Game Art Styles

Level 3 Games Design

UNIT 78: Digital Graphics for Computer Games. 

Game Art Styles.

Photo Realism:

Photo realism within a game is when they bring a piece of scenery such as the background/foreground or an in game character alive by using real life sources. For example photographs and recordings.

 The reason behind this is to make the game look more appealing. In this example on the left you can see a picture taken in real life where as on the right you can see a screen shot within the game itself. The screenshot is very easily mistaken for a real life picture due to the high graphics. Games like these take this particular style to help involve the player. The reason behind this is is to make the player intrigued and wanting to explore the game itself.

Exaggerated:

 The game art style "Exaggeration" is popular within Japan. It is when the artist of a game enhances something natural that much it looks unnatural. A well known example of this is Hello Kitty. Her eyes are made out to be huge and her hands are made up to almost look like mittens.

How ever as this about games i will be using a well known fighter called Tekken as an example. Within the game fighters are made out to look very muscular to the point where it doesn't look natural along with crazy hair styles. The muscular guys make out for a very fast paced competitive game.

Abstract:

Abstract is a very unique art style within games. The reason for this is because you can do so much with it. Usually Abstract games combine the usage of very bright vibrant colours alone with geometric/random shapes. They also often use random patterns. 

An example of abstract gaming in this case is Geometry Wars. This games uses a lot of vibrant colours within it to portray the fast paced action game its designed to be. This type of game will hype the player and get the adrenaline going so they are able to keep up.

Cel-Shaded:

Cel shaded games are non photo realistic. The reason for this as majority of the games within this style look hand drawn. Games that represent Anime/Comic books are mostly made with this style. A well known game that uses this style is Borderlands. Borderlands is a game that has a very unique look compared to other FPS.  

Retro:

Retro games are often known as "old styled" video games, they are often 2D with very basic shape structure. However the use of vibrant colours is visible. A very popular example of this art style is Pac Man. Pac man is a 2D game where it is your job to collect all the orbs without coming in contact with the ghosts that are AI based and move as they please.