HA1 Task 2 – Artistic Styles

This is my illustrative report on the following artistic styles found in games:

• Photorealism
• Cel Shading
• Abstraction
• Exaggeration 

Photorealism

Photorealism in games is when an in game sequence or event replicates real life to an immense standard. Photorealism is when what you see on screen appears extremely realistic in many different ways, such as the extent of realism in textures, 3D models and in game physics. Each of these mentioned assets works together in a way that creates an extremely realistic environment.

The main reason games are able to be so realistic is because we are in a time where we as mankind are the most technologically advanced we have every been. The technology we have created in all aspects of life such as science and for the purpose of war, has all been transferred into many other aspects of life, such as the technological advancements that are constantly being made in the gaming industry.

With the recent release of the latest console such as the Xbox One and the PS4, as well as high spec PC's. games are able to look their best, due to being able to handle a lot more intense detail without having a poor effect on the overall performance of games. It used to be that games were really hard to run at a high performance and quality simultaneously, but now both quality and performance can be easily optimised for a next generation experience, in which games are starting to look realer than they have ever before.

Here are some examples or photorealism in games:

Call of Duty: Ghosts - Underwater mission - Below you can see a screenshot for the game Call of Duty Ghosts, you can easily identify the hundreds of assets that have been brought together to create a photorealism scene, and it is hard to believe that this is in game footage. The player in this game can explore many vast areas full of photo-realistic textures and 3D models. The photorealism also lies in the sleek movement of character models and the life like features that they maintain throughout photo-realistic games.

http://canadianonlinegamers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/COD-Ghosts_Deep-Dive-600x375.jpg

Ryse: Son of Rome - Marius Titus - Below you can see a screenshot from a cut-scene in the game Ryse: Son of Rome. You can see the main character and protagonist of the game, Marius Titus. The photorealism on his face is beyond realistic, each individual feature has been modelled to replicate that of a real face and human being. The armour he is wearing has been modelled to reflect light realistically and appear to be crafted from the appropriate materials such as metal and chain. Depending on the console or computer you are running this particular game on, if the hardware such as the (Graphics Processing Unit) and the CPU (Central Processing Unit) which effect the overall quality of the game being ran, the quality of the overall photorealism will vary, the newest console with the highest quality and latest hardware will allow the game to be far more realistic and it will run a lot better and efficiently

http://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/ryse/thumb/6/66/Ryse3.jpg/468px-Ryse3.jpg

Photorealism is by far my favoured artistic style in games today, recent developments in this area of game art have provided gamers such as myself with a far more realistic experience, that brings the player closer to the action. Narrative is made far more believable by the photorealism of characters and scenery as it is brought to life and the most fictional of stories can seem so real and indulgent.


Cel shading
Cel shading is an artistic style that is used in games that have a more cartoon like look to them, usually in games that have little connection to reality, just to give them that extra edge and bring a different feel to the game compared to games that use various other styles.

The use of Cel shading gives a very otherworldly experience within games, they seem a lot more exiting that many other genres and it feels like you are playing through the pages of your favourite comic book.

Cell shading is also a very simple way to texture 3D models, without having to consider realism there is much more room for creativity and flair.

Cell shading has such a powerful effect on the entertaining value in a game, that it can help a game rise to popularity, due to the unique feel it has, compared to most other games that sometimes focus too much on a realistic look to their game, which often leads to a fairly boring and a rather uncreative feel to a game.

Below are some examples of games that use cell shading:

Crackdown 2 - As you can see in the image of Crackdown 2 below, the game instantly looks appealing and desirable due to the cel shading it contains. I believe if the game did not feature cel shading, it may not have been as popular, as it would replicate a lot of games that already exist, though the use of cel shading really brings to game to life, with a very unique feel.


Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars - This is another game that uses cel shading. With a mixture of a unique player point of view and cel shading, this game has an extremely unique feel to it and it is an extremely fun game that I have played many times over.

http://gameflak.net/images/game_images/1288983721_chinatownwarsiphone.jpg

I am personally rather fond of cel shading within games, it brings a really unique feel to a game and helps to give it such a light hearted feel, even when the contents of the game can be particularly gruesome!

Abstraction
Games that use the artistic style of abstraction are games that use no representational images and geometrical shapes, this artistic style does not represent anything from reality and is in games like Tetris and Guitar Hero. In Tetris random shapes are used for the basis of the whole game, Nothing is really being represented within this game, the objective is simply to stack objects as well as you can whilst leaving the less gaps.

Tetris is a very simple but effective game, that has been popular for many decades and has become a cult classic.
















http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e4/Tetris_DOS_1986.png

Another game that uses the abstraction art style is Guitar hero. Though the characters and most of the 3D models involved in the game are not relevant to the abstraction art style, The assets of the game that are relevant to the abstraction art style are the notes that are hit by the player during gameplay, that are constantly being streamed down the screen. These assets are not particularly relevant to the genre of the game, but their abstract feel brings a unique style to the game and is part of its extreme popularity.

http://www.wallsave.com/wallpapers/1280x720/heros/377465/he
ros-guitar-hero-iii-legends-of-rock-gameplay-computer-system-information-377465.jpg

I am not immensely fond of the abstraction art style, particularly in the games I have mentioned, though it can be quite effective, I also think it is quite boring and sometimes a lazy method. With Tetris it is effective and for its time of release I can see that this would not have been a lazy approach to the creation of a game, though with Guitar Hero, I think they could of created a far more effective play style by replacing the abstract note assets they use, as it seems like a relatively safe and boring approach to a game and does not help the sense of realism.

Exaggeration
The artistic style of exaggeration is on in which a game is greatly exaggerated, games like this are extremely over the top and fairly insane, some examples are Dragon Ball Z and Mortal Kombat.

These games achieve their fame and popularity, due to the amount of sheer exaggeration that they contain. Whether your fighting an enemy or scrolling through the interface to select a character, in both games you are constantly faced by mass hysteria, crazy scenes full of chaos and graphics and scenes within gameplay that nearly break the boundaries of gaming itself.

Dragon Ball Z - Dragon Ball Z is known as a television series to already be quite over the top and exaggerative, but the games based on the series, really push the limits of home consoles.

http://picsofcartoons.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/dragon-ball-z-gt-games-45.jpg

I particularly admire the outright bizarreness and exaggeration of the Dragon Ball Z games and I still play them to this day.

Mortal Kombat - Mortal Kombat games are vast in quantity and full of constant bizarre exaggeration, they are well known for this fact and have became one of the most renowned and popular game series' every created, having been around for decades.

This game is particualry focused on being so outight outragous, from the mentally suntable characters to the intgesne destruction featured within the games.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9SqkG7xdp8w-jWPZ4wSfqWylzKPJ_FEb1pSjBzKRPyBiZrVR9_CG9Jgs8ua6Otbt-cAYVFN9A2fRY8htWh_dpYvEoqKrJAIy4vp1ajE9WlmdNkY73-zCckV7KTPBmgiFhmr-z0yosZ827/s1600/Mortal+Kombat+2013+Download+PC+Game+www.fullytopgames.net112.jpg

I grow ever fond of this series and I applaud it for its uniqueness, individuality and constant and never ending popularity.