Dear Esther

[QuantumPion]

Yep yep, it's the main reason why I can still enjoy playing classics like Baldur's Gate II and Age of Empires II.

Heh, try playing NWN1 again. It is soooo bad looking I can't tolerate it any longer. Even though I can play old 320x200 dos games like MOO till the cows come home, so to speak.

 

[digiram]

640X480 Starcraft still looks amazing.

 

[sigurros81]

I recently posted a video on YouTube basically showing off the graphical capabilities of Dear Esther, I was not very satisfied with it as I just felt the tone of the video was incorrect and the quality of the video and the shots were not good enough to really show off what the game is capable of, so I went back to the drawing board...

I came up with something I am very proud of and would love some feedback on it and would really appreciate your guys opinions.

I loved this everything about Dear Esther from the art direction right down to the tiny details and the story and audio were top notch

Anyway without any further ado here is my video, make sure to watch in 1080P and enjoy it!

http://youtu.be/OQIS3Dnu6K4?hd=1

I gave up on watching the video after I got tired of watching all the intro text with an unreadable and ugly font.

 

[pontifex]

I have to disagree with you here, I rendered these videos at a very high resolution and downscaled to 1080P, I also tweaked a lot of things in the configuration so what you are seeing is actually an improvement upon the official vids, I am not just saying this because its my video I am just highlighting the fact it is a definite improvement on the official trailer and caves video.

The only difference is on the official video they have a slight border blur on the outskirts of the video which gives it a DOF effect in places but that is merely video editing.
And to prove that point I will link the two for comparison.

http://youtu.be/i3bPjEbenew?hd=1 <Official Cave system video

http://youtu.be/D7VJ4lP-05A?hd=1 > Official trailer

Rewatching the official trailer, i see that the shots are all pretty much far away too so you can't see the bad textures. you're video has several close up shots of the ground and stuff and you can see how bad it looks then.

 

[pontifex]

I gave up on watching the video after I got tired of watching all the intro text with an unreadable and ugly font.

the intro's not that long...talk about short attention span.

 

[Justinakach0ppa]

Rewatching the official trailer, i see that the shots are all pretty much far away too so you can't see the bad textures. you're video has several close up shots of the ground and stuff and you can see how bad it looks then.

Yeah, the game looks good from an artistic point, but the source engine is showing its age without a doubt, the caves mask the texture problems with some fantastic lighting and good artistic touches, the caves are without a doubt the set piece of the game in my opinion.

 

[Justinakach0ppa]

I gave up on watching the video after I got tired of watching all the intro text with an unreadable and ugly font.

I will help you, the intro lasted 18 seconds, on average when you wait for a game to load or you watch a movie, you sit through a good 1 min intro, which you have the choice to skip, just like you do with this one.

As far as the text is concerned if you are having real difficult time reading the text it says

"Justinakach0ppa presents...Dear Esther, A Homage."

So now its clear for you maybe you can focus your attention on something more than a 18 second intro and maybe give the content after the introduction constructive criticism?

Either way your entitled to your opinion and I respect it :thumbsup: shame that you feel you cannot press a left mouse button to click past a tiny introduction screen but to be honest I doubt that you ever intended to watch the video anyway judging from the way you responded.

 

[Justinakach0ppa]

the intro's not that long...talk about short attention span.

Yeah I am used to it by now, I call it the COD generation, if something is not blowing up in the first 5 seconds they are not interested, not that I have anything against COD or any other FPS but I do feel it has created a situation in which modern day gamers have virtual adhd.

 

[sigurros81]

I will help you, the intro lasted 18 seconds, on average when you wait for a game to load or you watch a movie, you sit through a good 1 min intro, which you have the choice to skip, just like you do with this one.

As far as the text is concerned if you are having real difficult time reading the text it says

"Justinakach0ppa presents...Dear Esther, A Homage."

So now its clear for you maybe you can focus your attention on something more than a 18 second intro and maybe give the content after the introduction constructive criticism?

Either way your entitled to your opinion and I respect it :thumbsup: shame that you feel you cannot press a left mouse button to click past a tiny introduction screen but to be honest I doubt that you ever intended to watch the video anyway judging from the way you responded.

