Vindictus - Intermediate Computer Graphics Blog 1(INFR 2350)

Hey guys :D as you can see above, I will be talking about the game Vindictus.

What is Vindictus?

The Nexon game company has made Vindictus in its relation to a game called "Mabinogi", however, where the story of Vindictus begins is during a war era. The era of war that Nexon has started the story of Vindictus in, is not an era of which is facing humans, but other races of monsters. You start off as a person or mercenary who went in to save a friend. From there, your life unfolds to new journeys, battles, opportunities, and gold.

Game Graphics

In Vindictus, there are many ways to look at the different  shaders and graphics that are used. In many instances within the games dungeons, you have different uses for shaders. For example, if you strike a monster with a powerful kick, a 'power' field envelops the point of which you kicked, and the final boss and blurs the view.

At the side of that picture, closer to the edge, near the monster, you can see a pole sticking out. Under it lies a shadow. Within Vindictus, the way that they use shadows is unique, but in a tiny sense, flawed. As you can see in the picture above, there are heart pieces, and with the given shape, texture, and look of these heart pieces, they are seen to be 'crystal'-like but within the game, they have a full shadow, when in reality, crystals let some light through.

Although the shadows may not be fully correct with certain items or substances, the effects and definition are extremely accurate when compared to other games. In my first class of 'Intermediate Computer Graphics' a video of Crash Bandicoot was shown with shaders on and off. Without them, there was still a clear sense of depth and shadows, but with them on, it gave a different effect. However, you can see a difference when comparing a game like Crash, to a game like Vindictus. The quality is higher within Vindictus, and lower with Crash.

With all of this talk with shadows, the definitions of them, and depth, they all relate to shaders. A shader is a computer program used for rendering effects, such as making shadows have more depth. In Vindictus, they use shaders in the ways to give definitions to the characters shadows, casting shadows in the crevices of rocks, houses, and even the reflection and realness of water.

Vindictus Characters?

In Vindictus, the characters are very defined. Their armour is more defined than their own original body, but in which case, having armour on makes playing the game, so much more enjoying to look at. The amount of definition on the armour and the way that light bends when reflected off of it gives more of a touch of realness of the armour on the characters, or it makes it easier to see what type of armour is being worn by the character. The way that characters are made lately, the definition is being increased more and more every time. Why increase the realness of characters? The answer is that, with the more realness, the more people are attracted to play the game, sheerly because of the games character graphics.

Here is an example of the characters in Vindictus, showing the detail on character body, and armour.

Character Skin

Metallic Armour

Leather/ Pelt Armour

When you look at the body, compared to how defined the armour looks, some tend to wonder how they can go from such a low quality, to such a high quality with armour. The answer to that is bump mapping. Bump mapping is a technique used to add definition to a surface in computer graphics. For example, the picture with the metallic armour, could have been a smooth surface with no curves or bumps, but after using bump mapping, those circular bumps were rendered. Another example, is within the first picture, on the left, a male character is wearing red armour. This armour was probably a smooth surface, but after the use of bump mapping, those curvatures and streaks in-between what seems to be crude leather or fur, was then rendered.

Conclusion

If thought about carefully concerning the computer graphics for any game, you are able to pick out and describe many different factors or techniques, and tools that game companies use in order to render higher graphics within their game.

Well I personally don't have a leaving quote yet so...

Kazekumaru -- Peacing Out!

Questions to consider:

1. From reading what you see above, would you look more into Vindictus?
2. If you see a flaw from any picture or anything stated above concerning the game, what is it, and why?