Hazeron Starship - A seamless space sandbox universe

[GaelicVigil]

I objectively think Hazeron's graphics are better than any other modern space game, including No Man's Sky, Starfield, Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous, X4, etc because none of the images have true spatial existence. They all exist inside instanced set pieces. All of those games have planets or systems locked behind loading screens.

In other words, all of those games are like beautiful paintings, locked inside a frame. None of that is impressive to me at all on a technical level. Starfield being the worst offender. I don't fucking care that you have 1000 beautifully rendered systems if all of it is just made up of instanced rooms with invisible walls. I don't care if Elite Dangerous or No Man's Sky have billions of stars if all of those stars are just an illusion behind a "warp animation".

Those modern games to me are the equivalent of opening up 3D studio and making a beautiful scene and calling it a video game by comparison to Hazeron.

So I don't see graphics in terms of polygons or shaders or parallex or specular lighting or bloom. I see it on a sliding scale of viable interconnected simulation. Those modern games completely fail in this regard compared to Hazeron Starship. Those modern games are sitting insdie elaborate Hollywood sets or theme park fun houses, while Hazeron exists inside a holodeck simulation. Give me the latter any day.

I think people who can tolerate these modern set piece video games are also the kind of bread and circus blue pill people who enjoy the illusions inside Plato's Cave. But I grew up a long time ago from that silliness. I see through the illusion and it bores me.

This is so delusional that it makes Lilura's rants look sane.

Can we get past this idea that something being free means it's immune to criticism? The artstyle is atrocious. Regardless of this game being free or not. Elite 2 looked like dogshit even for the time. There are games from the DOS and Micro Computer eras that hold up very well visually. This is not a DOS era early 3D game. Compare it to something like Rodina which is also a solo dev open galaxy space sim. That game has very basic but still decent visuals. There are no excuses for dogshit visuals. It doesn't have to look high fidelity. But it does have to not pain my eyes and brain to look at.

No one said you were not allowed to criticize; it's just, after seeing stuff like Starfield with an average art style and dogshit gameplay, with a huge budget, you can rationalize a little bit and consider trying the game with deep gameplay and a dogshit art style. It could be better to try and enjoy something that exists, as no one else is going to do it. The only option is to lament and wait for things that will never happen. Elite Dangerous was super promising but ended up super static and with the depth of a puddle. Star Citizen is not out yet, and it won't offer the same freedom either, even if it's still better than Elite Dangerous. By the way, Elite 2's 3D graphics were not bad for their time; it's just that we had gorgeous 2D games making much better use of the Amiga's capabilities, as 3D wasn't its strong point.

Yeah, and we wonder why we continue to get these AAA space games that get dumbed down more and more each year. Some lone guy comes out of his garage attempting to add something new and different to a stagnant genre and people's first reaction is to jump all over it for the graphics.

I remember back in the early 2000s people said the same thing about Dwarf Fortress. The guy was a math teacher, not an artist. Haxus is very similar, his experience is also math and CAD design. Prototypes of great inventions never look great out of the box. I had hoped after all these years people had learned to give a guy the benefit of the doubt considering how popular DF is (and its clones) now in the mainstream. Apparently many haven't learned much.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

these graphics aren't poor. they aren't bad. they're a gigantic problem. it's not like you can ignore and abstract them in your mind as with an ascii set, here you're forced to stare, ludovico technique style, at something totally hideous and alien to any visual concept of coherence. they're not human, they're not living, they'd look like ass as robots, that stuff is so deep into the uncanny valley it dug a canyon.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

 

[Vic]

compare this, to the hideous graphics of Hazeron:

truly a work of art.

 

[JarlFrank]

Hazeron's graphics are easily readable, much more easily than ASCII. I don't see the problem with them.

They're way less ugly than some other indie games the Codex likes (anything made by Jeff Vogel, for example).

 

[GaelicVigil]

compare this, to the hideous graphics of Hazeron:

truly a work of art.

Literally looks like vomit.

And unless I had a wiki or manual how would I know what any of those symbols meant? At least Hazeron has tool-tips on almost everything for some explanation of what is going on.

 

[asfasdf]

you need a brain

 

[GaelicVigil]

you need a brain

A literal robot said this. Hmm.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Hazeron's graphics are easily readable, much more easily than ASCII. I don't see the problem with them.

They're way less ugly than some other indie games the Codex likes (anything made by Jeff Vogel, for example).

You shut your whore mouth about Nethergate.

 

[Hag]

Just remember it's a sci-fi game. Maybe that's how humans will look in year 3744.
IT MAY HAPPEN.

Game's look good otherwise. If there's anyone playing it I'd like to read more about it (don't have much time to play right now).

 

[GaelicVigil]

Here's a game which routinely gets praised on the Codex. It won third place in the 2022 Vintage RPG poll. Dark Sun.

Can anyone tell me what is going on here? I see a jumbled mess of pixels with no depth perception whatsoever. Blobs of green and brown junk everywhere. That is apparently a bridge, but I can't tell how high above the ground it is. Is that green stuff going up a cliff or down a cliff? Who knows. Is that man lying face down in the dirt or standing up? There are no shadows so how can I tell?

And you might say, "well thats a much older game." But what does age have to do with it? Good graphics are good or bad regardless of their time.

You want shit graphics. Here it is. But nobody here will admit that because your bias clouds your objective judgment of graphics.

The only reason why you see that vomit from Dwarf Fortress as an artistic masterpiece is because Dwarf Fortess is now a popular game and mainstream. It wasn't that way when DF started, believe me, I was around back then and saw the chuckles from onlookers.

