Visual Styles of video games

Cel-shading is an art style that is designed to make the work look like traditional 2D animation,

which used clear sheets of acetate called celluloid (or cel for short). They would paint different

aspects of the scene onto separate cels (e.g. backgrounds on one layer and the facial detail of a

character on another), then layer them on top of one another to create a complete image. They

would have a camera positioned over the cels to take a picture, and this would make one frame of

animation. As each aspect was on a separate sheet, they may only need to replace one or two sheets

to create the next frame.

Okami is an example of a game which utilizes a cel-

shaded art style. The main inspiration for the

game’s art style are emankimono (えまんきもの/

絵巻物) or ‘picture rolls’ that were narrative

painting, made on silk. They combine this style of

art with cel-shading to create the final image. This

is done because the game is a modern retelling of

old Japanese myths, so they combine old and new

interpretations of the story, and similarly, old and

new styles of art. The art style also works well with abilities of your character Amatarasu. This is

because in the game you are able to manipulate aspects of the environments, such as the time of

day, destroying aspects of the terrain or restore ruined areas of land back to normal. All of these

severely increased the number of polygon models, but because of the style chosen, it didn’t exceed

the memory limit.

Bastion is another, more recent, example of

cel-shading. The game is an action RPG with a

top-down isometric viewpoint, where the

platforms appear as you move further into the

level, and disappear behind you. As there is a

limited number of platforms on the screen at

any one time, it reduces the number of

polygons that need to be rendered at any one

time. Whilst you are playing through the

game, there is a narrator talking about what

has happened in the world as well as about what you are doing, so the narrator will react to your

failures, but will continue with the story if you manage to deal with the foes. The art style they have

chosen makes it relatively simple to discern the enemies from the background, and it makes

everything stand out, allowing for a better experience, as it reduces the chance that a player could

get stuck from not being able to find where to go.

Photorealism is an art style where you try to make it look as close to its’ real-life equivalent as

possible. This sort of style lends itself well to simulators, as the player typically wants to feel like they

are right in the middle of the action as it makes them feel more involved with what is going on

around them.

Gran Turismo 5 is a racing game for the PS3 which uses a photorealistic style. In the game you chose

a vehicle of your choice, and race against either other players or NPCs. The creators of the game

have taken care in trying to make the cars look as close to the real ones, so that the players of the

game really feel immersed. Because of the game’s reputation, they would have been able to put in

famous brands of cars, as the makers of said cars would want them to be advertised to a large

audience to try and increase sales. Because of this, Polyphony digital may have been paid to put in

specific models of cars. This as well as advertisements placed in the game (which don’t look out of

place due to the hyperrealism) can help generate lots of revenue to make sure that the game has the

funds to get finished as well as to boost the game’s profit margins.

Heavy rain is a PS3 game written and

directed by David Cage. The game is a

film noir thriller, where you are trying

to put together clues and find the

Origami killer. The game uses motion

capture to make the faces and

movements of the characters look more

natural, in order to try and make you

feel for and sympathize with the characters. The gameplay is also trying to get across the realism

aspect, as most of the choices you make are connected to the dialogue, with more realistic and

responsible choices resulting in a better ending. However there is a lot of dangerous and painful

situations you must go through, and the game does its’ best to make you believe that what is going

on screen is seriously affecting the character you play as.

Exaggerated styles are those that try to bring

attention to certain features of the

characters/world by making them look unrealistic,

but still visually appealing. This can range from

eyes looking larger than they should be to

weapons that look impractically large or over the

top.

Kingdom Hearts is a PS2 game in which you play

as a kid named Sora who explores multiple

different worlds with Donald and Goofy to try and find his friends, and to prevent the end of all

worlds. Each world is themed to the style of different Disney properties like Alice in Wonderland and

Aladdin. Because the characters are from cartoons, they often exhibit behaviours that would not be

possible in real life, which makes them more suited to an exaggerated art style.

Bayonetta is a spectacle fighter

developed by Platinum Games. The main

character is a witch who can shapeshift

and perform magical attacks with her hair,

alongside the firearms that she uses. The

fact that the enemies she faces are

equivalent to angels and devils, along with

the use of magic and over the top

weaponry lends this game towards a more

exaggerated art style. This also allows the

characters to perform earth-shattering attacks and have enemies which are as large as a planet with

multiple health bars. The QTEs in the game allow you characters to jump up falling buildings and

conquer giant beings, which would be very hard to do if not impossible if the player was required to

do this themselves.

Abstract art styles are those that do not fit into the art styles above. They are typically quite

geometric and chose to have little detail, preferring substance over style.

Antechamber is a Puzzle-platformer which is

controlled in first person. The game’s logic is

unusual, as the map and objects within it are

impossible to create in real life, but is possible to

do in the game’s engine. For example, you can turn

right 4 times and end up somewhere completely

different from where you started. This sort of game

requires and abstract art style, as there would be

no way to represent the 4D objects and

environments in any of the other styles listed above.

Audiosurf is a game which takes your music

and constructs a level based off of these

songs. If you want the stage to be easy you

can choose slower songs with a slower

tempo, but if you want a real challenge you

can select a song with a high bpm and a lot

of different instruments playing. In the

game itself, you control a ship and your

goal is to collect a lot of tiles of the same

colour to get as many points as possible by

the end of the stage. The minimalistic style

of the game combined with the amount of

customizability lends it well towards a more

abstract art style as it would be too hard to create something completely new for each possible song

by hand, and it requires few unique models, as similar models are joined together and copied in

different ways to make new and unique looking level designs.