Hey everyone,
I'm a concept artist for a company I won't name. I've been following GB and other sites to keep in "in touch" with the trends and news of the industry while working off site. Needless to say, I like GB the best, so I have a personal question I'd like to make to the community.
Before that, a little explanation on what I do. I design the look of monsters, weapons and other things in pre-production or during production itself. Just sketches and drawings with matching schematics for the 30 Artists to do their thing as well as color compositions and designs for some environments.
As for the question, I'd like to know if you feel any of this is of any importance to you. Do you like things to make sense, Do you like everything to fit into the immersion of the game world of your choice, Do you find it significant in any way, Do you like things to mean something?
Or do you just want to shoot things in the face and consider all that other stuff to be just too self serious and pointless.
Thank you for your time, I hope you can be honest about this.
Art in games ( not games as art)
"Do you like things to make sense "Yes.
@Matiaz_Tapia said:
" Do you like everything to fit into the immersion of the game world of your choice "Yes.
@Matiaz_Tapia said:
" Do you find it significant in any way "Yes.
@Matiaz_Tapia said:
" Do you like things to mean something? "Yes.
I also think I'm being underestimated as far as what I'm willing or able to give to make for you.
Calling a question "dumb" makes me think less of you already, because it was a simple question and you could just have answered. Some people have, and it's been shamelessly the second one. I have no issues with that being the ultimate answer.
How about it, do you have an actual answer. Or is it really the normal " you are dumb" internet response, because that doesn't make me think highly of you either.
In that case, yes definitely. I suppose I don't doubt that the wider audience (e.g. the guy that only buys Madden and Call of Duty every year) has any real issue with the art in games symbolising, signifying or aiding in the games immersion. But, there is the "hardcore" niche audience that appreciates the aspects of art in games that you've mentioned. I believe Giant Bomb as a community fits into the latter.
I definitely do. Fallout 3 comes to mind as going through that game it became glaringly clear that they injected meaning into a whole lot of little bits and pieces. I can't remember an example off-hand as it's been awhile since I've played but I do remember appreciating the attention to detail. Add even a bit more meaning to a piece and you add more depth, which is always fun when you look at something and realize maybe the person who created it had something to communicate to you, however minuscule it might be.
The answer must be a resounding yes, otherwise things wouldn't make sense in terms of stories which games tell. Can you detail how and why you think the industry underestimates us?
Yes to all of your questions. It would be even better if you could combine all of that with shooting someone in the face.
YES!, and games like Bioshock, Fallout 3, even smaller indie games like Braid, And yet It moves, Aquaria are great examples of that.
When you enter some room in Fallout and look around and it tells a whole story, usually a long story of survival and suffering just through item and furniture placement and lighting and atmosphere, its amazing. Just like Bioshocks level design tells a lot of small stories.
Things you speak of jump to me even more in small indie games that rely on that heavily, like the ones mentioned above.
Also Call of Chathulu comes to mind.
And speaking of immersion I think the UI plays a major part in it too. When quality art direction and design is met with quality UI and is revolving around a decent story, I play it in a heartbeat. I know that's a game I'll enjoy.
Well in my case it depends on the type of game you're making as some fit into one mold and some not. If it's serious fiction, I like for things to make sense. But in cases where it's a vastly bizarre and imaginative world, I don't mind if monster design is a bit far out.
For example, Fallout 3 falls into the former, FF13 falls into the latter.
I hope I've understood and answered your questions correctly :/
Yes." @Matiaz_Tapia said:
"Do you like things to make sense "Yes.
@Matiaz_Tapia said:" Do you like everything to fit into the immersion of the game world of your choice "Yes.
@Matiaz_Tapia said:" Do you find it significant in any way "Yes.
@Matiaz_Tapia said:" Do you like things to mean something? "Yes. "
I was mad in Alan Wake when they made a cutscene where he was dressed in a certain way, and the moment after, when I - the player - took action, he was dressed differently. I give importance to detail.
Things should have an internal logic, but not necessarily one that is immediately apparent to everyone.
My favorite world in terms of setting and character design is Silent Hill. Nothing in those games is readily apparent, but everything works with a hidden, internal logic.
This is part of the reason I like Ninja Theory taking over DMC. Sure, there was a lot of visual flair, but the art wasn't completely cohesive. From what I've seen of Ninja Theory, they're pretty on the mark in the art department.
If bad art direction exists, it can easily wreck suspension of disbelief, you know, like the movie Avatar.
The only instance I don't see cohesive art design mattering as much is in competitive multiplayer games. In that, there's less focus on the art direction and more focus on the gameplay balance and what other players are doing.
Whilst I enjoy continuity as much as the next person, i'm not going to lose sleep if the weapon i'm using is from the wrong time period or anything trivial like that.
Having said that, I do appreciate all the little touches that make games worth exploring. Like the Mona Lisa in Dead Rising 2, which could be used to batter a zombie to death. Now that's classy.
@SeriouslyNow: It's simply what you would expect. Things are made in order to be liked by a larger number of people. For example the normal video game character description follows a strict mold. This mold is: White male, from 25 to 35. Not only that, but most designs are made on a logic that's more akin to toys. In most cases, is the player that actually gives this things meaning, while the ones who made it didn't intended for it to have any.
There's an amount of designs that will unavoidable get rejected because it's believed that not everyone will understand them or accept them. So there's an standardization of concepts following semi-strict molds. Things need to look badass, cool, scary, etc.
But that's only to answer your question. :). There's an understandable risk when making a statement ( using visuals or not) Most of the time, you can completely turn off people who disagree on that statement, so it's always safer to say nothing or very little when you want more sales. But you can also hit gold by taking a risk,
@Grumbel: Believe it or not, Bayonetta has it's own internal logic in it's designs. They don't make sense in the "real world" but makes sense to the concept they are trying to represent ( Stated in their names and function), so it's more like what Brodehouse it's saying. Also most artist work hours and hours for 5 second impressions anyways :), if we're successful at all, we made it so we can turn those 5 seconds into 15 and maybe leave an after impression.
@ OppressiveStink : Avatar as excellent art direction. That some people didn't thought it was believable it's strange to me :S, there's a lot of flare into that movie, but it seems it covers all it's bases pretty well.( not to mention how successful it was )
Also there's a lot of things going into competitive multiplayer art-wise. Just because there's two opposing forces. It's basically lot's of smart color coding and making sure silhouettes are representative. It's actually all made so you don't have to think about any of it, in order for you to get into the game and figure out everything in split-second reactions.
Bad art direction leads to players being confused on where to go or even what to shoot.....But it can be handfisted/ handholdy and sometimes even lazy when for example, you get the glowing weak spot thing, or the red vs blue team. ( however, good games always manage to blend this things into the game world seamlessly...The best do such a good job at it that they don't even use it, and people don't even notice them, but it's all there :) )
Well, either way, thank you guys. Perhaps I should not do this kind of thing again and start a blog ( and keep it this time)
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