Sansar Teaser Pics Should Look Better Than Second Life, But Don't (Comment of the Week)

Reader JohnC performed a pretty brutal autopsy on the latest Sansar teaser image from Linden Lab (above) released late last week:

I honestly don't mean to keep dissing these images that keep appearing, but when you are developing something new such as Sansar, and when you act in a totally secretive way about the product, then anything you release deserves critical attention. There is absolutely nothing special about this image that would warrant it being released as special in some way, as far as I can see. If I were in Second Life right now I could go there and in an hour or so, maybe a lot less, I could come up with a shot that looked easily as good as this, if not better. In fact I could go take some shots in Arranmore that was featured in a post here the other day and get more atmospheric impressive shots than this.

JohnC goes on to propose the kind of teaser pics and videos he's hoping to see from Sansar:

This is not to discredit the creator of this scene, but I ask what it is that is being demonstrated here. I guess because the lighting in SL was so dreadful they are totally blown away by anything that now has decent lighting. But in the big wide world of game engines this is absolutely bog standard stuff. And how come all these pictures are distance shots through the haze.

If they wanted to impress, how about some close up shots of materials in action, or if they must be distance, what about some ideas about landscaping, trees, grass, water etc.? We can all make or buy meshes, what we want to know is what the engine itself will bring to the party to help us out. OK so we have some standard lighting, but what else do we get?

Emphasis mine, because it bears emphasis. Gorgeous screenshots are a Linden Dollar a dozen, but personally I'd like to see Sansar offer something like this High Fidelity demo with garden gnomes.

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Comments

[Carlos Loff]

Make John C words MY WORDS

[Amanda Dallin]

I'd like to see something with avatars but if their anything as awful as the ones I've seen in Hi Fi, I understand why they don't.

[metacam oh]

as someone who spent alot of money in SL for years thinking it had a future and being milked for every peny i had like a drug habit i am in no way at all interested in Sansar. They have done nothing to get me interested in it nor have they ever seemed to recognize where SL went wrong. They are one of the most poorly managed tech companies out there and that spans several CEOs. I don't know what's wrong with them but it boggles my mind.

[cyberserenity]

Everybody will get tired of Sansar befor it even comes out. LL strategy starting to get boring. Get a beta out!

[Timo Gufler]

Pictures are just boring pictures. What about their world model, vechiles, avatars, etc.? I'm curious to see whether Sansar's closed or HF's open nature is going to be more successful on long run.

[Cathartes Aura]

The "people" responsible for the current state of SL and for one bad decision after another is the LL Board of Directors.

They rigged the entire SL economy, starting in 2006, by rigging land costs - Grandfathered Tier, Atlas, etc. They jerked their customers around - Zindra, Open Spaces, etc.

They p$ssed off huge sums of the residents money on one failure after another, never fixing any of the technical problems that we all experience daily in SL.

They despise their own customer base - Mitch Kapor.

And their latest whim, Sansar, is DOA. LL is the gang that just cannot shoot straight. If the screenshots LL has been releasing are supposed to show the technical superiority of Sansar as a platform for virtual world development the LL Board of Directors has failed yet again.

How's that arrogance and hubris working out for ya, Mitch...

Pathetic.

And the Turkey Vulture goes. Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss! ;)

[Clara Seller]

To me, the virtual reality hype is looking a lot like trickle-down economics in being a scheme to top load resources that never really rain much benefit down on the little guys. Did anyone really ever believe that Sansar was going to be something worthwhile? It's now October, the last quarter, and Sansar is looking like a whole lotta nuttin'. What happened to all of those LL cheerleaders who shamelessly shamed people for daring to question Sansar years ago? We could sure use some of that insider info now. You'd think they would be making some pretty awesome vanity vids for us to fawn over. Mmm Hmm. The cheering squad has become the cricket brigade. If this plays out like a typical trickle down scheme, it won't be long before we get a quiet announcement that Elvis has left the building and SL is going to need some austerity measures to keep the ship afloat. Seriously Cheerleaders, I dare you to get out your pom-poms and own this. It's the last quarter. Bring it home for the team.

[Alex]

I've been just 5 years in Second Life but I spent a mountain of money in this short time. So I don't look myself moving to Sansar losing everything I have and start from 0 again. Is a stupid act leave Second Life to go to Sansar. Sometimes I think Sansar can't replace Second Life because there are places that are never empty, they are places of sex and music and if Sansar admit people 16 and older... you haven't to be a MBA graduate to understand in Sansar sex is not permissible. When you start in Second Life you shock becouse is not easy to understand how to use the viewer, manage your inventory, groups, etc. So I think in essence Sansar be like Second Life but designed for teens who use applications that everything is activated with icon, that in Second Life is impossible. When Linden Labs ended Second Life for teens, I think LL knew they had to do something to recapture those teens. So ... forget Sansar and keep spending money in Second Life.

[hereanamewillgo]

No, game mechanics 1st. Use and test it ugly and graphics engine guys work on that until it is done. THEN all models etc. just have a little extra work on materials before launch and core game mechanic/experience mechanics work perfectly. No waiting for shaders, people want postcards!

[JohnC]

What you describe is the internal process, what a games company uses to impress those who pay for the project. show me where this is true of Unity, Unreal engine Cry engine or even lumberyard when it comes to something nearing final release.

[JohnC]

Besides, your comment sounds derogatory of the user, "well just send them a bunch of fancy photo's, they are too stupid to care" is that what you meant to say?