Whatever happend to GEO-MOD?

[jaxmkii]

remeber deformable terrain in the first Red faction? why did this totaly killer feature never catch on?:shrug: to me it should be a staple of all modern games as importaint as rag dolls and real time lighting. it only makes sence that a highly interactive enviorment be standard!

why did this not catch on?

[VG Aficionado]

I liked Red Faction I and II. Don't quote me on this, but I think I read that Volition are currently developing a next-gen game, and PS3 could very well be the platform.

I'd say that MGS4 will have a Geo-Mod alike feature since most things and places should be destructible to effectively recreate a war zone and give meaning to "No place to hide" catch phrase. I guess this is something really hard to implement correctly and that's why we haven't hitherto seen many destructible environments.

[Ducey]

I felt it was more of a gimmick than anything else. Cool in a sense, but gimmicky.

I mean the only time you actually used the ability to destroy walls etc was when the game path took you that way, otherwise if you tried to dig for africa you'd just run into stuff you cant destroy. Basically making each instance you destroyed walls etc no different from a standard door, but a lot more resource heavy.

[D3adcell]

I also have been wondering this. Red Faction 1 was great and I loved how you could go to a locked door without a key and be like 'oh well i have c4' and blow a hole in the wall beside it and get through. I want to see more games use this feature. None have really since then. Red Faction 2 did to an extent but I don't think it was near as good as RF1.

[GTShotoKen]

I believe Criterion's Black is what Geo-mod strived to be.

Has anyone seen the gameplay videos at Gamespot yet (they have the most footage so far)?

If you have then you should know that this gameplay dynamic will be in good hands with Criterion.

[VG Aficionado]

Yes, I've got a Black gameplay clip here. Too bad they're not making it for next-gen since they seem to be inheriting the technology. However, I think destruction will be more limited in Black, but it's just a thought.

[Nodieza]

I remember on Red Faction back in the day we use to just blow holes in the wall in multiplayer and just create tunnels of destruction. That game was sweet. I too wish geomod caught on. Black is looking awsome, the destruction is much more limited from what I've seen but it's also much more "useful" as compared to Red Faction where it wasn't used as much... makes me wish I had an xbox because Black on it definitly looks better than ps2, wish it was on computer....

[Slipphreake]

I remember on Red Faction back in the day we use to just blow holes in the wall in multiplayer and just create tunnels of destruction. That game was sweet. I too wish geomod caught on. Black is looking awsome, the destruction is much more limited from what I've seen but it's also much more "useful" as compared to Red Faction where it wasn't used as much... makes me wish I had an xbox because Black on it definitly looks better than ps2, wish it was on computer....

I dunno what's gonna end up looking better, but the developer said the PS2 version will probably look the best because it can push more particles than the Xbox. Anyway, I hated how Geo mod was used in Red Faction 2. I came across a lot more indestructable walls in Red Faction 2. I hope they make it for the PS3 and use Geo mod as a part of the gameplay like a cross between Black and Red Faction.

[LaLiLuLeLo]

This generation, a red faction style game could go much farther. It was a great game last generation, but after it came out, developers had to choose between extremely destructable and interactive environments, or pushing the graphics paradigm. And the way the market tells us what we want (cuz they think they know everything), they chose to push the graphics paradigm. PS2 is powerful but not powerful enough to push both benchmarks (geo-mod and nice graphics) through 5 or 6 years of console life -neither is xbox. It takes great deal of power to keep games visually competitive with other games and have the level of destructability that the first Red Faction had. RF2 had a reduced level of geo-mod because they had to compete with the graphics benchmarks. PS3 is whole 'nother story tho it's so powerful. So it'd be great to see games take another stab at the geo-mod style games and not have to sacrifice visual intergrity ever.

[Nameless]

This generation, a red faction style game could go much farther. It was a great game last generation, but after it came out, developers had to choose between extremely destructable and interactive environments, or pushing the graphics paradigm. And the way the market tells us what we want (cuz they think they know everything), they chose to push the graphics paradigm. PS2 is powerful but not powerful enough to push both benchmarks (geo-mod and nice graphics) through 5 or 6 years of console life -neither is xbox. It takes great deal of power to keep games visually competitive with other games and have the level of destructability that the first Red Faction had. RF2 had a reduced level of geo-mod because they had to compete with the graphics benchmarks. PS3 is whole 'nother story tho it's so powerful. So it'd be great to see games take another stab at the geo-mod style games and not have to sacrifice visual intergrity ever.
Well said, agreed...

[GTShotoKen]

Yes, I've got a Black gameplay clip here. Too bad they're not making it for next-gen since they seem to be inheriting the technology. However, I think destruction will be more limited in Black, but it's just a thought.

Criterion said that sequels will definitely follow on next-gen.

As I interpret from the videos, almost every object in game can be severally damaged (even if the model will only show hundreds of bullet holes), but only very set pieces can be completely demolished.

I don't think the devs of Red Faction thought too far ahead about the possibilites of their geo-mod system aside from creating new routes to objectives.

As for system limitation...I think Black shows that the PS2 isn't too limited. Several previews tell of scenes were the player could destroy the walls or the floors to get to an enemy (like blowing away the ceiling above to cause enemies to come crashing down below).

[Nodieza]

As for system limitation...I think Black shows that the PS2 isn't too limited. Several previews tell of scenes were the player could destroy the walls or the floors to get to an enemy (like blowing away the ceiling above to cause enemies to come crashing down below).
P.S LOVE your sig!!!!

Low framerate bothers me now-a-days (ps2) ^.^ PC spoils my butt... but yes I will definitly play it on ps2, more destruction the better. That's cool that the ps2 can push more particles.

[GTShotoKen]

P.S LOVE your sig!!!!

Low framerate bothers me now-a-days (ps2) ^.^ PC spoils my butt... but yes I will definitly play it on ps2, more destruction the better. That's cool that the ps2 can push more particles.

Thanks for the complement (Samurai Champloo sits close to my heart). http://users.telenet.be/eforum/emoticons4u/love/433.gif

I can understand where you are coming from. Unfortunately, my PC really sucks, so I can't share in your spoils (talk about destruction, Monolith's F.e.a.r destroys all).

This is the PC I want:
http://www.voodoopc.com/transactions/qksummary.aspx?Qsessid=d8d5a88f-d313-4f48-8afa-70f93e6f53ec

It sucks that I can't afford it.

$17,446 !!!! W00T W00T

[n1n9tean]

Red Faction 2 is great. We just picked it up once again (I used to have it but now my brother went and got another copy). I was just playing him in multiplayer. I was sniping with the x-ray laser gun (which you can use to shoot people through walls) and all of a sudden I heard a big BOOM! At first I was just like "hmm, I wonder where that explosion came from." But then I went out of the x-ray view to find that the wall I was hiding behing had been blown away! I had just been standing there without cover hahahaha!

Geo-mod is great. NOT a gimmick (as someone in this thread said it was).

[Sephiroth_VII]

With the cell, 3-4 SPE's could be handling the destructible enviorment.
2 more SPE's could handle the physics and such, 1 SPE for the audio, and the main core(what's it called?)could handle models, AI, movement, graphics, etc...

That way we could have destructible enviorments, AND good graphics.

[Z]

what I want to know is where the hell is Red Faction 3?!