Category talk:Ultima IX Screenshots

How to make a good u9 screenshot

I've finally gotten around to getting the U9 screenshots, but already there's disagreement on what makes for a good screenshot. Tribun and I agree about some things being wrong w/the current captures: like they look like they were taken w/a traffic cam, (just look to any pic already in this category to know what I mean) but of issues of content, we'll need others' judgement. Here's what I think is bad content, in order of decreasing severity:

1. Tool belt, books, compass and everything else at that level: often not germane to the subject, and I find them bulky and distracting.
2. Life bars and everything else at that level: same as 1, but not as severe although it is in a more eye-catching place.
3. The target: in some ways, this could be the worst, since even though it's small, it's right in the middle of the shot. What's worse, is that some viewers might mistake it for part of the subject, instead of part of the player controls.
4. The Avatar: this one I could easily be persuaded is worthwhile, but only sometimes. Sometimes it's good to have a reference, but an NPC would do in that situation. But if it's the Avatar in the shot, he'll never be profile or head-on; always from the back. Thanks to zooming, his size can change, but he'll always be at the same spot in the shot if we don't crop out the player controls.

So far I've only made one shot: . This epitomizes my idea of the best possible shot. I think a good balance is struck between the relevance of the content, the depiction of the size of the tower as well as the grounds surrounding it and I even put a little bit of effort into eliminating the rendering quirks.

If I had it my way, I would have used Avatar fly to get a drone's-eye view of the entire keep. Unfortunately, fogging and other rendering traits made that impossible. However, I intend to use Avatar fly to take a lot of other pics where I can. In that event, 1-4 would be even more out of place.

I'll let Tribun state his case.--The Ultra-Mind (talk) 14:35, 22 March 2021 (UTC)

It's been a week, so I guess people don't feel as strongly about this issue as I thought. There are a few ruminations I've had since then:

• The original challenge to my style was a lack of authenticity. However, I'm not completely closed to the idea of using PhotoShop if a good screenshot isn't to otherwise be had. Maybe I will, maybe I won't, but it's on the table
• I've come around on keeping what I consider to be clutter if the subject is about user experience. Take Weaknesses in the Ultima IX physics. That's only about user experience so showing it in a user experience context would be appropriate, (don't let the fact that a lot of that clutter has been removed anyway distract you) however Stonegate is only about Stonegate, so I don't think the users’ POV is important there.

--The Ultra-Mind (talk) 20:03, 29 March 2021 (UTC)

My opinion is simply that unless the article in question is about a real-world issue (like the development or technical details of a game) then a high level of authenticity is needed with the screenshots. That's also the reason why I replaced all screenshots that were made with filters or showed the Exult GUI, since that doesn't show what the release of the game really looked like. (The one exception I make are the U2 and U3 EGA patches, since otherwise it would be difficult in CGA to see what's going on in the shot)

Thus also my opinion that screenshots that look like they were made in an editor or other program and not during actual gameplay look artificial and don't reflect the actual experience in the game itself (thus making these shots less authentic). Such shots however are fine for things like technical and development articles.--Tribun (talk) 13:41, 30 March 2021 (UTC)

I have a few things to say about authenticity:

• If you look at out-game example of what constitutes a photograph depicting a theme, a lot of effort goes into making the photograph look good: getting the right angle, getting the lighting right (artificial or natural), air brushing, PhotoShop, and even helicopters and now drones get shots from POVs very few viewers will ever see. Having said that, are shots taken using Avatar fly bad?
• I'm not against authenticity either, which is why I'm not in favour of all those Lazarus shots in the U5 articles. Sure, they are a million times better, but they didn't even come from Origin labs. But I wouldn't want to eliminate them altogether, just relegate them to galleries instead of making them the primary portrait.
• @Tribun: but maybe we aren't on the same page wrt to "authenticity". I imagined it being everything that the user would normally see in that situation. That means the tool belt, the life bars, target, and everything else usually on the screen. But now that I look again at pics in this category, just about every one I randomly go to has all that cropped out. So what specifically do you think of as authentic?

--The Ultra-Mind (talk) 17:47, 30 March 2021 (UTC)

While the point about capturing the typical player experience is well taken, I'd say as long as a screenshot is produced from within the game engine as released, it's enough to pass the threshold of authenticity (especially with an interface and perspective as customizable as U9's is right out of the box). I know it's not quite a direct analogy, but I wouldn't want to see U7 and U8 screenshots cluttered with container and stat windows if they aren't relevant to the subject, despite being perfectly authentic interface elements.

In fact, the more I think about it, most of our pre-U6 settlement screenshots aren't even in-game. --Terilem (talk) 12:20, 5 April 2021 (UTC)

So how about Avatar fly? According to the strictest interpretation of "game engine as released", this would include Avatar fly. However, that doesn't sound like that fits w/the spirit of what you are saying. AF wasn't supposed to be a part of the engine. They only put that in so that customers wouldn't gather around EAHQ with torches and pitchforks when they couldn't complete the game. So any use of AF other than for the purpose of getting over these small, but otherwise insurmountable barriers would be considered cheating and inauthentic. Nevertheless, I think that AF will sometimes make some good shots.--The Ultra-Mind (talk) 15:28, 6 April 2021 (UTC)