Enhanced version of the Star Trek: The Next Generation table on PS4 to be shown at E3

[Jeff Strong]

Short article about nostalgic games at E3. ST:TNG is number 9. Screengrab of the upper playfield.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/the-10-biggest-nostalgia-trolls-at-e3-this-year

"This game’s been available for several platforms for over a year, but I saw this version playing on the graphically superpowered PlayStation 4. And I gotta say, this looks so real in person, I did a double take when I first passed by."

Sounds pretty good.

 

[Carl Spiby]

Must saw that still from the article does look nice, but I thought the whole point was GI and shadows to make it look more 'real'.

 

[PiN WiZ]

The Star Trek : The Next Generation PS4 Demo is more than likely a work-in-progress as the lighting, which already looks much improved over any current version of The Pinball Arcade, still looks somewhat unfinished and unpolished. Also, I believe Mike is still working on the code for the G.I. which I believe should be implemented and running before release. Remember, FarSight hasn't had their PS4 dev kit as long as some of the bigger developers have. Looks to me like FarSight is doing a wonderful job with the PS4 version and I only expect it to improve as they play around with the new hardware. Keep up the great work FarSight and can't wait to see the final release with my own eyes when it's released this fall/winter.

 

[brakel]

Must saw that still from the article does look nice, but I thought the whole point was GI and shadows to make it look more 'real'.

I'm sure it will look better in higher res pics or screen grabs but I can see shadows. I would also suspect that it is still being polished.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

If TPA doesn't look as good as propinball on PS4 forget it.

 

[smbhax]

Yeah it's nice to see they got something running already, and it's neat to see any kind of animated lighting, but it could definitely stand a ton of artistic refinement; in terms of saturation and contrast it's currently got a high-res version of the garish "first time we got colored lighting" look PC games had over ten years ago. But they've clearly got the technology going, so given enough time and someone with the right eye for it, there's absolutely no reason they shouldn't be able to make the lighting on these tables look truly real world.

I'm just going to keep hoping that it won't be a repeat of the PS3 story: a more advanced lighting system than the other platforms, but prone to rushed efforts that sometimes look much worse than the lower-end versions. To make this come out the way it should on PS4 they really, really need to have someone good who is dedicated full time to lighting these tables. That's what it takes to do this kind of thing right.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Yeah it's nice to see they got something running already, and it's neat to see any kind of animated lighting, but it could definitely stand a ton of artistic refinement; in terms of saturation and contrast it's currently got a high-res version of the garish "first time we got colored lighting" look PC games had over ten years ago. But they've clearly got the technology going, so given enough time and someone with the right eye for it, there's absolutely no reason they shouldn't be able to make the lighting on these tables look truly real world.

I don't think you can make that call based upon the screens and video we've seen since they're not true captures. It's the same with the current version of TPA on PS3: when you look at every user-posted cam shot, they always have the colors looking much more saturated and blown out than they really are. Even the best looking games look quite a bit worse through the eye of a camera. I tried taking a photo of MLB The Show awhile back and the result was terrible, even though the game looks great on my TV.

EDIT:

My Ripley's video is a perfect example...the camera makes it look way over-saturated:

 

[SilverBalls]

Probably what will really make a difference is when a slider is introduced to adjust the table lights and room lights.

Yes it's true what you said Jeff every screen filmed video doesn't look great - you always get that blueish tint not seen on the table in real life.

 

[smbhax]

Sure, it'll look better in a real, directly recorded video, but this tech demo is clearly a quick "throw some point lights over the spots where bulbs are and get them blinking" affair. One thing I was coming back to say was that it isn't just a light-placement and tweaking issue, either: to get this looking right they would really need to re-model the bulbs and light housings so that they're truly transparent, rather than opaque textures colored to "look" illuminated, and then place the light sources inside the bulb models--that's the only way you're going to be able to get the shadows right. When the left phaser bank activates around 0:35 in the above video, for instance, it's obvious that the red light that comes on is just a reddish light source placed above the phaser, rather than something shining from inside the phaser itself.

I could be quite wrong about this, but to this point it has looked pretty much like they build one high-definition model of each table, then have some sort of fairly streamlined workflow that spits out appropriately lower-detailed versions for the various platforms, although they sometimes do have to go in and make something different, like opaque ramps and so forth. But if they're really going to make this look like a next-gen game, they're now going to have to model at least the light fixtures specifically for the PS4 and presumably at some point PC dynamic lighting versions. It seems to me that how well the PC version sells early on could be a big determining factor in whether or not they're able to make that additional investment in table detail.

