Computer Games Graphics

Computer Games Graphics

Pixel art

Pixel art contains the use of 2D sprites and 3D isometric sprites and the characters/objects are made with visible pixels. Pixel art is most commonly used in older generation games such as Pac man and VS Super Mario Bros. The older retro games use limited amount of colours to create a specific feel or mood for the game. VS Super Mario Bros uses a vibrant colour scheme. Pac man also uses a bright colour scheme for the characters and black for the background. Using the black in the background would contrast against the colours of the characters which will make them easier to see and they will stand out better.
Pixel art is also now used in newer games such as FEZ. FEZ is a game which integrates the 2D sprites with 3D sprites. By sprites I mean characters and objects. The character is a 2D sprite whereas the back is actually a 3D sprite as you are able to hop around the cube in the game which rotates the shape. This game has a lot of vibrant colours in which determines a happy environment.
Here is a youtube video which shows the gameplay of FEZ. Around 6 minutes into the video you will see the rotation of the 3D sprite foreground and 2D sprite objects.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH2SysTLCPc

Concept Art

Concept art contains the ideas of the game. It contains the designs of the characters and the objects that will be used in the game. For the characters, the concept art would contain different styles of clothes the character might be able to change into in the game, the specific stances it will do and the different facial expressions.
These concept art images shows drawings of the character, image⁽¹⁾ shows the character from different viewpoints, the front and the back, and shows the design of her outfit. Then the concept art has developed into colour and a particular stance. The 2^nd image ⁽²⁾ shows another design idea of the character. It contains a line drawing and then the colouring is added in after with the same image but bigger. The 3^rd image ⁽³⁾ contains different facial expressions of a particular character (Spyro). All these examples back up what concept art contains.  The 4^th image ⁽⁴⁾ displays the final fantasy weapon concept art.

Texture Art

Texture art is recreating the texture from the real world into a game. This computer graphic art is most commonly used in photorealistic games. The reason behind this would be that photorealistic games are the art style games in which are trying recreate elements of the real world into a game, therefor using texture art. A great example to show texture art would be the game Until Dawn. This game is a photorealistic game as it uses real actors as actors.
In this image you can see the texture of the wallpaper that is peeling off the wall, the wooden panels which are shown, you can see the texture of the characters hair and in her clothing. The environment around the characters here is full of texture and that is why this is a very good example of texture art. This decaying effect everywhere leaves an uneasy mood on the player.

Background Graphics

The background in some games are major priority. In some games the background would need to be full of texture and high quality whereas, in other games the background might not be something that they necessarily want to focus upon. The background graphics may contain lots of different elements to it such as trees, clouds, birds, lights, objects etc. However other backgrounds may want to limit the amount of objects in the background to only trees and clouds. A great example of showing a complex and full background would be Ark: Survival Evolved. The background of this is completely full of different objects. There are clouds, dynamic lighting, rocks, bushes, forests and dinosaurs.

In-Game Interface:

In the majority of games, there will be a HUD (Heads Up Display). This HUD might contains stats of your character such as your health, stamina, food, water and lots more. There also might be a HUD for your weapon that you are using (dependant on the game). This may contain how much ammo you have left in your gun and it might tell you what particular gun you are using at the moment. 

This image is a screenshot of the HUD in the game Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.  What this displays is the usual characteristics of a HUD. The HUD is usually displayed around the edge of the screen so that the player is still able to see what is happening in front of them. This HUD contains ammo, the current score (in the bottom left) the amount of grenades left, the score streaks, how much of the ability is left to use (bottom right) and then the map (top left).

Print Media:

Print media is the media coverage of the game. This includes what the game packaging is going to look like, the box cover, what the manual is going to look like and include, the labeling, what the posters are going to contain and the advertising. Print media is very important for a game. For example, if you produce an advert which contains the best part of the gameplay then people will be excited waiting for the game release. However, they will soon become disappointed as they have come to realise that the parts shown in the advert are the only best parts of the game. The print media needs to balance well. 

