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[Eddie-Griffin]

I think more money and more resources is a bullshit entirely contrived excuse for anything.

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2022/...-to-compete-visually-despite-smaller-dev-team

Undead Labs is still quietly working away on State of Decay 3 - we say quietly because we haven't seen any gameplay since its original announcement! Well, thankfully, that could be because the team wants to go all out with its third State of Decay iteration.

In a new interview with Xbox's Matt Booty, State of Decay 3 is discussed, particularly in regards to how the game is being built on Unreal Engine. Booty says that Gears of War dev The Coalition is helping with all things Unreal Engine at Xbox, and the team wants to create something that'll "compete visually" against the competition.

"We want that game [State of Decay 3] to compete, we want it to compete visually. One of the things that the team there is really focused on is animation, animation technology, being able to really up — for State of Decay 3 — the interactivity between the player and the environment."

Considering the first two State of Decay games are what you'd probably call 'lower budget' titles, this is music to our ears! We really hope that State of Decay 3 is built into a more AAA game this time around, and it sounds like that's the vision that Xbox has for the series.

This wasn't touched on before, but I though it was important. One of the reasons for some of these delays is because the money and resources changed objectives of the developers that were brought, and the scope was made larger. They clearly don't want at Xbox State of Decay 3 too look like an above average indie or small studio project like the first two games did, they want it to be a graphical powerhouse with more complexity.

It's a question on whether they will succeed, however, since they are being assisted by another studio that should help deal with any problems that come up.

Microsoft makes it clear they want a visually competitive game graphics wise with State of Decay 3.

 

[Topher]

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2022/...-to-compete-visually-despite-smaller-dev-team


This wasn't touched on before, but I though it was important. One of the reasons for some of these delays is because the money and resources changed objectives of the developers that were brought, and the scope was made larger. They clearly don't want at Xbox State of Decay 3 too look like an above average indie or small studio project like the first two games did, they want it to be a graphical powerhouse with more complexity.

It's a question on whether they will succeed, however, since they are being assisted by another studio that should help deal with any problems that come up.

Microsoft makes it clear they want a visually competitive game graphics wise with State of Decay 3.

Fair enough. I think the focus here is the expansion in scope of the game visually and money helps to accomplish that rather than being the problem. All good.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

I enjoy this style of games but let me build anywhere I want don't restrict me

 

[MarkMe2525]

I enjoy this style of games but let me build anywhere I want don't restrict me

Absolutely, make it an open zombie survival sandbox.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Absolutely, make it an open zombie survival sandbox.

I was one of the few who loved H1Z1 before they went to the foundation type of building.

Was with a group who literally built a wall around the entire city of Pleasant Valley and controlled all the best loot spawns killing looters on sight

I think that type of game play is way more realistic of how things would go down instead of "oh you can only build in this house with these preset pieces"

 

[LordCBH]

SOD2 was a mediocre game that I had a ton of fun with. I really hope they deliver with SOD3 and that they can improve on 2. I have my fingers crossed cause damn it did end up being fun.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Sure.

 

[anthony2690]

I'm in awe of what Asobo did with Plague Tale Requiem with only 70 people.

The 40fps/120hz mode was better than expected once I turned off motion blur & chromatic aberration to low.

I was pretty worried about it prior.

I am sure I read earlier that the Coalition are helping with SOD3.

 

[Pelta88]

This wasn't touched on before, but I though it was important. One of the reasons for some of these delays is because the money and resources changed objectives of the developers that were brought, and the scope was made larger. They clearly don't want at Xbox State of Decay 3 too look like an above average indie or small studio project like the first two games did, they want it to be a graphical powerhouse with more complexity.

Same shit different day. The XB exec PR narratives are so stale they've become a joke. Remember the excuses for Crackdown 3 being exactly the same. Excuses followed by expectations they know they can't reach. Remember after the Crackdown 3 delay Phil Spencer was saying shit like "I want Crackdown 3 to sit next to Halo and Gears" as part of the reasoning for the delays?

Microsoft on Crackdown 3 delay: We want it to ‘sit next to Halo, Gears’

Microsoft is investing big in Xbox, and the delayed Crackdown 3 may reveal what that means for the publisher

www.polygon.com

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

Fair enough. I think the focus here is the expansion in scope of the game visually and money helps to accomplish that rather than being the problem. All good.

Except the expanded scope would result in a longer wait time.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Graphics focus is not great for this genre. Interactivity beats visual fidelity.

 

[Chukhopops]

I'm in awe of what Asobo did with Plague Tale Requiem with only 70 people.

The 40fps/120hz mode was better than expected once I turned off motion blur & chromatic aberration to low.

I was pretty worried about it prior.

I am sure I read earlier that the Coalition are helping with SOD3.

Yeah I ended up not liking the gameplay too much but damn was it impressive visually in some areas.

For SoD 3 I hope they don’t spend too much budget on how it looks since it’s not what made the first two excellent games, I want deeper game systems, more ways to manage settlements, survivors, better AI and faction systems, etc.

More and more I believe the obsession with graphics is killing this industry, causing dev times and budgets to bloat for little benefit.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

focus is not great for this genre. Interactivity beats visual fidelity.

That is why the reveal CGI trailer is such bullshit.

I was like:
"Trying hard much?"