So what is really going on here is easy to explain. Industry fan-boys gotta defend the turf from newcomers. Pop-culture gamers go with the cool crowd because they are sheep.

 

[Vic]

 

[GaelicVigil]

Here's what I see here:

A procedural alien creature generator which can create a near-infinite amount of strange and bizarre creatures. You can even tame and mount those creatures.

There is almost the same infinite amount of options for generating your own species. You can make them as wacky or interesting as you want.

You can take said creatures into a a massive seamless galaxy and explore countless planets, moons, and other celestial celestial bodies.

Amazing. No other space game comes close with that freedom.

You remind me of those Europeans who criticize Americans for their freedoms because freedom can sometimes be messy.

 

[GaelicVigil]

By the way, here is the DEI infested woke trash game that Vic couldn't stop gushing over, that had about 5 static npc models and even with their AAA budget they couldn't get them to render correctly, unlike Hazeron.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

i can instantly understand what's what. meanwhile we're still debating if those things in hazeron are even human.

 

[GaelicVigil]

i can instantly understand what's what. meanwhile we're still debating if those things in hazeron are even human.

You can "instantly" understand what's what. Okay, for starters, how many meters deep is that ravine under the bridge? Clock is ticking...

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

you're worsening your case, because you're trying to use against the game clear technical limits from the hardware available at its time. using the same logic, hazeron should had looked at least like crysis. at least.

 

[GaelicVigil]

you're worsening your case, because you're trying to use against the game clear technical limits from the hardware available at its time. using the same logic, hazeron should had looked at least like crysis. at least.

That's a cop-out. Graphics are graphics, regardless of time.

So how deep is the ravine? I can measure this in Hazeron pretty easily. We're 40 minutes and counting...

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Is this you having fun with game's creature editor?

 

[Vic]

Is this you having fun with game's creature editor?

no it's from this thread

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3598989

Why does it look like crap?

This game could be called an Alpha, but that would be too generous. Everything you see is what would be termed "Programmer Art" in any other game and ditched at the earliest moment possible, but not here. The graphics aren't too bad once you get into the game, and despite all this: Planet diving during sunrise/sunset with the gas giant your home planet orbits in the background can still look stupid pretty.

Even the fans realize it looks like shit, except for GaelicVigil ofc

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Here's a game which routinely gets praised on the Codex. It won third place in the 2022 Vintage RPG poll. Dark Sun.

Can anyone tell me what is going on here? I see a jumbled mess of pixels with no depth perception whatsoever. Blobs of green and brown junk everywhere. That is apparently a bridge, but I can't tell how high above the ground it is. Is that green stuff going up a cliff or down a cliff? Who knows. Is that man lying face down in the dirt or standing up? There are no shadows so how can I tell?

And you might say, "well thats a much older game." But what does age have to do with it? Good graphics are good or bad regardless of their time.

You want shit graphics. Here it is. But nobody here will admit that because your bias clouds your objective judgment of graphics.

The only reason why you see that vomit from Dwarf Fortress as an artistic masterpiece is because Dwarf Fortess is now a popular game and mainstream. It wasn't that way when DF started, believe me, I was around back then and saw the chuckles from onlookers.

So what is really going on here is easy to explain. Industry fan-boys gotta defend the turf from newcomers. Pop-culture gamers go with the cool crowd because they are sheep.

Shitting on dark sun isn't helping your case bruv, especially when depth perception is nuncupatory to the gameplay experience.

The problem isn't graphics but art style.

Here's what I see here:

A procedural alien creature generator which can create a near-infinite amount of strange and bizarre creatures. You can even tame and mount those creatures.

There is almost the same infinite amount of options for generating your own species. You can make them as wacky or interesting as you want.

You can take said creatures into a a massive seamless galaxy and explore countless planets, moons, and other celestial celestial bodies.

Amazing. No other space game comes close with that freedom.

You remind me of those Europeans who criticize Americans for their freedoms because freedom can sometimes be messy.

Actually impressive for the size of what, 100 MB?

 

[Vic]

especially when depth perception is nuncupatory to the gameplay experience.

barbarians should stick to small words they can understand and use correctly

 

[Mortmal]

Here's what I see here:

A procedural alien creature generator which can create a near-infinite amount of strange and bizarre creatures. You can even tame and mount those creatures.

There is almost the same infinite amount of options for generating your own species. You can make them as wacky or interesting as you want.

You can take said creatures into a a massive seamless galaxy and explore countless planets, moons, and other celestial celestial bodies.

Amazing. No other space game comes close with that freedom.

You remind me of those Europeans who criticize Americans for their freedoms because freedom can sometimes be messy.

Dont tell them once you invade a planet from another species the invader rape the natives and the outcome are more bizarre mixed species...I am not even joking it was in the mmo version.

 

[GaelicVigil]

Here's what I see here:

A procedural alien creature generator which can create a near-infinite amount of strange and bizarre creatures. You can even tame and mount those creatures.

There is almost the same infinite amount of options for generating your own species. You can make them as wacky or interesting as you want.

You can take said creatures into a a massive seamless galaxy and explore countless planets, moons, and other celestial celestial bodies.

Amazing. No other space game comes close with that freedom.

You remind me of those Europeans who criticize Americans for their freedoms because freedom can sometimes be messy.

Dont tell them once you invade a planet from another species the invader rape the natives and the outcome are more bizarre mixed species...I am not even joking it was in the mmo version.

Those three photos are from cross-breeding I think. You could breed some scary sh#% (especially that baby in the last pic). A shame Haxus removed that feature. He didn't want the adult label on Steam.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

especially when depth perception is nuncupatory to the gameplay experience.

barbarians should stick to small words they can understand and use correctly

You got a problem, take it up with Jack Vance.