What I thought about this game casing is that it is composed structurally well. The composition of where the globe is attracts the most attention. The colouring of the title of the game and the globe both contrast again the dark background thus resulting in making those two objects stand out the most and attracting our attention to it. Furthermore, the simplicity of the design contrasts against the title of the name which I suppose makes it more desirable. 

This is a game manual for the game Skyrim. The text which is used in the game is also the same text which is used in the game manual. This is a design idea which has been thought about when it game to print media. Also on the edges of the pages are little symbols which are used on every page.

Artistic Styles

Artistic Styles

In the gaming industry, many games use different artistic styles. The artistic styles which are used the most are photorealism, cell shading, exaggeration and abstract. These are the four artistic styles which are going to be thoroughly explained.

Photo-Realism

Photo realism is where the artist is attempting to make the game look realistic, almost like a real photograph. Photo realistic artists aim to reproduce an image with accurate detail. They aim to make the objects, background, characters and foreground to look as real as possible. Most first person shooters use this style in their games. Photo-realistic games attempt to catch the emotion on the faces of their characters so that we as the gamers or viewers are able to define the emotions of which the character is currently feeling. Light and shadows are used immensely throughout photo-realistic games, without brilliant light and shading, the game wouldn’t look as realistic as they would like it to be.
A great example of photo-realism would be Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies. There is a zombie DLC that they have created which uses the characters Sarah Michelle Gellar, Robert Englund, Danny Trejo and Micheal Rooker. The characters they have used in this zombie DLC are actors in real life. They have attempted to make them look as realistic as possible. Beneath is an example of what the characters looked like in the game on the left and a photo of them in real life on the right. We are able to link the pair of them together as they have quite a few similar characteristics.
Exaggeration

Exaggeration is a game style which is used in games such as final fantasy.  Exaggeration styled games manage to convey emotion better than the photo-realistic games. In various exaggerated games, they may have exaggerated eyes for example which makes it easy for us to see the emotion in their eyes. A lot of RPG games use the exaggerated art style as this make the characters more desirable to play as them. Weapons, physicality and objects are usually exaggerated the most in games. Anime/Manga games are most commonly known to use the exaggerated style. A few games in which use the exaggerated artistic style are the new Pokémon series from Generation 4 to the 6 and the animal crossing series. Both of these games have characters in which have exaggerated eyes and proportions of the body. 




Cel-Shaded


Cel- shaded games are the opposite of the photorealism style. Cell shaded games use bright colours which relates to the style which is used in comic books. These sort of games which use the cel-shaded artistic style are very effective and they stand out. A cel-shaded game example would be The Legend of Zelda:  The Wind Waker.  The colours in this game are very bright and it gives a very childish comic feel which makes the game look like younger children can play the game as it looks safe and friendly.  Borderlands is also another game in which uses the Cel-shaded art style. 


Abstraction 

Abstract styled games usually consist of games which use geometric shapes and lines. The abstract artistic style is used in games in which aren’t meant to resemble anything at all. The abstract games are meant to be very unrealistic and other people may look at these games from many different perspectives. A game which uses the abstract style is The Unfinished Swan. What the players have to do is throw paint to reveal the world around them. The player used black paint on a white background.  Hyphon is an abstract game where you have to make your way through the shapes without touching any of the walls and obsticles."For a work to be considered abstract, it should not represent anything real or derived from real life, even in a heavily stylized way. Thus the concept does not necessarily include games with exaggerated visuals like Guacamelee, visually minimal games like VVVVVV, and games that depict unreal creatures or worlds like The Neverhood."


http://www.giantbomb.com/abstract-art-style/3015-1558/



Retro

The retro artistic style works with a limited amount of colours. The colours which are chosen for the game usually determine the mood and feel of the game. The retro artistic style works with pixelated characters and objects. A classic example of a retro game is Pac Man, all the characters in this game are pixelated. This game is abstract too as Pac Man lacks physical features. Retro games are 8-bit games.