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Isn't gaming a wonderful place? Look back 10 years, and all games were using sprite based graphics- visuals deliberately unrealistic to convey the point of the game.
Fast forward to the mid-90's and sprtites were dying, only to be replaced by realistic polygons (and to a limitted effect, voxels). Gaming had taken a massive swing and the eye candy of the Playstation generation was realism- realistic fighting, driving and gore.
And then something odd happened. Nintendo's N64 quite catagorically debanded that games take a "cute" look, mainly due to the blurry, colour merging anti-aliasing techniques used by the hardware. Even more oddly, the games Nintendo developed seemed to go completely against the Playstation generation ethos- being bright, colourful and family friendly.
So, by the end of the 90's we were faced with two types of graphics- realism and cuteness. This is what separated the "kiddey" image of Nintendo with the "adult" one that Sony had created for themselves.
So, what's the third type of graphics that my title suggests. Well, the "phantasy" sytle of course (how's that for a vague name). This is a collective term that I've coined for everything that goes beyond the spectrum of conventional gaming styles. The likes of Cell Shading, and Rez style linear based graphics.
Whether this new form of graphics will evolve into the well-established realistic and cute styles remains to be seen, but with the new Zelda adopting Cell Shading things are looking good.
The big question is: "What next?"
Sonic
POWER TO THE HEDGEHOG
Fast forward to the mid-90's and sprtites were dying, only to be replaced by realistic polygons (and to a limitted effect, voxels). Gaming had taken a massive swing and the eye candy of the Playstation generation was realism- realistic fighting, driving and gore.
And then something odd happened. Nintendo's N64 quite catagorically debanded that games take a "cute" look, mainly due to the blurry, colour merging anti-aliasing techniques used by the hardware. Even more oddly, the games Nintendo developed seemed to go completely against the Playstation generation ethos- being bright, colourful and family friendly.
So, by the end of the 90's we were faced with two types of graphics- realism and cuteness. This is what separated the "kiddey" image of Nintendo with the "adult" one that Sony had created for themselves.
So, what's the third type of graphics that my title suggests. Well, the "phantasy" sytle of course (how's that for a vague name). This is a collective term that I've coined for everything that goes beyond the spectrum of conventional gaming styles. The likes of Cell Shading, and Rez style linear based graphics.
Whether this new form of graphics will evolve into the well-established realistic and cute styles remains to be seen, but with the new Zelda adopting Cell Shading things are looking good.
The big question is: "What next?"
Sonic
POWER TO THE HEDGEHOG
Cell shading can accomodate anything from cartoon style games like Wacky Racers to more "hardcore" games like Jet Set. The reason I didn't associate this with the cute or realistic genres is simply that it obviously isn't realistic, but nor is it geared to being colourful, kiddy and cute.
Speaking of Kandinsky, I've just realised that a number of copies of his art are dotted about my school! Some of it's pretty impressive too!
Anyway, thanks for the replies people.
Sonic
POWER TO THE HEDGEHOG
Speaking of Kandinsky, I've just realised that a number of copies of his art are dotted about my school! Some of it's pretty impressive too!
Anyway, thanks for the replies people.
Sonic
POWER TO THE HEDGEHOG
Auto Modellista is a cel shaded racer and looks pretty realistic. Definitely not 'Kiddy'. Also that XIII game is cel shaded, and looks like a cartoon, not really 'kiddy' I wouldn't say cel shaded is at the kiddy end of the spectrum. Can look quite realistic if it wants to or not at all, like that wacky race game, can't remember the exact name of it. The one with all the wierd weapions like big axes and stuff. Anyway, enough from me for now.
Silent85 wrote:
> Yea Silent Hill is inspired from a painters paints but I have forgot
> his name I am ever so sorry
*
Remembering the dark and filthy prison area from Silent Hill 2, maybe it's that modern artist [forgotten his name] who uses excretment and vomit instead of paints!
> Yea Silent Hill is inspired from a painters paints but I have forgot
> his name I am ever so sorry
*
Remembering the dark and filthy prison area from Silent Hill 2, maybe it's that modern artist [forgotten his name] who uses excretment and vomit instead of paints!
Nomad_Soul wrote:
> It's tricky to see beyond the two graphical extremes: realistic &
> cutesy. Even cel-shaded could be described as belonging to the cutesy
> side.
>
> Visual style is one of area in gaming which I feel slightly
> disappointed in. Yeah realistic graphics have there obvious place just
> as cutesy graphics do, but there seems an over-obsession with
> developers trying to make their games look as realistic as possible. I
> suppose in many ways this is inevitable.
>
> For the graphics that fit into your "phantasy"-type
> third-way, I suppose programmers could look at all the various styles
> of the artists throughout history. The visual style of Rez [for
> instance] was apparently inspired by the early 20th century abstract
> painter "Kandinsky" - the game is dedicated to him on the
> completion screen.
>
> You mentioned "Monet" in another thread and his style would
> definately make a cool and original looking game. Programmers and
> graphical artists should look for inspiration in the world of art -
> both modern and ancient. Eastern religious art is very striking in
> terms of colour for example.
Yea Silent Hill is inspired from a painters paints but I have forgot his name I am ever so sorry
> It's tricky to see beyond the two graphical extremes: realistic &
> cutesy. Even cel-shaded could be described as belonging to the cutesy
> side.
>
> Visual style is one of area in gaming which I feel slightly
> disappointed in. Yeah realistic graphics have there obvious place just
> as cutesy graphics do, but there seems an over-obsession with
> developers trying to make their games look as realistic as possible. I
> suppose in many ways this is inevitable.