You are trying to say that State of Decay is a game that it will show characters with deep emotional development? Bruh.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

Same shit different day. The XB exec PR narratives are so stale they've become a joke. Remember the excuses for Crackdown 3 being exactly the same. Excuses followed by expectations they know they can't reach. Remember after the Crackdown 3 delay Phil Spencer was saying shit like "I want Crackdown 3 to sit next to Halo and Gears" as part of the reasoning for the delays?

http://[URL]https://www.polygon.com...3-delay-explained-microsoft-xbox-interview-e3

[/URL]

These aren't the same, Crackdown was started by matt as a flawed promise for cloud tech, which didn't get very far because the devs didn't really have a good plan to achieve it.

This is a studio that used to put out indie level looking games now making a AAA game with a larger scope. Did you see State of Decay 2? Crackdown 3 at least looked like a normal AAA game even if there were failed promises, and Phil saw how much money was wasted on it and didn't want to let it die without recouping something (that already happened with other games that gen where MS had to write off losses) State of Decay was a profitable franchise, and now they are changing the presentation radically, and have another studio to help because it's so ambitious.

These are not the same droids batman.

 

[nani17]

how about being able to join a server when your friend isn't on and continue building? It's sp stupid to have this type of game and you can't really share the building at all.

 

[StueyDuck]

I think their main focus should be reworking how their MP worked, i remember jumping into SOD2 with a mate super excited for a fun zombie romp and it just felt, pointless... having a co-op partner there.

 

[nivix]

Graphics focus is not great for this genre. Interactivity beats visual fidelity.

You seem to be in luck. Looks like OP misread the quote:

"We want that game [State of Decay 3] to compete, we want it to compete visually. One of the things that the team there is really focused on is animation, animation technology, being able to really up — for State of Decay 3 — the interactivity between the player and the environment."

 

[Bernkastel]

State of Decay 1/2 were AA games made by a very small team. They are both Class3. State of Decay 3 is being developed with proper AAA budget after becoming first party, it's called Class4.

Q&A: Class4 And Design - Undead Labs

Happy Friday, survivors! To give your weekend an extra injection of awesome, I bring you our second Q&A session. In this set, we’ll talk a little more about Class4, and field a few more design-related questions. Let’s get started! Many readers have asked: “How big will Class4 be?” Short...

undeadlabs.com

Class4 will do a lot more than just add online support to Class3. It’s best to think of it as a sequel. Class3 is our smaller scale, open-world XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade) game that will allow 1-2 people to play together online though Xbox Live or together on the same screen. This game will come out first. Class4 is our large scale, full online world game that will allow thousands of players to run around simultaneously in a much larger server-hosted world. It will have more weapons, vehicles and zombie types. In addition to vastly greater scope, Class4 will revise and expand any number of game systems like weather, vehicle customization, player-to-player trade, and technology research. It will have types of content specifically designed for having a vast number of players online at the same time. This game will come out after Class3.

State of Decay 2 is not Class4

It is very firmly State of Decay 2.

www.gamereactor.eu

Microsoft will be making State of Decay 3, and it may even be the persistent online game Undead Labs always envisioned

State of Decay 3 is definitely happening, and you can expect a more ambitious game now that Undead Labs is part of Microsoft.

www.vg247.com

Same shit different day. The XB exec PR narratives are so stale they've become a joke. Remember the excuses for Crackdown 3 being exactly the same. Excuses followed by expectations they know they can't reach. Remember after the Crackdown 3 delay Phil Spencer was saying shit like "I want Crackdown 3 to sit next to Halo and Gears" as part of the reasoning for the delays?

Microsoft on Crackdown 3 delay: We want it to ‘sit next to Halo, Gears’

Microsoft is investing big in Xbox, and the delayed Crackdown 3 may reveal what that means for the publisher

www.polygon.com

Crackdown 3 was a third party game made by Sumo Digital. This is a first party project made by the same people who made State of Decay 2 when they were just 40 people in the studio.
These fanboy console war narratives are so stale they have become a joke.

 

[Captain Toad]

I always wanted to compete visually with Brad Pitt, but it never happened.

 

[Lone Wolf]

I loved State of Decay 1 but hated 2. Hope they deliver.

 

[adamsapple]

I loved State of Decay 1 but hated 2. Hope they deliver.

Same for me, spent a lot of time in SoD 1 but barely played 2.

 

[Ozriel]

Same shit different day. The XB exec PR narratives are so stale they've become a joke. Remember the excuses for Crackdown 3 being exactly the same. Excuses followed by expectations they know they can't reach. Remember after the Crackdown 3 delay Phil Spencer was saying shit like "I want Crackdown 3 to sit next to Halo and Gears" as part of the reasoning for the delays?

http://[URL][URL]https://www.polygo...3-delay-explained-microsoft-xbox-interview-e3

[/URL][/URL]

If I had a penny for every time you showed up in Xbox related threads to opine about 'PR' after an interview, I'd probably have raised enough cash to cover my PSVR2 preorder.

This isn't the first time we're hearing about budgets for SOD3 being upgraded to AAA levels, or that they're switching to Unreal Engine.

'expectations they can't reach'... what does this even mean? Visuals will certainly be much better...that's usually a function of budget. And Coalition are some of the best UE devs in the industry.