Ninja Theory: Dreadnought Diaries Episode 3 - Capturing Reality (Project: Mara)

Gaming
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21

This needs VR support, and Xbox needs to support VR.

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22

It will be UE5 in the end, but what they are showing is photogrammetry, which has been done all the way back since battlefront 1. Its what the middleware “quixel” is, which is now free with UE4 since Epic acquired them.

Im sure the talented devs at Ninja Theory will create a room which is better looking then demos like this

Because its a dedicated team creating it, also with the power of next gen hardware, but UE4 is absolutely caperble of that level of visuals.

As far as im concerned UE4 is already a next gen engine.

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23

I dont know if you can call it a game, its goal is to leverage next gen tech to create an experience which can improve mental well being. I honestly dont know what this will entail, because theres going to have to be some kind of story and activity, because walking about in a room is just a tech demo. The only thing I can think of is that apartments appearance and geometry changes in some way.

24

I’ve said it on the podcast a few times but I maintain Ninja Theory will become XGS best studio over the next few years as they get to really flex their muscles with Microsoft resources behind them

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25

I agree, I think one day think Ninja Theory could be in the same league as Naughty Dog.

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26

I could be wrong but I think you’re mixing up Project Insight and Project Mara.

27

Best is subjective because I don’t see them aiming to create huge blockbusters however I do see potential that they are one of Microsoft’s most important. They bring high levels of tech expertise and innovation for animations and realistic visuals. They’re also focusing on making this stuff realistically achievable for small to mid sized teams through a focus on efficiency. Most studios are either too big, too small or don’t have the culture to explore technology innovation like this. Assuming other 1st party studios can benefit from it, they are one of those teams that can make everyone else better.

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28

Ninja Theory is such a class act. The best developer we have in the UK IMO

29

They are the same aren’t they?

30

I hope not, mara is supposedly an experimental horror game. I can’t imagine that improving mental well being.

The whole thing is kind of confusing. Is Insight even a game? An initiative? Research?

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31

All I ask of this game is to not be a glorified Archviz project with some narrative on top at best lol, but I’m confident in NT’s ability to tackle these sorts of things as proven in Hellblade, so I’m definitely looking forward to it. Gameplay needs to be there. I suppose they shall use this aspect of focusing compulsively on recreating every nook and cranny of the environment to make it feel as realistic as possible as some sort of meta narrative tying to the subjects and themes of Mental Health, which is gonna be supported and fed with R&D from Project Insight.

Project Insight is a Research division dedicated to learning about mental health and how it can be explored in the medium of video games. It’s not a game in itself.

32

Interesting stuff. What do we know right now about this game? It takes place in that apartment, so likely won’t be very big nor long, which is OK. But is it filed under horror?

33

I think when he said best, he is talking about winning awards. If they win more best game awards then other MS studios then they are the “best”.

34

I think that day is a LOT sooner than ppl think.

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35

Looks pretty awesome, most people are forgetting about this game

36

No

37

According to a GDC talk last year, the next Forza will leverage laser-scanned objects. When it comes to realism, this sort of pipeline is important to nail down.

And that’s what is great about this. Archvis has progressed by leaps and bounds recently. And while they run in realtime, the next archvis scenes have baked lighting and high res cubemaps that wouldn’t be practical for real time games.

I’ve always thought that realism comes down to sub millimeter detail, in animations as well. That to really convince people that something is real, you need to capture things at that level and for animations, at 240+Hz at that level.

So I’m glad they’re focused on this, as this research can benefit all MS studios. And it’s in MGS’s best interests to fund this research.

Here’s the thing, you can grab assets from the UE Marketplace and kitbash this scene pretty quickly and it would look really good. At a distance. But you wouldn’t get anywhere close the detail in comparison to something like this that calculates dust accumulation and renders it realistically.

It’s a lot like having peach fuzz on character faces. It’s that one tiny (literally) detail that takes characters to another level.

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38

Can someone explain what Project Mara actually is game wise? Thanks.

39

I wish we could. It sounds like experimental horror game that takes places in a single apartment.

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It is a psychological horror game about the horror of the mind, taking place in one location, with one character. It is described by Ninja Theory as pretty experimental, and a new form of story-telling. One of the slogan they used was : " how can we distinguish what is real from what is not "

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