Activision Blizzard wants remasters of old games to take full advantage of three-dimensional engines and at the same time preserve the spirit of the original projects. This is evidenced by the publisher’s new patent, which deals with the technology of converting 2D assets into 3D in real time. This can theoretically greatly simplify the process of creating updated versions.Diablo II: Resurrected
On May 6, Activision filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The patent was called “Systems and methods of remastering the game space while maintaining the basic game modeling”, and now the application for it has not yet been approved.
The GameRant portal also drew attention to this document. It talks about two main ways of remastering old “pseudo-3D games”:
- raising the resolution is the recreation of 2D assets under modern standards. This improves the overall visual quality, but the game itself is basically still two-dimensional, and therefore cannot use all the advantages of 3D engines (lighting, physics, collisions, etc.);a complete recreation of the game from scratch on a 3D engine.
- A significant disadvantage is that in such remasters it is often not possible to convey the sensations of the old gameplay. And this is not to mention the high cost of development and the lack of compatibility with the original game.That is why Activision Blizzard talks about the need to create a technology that will allow replacing the original 2D assets with 3D objects while preserving the original gameplay and backward compatibility.
On paper, it will work as follows. The transformation of 2D objects into 3D should be carried out in real time while the user is in the game. Based on the patent description, a three-dimensional game environment will be created on a remote server using special graphical tools. They will allow you to map the basic 2D space with the transformed assets and replace them right during the game.
Perhaps Activision Blizzard thought about creating such a technology just during the development of Diablo II: Resurrected, where most of the work had to be done manually. In theory, the new approach will significantly simplify and optimize the process of remastering old games made on 2D engines. However, it is important to understand that while this is just a patent, it is unknown whether the company will implement this idea.