Why did they make this game so Cartoony?

[Big Boss]

Just started playing the firs DOD and the art, graphics and sfx are so much more realistic and gritty looking/sounding. In contrast this game is like a cartoon for some reason. Feel like this game would awesome if they had just stuck with the same aesthetic as the first game.

[Vamzer]

All Source games from that time looked more cartoony and colourful than their previous iterations, just compare CS 1.6 to CSS, even HL1 to HL2 tho to a lesser extent. TF2 being the most obvious, doesn't look similar to TFC or Quake TF at all.

My guess would be that the engine while being good in other things was particularly good at reflections, specularity, bloom and HDR later on so they wanted to show it off. A more stylized look can help with that.

Just look at Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, runs on source, while it is gritty and dark it kind of looks like a cartoon still.

[iiiiit's dan]

Function over form was the start of the Source engine's making. The art style had to go a certain way because Valve could only take so much from the average consumer's hardware budget. Even with these changes that are criticized today, gamers back then had to begrudgingly buy new way more expensive hardware to play the new games running on Source. Any further and I don't think the platform would be where it is today.

There are also maps made by independent creators-the people who put the most work into DoD(:S) by far- that are damn near photo-realistic. Paired with higher quality custom models, (only allowed on certain servers or on sv_unsecure), and you have the same experience as a modern Source or even Source 2 game.

[Macdallan]

Team Fortress 2 didn't end up looking anything like the original vision for TF 2. The initial plan was for a much more realistic look.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Fortress_2#/media/File:Tf2_oldstyle.jpg

I am sad that we ended up with the TF 2 we have instead of what they had originally been planning.

I also miss an old Half-Life mod called Firearms. It was one of the best HL mods I've ever played, and for me it was definitely the most fun.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearms_(video_game) or https://www.moddb.com/mods/firearms.

[Big Boss]

Ya I remember seeing the preview pics for TF2 in a gaming mag back in the day and it looked freaking awesome, still disappointed about it lol

For now I've just moved on to original DOD, could never play it as a kid and I'm enjoying the hell out of it now. Still a really decent sized community playing it.

Its actually way more challenging that DOD Source, like every map has 10 different secret ways to get to places on the map. Its crazy. Source feels very basic in comparison

[Macdallan]

As I recall the original DOD was better than the source version but nearly everyone moved on to DOD:Source, including the clan I had been gaming with very regularly at the time, so I went along for the ride. I think DOD:Source was when the enjoyment started to drain from the game for me. I've been playing DOD:Source a bit lately and I'm remembering the good, and the bad, from when I used to play a lot. I don't miss some of the ridiculously amazing shots people pull off, or the way I my shots miss by a mile when I'm prone or kneeling, not moving, and aiming....

Glad I'm not the only one old enough to recall the original plan for TF2.

I may have to boot up the original DOD sometime.

[Jack Schitt]

Originally posted by Big Boss:

Just started playing the firs DOD and the art, graphics and sfx are so much more realistic and gritty looking/sounding. In contrast this game is like a cartoon for some reason. Feel like this game would awesome if they had just stuck with the same aesthetic as the first game.

Your text doesn't make sense. first you say it's more realistic then you complain it's like a cartoon. Which is it? Keep in mind this game was released sometime around 2002. It's 20 years old.

Originally posted by Macdallan:

As I recall the original DOD was better than the source version but nearly everyone moved on to DOD:Source, including the clan I had been gaming with very regularly at the time, so I went along for the ride. I think DOD:Source was when the enjoyment started to drain from the game for me. I've been playing DOD:Source a bit lately and I'm remembering the good, and the bad, from when I used to play a lot. I don't miss some of the ridiculously amazing shots people pull off, or the way I my shots miss by a mile when I'm prone or kneeling, not moving, and aiming....

Glad I'm not the only one old enough to recall the original plan for TF2.

I may have to boot up the original DOD sometime.

I'm the opposite. I've always had more fun with source There are still active servers for both versions. I haven't checked in about a year but the last time I tried I was able to find a few people on a server in TFC (Team fortress CLASSIC) Not TF2.

Talk about "cartoon" graphics? Play with the obnoxious children on TF2 and share what you think is cartoon-like.

[TRethehedgehog]

Just more source weirdness

[CupCupBaconBox]

Yeah I booted up the original DOD a couple days ago (it still has a small but active player base, btw) for the first time in like ten years, and the general vibe of the game is so much better. I think DOD:S killed the franchise.

[TRethehedgehog]

Probably just how bad lighting was in goldsrc compared to source

But then in left 4 dead it’s dark and gritty
So I don’t really know

[TRethehedgehog]

Originally posted by CupCupBaconBox:

Yeah I booted up the original DOD a couple days ago (it still has a small but active player base, btw) for the first time in like ten years, and the general vibe of the game is so much better. I think DOD:S killed the franchise.

I don’t think valve was going to do much with the series anyways

[TRethehedgehog]

Originally posted by epin:

i think sometime ago they made update to tf2 engine where stuff like explosions were copied from tf2 maybe thats why it looks kinda cartoony, most gameplay stuff is same as in other games like css.

I think tf2 was supposed to be cartoony
Everything else just wanted to show off more powerful lighting

[TRethehedgehog]

And yet CS:S nuke looks way darker than CS:GO nuke

[Eyeling]

Goldsrc Day of defeat was inspired by paintings by otto dix and a few other artists. look around an official original day of defeat map, and you will notice that everything looks like its out of a very gritty painting. even the sky boxes and weapons look like paintings. this is because of how the textures where styled. I guess with day of defeat source, they wanted to try something else.

[Big Boss]

Originally posted by eyeling:

Goldsrc Day of defeat was inspired by paintings by otto dix and a few other artists. look around an official original day of defeat map, and you will notice that everything looks like its out of a very gritty painting. even the sky boxes and weapons look like paintings. this is because of how the textures where styled. I guess with day of defeat source, they wanted to try something else.

That's interesting, I'll check out his work. Ya it just looks so much better. Havent played source in ages now. There's a couple really active servers still for original DoD. Same 20 - 50 people play almost every day so it has a community

Feel like if they had just given source that same art style it would have been fire with the updated physics and stuff

[seb !]

They tried to initially, but it wasn't received well, it just didn't work. They also wanted to show off what the new engine was good at, which was things like HDR