CSL: Graphics too cartoonish?

[Libertyville 164]

I started playing Cities Skylines recently. One downside is that the graphics are way too cartoonish. It is very colorful and theme-park like. SC and Cities XXL are both more realistic.

 

My complaint about Cities XXL is that buildings appear to be too dim, with a dark and brownish exterior.

 

What do you think?

[iviaarten 533]

I think SC2013 was even more cartoony than C:SL.

 

So more realistic and gritty buildings are already showing up on the Workshop though. It'll take some time, but our cities will look much more realistic in the future.

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

SC2013 struck me as cartoon-like.  This looks more like a 3D modeling program style.  Like it's supposed to look like a computer model of a city, rather than a photo-realistic look.  Easier to make because less detail.  Cities XL graphics take a lot of work to make.

 

You can throw some color mods over the game though.  They work like SimCity's filters.

[simonmd 6]

I thought this initially but have warmed to it. Oh, and comparing it to Cities XL/XXL???? Er, have you SEEN the people in that game????? Well, I say 'people' the word is used loosely. They look like a cross between the guy in 'UP' and something from lord of the rings, just HORRIBLE. Also, how about the traffic that all turn to colorless, textureless grey boxes when youre more than a hundred feet away. Cartoonish? A bit, but at the same time, I dont feel sick.

[Libertyville 164]

I thought this initially but have warmed to it. Oh, and comparing it to Cities XL/XXL???? Er, have you SEEN the people in that game????? Well, I say 'people' the word is used loosely. They look like a cross between the guy in 'UP' and something from lord of the rings, just HORRIBLE. Also, how about the traffic that all turn to colorless, textureless grey boxes when youre more than a hundred feet away. Cartoonish? A bit, but at the same time, I dont feel sick.

Cities XXL people are one of the shortcomings of the game. Cities XXL is more for macro-level play of a realistic, large-map city, with lots of realistic mods. The traffic boxes can be easily fixed with a mod.

 

Cities Skylines is very lively. You feel that the city is dynamic, moving, especially the traffic and pedestrian flow too. CSL does this the best among the three city building games. SC4 and XXL both look static and lacking life in the city. CSL really brings life to the city.

 

One poster made the point that CSL looks like computer modeling. I feel the same way too.

 

When I was playing CSL, I just feel that this game is very sweet.

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

I mean, what we'd all really like to see is Grand Theft Auto graphics in a city builder.  But for now we have to accept reality and crap on porcelain.

[NCGAIO 562]

Unless the CO limit the target public of the game to desktop machines with high performance CPUs and  powerful graphic processing to get rid of Mintel hardships for portable this quality graphic  could hardly happen.

 

The market reality is that games have to fit in portables and this obviously has a cost for complex simulators in free view.

[iviaarten 533]

 

Unless the CO limit the target public of the game to desktop machines with high performance CPUs and  powerful graphic processing to get rid of Mintel hardships for portable this quality graphic  could hardly happen.

 

The market reality is that games have to fit in portables and this obviously has a cost for complex simulators  .

 

 

Not really. CO and Paradox have stated on the system requirements page the Intel Integrated graphics are NOT supported.

It still seems to run ok-ish on 4000 series chipsets on low quality though, but the graphical fidelity was certainly not lowered to accommodate non-gamer laptops.

I think it's more a case of limited resources (total development team was between 9 and 13 members for this game).

[Ocram's Razr 963]

I will take full advantage of RCI plop mods once they are possible to make my cities in CSL look like CXL cities.

--Ocram

[NCGAIO 562]

Not really. CO and Paradox have stated on the system requirements page the Intel Integrated graphics are NOT supported.

It still seems to run ok-ish on 4000 series chipsets on low quality though, but the graphical fidelity was certainly not lowered to accommodate non-gamer laptops.

I think it's more a case of limited resources (total development team was between 9 and 13 members for this game).

Certainly noted that will only see this if clicked to see more about the minimum requirements and this also will certainly go undetected by most buyers.

As for concerns about the compatibility see that the game still request DX9.0c as minimum requirement so think I need not say more.

Of course that will run on any modern integrated (poor but will run) is seems that the discussion here is on quality cartoon textures therefore nothing to do with the lack of time or ability of publishers but with the way it was implemented.

