AGDInteractive - Sierra Adventure Game Remakes Forum

I've been demo'ing some of these wild tangent games, and they remind of the games I used to play when I was a kid.  Some of them even remind of the QFG series, only now with OpenGL.  Is Quest II going to have OpenGL?


Oriel

Quest II?

If you mean Quest for Glory II VGA by AGDI, then no it wont have OpenGL.

its using ags right? i dont think open-gl or direct-x would benifit something like that

Well, it's not OpenGL, but the latest version of the AGS engine supports new graphics filters which enlarge the images and smooth the edges in a similar way.

It tends to give 320x200 games a very chiseled look, but is somewhat similar to playing a SNES game under an emulator which supports OpenGL. Check out these screenshots for a comparison:


QFG2VGA - NORMAL MODE (320x200)




QFG2VGA - WITH HQ2X FILTER




As you'll notice, the filtered version smooths the fonts, blurs the pixelation, and eliminates jagged edges on the sprites, but it also loses quite a bit of background detail in the process.

Yeah, I totally prefer the "non" version.  It resembles the classics much better.

The font looks great, by the way.  What a tease!!


Bt

No way, I much prefer the second one.  Yes, I agree that the first is closer to the original look, but I think the filtered one is much nicer to look at and reflects a big improvement.

I'd have to agree with blackthorne, I definitely prefer the normal, more "classic" looking screen, it definitely has more of the original "feel" than the other.

And way to slip in that little teaser screen too AGC2, I wish you would do that more often.

The changes are so minor that you could choose either and we won't be able to tell the difference in the game.

Can't we see a sneaky of Shema dancing??  :p

I am afraid they can't do it. I can't even take a screenshot from my own game when something is moving while I have to wait for action. Only  when action is on you can take a screenshot of the screen room.

But let us hope they can do it.....I also want to see Shema and her bellydance..meeeoow!

Sweet screenshots!

One thing that I agree with is that I didn't really notice much of a difference between the two.

And since everyone is bringing up Shema's dance (and let's be honest here, who DOESN'T want to see it!). Did you guys do what I suggested all those years back? As in, make the first dance on day 2 the same dance as in the game, but the second dance (on day 7) something different. I remember you guys thought it was a good idea and when I brought it up on the forums (about a year back) you guys said that you did it but weren't entirely sure if it was totally implimented.

So... any answers?

Till next time stay cool  :smokin

Hmmm, I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think so. Thing is that this was one of those very tricky scenes to script because the animations had to be timed to run in sync with the music.

Hmmm... I heard a rumor that AGDI1 did the Shema dancing for this scene and Shema's head was simply edited in. Cool!

Well if there isn't going to be a new dance, then I guess I could live with it.

Till next time stay cool  :smokin

You guys that like the "classic" look should just go back and play the old EGA versions of the game.  The reason AGDI is remaking these is to make them in VGA and can easily run on today's platforms.  They're making them to look better, and, without a doubt, the second screen looks much better.  Alot like Anti-aliasing that happens for 3D games.

I like the newer thing better. Just like super eagle mode in SNES emulators.

Well, I'd say that the smoother version looks, well...poor, kinda plastic, atleast judging by the pics. Seeing as how there are different opinions...is there going to be a choice whether or not to use the filter? Anyhow, my vote goes defintely fot the NON filtered version (if this were a poll at all)  :D

It's part of the AGS engine, not the game, so it should e changeable the same place you change resolution, etc.

Actually, the smoothed filter will probably be disabled completely in the full game. It massacres the graphics and makes them look horrible. The thing about 320x200 is that it's designed to look stylistic. It takes a long time to get the details sitting nicely in that low-res and classic kind of way. To have a filter go through and chisel away all the stylized and pixelated edges kind of ruins the whole game's intended appearance.

My monitor, for example, can only display QFG2VGA in 320x240 mode (i.e. letterboxed with black bars at the top and bottom).  AGS games intended to run at 320x200 or 640x400 resolution will always run at 320x240 and 640x480, respectively. In cases such as mine, the simple "2x nearest-neighbour" filter can be used to make the game window stretched to full screen with a square aspect-ratio, as intended. At the same time, since it uses the nearest-neighbour method of pixel-resizing, it simply enlarges the blocky pixels and doesn't try to smooth or blend them at all. This "2x nearest-neighbour" filter is probably the only one that will be enabled with the game.

