Sunday Thoughts: Art
Trying something different.
Published: 17:00, 17/07/2011 by Kris [Halbpro].
6Firstly let me make this clear, this isn’t going to be a discussion of games as art. I honestly don’t care that much whether or not anyone thinks they’re art. Games are to be enjoyed, we enjoy them, does much else really matter? The same can be said for anything that’s art as well, I enjoy looking at works of beauty, does it matter whether or not someone decides they’re art?
No, what I’d like to talk about today is the artwork used in games, the graphical styling of titles. It seems clear to almost any casual observer that the goal for a lot of developers over at least the last two generations, possibly longer in some cases, is the continual evolution of graphics, bringing them closer and closer to photo realism. We, as gamers, seem to salivate any time a publisher or developer releases screenshots of a game with better textures, a higher pixel count, smoother edges, etc… I know that I fall for this as much as anyone, I distinctly remember the excitement I felt when I saw the first shots of Halo: Reach, the evolution of graphical power that it showed over Halo 3.
Super Paper Mario is a wonderful example of what happens when you commit to originality.
However, just because something’s hard doesn’t necessarily make it challenging. Adding more graphical power to your engine, working out how to get a few more polygons from the hardware or however you chose to go about it, is the obvious route, the simple choice. You don’t really have to think about how you’re going to make your make your game look, it will just be shiner, brighter or newer than its competitors. It will certainly help it sell, there are many of us who like that approach, but it’s still the decision that doesn’t take much thought or bravery to make. Perhaps you’ll still have some specific art direction, but at its core the idea is to make the game look as real as possible.
That doesn’t really grab hold of me as a concept all that much. I’m sure I’ll be wowed by a demonstration of any game or engine that does this well, but I wouldn’t say that it will necessarily stick with me. I’ll think something along the lines of “Wow, look at the way those shadows are falling.” and then all will be forgotten when the next title that draws better shadows comes along.
L.A. Noire shows you can try something new even if you take the realistic route.
It’s fair to say that we’re seeing more of this sort of approach recently, although realistic styled games are clearly still the dominant force in modern gaming. Just look at the titles that really dominate the market and most of them are going for some sort of realistic approach. Even games like Halo, which could easily look completely odd and still fit in sci-fi, go for some sort of realistic looking approach. It seems that even games which are critically praised for experimental art just fall down when it comes to sales time.
What does that say about gamers as a whole? We cry out for something that doesn’t feel like a carbon copy of the current big hitter, and when someone attempts to do just that it falls drastically short when it comes to actually selling it to us. There are, obviously, other factors to take into account, no game is just about how it looks, but it would be nice to see those developers who take a real risk with their creative process getting the rewards they deserve.
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17/07/2011 at 17:06
Member since: Jul 2009
Agreed about the artistic style coming into games. From how Team Fortress 2 looks, to the simple and beautiful design with Journey. Or how about Brink? Sure, it’s lovely seeing real life being emulated so well, especially when we’re trying to reach such things in games where it matters (GT, Battlefield 3, etc). However, for me, I also want to see devs using the hardware as a foundation for whatever they fancy.
Make room for an art director and stick to the vision all of the way through so it ends up delivering a coherent style and something which differentiates itself from the also-rans.
17/07/2011 at 17:09
Member since: May 2009
Two words: Wind Waker.
Easily, to this day, the most beautiful game I have ever seen. It’s like a painting came to life and it’s absolutely stunning. I’d much rather have a game look like that than realistic (well, it really depends on the genre).
But honestly, Wind Waker’s art style is truly timeless; it’s hard to believe it’s eight years old when it looks as fantastic as it does.
17/07/2011 at 17:32
Member since: Aug 2009
Second post in and Blair has it.
I second everything written above me and since my thunder has been stolen somewhat, I’ll take this opportunity to mention a great gaming love of mine again.
Okami.
One of the most stunningly beautiful games ever created and what makes it even better is, it’s integral to the gameplay which is all absolutely top drawer.
17/07/2011 at 19:40
Member since: Jun 2009
You beat me to it with Okami.