One thing I was very pleasantly surprised by is the framerate, though--that thing is running smooooth. Sure, it's probably more or less PS3-resolution models, and really low-poly by the standards of what the PS4 is built to push, but considering that they've had very little time to get a new lighting system going on a new hardware system, I was fully prepared for something much more herky-jerky.

 

[PiN WiZ]

Sure, it'll look better in a real, directly recorded video, but this tech demo is clearly a quick "throw some point lights over the spots where bulbs are and get them blinking" affair. One thing I was coming back to say was that it isn't just a light-placement and tweaking issue, either: to get this looking right they would really need to re-model the bulbs and light housings so that they're truly transparent, rather than opaque textures colored to "look" illuminated, and then place the light sources inside the bulb models--that's the only way you're going to be able to get the shadows right. When the left phaser bank activates around 0:35 in the above video, for instance, it's obvious that the red light that comes on is just a reddish light source placed above the phaser, rather than something shining from inside the phaser itself.

One thing I was very pleasantly surprised by is the framerate, though--that thing is running smooooth. Sure, it's probably more or less PS3-resolution models, and really low-poly by the standards of what the PS4 is built to push, but considering that they've had very little time to get a new lighting system going on a new hardware system, I was fully prepared for something much more herky-jerky.

This is the type of constructive feedback I like seeing posted here on the forums as it's this approach that ultimately helps FarSight improve The Pinball Arcade. If we all posted this type of feedback more often, I have no doubt that The Pinball Arcade would become a more polished and accurate representation of the real world pinball tables that it strives to emulate.

 

[Timelord]

I concur 100%, Pin Wiz.

Timelord ...

 

[Jeff Strong]

I agree as well. BTW, smbhax, I was only replying to the part of your post I bolded about the colors and saturation. Everything else you said was spot on.

 

[spoonman]

Looks very nice to me, but I'm wondering how much of this could be done on the PS3 if they really tapped into the Cell processor and didn't start with an Xbox port.
Not a jab at Farsight, but I'm curious. Could they pull off dynamic lighting, higher res table scans, smoother physics?

I've played The Last of Us over the weekend and was blown away that it was actually a PS3 game.
Sony could have easily slipped this in with a PS4 montage and it would have looked fine.

I hope Farsight can give us some direct game footage so we can really see what's going on here. *hint* *hint*

 

[Lord Boron]

Looks very nice to me, but I'm wondering how much of this could be done on the PS3 if they really tapped into the Cell processor and didn't start with an Xbox port.
Not a jab at Farsight, but I'm curious. Could they pull off dynamic lighting, higher res table scans, smoother physics?

I've always wondered if it would look a lot better if they built from the ground up for the PS3. They must be losing something on the Cell processor by just porting it from the Xbox. It would be a shame if it being hindered because its being developed for a system it's not even being released on!

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

Listen up, PS3 and Vita users: You will NOT have to buy TPA for PS4 AGAIN. http://www.psnstores.com/2013/06/pinball-arcade-ps4-will-be-cross-buy-with-ps3-and-vita/

 

[Jeff Strong]

Listen up, PS3 and Vita users: You will NOT have to buy TPA for PS4 AGAIN. http://www.psnstores.com/2013/06/pinball-arcade-ps4-will-be-cross-buy-with-ps3-and-vita/

That's great news. Nice find, man.

 

[spoonman]

Listen up, PS3 and Vita users: You will NOT have to buy TPA for PS4 AGAIN. http://www.psnstores.com/2013/06/pinball-arcade-ps4-will-be-cross-buy-with-ps3-and-vita/

Wow, that has to make a lot of people happy to hear (me included).

I hope it's true. I will hold celebration until I hear it from Farsight. This part scares me a little "I asked the Sony attendant".

 

[ER777]

This is music to my ears:

"The DualShock 4 is so tight with improved shoulder buttons, it was easy to notice that there was literally no controller lag which is something the PS3 version suffers from with my TV in Game mode (zero lag gaming setting)."

Edit: The cross-buy news is cool too, but a distant second to gameplay from my perspective.

 

[spoonman]

I just hope they don't give up on fixing/improving the PS3 version. I don't plan on buying a PS4 for at least a year.

 

[smbhax]

Wow, sweet!

The article has a good point about the improved AA, too--at least, it sure looks smooth in their screenshot.

I think they're mistaken about the controller being the cure for the PS3 version's 1080p flipper lag, though--FarSight has said that is due to the lighting effect they're using there. Good to hear the PS4 version is lag-free, anyway. : )