Games

"Reset" trailer raises bar for indie game graphics ... by a mile

"Reset" trailer raises bar for indie game graphics ... by a mile
More clues can be had from the somber trailer itself which depicts a robot sitting motionless in an apparently abandoned city as time passes around it
More clues can be had from the somber trailer itself which depicts a robot sitting motionless in an apparently abandoned city as time passes around it
View 11 Images
Two-man development team Theory Interactive is developing Reset, a first-person perspective puzzle game which, judging by the trailer, has the production values of a multi-million dollar blockbuster video game
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Two-man development team Theory Interactive is developing Reset, a first-person perspective puzzle game which, judging by the trailer, has the production values of a multi-million dollar blockbuster video game
Two-man development team Theory Interactive is developing Reset, a first-person perspective puzzle game which, judging by the trailer, has the production values of a multi-million dollar blockbuster video game
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Two-man development team Theory Interactive is developing Reset, a first-person perspective puzzle game which, judging by the trailer, has the production values of a multi-million dollar blockbuster video game
More clues can be had from the somber trailer itself which depicts a robot sitting motionless in an apparently abandoned city as time passes around it
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More clues can be had from the somber trailer itself which depicts a robot sitting motionless in an apparently abandoned city as time passes around it
The trailer ends with the hint of a hitherto dormant routine on an apparently city-wide computer network, which apparently sparks the robots back into action
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The trailer ends with the hint of a hitherto dormant routine on an apparently city-wide computer network, which apparently sparks the robots back into action
The concept of a low-budget indie title with blockbuster production values was inspired by relatively recent indie sci-fi films such as Moon and Cube
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The concept of a low-budget indie title with blockbuster production values was inspired by relatively recent indie sci-fi films such as Moon and Cube
According to Edge the player will take control of a robot in an small open-world city. As well as physics-based problems, time manipulation will also figure to add complexity to the puzzling
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According to Edge the player will take control of a robot in an small open-world city. As well as physics-based problems, time manipulation will also figure to add complexity to the puzzling
Solving puzzles will apparently further the narrative rather than simply unlocking further puzzles
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Solving puzzles will apparently further the narrative rather than simply unlocking further puzzles
Two-man development team Theory Interactive is developing Reset, a first-person perspective puzzle game which, judging by the trailer, has the production values of a multi-million dollar blockbuster video game
8/11
Two-man development team Theory Interactive is developing Reset, a first-person perspective puzzle game which, judging by the trailer, has the production values of a multi-million dollar blockbuster video game
More clues can be had from the somber trailer itself which depicts a robot sitting motionless in an apparently abandoned city as time passes around it
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More clues can be had from the somber trailer itself which depicts a robot sitting motionless in an apparently abandoned city as time passes around it
More clues can be had from the somber trailer itself which depicts a robot sitting motionless in an apparently abandoned city as time passes around it
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More clues can be had from the somber trailer itself which depicts a robot sitting motionless in an apparently abandoned city as time passes around it
More clues can be had from the somber trailer itself which depicts a robot sitting motionless in an apparently abandoned city as time passes around it
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More clues can be had from the somber trailer itself which depicts a robot sitting motionless in an apparently abandoned city as time passes around it
View gallery - 11 images

How does a two-man indie development studio create a game with the sort of gameplay and visuals one would normally associate with seven- or eight-figure budgets? That must be the question on at least some of the lips of the 400,000 or so people who've watched the trailer to Finnish studio Theory Interactive's Reset, a first-person puzzle game said to be very much in the mold of Portal.

The concept of a low-budget indie title with blockbuster production values was inspired by relatively recent indie sci-fi films such as Moon and Cube. But Reset developer Alpo Oksaharju points out that what is challenging in cinema is even more so in the gaming industry.

"Generalizing a bit, to create a believable fictional world on film, one basically does not need more than a camera. In games everything has to be built, which by today's standards doesn't come cheap," Oksaharju writes on the Theory Interactive blog. The comparison may be open to question (blockbuster film budgets are also enormous), but the central point is well made: the development of modern, 3D games is both difficult and expensive, not to mention requiring a complexity of specialists that must daunt the most gifted and versatile polymath.

"What if we just ignore all that?" That was the solution Theory Interactive came up with, and they've been plowing on regardless ever since.

According to Edge the player will take control of a robot in an small open-world city. As well as physics-based problems, time manipulation will also figure to add complexity to the puzzling
According to Edge the player will take control of a robot in an small open-world city. As well as physics-based problems, time manipulation will also figure to add complexity to the puzzling

The game itself is comprised of "mostly spatial reasoning puzzles," Oksaharju told Edge. According to Edge the player will take control of a robot in an small open-world city. As well as physics-based problems, time manipulation will also figure, adding complexity to the puzzling. Solving puzzles will apparently further the game's narrative rather than simply unlocking further puzzles.

More clues can be had from the somber trailer itself which depicts a robot sitting motionless in an apparently abandoned city as time passes around it. The trailer ends with the hint of a hitherto dormant routine on an apparently city-wide computer network, which apparently sparks the robot back into action. Perhaps part of the narrative will involve discovering what led the city to become abandoned and derelict. Shades of WALL-E too, then.

Theory Interactive's trailer, rendered entirely using the game engine and therefore indicative of its graphics, has amassed over 400,000 views on Youtube. Not shy of ramping up expectations, the video description encourages viewers to expect "a little bitter since we're not even in alpha yet."

Trailers are one thing; completed games quite another, and there's no sign of a release date for the game, which at this stage is being developed solely for PC. The positive response to the trailer has led Theory Interactive to consider crowd funding to safeguard the game's ongoing development.

That Reset trailer in full:

Reset Debut Trailer HD

Sources: Theory Interactive, Edge

View gallery - 11 images
4 comments
4 comments
Nitrozzy Seven
This is pre-rendered. It might have been rendered with the game's engine but this is far from real time capabilities of even the most advanced home PC. Just look the geometric detail. If I am wrong then they have made a true milestone for indie devs. Anyway, it'll all boil down to gameplay. This is why most of us play games.
Charles Bosse
This isn't so far from what a good PC can do with a high end graphics engine, but it is pretty nice. Gameplay looks engaging, if they keep on target then it will be nice to have something both visually appealing and not build on the model of head bashing (if and when they pull this off).
Fretting Freddy the Ferret pressing the Fret
A good gaming rig can pull off these graphics seamlessly, no question about it. These two developers are smart - they have attracted a lot of people with their trailer. I'll have to wait and see if they can reproduce a 'Portal'.
Daishi
It looks amazing and the idea of being able to time shift to solve puzzles in co-op seems pretty cool but potentially pretty hard.
I am also curious which game engine is being used. I googled around and didn't find it.
I also agree that a good gaming rig could probably pull off rendering this. Right now the 7 year old consoles are holding back the industry but the next generation of consoles (Xbox 760 etc.) will be able to render it too.
It seems like I keep saying to myself "how much better can graphics really get?" and companies keep releasing stuff that makes everything else look obsolete in comparison.
I suppose the answer to that is eventually real life will look mediocre. "I'd go outside but the graphics are crappy out there"