[Mystrelia 57]

I don't think the graphics are so much cartoonish (well, not once you get past the doughnut and hot dog trucks) as much as they are bright and cheerful. I like bright cheery colors and I don't like gritty and dirty because that's just downright depressing. I just wish when I went to town there were as many cars on the road colored like Easter eggs as there are in this game!

[MTYland 35]

Dude, the Graphics are ok, the thing here is with the textures of the game, is not the same thing. Try change the filters option or the themes option.

 

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?836498-Cities-Skylines-%96-Dev-Diary-10-Themes

[rsc204 21,806]

...the discussion here is on quality cartoon textures therefore nothing to do with the lack of time or ability of publishers but with the way it was implemented.

 

The publishers themselves stated on SC4D that their primary goal was to create a working product:

 

"I can't fault you for your want of super detailed buildings. Just remember, CO has a very small team that simply can't spend all of their time making tons of super detailed buildings. Things like giving our community members the tools to make custom content are a higher priority."

 

I for one am glad they didn't spend development focusing on the textures but then fail to deliver a working game.

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

I enabled one of the color correction LUTs and it changed the look somewhat and looks better. I think the key here is how the assets are textured along with the shader used in the game. Looks like plastic. Hopefully the game's shader can be modded and we will see some great looking visuals in the future. Just give it time. It looks like the modding community took off running already.

[Turjan 1,048]

I really like the art style of this game, so I'm happy. I actually hope that we also see some more buildings that fit this exact style.

[Sabretooth78 808]

The publishers themselves stated on SC4D that their primary goal was to create a working product:

 

"I can't fault you for your want of super detailed buildings. Just remember, CO has a very small team that simply can't spend all of their time making tons of super detailed buildings. Things like giving our community members the tools to make custom content are a higher priority."

 

I for one am glad they didn't spend development focusing on the textures but then fail to deliver a working game.

 

 

For all the little minutiae that have been baked into this game, I would have accepted every building in each zone type being identical so long as the ability to customize said buildings in the future was available.  Good bones will beat a superficial product any day.

[simonmd 6]

 

...the discussion here is on quality cartoon textures therefore nothing to do with the lack of time or ability of publishers but with the way it was implemented.

 

The publishers themselves stated on SC4D that their primary goal was to create a working product:

 

"I can't fault you for your want of super detailed buildings. Just remember, CO has a very small team that simply can't spend all of their time making tons of super detailed buildings. Things like giving our community members the tools to make custom content are a higher priority."

 

I for one am glad they didn't spend development focusing on the textures but then fail to deliver a working game.

 

Could not agree more, it's the core game thats important, buildings and stuff like that can be modded or upgraded as part of future DLC. Overall, i'm pleased with the buildings though, have you enabled the 'futurisation' policy in the districts menu? Some of those low density houses are stunning!

[MTYland 35]

Color Correction LUT for Cities Skylines.

[LexusInfernus 908]

The publishers themselves stated on SC4D that their primary goal was to create a working product:

 

"I can't fault you for your want of super detailed buildings. Just remember, CO has a very small team that simply can't spend all of their time making tons of super detailed buildings. Things like giving our community members the tools to make custom content are a higher priority."

 

I for one am glad they didn't spend development focusing on the textures but then fail to deliver a working game.

 

Yeah, and think of SC4 vanilla. The only reason most SC4 stuff looks as good as it does today is because it has over 10 years of custom content backing it. It would be very interesting to see where C:SL will be after 10 years of custom content

[TekindusT 3,809]

Indeed. In only one week, we have seen some really changing mods on the Workshop and on the STEX. Nobody can predict what the game will look like not in 10 years, but in 1 year.

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

Also remember that back in 2003, broadband internet with youtube and access to 3D modeling applications was no where near what we have today. CS modeling is also not limited to gmax or Max only. So yeah I agree with TekindusT this is going to change very rapidly.

[xonedl 341]

Personally thinks the game is way too vivid - which is one reason makes it looks like cartoon / candy...

I used SweetFX and turn down the saturation as much as 50%...

 

[mgomrjsurf 16]

It should work with HD Graphics Card so people who have an all in one PC that comes with that Graphics Card can use it becuase it looks like my Dell All in One 2020 has no expansion slots.

[MTYland 35]

What about ENBSeries for Cites Skylines?