Days Gone
New details for Days Gone’s Photo Mode have emerged and it makes Days Gone look like it will have the most advanced version to date
There was no surprise when it was announced that Days Gone was going to have a Photo Mode mixed in to the game for us to have fun with. It seems to be a staple for all of the PS4 first-party titles as of late and it would be weird for it to not have it. Now that Bend Studio has declared that Days Gone is now in the Gold phase of development, we have new details on the mode in the game and they sound way more advanced than we may have thought in the first place. Of course, this is not something that all gamers are looking for in their end of the world video games, but it will be a solid option and a step toward other titles having the same features mixed in.
The basic features for Days Gone’s Photo Mode will be in there. Things like the ability to hide Deacon or his bike for the perfect shot will be in there with all of the normal filters and tweaks we have seen in many past titles. Nothing too surprising there. Also not surprising is that there will be special frames and logos to add to our shots. The big difference for Days Gone, though, will be the addition of its Advanced Mode with 55 other settings from Bloom to Color Depth and more that we will have to play with. Tools on par with high-end photography in general but all placed inside this video game. That sounds fairly cool for those photo fans out there who may want to skip playing the game and just take in the sights.
The vast Central Oregon wilderness is so beautifully crafted and rendered in Days Gone it’s easy to forget that you’re playing a game. Our aim with Photo Mode was to make players feel like they’re manipulating a real camera in the real world.
Of course, this includes features that people expect to come standard these days. From the Characters panel, users can toggle character and bike visibility as well as select from a library of facial expressions. The Frames & Presets panel hosts nine custom frames, several black frame shapes and sizes, Days Gone logo options, and 18 filter presets. The Lens panel lets players manipulate Field of View, Focal Distance, Aperture, and Film Grain. One of the first features we developed for Photo Mode was the inclusion of Focus Lock, which allows users to set a permanent focus point that stays sharp no matter where they move the camera.
But the pièce de résistance is our Advanced Mode where users can fine-tune their final shots by manipulating 55 different settings across Bloom, Color Grading, and Color Depth Grading panels. We worked closely with members of our Art team, including some Hollywood veterans, to help define the essential properties to capture all the power and flexibility that comes with professional photo editing software. This is the very same interface our artists used to author the filter presets that ship with the game. Players can even use one of our presets as a starting point to learn how Advanced Mode works, then use it a baseline to creating their own filter that can be saved to one of five preset slots for easy reuse later.
All of this will be available at launch. Everyone at Bend Studio can’t wait to see the pictures the community creates starting April 26!
Are you excited to get in on the new Photo Mode for Days Gone here or will it be something you barely touch in the game? Do you think this will become more common in many other titles or just in the specific ones we have seen thus far? Will you want to spend all the time setting up the perfect shot with all of these features or will you just snap and be done? Let us all know what you are thinking down in the comments and then feel free to discuss. We will have more for Days Gone here on the site for you. Just be sure to check back often for all of those updates as they come.