>
> For the graphics that fit into your "phantasy"-type
> third-way, I suppose programmers could look at all the various styles
> of the artists throughout history. The visual style of Rez [for
> instance] was apparently inspired by the early 20th century abstract
> painter "Kandinsky" - the game is dedicated to him on the
> completion screen.
>
> You mentioned "Monet" in another thread and his style would
> definately make a cool and original looking game. Programmers and
> graphical artists should look for inspiration in the world of art -
> both modern and ancient. Eastern religious art is very striking in
> terms of colour for example.
Yea Silent Hill is inspired from a painters paints but I have forgot his name I am ever so sorry
It's tricky to see beyond the two graphical extremes: realistic & cutesy. Even cel-shaded could be described as belonging to the cutesy side.
Visual style is one of area in gaming which I feel slightly disappointed in. Yeah realistic graphics have there obvious place just as cutesy graphics do, but there seems an over-obsession with developers trying to make their games look as realistic as possible. I suppose in many ways this is inevitable.
For the graphics that fit into your "phantasy"-type third-way, I suppose programmers could look at all the various styles of the artists throughout history. The visual style of Rez [for instance] was apparently inspired by the early 20th century abstract painter "Kandinsky" - the game is dedicated to him on the completion screen.
You mentioned "Monet" in another thread and his style would definately make a cool and original looking game. Programmers and graphical artists should look for inspiration in the world of art - both modern and ancient. Eastern religious art is very striking in terms of colour for example.
Visual style is one of area in gaming which I feel slightly disappointed in. Yeah realistic graphics have there obvious place just as cutesy graphics do, but there seems an over-obsession with developers trying to make their games look as realistic as possible. I suppose in many ways this is inevitable.
For the graphics that fit into your "phantasy"-type third-way, I suppose programmers could look at all the various styles of the artists throughout history. The visual style of Rez [for instance] was apparently inspired by the early 20th century abstract painter "Kandinsky" - the game is dedicated to him on the completion screen.
You mentioned "Monet" in another thread and his style would definately make a cool and original looking game. Programmers and graphical artists should look for inspiration in the world of art - both modern and ancient. Eastern religious art is very striking in terms of colour for example.
I spose that photo-realistic graphics could be next in line.
But we're still a good long way off from that as the current technology we have available to us is still pretty basic in-terms of what we'd need to achieve that. So photo-realistic/life-like graphics are still a long way off yet.
But despite that, I stilll reckon we'll see something new introduced within another 10 years. When you consider the time it could take for us to see the photo-realistic graphics it seems pretty un-realistic that we'll be waiting several decades without having something new.
But we're still a good long way off from that as the current technology we have available to us is still pretty basic in-terms of what we'd need to achieve that. So photo-realistic/life-like graphics are still a long way off yet.
But despite that, I stilll reckon we'll see something new introduced within another 10 years. When you consider the time it could take for us to see the photo-realistic graphics it seems pretty un-realistic that we'll be waiting several decades without having something new.
Isn't gaming a wonderful place? Look back 10 years, and all games were using sprite based graphics- visuals deliberately unrealistic to convey the point of the game.
Fast forward to the mid-90's and sprtites were dying, only to be replaced by realistic polygons (and to a limitted effect, voxels). Gaming had taken a massive swing and the eye candy of the Playstation generation was realism- realistic fighting, driving and gore.
And then something odd happened. Nintendo's N64 quite catagorically debanded that games take a "cute" look, mainly due to the blurry, colour merging anti-aliasing techniques used by the hardware. Even more oddly, the games Nintendo developed seemed to go completely against the Playstation generation ethos- being bright, colourful and family friendly.
So, by the end of the 90's we were faced with two types of graphics- realism and cuteness. This is what separated the "kiddey" image of Nintendo with the "adult" one that Sony had created for themselves.
So, what's the third type of graphics that my title suggests. Well, the "phantasy" sytle of course (how's that for a vague name). This is a collective term that I've coined for everything that goes beyond the spectrum of conventional gaming styles. The likes of Cell Shading, and Rez style linear based graphics.
Whether this new form of graphics will evolve into the well-established realistic and cute styles remains to be seen, but with the new Zelda adopting Cell Shading things are looking good.
The big question is: "What next?"
Sonic
POWER TO THE HEDGEHOG
Fast forward to the mid-90's and sprtites were dying, only to be replaced by realistic polygons (and to a limitted effect, voxels). Gaming had taken a massive swing and the eye candy of the Playstation generation was realism- realistic fighting, driving and gore.
And then something odd happened. Nintendo's N64 quite catagorically debanded that games take a "cute" look, mainly due to the blurry, colour merging anti-aliasing techniques used by the hardware. Even more oddly, the games Nintendo developed seemed to go completely against the Playstation generation ethos- being bright, colourful and family friendly.
So, by the end of the 90's we were faced with two types of graphics- realism and cuteness. This is what separated the "kiddey" image of Nintendo with the "adult" one that Sony had created for themselves.
So, what's the third type of graphics that my title suggests. Well, the "phantasy" sytle of course (how's that for a vague name). This is a collective term that I've coined for everything that goes beyond the spectrum of conventional gaming styles. The likes of Cell Shading, and Rez style linear based graphics.
Whether this new form of graphics will evolve into the well-established realistic and cute styles remains to be seen, but with the new Zelda adopting Cell Shading things are looking good.
The big question is: "What next?"
Sonic
POWER TO THE HEDGEHOG