Sorry bro, I intended to watch the vid but I lost all interest after the drawn-out text. You're probably right, my attention span is pretty short these days, but if you're serious about the videos you're making and you're hoping for viewership, try to consider what I said. Sure I can skip the video as you're asking, but the fact that you're asking me to do something on my part to watch your video means you're not doing your part properly to keep me entertained.

Edit: Why do you need 18 seconds to just say "Justinakach0ppa presents...Dear Esther, A Homage."

 

[gorcorps]

I recently posted a video on YouTube basically showing off the graphical capabilities of Dear Esther, I was not very satisfied with it as I just felt the tone of the video was incorrect and the quality of the video and the shots were not good enough to really show off what the game is capable of, so I went back to the drawing board...

I came up with something I am very proud of and would love some feedback on it and would really appreciate your guys opinions.

I loved this everything about Dear Esther from the art direction right down to the tiny details and the story and audio were top notch

Anyway without any further ado here is my video, make sure to watch in 1080P and enjoy it!

http://youtu.be/OQIS3Dnu6K4?hd=1

Cool video. Though it's always nice to see the song you use in the description. Luckily it was just a cover so I found it easily, but still

That said, there were only a few shots I thought looked overly impressive. I don't think most of the outdoors shots are great due to the incredibly low res grass/vegetation. The sky is very well done though. The caves looked pretty good overall, but the muddy textures will definitely be noticed that close.

 

[gorcorps]

Edit: Why do you need 18 seconds to just say "Justinakach0ppa presents...Dear Esther, A Homage."

Why does it bother you so damn much? It has a seek bar... skip to where you want and go nuts. Are you having a bad day or something man? You usually have to be in a pretty bad mood to get so irritable about such a trivial thing that doesn't even concern you.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Did anyone else feel that the storytelling style in this game is very similar to Braid? I love that.

 

[Final8ty]

When Dear Esther turned a profit in six hours it was already obvious that it would exceed expectations. Dear Esther’s Indie Fund backers were originally unsure about funding Dear Esther, but it looks like their faith has been well placed. It sold 16,000 copies on Steam on day one. A week on, it’s sold more than 50,000.

Developers, Thechineseroom made their sales public over on the Dear Esther blog, saying that the 50,000 figure is “an extraordinary amount for an indie release.”

“It shows that there’s a real audience for this type of work, and responses have been amazing. Not only have we received amazingly positive reviews, but the response from fans has been outstanding,” they add. You can read our thoughts in the PC Gamer Dear Esther review.

Dear Esther’s success is bound to inspire others interested in crafting contemplative, narrative games, but also proves that this sort of work can draw a profit. It helps that the chineseroom have pushed the Source engine far enough to create the extraordinary screenshots and evocative trailers that piqued player interest ahead of release. Dear Esther has elegantly paired artistic intent with strong technical ability to create a package polished enough to justify that price tag. Hopefully other indie developers looking to replicate Dear Esther’s success can pull off the same trick. PC gaming will be the richer for it.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/02/28/dear-esther-sells-50000-in-one-week/

 

[queequeg99]

Liked the game, but feel a bit meh about the 10 dollar price tag. Don't get me wrong, the music/atmosphere/and the lack of rush really did immerse me, but I was at least hoping for 3-4 hours with the 10 dollar price tag.

Guess I'm just spoiled because I tend to get sandbox games that will give me a lot of hours played/dollar.

+1. Stated another way, would you rather buy Deux Ex:HR for $10 (such in last weekend's sale) or Dear Esther? For that matter, look at the sale pricing for Portal or Portal 2 that comes around now and again. An hour or two is a really short experience for the money. That having been said, I might buy this as a gift for my wife. She's not into typical FPS shooters as such but likes the exploring aspect. And there is something to be said for supporting indie game initiatives like this.

 

[Stringjam]

I decided to pick it up and play through it tonight. It is very well crafted. Beautiful artistic direction throughout.....the caves were definitely a highlight.

Don't buy this looking for graphical amazement though.....this is Source, and it has that "static" Source look to it, with plenty of low-poly and low-res throughout.

I'm glad I bought it. It was a nice, relaxing experience in a hauntingly beautiful atmosphere. I've spent $10 on plenty of stuff that I didn't enjoy half as much.