Even so, this filter will only included as a backup measure for people who cannot otherwise play it at full screen normally. The filters slow down the game a bit.

BeerNutts wrote:You guys that like the "classic" look should just go back and play the old EGA versions of the game.  The reason AGDI is remaking these is to make them in VGA and can easily run on today's platforms.  They're making them to look better, and, without a doubt, the second screen looks much better.  Alot like Anti-aliasing that happens for 3D games.

For the sake of Pete, it's not REALLY VGA - it's, like AGD2 said, a stylistic recreation of 320x200 graphics, which are supposed to look like that.

It does, however, come to a matter of personal taste.  I think that the first picture is a more acurate homage to the original 320x200 256 colored Sierra Games.


Bt

The reason AGDI is remaking these is to make them in VGA and can easily run on today's platforms.  They're making them to look better, and, without a doubt, the second screen looks much better.  Alot like Anti-aliasing that happens for 3D games.

No they're not, it's being remade to resemble the standards of 1993-1994, not by today's standards because if they were I'd be playing a 3D QFG2. I want to play a game that makes me feel it was released around that time, not an improved version with ultra high quality because you wouldn't get a game like that back then. Have you noticed KQ1 and KQ2 are very similar to all the other VGA games released by Sierra? Well, that's what they're remaking it to match those standards, otherwise a remake could mean anything. Imagine the AGD's were 3D artists and huge fans of MOE. Although running around a 3D Kolyma killing drawfs and wizards would be fun, I wouldn't call it a true remake of the original at all.

I would defintely stick by the first version, the second one just doesn't look right. I don't think there should be a poll but if it's optional via the game's setup then it doesn't bother me too much. But if you want to resemble the style that the other VGA games had. (I mean VGA as in the graphic style, not the technical graphic style because I know QFG2VGA is in high colour)

No they're not, it's being remade to resemble the standards of 1993-1994, not by today's standards because if they were I'd be playing a 3D QFG2. I want to play a game that makes me feel it was released around that time, not an improved version with ultra high quality because you wouldn't get a game like that back then. Have you noticed KQ1 and KQ2 are very similar to all the other VGA games released by Sierra? Well, that's what they're remaking it to match those standards, otherwise a remake could mean anything. Imagine the AGD's were 3D artists and huge fans of MOE. Although running around a 3D Kolyma killing drawfs and wizards would be fun, I wouldn't call it a true remake of the original at all.

That's the great thing about it. Remaking them in the old style of things and not in the typical 3D manner of most recent games.

One thing that I can say is the fact that many 2D VGA games never seem to lose their beauty or charm as time passes. I've been playing those old games that I have on my PC for many years, and no matter what the development of 3D CGI stuff, they always look great while the 3D stuff always age with time and eventually look 'old'.

I would defintely stick by the first version, the second one just doesn't look right. I don't think there should be a poll but if it's optional via the game's setup then it doesn't bother me too much. But if you want to resemble the style that the other VGA games had. (I mean VGA as in the graphic style, not the technical graphic style because I know QFG2VGA is in high colour)

I don't really see that much of a difference. I guess I should leave the commenting to those who have a better eye for detail than I.

Till next time stay cool  :smokin

Hi


I like the look of the second picture for the close up of the face, and the look of the first picture for the background.

I think with these older games its always the close up of things that shows the relatively poor resolution.

Anonymous Game Creator 2 wrote:As you'll notice, the filtered version smooths the fonts, blurs the pixelation, and eliminates jagged edges on the sprites, but it also loses quite a bit of background detail in the process.

Wow, that looks like a definite improvement from what I remember of the original.
Seeing that QFGII VGA has been making so much progress over the past years in production tempts me to install and replay the old QFGIII & IV games I bought back in the 90's(if I could manage to remember where I left them after all these years).

Frankly I don't really know why all the arguing about the first or second screen at all anyway.  If the finished product resembles anything at all what they did with the KQ1 and KQ2 vga games then it'll definitely be righteously kick butt.  Kudos to these guys for their excellent efforts in remaking these classic adventures in more "up to date" graphics, and I especially like the whole revamp of the KQ2 story line, excellent job.  These games have always been my favorites to play, in fact I still have everything from the classic King's Quest Adventures, to Space Quest, Leisure suit Larry, Police Quest, and Quest for Glory still installed on my computer and play them all the time.  I can't wait till the QFGII VGA version comes out, really looking forward to playing it.  Thank You guys.