The Energon Pub

In one part of the game he's a tad bit taller than Ironhide, yet in another part of the game Ironhide is half his size. any explanation?

Actually...no. If you know anything about game design, you know that doesn't make a lick of sense, seeing as the size of game models is constant. They would have had to knowingly resized it to do what you're showing here.

So basically the "sprites" that are in the game are all the same size except when they show the cinematic? (Excuse my ignorance on the topic, I am not a gamer).

Lousy_Autobot_Lover wrote:So basically the "sprites" that are in the game are all the same size except when they show the cinematic? (Excuse my ignorance on the topic, I am not a gamer).

Hrm, close, but not quite. Think of it like a regular toy Transformer; its size is constant, and it doesn't get any bigger or smaller when its in your hand. A video game model is the same thing, it's one constant size, even in cinematics. It can have its size altered, but that requires the animators to go out of their way to change it, and it would make no sense to do that between cinematics.

For the record, a sprite is a similar concept, but not the same thing. Sprites are sprites are animated frame by frame, like traditional animation, a bunch of different pre-defined images played in quick succession to give the illusion of movement. A video game model is, as the name suggests, a model, and can be animated on the fly.

I have yet to play this game, but it appears as though the first picture is in-game imagery, while the second is a pre-rendered full motion video. If that is the case (and it seems so) then the size increase of Optimus is most likely due to the usage of "hieratic scale," in which Optimus is intentionally taller than everyone else because...he is the leader. THAT, or the focus of the cutscene should be primarily on Optimus. Many films, artworks, and prior Transformers series liberally use hieratic scale. The most vivid example I can provide is the Beast Wars episode wherein the "sleeping" Optimus Prime towered over T-rex Megatron...but when has a truck literally TOWERED over a T-rex??? In TF: Prime, Arcee's height is always changing, especially in episodes where the focus is on her.

Hope that explains things...

roBROmanceFTW wrote:I have yet to play this game, but it appears as though the first picture is in-game imagery, while the second is a pre-rendered full motion video. If that is the case (and it seems so) then the size increase of Optimus is most likely due to the usage of "hieratic scale," in which Optimus is intentionally taller than everyone else because...he is the leader. THAT, or the focus of the cutscene should be primarily on Optimus. Many films, artworks, and prior Transformers series liberally use hieratic scale. The most vivid example I can provide is the Beast Wars episode wherein the "sleeping" Optimus Prime towered over T-rex Megatron...but when has a truck literally TOWERED over a T-rex??? In TF: Prime, Arcee's height is always changing, especially in episodes where the focus is on her.

Hope that explains things...

Except, like I said, character models remain a constant size. Optimus Prime didn't get bigger in Beast Wars, his character model was always just that one size. Arcee is, likewise, always the same size, but episodes that focus on her usually also focus on Jack, who is much smaller, making Arcee seem bigger by comparison, which is the same effect as with BW Megatron and Optimus Prime.

What's being talked about here is a character model changing height between scenes. Not a thematic device meant to emphasize importance via height.

Shadowman wrote:

roBROmanceFTW wrote:I have yet to play this game, but it appears as though the first picture is in-game imagery, while the second is a pre-rendered full motion video. If that is the case (and it seems so) then the size increase of Optimus is most likely due to the usage of "hieratic scale," in which Optimus is intentionally taller than everyone else because...he is the leader. THAT, or the focus of the cutscene should be primarily on Optimus. Many films, artworks, and prior Transformers series liberally use hieratic scale. The most vivid example I can provide is the Beast Wars episode wherein the "sleeping" Optimus Prime towered over T-rex Megatron...but when has a truck literally TOWERED over a T-rex??? In TF: Prime, Arcee's height is always changing, especially in episodes where the focus is on her.

Hope that explains things...

Except, like I said, character models remain a constant size. Optimus Prime didn't get bigger in Beast Wars, his character model was always just that one size. Arcee is, likewise, always the same size, but episodes that focus on her usually also focus on Jack, who is much smaller, making Arcee seem bigger by comparison, which is the same effect as with BW Megatron and Optimus Prime.

What's being talked about here is a character model changing height between scenes. Not a thematic device meant to emphasize importance via height.

Wow, despite your claims, you must know very little about game design. Except, like I said, the latter picture must have been A FULL-MOTION VIDEO, in which case, a 3D model is actually NOT USED. Do your homework, dude, since it's not uncommon for a game studio to have different development teams working on in-game models and FMV's. The end-result could be two, or even three, different models for ONE character. This is likely the case, in which two different teams are working on the FOC characters, so the sizes don't match up. OR, it could be a use of hieratic scale, a la "BW Megatron and Prime."

As for Arcee, try paying closer attention to her. One moment she can be as tall as Bumblebee, and the next she will be two heads shorter. Don't believe me? I really don't care...

roBROmanceFTW wrote: Wow, despite your claims, you must know very little about game design. Except, like I said, the latter picture must have been A FULL-MOTION VIDEO, in which case, a 3D model is actually NOT USED.

...except FMVs still use 3D animation, and thus require a character model. What, do you think they draw it all by hand? Even Beast Wars required character models.

Second, no, neither of those are FMVs. I have no idea how you could tell if they are, considering they're both still image with the same level of detail.

roBROmanceFTW wrote:Do your homework, dude, since it's not uncommon for a game studio to have different development teams working on in-game models and FMV's. The end-result could be two, or even three, different models for ONE character. This is likely the case, in which two different teams are working on the FOC characters, so the sizes don't match up. OR, it could be a use of hieratic scale, a la "BW Megatron and Prime."

Yeah...but two teams remaking the same model, just for inconsistency's sake?

roBROmanceFTW wrote:As for Arcee, try paying closer attention to her. One moment she can be as tall as Bumblebee, and the next she will be two heads shorter. Don't believe me? I really don't care...

You got screenshot or something? I never really noticed that.

I'd chalk the height difference in both those shots to more like perspective. Optimus is farther away than Ironhide in the shot with Metroplex so even though he's taller, he'd appear the same height.

Also, I do not remember Ironhide riding Metroplex with Prime AT ALL in the game unless I missed something, so that might be photoshopped in which case it's a moot point anyway.

to set things straight they are both cutscenes in the game and there are other angles in the same metroplex scene where you can see that it has nothing to do with parallax.

megs and op are supposedly the same height according to a groupshot image released by high moon but in the game they are two different size classes so megs is sometimes
taller. even though ironhide isn't playable the equality of size may have to do with the fact that he and optimus are the same size class of character

so i think op and megs are supposed to be the same height in reality thus optimus is taller in some cutscenes or movies but due to the class system in the game characters with a truck alt mode, such as optimus, are ironhide's size and characters with a tank alt mode are megs height.

so maybe scale wasnt the most emphasized detail in this game's design which is ironic given how this game is on a such a large scale considering it features metroplex, bruticus, the dinobots, and the ark

Accept for the part were EVERY generic robot in the game is constructed using parts from other classes. Scout size with onslaught's chest and sondwave's shoulders, etc. Warpath is a tank class, same size, maybe a bit bigger than OP, and Grimlock is a tank class, and towers over Prime.
Size class dont mean a thing here. The Ironhide shots were perspective, that's it. Ironhide is shorter than OP.