Games Art and Graphics

[deanb]

Firstly: Not a "Games as art" thread, I think we have one of those already. But a thread to discuss the visuals in gaming, the good, the bad, the ugly and so on.

 

Here's the article prompting me to start the thread:

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/EricSchwarz/20120728/174833/How_Much_is_Too_Much_Detail.php

 

A decent article about how keeping things simple, or at least visually consistent, can be much better for a game than creating a game with intricate touches of detail all over the place. Something I can certainly agree with. I know and hgely appreciate the reason why most games have explosive red barrels. Cos we know as people, and especially as gamers, that red barrels go boom. And we know that in a split second. Same as you know you can crawl through vents and small units about 5 foot off the ground and sticking out the wall are going to recharge us or similar function.

[Luftwaffles]

Mirror's Edge still has my favorite visuals of any game ever. They're not the most high fidelity, but they're definitely not the least either, and everything is so beautifully stylized. The way the colors mix with the all white environment and the blue sky is just fantastic throughout, and the game varies the environments nicely, as it's not the same exact color patter through the entire game.

 

It's also one of the few games I've noticed that pulls of relatively low-res textures while looking close to lifelike.

 

 

 

 

Dunno, I just think it's beautiful. The comic book cutscenes were hit and miss for me, but the world and visuals were just so striking at the time. IMO, Mirror's Edge still looks better than any game DICE has done since then, even BF3. It came before their sunray and dust phase, though, so I suppose that helps.

[deanb]

Mirrors Edge looks pretty great and has a highly distinctive style but it has a horrible case of not paying attention to itself. It points out certain items will glow red or yellow depending upon their use to use as a runner. They then create several buildings that are completely red and yellow. It throws you a fair bit.

[madbassman39]

I never understood why people take issue with the red barrels for explosive stuff, it is easy to spot when gaming but more importantly actually very realistic. I've worked around hazardous material, and very commonly when using flammable or explosive material in giant drums they are red. It's to allow us to know not to fuck with it because it will explode. I don't need to find the label and read it, the color of the barrel tells me that it will explode. The reasons why it's used in video games are the same reason it's used in real life, to explain visually what is in that barrel.

 

On the game art side I really love cartoony graphics. Some of my favorite is rachet and clank, sly cooper and borderlands. As long as it feels fresh it's awesome. I also really like the cartoony yet simple graphics of mini ninjas

[TheMightyEthan]

Mirror's edge is gorgeous, and I only remember a couple of places where they used "runner" colors when they shouldn't have.

 

As for red barrels, I was under the impression that the problem most people have with them is that they explode at all. Almost nothing irl will explode in a big ball of fire when shot with a hand gun or assault rifle. Unless you're using explosives they shouldn't go up in big fireballs like that (obviously this is only a problem for games that are trying to be realistic).

[deanb]

@Ethan: Nah that's the issue people take with petrol + bullet = flameball/explosion as seen in films n such. That's not so much specifically related to the "Red barrel" thing, especially since not all Red Barrels in games are specifically petrol.

People dislike there's little variety in it. Barrels and other items that explode are red. Especially when most fuel barrels aren't always red.

 

e.g

 

 

There's a great post on the topic by People Can Fly (Bulletstorm devs)

http://www.peoplecanfly.com/blog/2011/01/we-had-to-use-red-barrels/

They did playtest non-red barrels. It doesn't work. And I bet they're not the only dev to find that one out.

 

 

 

Those "couple more places" are a couple more places than there should have been.

[fuchikoma]

I kind of like it when good/bad choices subtly alter the appearance of a game. The first one I remember was in Black & White, where your hand cursor would change if you seemed more good or evil. I've been playing Datura (PSN) for the last few days and if you make selfish choices, the world gets a bit colder and more sinister, and the music is more of a tense theme with synthesizers, while if you make altruistic choices, things look clearer and cleaner, and you get a light acoustic guitar theme.

 

(Spoiler: Completed world maps are visible in the screenshots... IMO not a big deal if you don't over-analyze them.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

It also has a nice form of gameplay semaphore in that when you're in an unmapped area and you walk up to a birch tree and touch it for a few seconds, you'll pull out your notepad and draw that area on the map. They're very easy to spot when you look for them, but they blend in perfectly if you're just wandering around.

[SomTervo]

What is Datura? Looks really nice.

 

Reminds me of that new one thats visual style is Victorian grit. It's a procedurally generated FPS thing.

 

What's it called... Ah: 'Sir, You Are Being Hunted'.

 

[fuchikoma]

That looks cool... I hadn't heard of it but it's on the watch list now.

 

Datura is a PSN game by Plastic, the guys who made "Linger in Shadows." It's another interactive art title, where you explore an autumnal forest with a very realistic style (I thought "this is what they bragged the PS3 could do at launch!" when I saw the ground was covered in individual 3D leaves, especially on walking into an area with a small topiary maze, with individual leaves on it! ...though the framerate took some minor dives there.)

 

It's a Move game, though I've read it (poorly) supports the Dualshock too. You play by reaching a virtual hand into the world and touching things directly - your fingers realistically catch, fold, and drag on things. Basically you wander around, mapping your way by touching white trees, and finding different things that pull you into short experience vignettes where you'll get a chance to do something altruistic or selfish before waking up in the forest again. There's also a little bit of coherent narrative around the game's namesake, a white flower you see all around the forest which is very poisonous and as a drug, gives people bizarre and indistinguishable hallucinations. (The same starts in an ambulance, for instance.)

 

I don't recommend watching a lot of videos and trailers of it, because it's only a couple hours long and it's cool spontaneously discovering things in it. Also, be warned that they made the ridiculous choice of making you play most of the game with the controller up at your shoulder - but if you keep it relaxed when you calibrate it's not SO bad... The controls seem extremely weird at first, but they're actually really manageable: mainly, just lean the controller to one side to turn around, instead of trying to rotate it. Despite its flaws, I'd say it's great for fans of unique art games - but like a lot of avant-garde PSN games, it's very short.

[deanb]

Sir You are Being Hunted is by one of the RPS guys. They did a game for Channel 4 too. SYaBH is rather pretty, and he seems to be having fun knocking out screenshots from it.

 

As for games that change SMT: Lucifers Call had it where the neon lines on your body would change colour depending upon your choices through the game. I do like that kind of thing. Bit like the HP notification on the back of Isaac.

[excel_excel]

I think that's a fascinating discussion. Two titles that come to mind that do it well in the modern 3D age of gaming are the Metroid Prime series and Dead Space.

 

The first Prime has a big UI around your helmet view with a a 3D map in the right corner, but always has the your view in the centre uncluttered and easy to see. Doors always have the same look and same blue hue around them. In the forest area of Tallon Overworld, where you first land after the opening where your powers have been stripped from you, the raised platforms that you can jump around on have vines hanging from the sides but are still visible and easy to spot, with enemies roaming around on top of them, encouraging you to explore.

 

Dead Space is presented a lot like Prime, but its a lot more linear and more detailed but never to the point where you can't see where to go. In fact, its always a clean, uncluttered look, enhanced by the lack of UI.

 

There's a lot of games that do it right.