We can create characters. And we can let our characters loose in our worlds. An underlying assumption in the development of 3D graphics is that virtual reality is the ultimate goal. It s rarely mentioned outright, but that s what we re shooting for. Nonetheless, each round of games has more techie stuff behind it than the last batch.
Characters have to cast anatomically correct shadows that project on nearby geometry.
Volumetric lighting sure looks better than twiddling with vertex colors. And so it goes. All else being equal, a game with nice shadows is obviously going to look better than one that doesn t have them. In addition, reaching for the next level by applying new and novel research techniques to game engines is compelling for game developers. Technical issues aside, the biggest change that fully 3D game worlds have brought to the game creation business is a dramatic increase in the amount of time it takes to bring a title from concept to finished product.