HD remakes are all the rage these days, and Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter was but one of them. Since the groundwork for a remake has already been laid out, one could be forgiven for thinking that they're easy to develop. However, studio boss Roman Ribaric has told us just how much work goes into a game like Serious Sam HD.
"Funny how some think that HD is achieved by raising the resolution and that's it," states Ribaric. "Well, that's not what HD actually means in the games development. At least not when it comes to Serious Sam HD. It's changing key aspects to a higher quality level, adding some new things like leaderboards and achievements and making it possible (financially and technically) to have the continuous future improvements.
"A lot of work had to be done to achieve HD mark. We first had to code the converters to import the old levels, so the gameplay could stay intact. Then we redid most of the levels geometry to get more details and also increased the quality or created the new level textures. Further, we recreated enemies in high poly, since we only have them previously modeled in low poly. Same was for enemy skins, first newly created in Zbrush and then finalized in Photoshop. Same procedure was also done for weapons. Key with all that work was not to loose that original feel."
Ribaric also tells us about the new Serious Engine used in Serious Sam HD and reveals that Serious Sam 3 shall show off its true power: As for Serious Engine 3, it's built from the Serious Sam 2 engine, but it was also heavily recoded. Multiplayer code was also heavily recoded. And a lot of work was invested to get that true HDR lighting, which calculates in a matter of minutes and not days or long hours as with other such engines. Although, you can't see all the bells and whistles of new tech just yet. All that will be shown in full color in Serious Sam 3."
So there. Not easy work.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
12:00 PM on 12.21.2009
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All around it is a marketing term to assist the common man in understanding the picture looks crisper, which is fine, but not what Serious Sam was about. On PC the original game was HD.
Anyway, I don't begrudge them taking part in a marketing gimmick that has worked for 5 years now, it just kind of bugs me.
ADDING SOME EXTRA POLYGONS AND HIRING TEXTURE ARTISTS WHO DON'T SUCK IS HARDWORK.
THROW IN SOME EXTRA CONTENTS LIKE... LEADERBOARDS... AND YOU'RE ALL SET TO NOT LOSE SLEEP OVER BEING A CASHWHORE WHO ISN'T HELPING BRING NEW IDEAS TO THE PROVERBIAL TABLE.
Also, capscock.