Level 3 Games Design

Unit 78:

Digital Graphics for Games Design

Pixel Art:
As pixel art in game design, illustration, and other media has made quite a comeback in recent years (likely due to nostalgia and an appreciation of a beautiful, if sometimes tedious, style of artwork), it's a great time to ask the question: “What's the deal with pixel art?". Considering that everything you are viewing on your monitor, tablet, or phone is comprised of many, many pixels, the often asked question is “how is this not pixel art?” It's art, it's made of pixels, so surely all digital art is pixel art. While technically correct, when talking about “pixel art”, we're focused on a specific style of artwork most often employed within the gaming industry.

The game world is fully 3D (objects can move in the x, y and z direction) how ever all sprites are created in a fixed isometric perspective, and the camera looks down at the game at a fixed angle.

Reference - Mary Winkler. (2016). What is Pixel Art?. Available: https://design.tutsplus.com/articles/what-is-pixel-art--cms-21759. Last accessed 28/09/17.



Concept Art:
Concept art is a illustrations used to convey ideas for games, movies, comic books and animations before it is set for a final product. What is concept art? Concept art, often referred to as visual development, is the initial design used to develop the look and feel of a project. The project can be anything from animated films to, in our case, video games. Visual development artists will use the story and characters to build a basic concept that is used as a guideline for an entire project. Most of the time a concept artist will make a rough sketch, and after given the okay by the project manager, will move onto a 3D modeller or illustrator to turn into an even more accurate visual representation. Not only do the concept artists take the story to create a model of interpretation for the game, often the concept art relates such a strong feeling of the world that some story elements are created based off the art itself.

The picture to the right is concept art from Assassins Creed. If you have played Assassins Creed you will recognise this hidden blade which is a common weapon the character uses. This is a perfect example of how important visual development is to the final project. It accomplishes many things with this simple graphic. It gives the feel for the time period or world, it shows how the weapon is deployed, and it gives a perfect guideline for the next phase of development to know exactly what they are creating.

Reference - Jon Raymond. (2014). CONCEPT ART: WHAT IS CONCEPT ART AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?. Available: http://artistryingames.com/concept-art-concept-art-important/. Last accessed 28/09/17.



Texture Art:
Texture art or texture mapping is usually a 2D digital painting which is overlayed onto a polygon mesh of a 3D sculpt to give to illusion of texture or surface quality. It's most common in the production of models for games or films. In the gaming industry, while it's important in the process of producing the initial game, they also play a big part in modifications (mods). Mods might be created by the same company who made the original game as 'addons' or 'extensions'. Otherwise they might be made by enthusiasts as an extra customisable option. An example of this is in 'minecraft' or 'zoo tycoon' and many other games, where anyone can take the texture files and edit them to change the textures.

Reference - Ellie. (2013). TASK 3 - GRAPHIC TYPES. Available: http://unit78ed.blogspot.co.uk/. Last accessed 28/09/17.



Background Graphics:


Background graphics are the part of a game we don't always dedicate much attention to, as they're exactly that. In the background. But this does not make them any less important. Background art needs to match the rest of the style of the game as to not look out of place, but it also needs to blend in and not be too distracting.There are many types of background art, and they have evolved along with games. Many 2D fighting games in the 90's had beautiful, detailed pixel backgrounds. They're not as common today but still appear every now and again.
As well as complete backgrounds to act as a backdrop, background graphics could also include 2D tiles, 3D building and prop/other assets, cut-scene backgrounds, environment art, and level backgrounds. Assets for the backgrounds could be made using either traditional or digital methods- though digital is usually the preferred method (Using programs such as Photoshop, corral painter, paint tool sai etc).

Although not exactly background artists, layout artists (in charge of the background, lighting and camera angles), and storyboard artists (who draw the panels that correspond to the script) all work in the same sector, are reliant on one another and their jobs may even overlap on occasion.

Reference - Ellie. (2013). TASK 3 - GRAPHIC TYPES. Available: http://unit78ed.blogspot.co.uk/. Last accessed 28/09/17.

HUD (Heads Up Display):
A heads up display or (HUD) is used in a lot of games and it is used to display certain things that your character has, for example, in Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2, there is an ammo count in the bottom right hand corner of the screen and there is also a score indicator, a kill feed and many more items on the screen to help you when you are in game. This is an annotation I did in Photoshop for the game Counter Strike : Global Offensive.

Print Media:
Print media in games are things like advertising posters you see on billboards and big banners in stores, and this can also be the game case cover, these can be vital in the game industry as they need to be popping with colours and have good art work so that the gamers will buy your game and you make good sales. It is also used for the booklet inside for the manual so players know how to play the game when they first start up the game, this art work is less detailed as it is on the front cover of the game case or an advertising poster as they don't need to be very detailed as they are only a manual.