Game Art Design Year 2 Part 2 - Case Study

For my case study looking into the gaming industry, I am going to investigate the effect of Cell Shading within video games, I thought this would be a good area to study and find out some interesting finding on as for my current project I am planning on creating a cell shaded environment for my Game Art brief and would be interesting to find out upon a variety of opinions and theory’s on this interesting topic.

I was first introduced to cell shading in video games whilst playing the game XIII on my original x box a few years ago. The game for those who don’t know is a first person shooter however as a twist follows the lines of a comic / graphic novel book which on first play really appealed to me as an artistic point, graphically it was refreshing to play a game with a little difference as first person shooters had begun to feel a little same, like I was playing the same game over and over again , It also added to the game mentally as I felt as if I was more engrossed in the game as it followed a similar feel aesthetically to the original novels, and the cut scenes contained a similar stricture of a comic / graphic novel book proving a good use of media.

Another example of a cell shaded game is The Simpson Game which I played upon the xbox 360
release and demonstrated the improved quality of cell shaded graphics and felt you was playing upon the cartoon world which is show on the TV series. In a comparison between two Simpson games of different forms of media I agree with the statement ''The Simpsons Road Rage would look better cell shaded,'' Having played both games, Simpson’s Road rage doesn’t feel like the Simpson due to it been rendered in 3D. Sure the characters and environment do resemble that of the cartoon but aesthetically it doesn’t feel like your trapped in the game. I don’t want to see Homer in 3D rendered, as to me he's resembling to something of human qualities and upon close look of the characters they look very off-putting as to what they resemble in the cartoon compared to The Simpson game. I just feel they would have got a much better feel by going for Cell shaded graphics similar to  XIII.

I am not saying as to every game should be cell shaded as that would be a inappropriate source of media to proceed with in some games and Agree with this quote “For a stealth action game like Splinter Cell then realistic graphics is the only way to go,” If a video game is aimed at going for realism such as the Splinter Cell games, then high rendering 3D modelling is the way to go both upon the characters and the environment, as a cell shaded appeal would ruin the atmosphere it is heading for as the splinter cell relies on a kind of serious and anxious feel as you hide away trying not to get caught, and a cell shaded version whilst might be interesting would defiantly ruin the atmosphere. Another example of games that cell shading would be inappropriate on is sports games in general, from the likes of the Fifa franchise and the Formula 1 Video games, where the idea is to resemble real life events, for example this would be the closest any of us will ever get to race around Monte Carlo in a Ferrari of which you would want as much realism to and feel as close to possible like the actual event.

To me a cell shaded game resembles a kind of light heartened humours atmosphere, one of which is similar to a cartoon feel where everything is over reacted to emphasise things such as enlarged eye balls when the character sees something they like or clouds forming when a character is running to over exaggerate the speed. On the other hand there are games with a more serious note of feel been released such as the likes of Crackdown and Borderlines and even the likes of Street fighter.

“Personally I prefer games working with an artistic style that allows the developers to create anything they want without ruining my immersion”
I agree with this statement fully, In today's market it seems to me as if companies are concentrating too much on the realism feel of the games both graphically and how the characters react through the use of Ai, However it seems the target market is there and something that wont change soon. I have lost interest in my Xbox recently, especially with the amount of First person shooters out there and the amount of games that are focusing on the realism aesthetics. It just feels like I am playing the same game over and over again, the games are getting to realism that its lost all its fun factor as I prefer games where your not just limited to Human qualities and what is achievable. I want to be able to fly, throw fire out my hand for example and be entrapped in this crazy world where the developers are not limited as to what they can design and come up with crazy concepts instead of just using human environments. If I am looking for realism I can just look out of my window. The idea of playing games to me is to escape reality where I am not limited and be reminded on some of the negative things happening on in the world such as war for example. As to which I have found myself enjoying the Nintendo WI recently as I admire the aesthetics greatly and the amount of fun involved on games such as Donkey Kong with crazy concept and game levels.

In conclusion relating this to my game art brief I am looking at a environment with a light hearted and humours atmosphere,one which resembles something similar to a cartoon. I am not saying I will defiantly be using Cell Shaded for my project but its one that is vastly appropriate and will suit the target audience well.

Resources : http://www.idevgames.com/forums/thread-5306.html
http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/2414/t96934-would-game-look-better-cel-shaded/
http://arcadeberg.com/causerie/pretty-art/