Former Monolith developers announce FPS adventure Betrayer - by Mr. Tibbs
Mr. Tibbs on 9/8/2013 at 02:46
"Six of the key people behind F.E.A.R. and No One Lives Forever have spent the last 11 months developing a first-person shooter in secret. Betrayer, revealed first to PC Gamer, is an eerie single-player game set in haunted, early colonial-era Virginia. I’ve played the first hour and a half, something you’ll be able to do when Betrayer releases through Steam Early Access on August 14.
Betrayer doesn’t fit neatly into an existing genre. On the surface, it’s an FPS set in open, pristine American wilderness that happens to be crawling with undead conquistadors. But the game’s monochromatic art direction, gloomy tone, and sense of mystery distinguish it from other indie and horror projects."
I've been a huge fan of Craig Hubbard and the Monolith team since Blood. Kinda sad to see them break away from Monolith. The end of an era. At least Betrayer looks really neat! The listen mode is a pretty interesting alternative to a mini-map. An organic, if imprecise, way to keep you in the game world instead of focusing on the ui. Looking forward to picking it up.
(
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/197572/FEAR_vets_boot_up_new_team_Blackpowder_Games.php)
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http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/betrayer-game-announced-hands-on-with-the-new-fps-from-former-creators-of-f-e-a-r-and-no-one-lives-forever/)
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http://www.blackpowdergames.com/betrayer/)
twisty on 9/8/2013 at 03:25
Well colour me interested. I was a fan of Monolith mainly on account of my love for the NOLF games. Most of the FEAR titles were quite good although they haven't had as great an impact on me as what they have on others, judging by the popularity of the series.
It looks interesting. It's just a pity that no one releases demos anymore.
Ostriig on 9/8/2013 at 11:38
Quote Posted by twisty
Well
grayscale me interested.
Heh.
Jason Moyer on 9/8/2013 at 15:10
I like the idea of doing games in black and white but...I don't really like the look of visual design of this game. If they did it in say, sepia-tone or something? I think that could work. The world just seems too busy detail-wise, imho, to work with the colors they're going with. It could also just be the way they're implementing it - it looks like they're doing the textures in black and white, where replicating the real "black and white" look of an old film or tv show would mean doing all the textures in color and then using a shader to emulate the way old cameras worked.
Muzman on 9/8/2013 at 16:38
Oh, this game is those guys. Hadn't put that together until now (perhaps because some of the animations and things look a bit ...indie. Which I guess they are in a way)
Just to be tedious it's not "black and white" (although that's a misnomer) or greyscale. It's two tone (with red). And I tend to agree; it's alright at first even cool at times, but that sort of thing gets really tiring to look at for long periods.
It's not just a matter of hard clipping everything to either full bright or black according to lighting when you do that (which they seem to be doing). There's a really interesting book on the art of Sin City by Frank Miller (about a million times better than the book itself *cough*). The amount of planning and construction he had to put into every frame, deciding what should be black or white to get the forms and the mood right at the same time and still have it readable as an image, is...er illuminating.
If they just toned it down a bit (by increasing the number of tones...) they could still get a nice look and not cause as many woes I suspect.
Yakoob on 10/8/2013 at 04:14
Quote Posted by Jason Moyer
I like the idea of doing games in black and white but...I don't really like the look of visual design of this game.
I gotta agree, but my beef is more with characters and animations they feel like some awkward puppets, and the BW doesn't help. Though I have a feeling it's deliberate (feeling of uneasiness) and simply just doesn't appeal to me. Matter of taste, not objective criticism.
Quote:
doing all the textures in color and then using a shader to emulate the way old cameras worked.
Indeed. If you ever look at old BW film directors/art direction, you will find they put crazy attention into choosing the type of materials, colors and textures for fabrics and props, because they knew the subtle nuances of how they "translate" into black and white. Not all reds are created equal.
june gloom on 10/8/2013 at 04:24
Case in point: Psycho. They used chocolate syrup because it more closely resembled blood in black and white.
gunsmoke on 15/8/2013 at 01:57
I've bought it. Looking forward to trying it out when I get home.
Craig Hubbard explains the teams reasoning behind Betrayer's distinctive visuals
"We didn't do this as an artistic choice, we did it as a gameplay thing," states Hubbard, who explains that it was inspired by the law of closure, in which the brain fills out an image by looking at the negative space. "Our brains are already wired to make sense out of incomplete visual data, so when we happened upon this, we realised that kind of what was happening was it's just a really different way of seeing an environment and seeing a game world. It adds to the tension that you don't get when the visuals are much more literal. It seemed like it was kind of intense and we were a little bit nervous about it, but we enjoyed playing it so much that we just kept coming back to it."
"You look at something differently than you would have before and that tension that it creates really, really adds to the gameplay experience and I think that's the thing that makes it different," says Blackpowder co-founder Larry Paolicelli. "We didn't just throw a graphical switch and go 'let's do black and white.' It was literally built into the whole premise of the game."
(
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...g-fps-betrayer)
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http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/...k-white-world/)
EDIT: lulz! I just now noticed Mr.Tibbs was a member here too!
Mr. Tibbs on 15/8/2013 at 02:21
HA! I tend to keep a low profile on TTLG. I just love checking out the FM's (slowly working my way though them the past few years) and what the community has to say about Dishonored, Routine etc...
I'm a huge Monolith fan so I went a little crazy with Betrayer threads. Their run from 1996-2005 is absurd! Craig Hubbard has been busting his ass in the Steam community discussion page. By the sounds of things it's the opening level of the game. More content will be rolled in as development continues and the game will be improved based around the communities feedback and playtesting. Some things are set in stone - there will be no colour option for example. It's definitely not finished. I'll post some impressions when I get the chance.
Here are the links:
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http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-08-14-ex-monolith-dev-details-its-upcoming-fps-betrayer)
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http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/from-f-e-a-r-to-betrayer-craig-hubbard-on-coloring-colonial-americas-black-white-world/)
Okay, so I've played about an hour of Betrayer and I'm really liking it. I have to say, that it bears nothing in common with Monolith's games. It feels more like a small-scale STALKER game with a focus on exploration, atmosphere and a heavier focus on narrative. It's definitely it's own thing. Not a straight-forward shooter. I love the art style, but that's going to be divisive.
It's definitely a bit early, it's not a finished game yet, but if you willing to look past a few flaws, and you're pc's up to it (it seems pretty demanding), I wouldn't hesitate to recommend picking up a copy. Particularly if you enjoy something a bit different.
