want the artist to be free to do his work exactly how he wants to do it. A few 3D structures and placeables in the background would be fine, but 3D just never quite looks as good as concept art. I want the game to resemble Andrée Wallin's concept art as much as possible, that guy is great!

[Freakyfrog]

animated 2d sprites with high resolution would be my first choice. (maybe some option to make use of 2 or more screens is an idea for getting good tactical overview)

in my opinion 3d graphics has its only use in games which cannot come up with a good story and then graphics needs to be as good and state of the art as possible to sell it. But i think we all agree we want this game for its story and not for good graphics

[Vaux]

Just do the the most beautiful, don't make 3D for make "hey, it's in 3d" or 2d for "hey look, it's a retro!", just take the most good-looking.

[shackpack]

In my opinion the best choice would be 3d models of the characters and 2D environment.

This gives to you the just personalization of the character with his equipment and gives him the freedom to face any direction.

by the other side, how the view will be isometric a good choice is 2D. sometimes the 3D cameras are annoying and distracts you from the game experience. also it makes more easier to develop the environments and give them more detail than in 3D where you need to model each item. sometimes 3D environments give an empty sensation (too few variety of items)

[blacklightofday]

I'd say animated 2D sprites, but at least somewhat better looking than the original Fallout games, of course.

[Wanderer]

High resolution 2D all the way.

[Aradael]

I liked the 3D models used in Fallout Tactics, allowing more complex tactical combat with crouching and prone positions, but there's no reason this couldn't be done with 2D sprites. I do like the idea of gear showing up on characters as it changes, but perhaps such fine detail isn't a necessity in the grand scheme of things.

I will say using models with probably cut down art production time over the length of the project since creating and animating sprites takes longer since it must be done frame by frame by hand; but all this is dependent on the engine used. I'd say in the end my vote is for 3D models.

[Citronvand]

Maybe it's just me but I think Fallout tactics 2D look very good even today. I would be more than satisfied if Wasteland 2 had the same graphics. But I think they can push it even further with todays technology even if their budget is somewhat small.

[Citronvand]

I liked the 3D models used in Fallout Tactics, allowing more complex tactical combat with crouching and prone positions, but there's no reason this couldn't be done with 2D sprites. I do like the idea of gear showing up on characters as it changes, but perhaps such fine detail isn't a necessity in the grand scheme of things.

I will say using models with probably cut down art production time over the length of the project since creating and animating sprites takes longer since it must be done frame by frame by hand; but all this is dependent on the engine used. I'd say in the end my vote is for 3D models.

Uh, I'm pretty sure they're 2D sprites. At least Duck & Covers FAQ says so:

Q. Will there be 3D hardware accelerator support? A. Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel will be enhanced by most major hardware accelerator cards that support DirectX 7, however FOT is a 2D sprite based game.

[MapMan]

3d because 3d done right will be much better than 2d imho. Many will think that I am a fool but I think that the charm of 2d can be recreated (to some extent) in 3d and even expanded upon! The stuff that the modding community of Cry Engine 2 did blew my mind and showed that the "charm" can be moved into three dimensions, it just takes some skilled people and a lot of passion.