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Hi, I just recently started playing on Lost Continent. I'm a veteran of original MU online.
I think that the current game looses a lot of its graphical appeal due to the graphics being overexposed (the game seems really ugly, even comparing it to the original 2003 MU). I suspect it happens because the whole game scene is overlit.
This is an example of a similiar piece of dungeon wall. The one to the left is from the original MU, while the one to the right is from the Lost Continent.
The right wall looks really pale and since the game wants to conserve as much performance as possible for mobile purposes there is not much of dynamic lighting (nor shadows) that would make the wall or any other element in-game more visually appealing. This causes the whole game scene to be dull and I believe the main issue of the graphics is lighting.
This is how the game looks like right now.
This is how the game could look with small tweaks. I made this in GIMP by simply applying the contrast filter.
Since using post-process effects, modifying materials for all objects in-game etc. would take a lot of work, such solution would not be feasible in a short term. But I still think the game visual appeal can be drastically improved with very little changes in-game.
Darkening the scene a little bit, would make it closer to the original game. I believe this effect can be easily achieved in your project by experimenting with lighting and it wouldn't take more than 10 minutes.
I'm pretty sure you are using Unity engine for this. The game seems to use just one source of directional light. Simply tone down its intensity to values between 0.5 - 0.95 to darken the scene a bit. That should help a lot with the scene atmosphere.
If there is anyone in the team that would like to put a bit more effort, this is a great article about how to make great looking low poly graphics: https://sundaysundae.co/how-to-make-low-poly-look-good/. The same principles from this link applies in your project case, especially the "lightning" and post-process segment.
Also, I highly recommend to take a look at color grading in Unity. https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/pos...rading-2019-2#. If the effect is expensive for mobile - maybe it would be a good idea to just add it to a PC build? The game could greatly benefit from this, without work that would require modifying all of the in-game assets. There is also a lot of fast post-processing framework that work well with mobile on Unity Asset store for relatively small fees.
Hope my post was helpful!
I think that the current game looses a lot of its graphical appeal due to the graphics being overexposed (the game seems really ugly, even comparing it to the original 2003 MU). I suspect it happens because the whole game scene is overlit.
This is an example of a similiar piece of dungeon wall. The one to the left is from the original MU, while the one to the right is from the Lost Continent.
The right wall looks really pale and since the game wants to conserve as much performance as possible for mobile purposes there is not much of dynamic lighting (nor shadows) that would make the wall or any other element in-game more visually appealing. This causes the whole game scene to be dull and I believe the main issue of the graphics is lighting.
This is how the game looks like right now.
This is how the game could look with small tweaks. I made this in GIMP by simply applying the contrast filter.
Since using post-process effects, modifying materials for all objects in-game etc. would take a lot of work, such solution would not be feasible in a short term. But I still think the game visual appeal can be drastically improved with very little changes in-game.
Darkening the scene a little bit, would make it closer to the original game. I believe this effect can be easily achieved in your project by experimenting with lighting and it wouldn't take more than 10 minutes.
I'm pretty sure you are using Unity engine for this. The game seems to use just one source of directional light. Simply tone down its intensity to values between 0.5 - 0.95 to darken the scene a bit. That should help a lot with the scene atmosphere.
If there is anyone in the team that would like to put a bit more effort, this is a great article about how to make great looking low poly graphics: https://sundaysundae.co/how-to-make-low-poly-look-good/. The same principles from this link applies in your project case, especially the "lightning" and post-process segment.
Also, I highly recommend to take a look at color grading in Unity. https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/pos...rading-2019-2#. If the effect is expensive for mobile - maybe it would be a good idea to just add it to a PC build? The game could greatly benefit from this, without work that would require modifying all of the in-game assets. There is also a lot of fast post-processing framework that work well with mobile on Unity Asset store for relatively small fees.
Hope my post was helpful!
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