Quote: "I don't mean to seem like I'm trying to be edifiying to a veteran of the business, just dropping my 2 cents as usual "
And, as usual, I agree in some parts and disagree in several others
When you take a look at the mesh and texture atlas, the birch (Birke) is one of the best assets in the Foliage package. At least in my eyes
Overall:
I believe we can either mimic the looks from modern games with whatever we have at hands now (brute force trying to look as good as any 3D game today), OR we hide the weaknesses with the usual given tools (design around limitations, restrict ourselves to scenes we can show satisfyingly, fog as camoflage for shortcomings e.t.c.). I understand you prefer the second option, and I have done the same on Father's Island, and will most likely do in Into the Ice, but this playground track here is to prove that the first one can be done, too.
And if it turns out that it cant be done, fine with me - at least I know then.
But at the moment, I refuse to look at a screenshot from a really good Unity or half-hearted UE4 game and tell myself "This can't be done in GG". Just because noone tried.
Example - This is one of the nicer screens from "The Forest", which is praised for its visuals:
And I believe we can do something like that in GG, too.
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