Sunday, September 12
With the semi recent announcement that Killzone 3’s load times will be almost non-existent, it got me thinking about load screens and load times. And in Killzone 3’s case it makes me think that saying load times are almost non-existent isn’t that big a breakthrough. It was common place a long time ago and has been done plenty of times even recently. A big example is the Jak and Daxter series. And that made me realize that Killzone 3 will most likely have load times, but what it won’t have is what we would consider a loading screen. Instead the loading sections would be replaced with cut scenes or a elevator right, much like Jak and Daxter did so well and Mass Effect (1) failed so miserably at. |
| Mass Effect: Numerous, long, and awful. It failed at masking loading screens |
But what I started thinking about wasn’t necessarily the fact that I doubted what Guerrilla said about Killzone 3, but how developers have been coping with load times. Some just use a load screen that is plain and boring, others use a short movie or repeating clip (this is different from a cut scene), some have used cut scenes, some just add the words loading and blur the screen for a couple seconds, and then there are the games that try to mask load times with long corridors or an elevator ride.
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| Jak 2: I need absolutely no load screen to watch this cut scene. |
Load times have almost become a staple of video games (well that and Blu-ray movies…) and what I really wanted to define was my most favorite style. Without a doubt I would love there to be no load screens or for them to be masked just like Jak and Daxter (not like Mass Effect…). But that just isn’t going to happen with every game. And I would rather a developer work on improving the game rather than spend all their time making that zero second load time. So I came up with a small list of what I think is the best, if there is an actual load screen.
It goes something like this.
- A loading bar, NO spinning wheel or something like that. If the bar slightly changed it would be nice (to indicate the game didn’t freeze).
- Some form on non-moving picture. Yes the animated videos of Mass Effect 2 were nice, but felt unnecessary and seemed like if they weren’t there the loading would probably have been faster.
- For the picture… some concept art/sketch would be great, be it an environment or character art.
- If text is included, not entirely necessary, it should either be a helpful tip (not obvious button equals reload) or funny. Also they should change throughout the game. I am pretty sure a tip isn’t needed when I am 30 minutes away from finishing… just saying.
- Pictures shouldn’t reveal anything that hasn’t been revealed yet, coughJadeEmpirecough.
These are the things that I think would make the best loading screens, obviously the less loading screens the better, but if they are there they could at least be good.
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| Jade Empire: Didn't want to see this character before their surprise appearance? Too bad the game ruins each encounter in their loading screens. |
And for the whole subject of Killzone 3, I didn’t mean to come off as harsh because I think what they are saying isn’t entirely truthful. I have to thank them for getting closer to no load times, and if it is true then I have to applaud them for actually doing it.
But now onto the question. What is your perfect loading screens, not including no loading screens and load times? If you have a game as an example then go ahead and say it.
