Yep. I am getting older. I was looking at some screen shots from some of these "other" engines out there and, all of a sudden, I started thinking back to when I first started to get involved in real-time 3D graphics. I can remember when the original Unreal was still a year or so away from being released and the developers would post updated progress shots of their work. Everyone was so impressed with what they were seeing. Back in those days it was an adventure! The number of real-time 3D engines was ... well ... they almost did not exist! Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) was learning the ins and outs of developing for this "new kid" on the block. We had to worry about things like making a "base frame" for our 3D models and these models typically had 300-600 polys in them. Any more and you might lock up someone's blazingly fast 486 DX2! Texture sizes were in the range of 32 pixels by 32 pixels or possibly even 62 x 62. No one really had a 3D card and, you know what? It was a lot of fun! It was an adventure!

Why was it such an adventure? Because most people (including many of the companies that were developing games using real-time 3D engines) were in it for the fun and not for the money. It was all new and we were all learning the ropes. It was "Lewis and Clark" in the digital age.

While I still enjoy real-time 3D graphics and content creation for the same, I cannot help but miss the days gone by. Back then, DOOM was amazing and could scare the daylights out of you. Now ... well ... some would say it looks "lame". Yep. I'm sounding like an old fogy. I guess I can't help it. I've watched this industry grow and I miss the "flavor" it had "back in the day". Everyone's an "expert" these days. Back then, none of us were sure what we were doing and, as a result, we would all reach out and help each other. Sure, people still do a bit of that today, but it certainly is not like it was.

As I am writing this I am not thinking only of the past. I guess my real question is, "Where is the adventure now?" I don't mean in real-time 3D gaming. I mean, what is the next computing advancement that will take us on a ride like real-time 3D did? What group of guys, in some garage somewhere, are hacking out the next cool thing that will make us feel like we did back when DOOM was being distributed as shareware on three floppies?

Virtual experiences, the last frontier maybe?

I'm pretty sure we are of the tme where this should be more easily accomplished engine wise but not to savy on the price of hardware these days.

I read an interesting book (cant remember the exact title) called Virtual Dimensions I think which was the story of an investigative reporter specialising in bringing news to the world via his books, of the happenings in virtual experiences tecnologies.
This book is now some 10 years old but back then a rig started from 250 K I think and gave physicle sensory feedback over the body, even to the extent of virtual sex.

There was some talk of a 50TK club where people were creating and experiencing VR as a club.

PHYSICLE SENSATIONS is maybe the key word here and even back then, people were working on smell

Yeah, but I am not just talking about VR and things like that. When real-time 3D (and "pseudo-3D" via DOOM) originally came out it was something NEW and EXCITING. There were really no "big fish" in the pond, so to speak. Yes, there were big gaming companies, but id was really a nobody, Epic was a fairly new name and all these other guys (Bungee, etc) where not even on the map as yet. It was an adventure ... uncharted territory (for the most part).

So the question is, what is the next frontier? If we keep this in the context of games, then where do we go next? Yes, we can keep improving 3D games until they look like movies, but that is to be expected. That will not even be "new" even when it is "new". This is the path we are already heading toward. What I am wondering about is the next thing that will take us all by surprise. And I am thinking about something that anyone could get involved in (like we could with real-time 3D content creation back in the days of Unreal, etc). In other words, what is the next, great garage-created technology that will take us by storm?

Maybe there isn't going to be one ...

Well what I'm about to say does not feel totaly 'fair' to come from my mouth, as I am too young for having witnessed this 'adventure', but this is my opinion anyways .

Quote:

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When real-time 3D (and "pseudo-3D" via DOOM) originally came out it was something NEW and EXCITING

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It was just as new as the fantastic new pre-rendered photorealistic (with integraded reallife videos!) point and click adventure MYST, which dates from the same year as the very first DOOM. Nothing 3D, yet alot of people where charmed by the story and mysteries it brought. It was something new, it brought up a feeling of adventure, anxious to know everything about the story of MYST.

But do you classify it as a revolutionair new adventure when thinking back of that time? I think you don't. Maybe you liked it (or not, but say you do ), but it doesn't give that same NEW and EXCITING feeling as real-time 3D did. The 3D was way more spectaculair.. and you were part of the mass crowd developping that area.

Maybe most developments in the gaming industry do not feel as new anymore as it used to, but that is because you aren't actively involved with it. Well just my guess, because I do not see (or better said, feel) any more difference in the change from 2D to 3D, than the change from static environments to highly dynamic physic environments. They're just as revolutionair to me.

So, I could have made this story much shorter but you get the point, I hope

I doubt it will be soon, I think there needs to be major hardware advancements before this is possible. Whatever it may be, holographic, 3d T.V's, different control ect. When there is a different, brand new medium for playing games, all of a sudden everyone is on the same page again. Maybe our graphic engines won't even work on it at this point(no 2d output). And it's brought back to step 1.

But I definitely see where you are coming from, everything in 3d is quite well documented, and it's not really that far away before graphics start maximizing at film quality.

I liked how the Wii was different, hopefully this will start a chain reaction of different consoles to something entirely new.

I start to understand.
First apology would be on it's place for throwing blunt facts about you by blindly assuming things . I should have asked instead of assume.

Then next, I do not think we should wait for the next adventure to emerge, rather than start our own adventure and see what comes out of it. We could wait for Sony and Bungee to cooperate and invent the newest 3D Screen with the newest series of games, but that would be just another big spent of money rather than really participating a new adventure. IMO it'd only be an adventure for Mr. Boss-of-Sony swimming in money. Like it went for the Wii (not saying that nintendo doesn't have all rights to do so).

I don't think something NEW would happen again if you wait. If you start undertake something and share vague new ideas and ask people to cooperate however, who knows what could come out.

I don't have an answer for your question (YET! ) but I don't think there are none new breakthroughs to come anymore. Yet, I can not deny that the past 8 years have brought less, way less NEW things for public than the 8 years before 2000.

EDIT:
The thought in your above post crossed my mind, and I have to agree on that one. But even if there seems to be no improvements anymore without new fancy hardware, doesn't mean there aren't any to be made .

It took humanity a while before Velcro was invented. Sometimes the obvious is overseen for a long time .

dunno how others think, but things like massive onlie gaming comunities, new controling methods and some big streaming technology (processing huge ammount of data very fast) are as fascinating as the flip to 3d was. i think we had quite a few major things in the last few years and the years to come will bring more and more.

talking about 200-500 faces and skinsize of less then 64px?!
i am using gamestudio today and this is still an issue. so i am stuck with the engine in the 90s i guess.

i dont think development has changed that much for indies. its still "take what you have and create the best out of it...somehow".

i dont thing the next "big breakthrus" will be visual anymore since we are almost there.
controls, physics, marketing and communication are the current topics and will change the upcoming games dramaticly and create all new gameplays.

maybe sooner or later we will be able to create virtual characters that can be implementet into any games as users.
so no given hero but always the same guy/girl playing different games and gaining experience. for example could you play need for speed and winning levels there will upgrade your character in gta or crysis when its up for driving something. learn flying in ms flightsim and master it while playing comanche reloaded.
comined with the ability to connect to other playrooms and games anytime to interact in one way or the other there as well while someone else is playing it ... X-play so to speak.

or we will just end up connecting high voltage batteries to our testicles and get punished for every mistake ... force feedback baby

cheers