17/07/2011 at 17:47
Member since: Feb 2011
Thirded. I think it’s partly because you experience realism for your entire life, so a different art style in a game feels refreshing. Haven’t played much of the game, but even when I first saw it several years back I loved it. Reminds me of Super Mario Sunshine, which IMO takes the franchise in the RIGHT direction, get rid of the Warp Pipes and Goombas please!
18/07/2011 at 09:18
Member since: Nov 2009
Hello, I’m KeRaSh and I approve this message.
17/07/2011 at 17:16
Member since: Jun 2010
Upcoming XBLA game, Bastion, is phenomenal in terms of style.
17/07/2011 at 17:25
Member since: Feb 2011
Another upcoming game XBLA platforming game, Fez, is using a very unique games engine to keep it’s 3D models looking like Pixel Art. I have also been very impressed by Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, released in 2006. Just finished the game (please just finish the story already Funcom!) but the environments are amazing.
Never have I seen a developer try and portray a sense of scale and environment quite like this game. Theres a scene in Mercuria that features a huge tower, and the camps that surrounded them, and the atmosphere you felt in that scene was quite striking. As soon as I saw them i thought of Fable 3, a game that was released nearly 5 years after, and remarked on how it couldn’t compare to it’s beauty at all. Some of their skyboxes too are the most detailed and atmospheric I have seen to this day, even compared to todays modelled backgrounds.
17/07/2011 at 17:39
Member since: Jul 2011
It’s always great to see games trying other art styles, the realistic stuff that a lot of other titles go for can get a bit tiring after a while. Even sticking something as common (in comparison to other styles, I suppose) as cel-shading onto a game can work wonders too – Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 for one certainly benefited from the new look.
I still appreciate art styles that tightly link with the game itself the most though – Okami’s art style in particular managed to tie itself in with the whole Japanese/brush/paper/etc feel of the game really well.
17/07/2011 at 17:49
Member since: Jul 2011
And just to add – I imagine that it’ll be games like Okami that will be remembered the most in the future as well.
Super Realistic Muddy Brown War Shooter XII might get amazing reviews today, but I really doubt that anybody will be able to recall it too easily in years to come – games with an original art style (and perhaps also gameplay), however, will probably be far more fondly remembered as time passes (assuming that a ton of other titles don’t suddenly start copying it, anyway).
17/07/2011 at 17:41
Member since: Aug 2009
I’ve always liked Michel Ancels games, the graphics and effects to me are so unique. Cel-shading is okay… but sometimes it doesn’t fit in a game or it isn’t used as well.
17/07/2011 at 17:45
Member since: Mar 2009
A fantastic topic for a sunday thoughts discussion and I agree with the points Kris made in the article. It’s great to see games that have distinct artistic style throughout.
17/07/2011 at 18:09
Member since: Oct 2010
Not sure if anyone will remember Another World, but that game absolutely blew my socks off when I first played it. Amazing style, and I still use one of the paintings from the game as the wallpaper on my phone.
20/07/2011 at 17:04
Member since: Apr 2011
I remember Another World very well – it’s probably still the one game that’s had the most impact on me in my life. Superb piece of work.
17/07/2011 at 18:29
Member since: Dec 2009
I would say that FPS and Racing games don’t leave much leeway for anything other than photo-realism, they are probably the genres which have advanced photo-realism the most although TP adventures are also taking advantage of it this generation.
Many other genres have more freedom to experiment – and thank the gods for that! Photo-realism is impressive but individual art styles hold a lot of charm and have a uniqueness/personal touch that can’t be said the same of photo-realism.
17/07/2011 at 18:53
Member since: Oct 2008
Borderlands is a great example of using art style to stand out from the crowd. Its controversial-at-the-time complete change from semi-realistic to cell-shaded made a great game truly distinctive.
17/07/2011 at 19:41
Member since: Nov 2009
The fact that they took the risk of changing the graphical style mid-production is quite interesting too.
18/07/2011 at 09:20
Member since: Nov 2009
I really love the cell-shaded look in Borderlands. It made the game less realistic to focus on the humor, which was spot on for this game.