Digital graphics for computer games

Artistic styles

Artistic styles are a defined style of art which can then be implemented in a piece of work. An example of this is the Japanese art known as anime which is used to design characters for games. Anime is used for cartoons as well such as Pokémon or Digimon fusion and when they make them into games for Nintendo DS or Gameboy they still used the anime style of art so the game would look almost identical to the programme. Anime is an exaggerated artistic style because the characters have big heads, big eyes, bright colours that are exaggerated/ too much contrast as well with the light colours and dark colours which are usually bold. This type of artistic style is popular in the Asian market and some of the West such as Germany and France. Cel-shading is a non-photorealistic art style and the outline of the characters look realistic and represent the real life proportions of people in the real world such as The arms being the same length or eyes being the same width apart. However the shading on the characters is simple and not very realistic in texture. A good example of Cel-shading is prince of Persia or the borderlands series because they have simple blends for their skin and clothes but the texture is not very realistic compared to other games that are being released. Abstraction is an artistic style which contains geometric lines and shapes, which are often only used in a particular game and is since within the confines of that particular game. Photo-realism is an artistic style that is as real as a photograph and is used in some magazines which advertise cars in exotic locations and it looks like the car is actually there but is actually photo shopped. Photo realism is not just used in photos it is now being used in game engines and the Unreal engine 4 is using photo-realism too make the graphics more realistic and more stunningly beautiful.                                

Example of photo realism in unreal engine 4:

Here is the link for more photos and videos of Photo-realism in game engines: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/188494-photorealism-in-unreal-engine-4-in-real-time-a-sneak-peek-at-next-gen-games-graphics

                                                                    Pixel

1.   A pixel is a minute area that illuminates on a display screen, one of many of these pixels from which an image is composed into a really tiny small square. A pixel looks like a square but it isn’t an actual square it is like a very small microscopic diamond and when all of these small circles/hexagons are put together it makes a small square so therefore a pixel is not an actual square but a very small, tiny microscopic circle/hexagon. A pixel is a circular shape or sometimes it looks hexagon in form of shape but that depends on how much you zoom in on a microscopic lens and how close you look. Here is a link to a website that will help explain it better. You may not want to read it all because it is a very long, detailed explanation on what a pixel actually is and if you really want too you can read it all. http://alvyray.com/Memos/CG/Microsoft/6_pixel.pdf Pixels are used today as much as they used too when gaming first became a big hit back in the 1980s. In fact pixels are most likely used MORE NOW than back then because more and more people have laptops, TVs and play games so there is actually an increase in the use of pixels today. If you look really close to your monitor then it will be pixelated and you can do this to TVs as well because the screens they use for monitors and TVs have little pixels in them which project programmes when electricity is running through them. Pixels do have picture resolutions/ images resolutions and intensity.

Ø  Picture/image resolution: Resolution refers to the number of pixels in an image and it is sometimes identified by the width and height of the image as well as the total number of pixels in the image. Computer monitors are set at a particular resolution as well because the larger the screen is then the higher the resolution will be on that screen. When you think of resolution also think of quality. The image quality can be manipulated like the image size. An image can be compressed but it may lose its quality/resolution because you are making the image take up less memory and this will cause the picture to get lower resolution.

Ø  Intensity: This refers to the brightness of a point in an image. The pixel intensity is determined by several quantities: Local concentration of fluorophore, quantum efficiency of fluorophore, the sensitivity of the light sensor in the imaging system. Each pixel has a ‘pixel value’ which describes how bright that pixel is and what colour it should be. This website will help explain it more: http://www.microscope-microscope.org/imaging/image-resolution.htm

Computer games graphics

There are many types of graphics and art in computer graphics which include:

• Pixels (2d sprites and 3d sprites):  2d sprites are mainly used and created with pixels and this is very easy to do if you want to make a very simple 2D sprite for game. With the 2d sprites you can make any character or weapon you want in very easy simple steps which takes about 5-10 minutes if you know all of the materials and tools you can use. 3d sprites take a little more time to make than the 2d sprites but the production time is worth the wait because the 3D sprites look absolutely amazing if you put in enough time and patience. You will need to bit more trained in creating sprites because you will need to do some changes to your already made 2D sprite.

·         Concept art: The concept art is the most important kind of art you will need when designing a game because it is what your game will look like with the characters, weapons, backgrounds, and environment. Every game company does concept art for the game they are designing and then that concept art gets made into digital form to actually make that character.

 

 

 

·         Texture art: The textures of what your characters look like and the texture of what your environment will look like is an also a big part in texture art. The reason this is plays a big part is because if the texture all looks the same then the game will look very odd and not realistic at all.

• Backgrounds: The background to your game such as walls, forests, clouds etc. is what makes your game complete due to it having a complete environment with interactive environment and the non-interactive e.g. the background. The background to your game must be relative to the rest of game such as if you’re making a space invaders game then it would not be advisable to have a sewer or new York city as your background so make sure that the background you have matches the other parts of your game so it looks perfect.
• Interface art/graphics: The way your target market interacts with game is what makes a best-selling game and a 'no hit' game so definitely make sure that the interactive system is correct and has no problems with it. The interface for a game is the aiming recital, mini map, controls and touchscreen (if making a touch screen game).

1.   Print, media and art: The game packaging must have the copyrights on it too make sure no one steals your game ideas or tries to make a copy of it. The box cover is what catches the eye of the customers so make sure the game packaging is looking good and fantastic so you get good sales. The gaming manual needs to have instructions on how to play the game so the player understands what to do with the control buttons. It must also contain the copyrights as well in the front page with all of the companies’ details such as contact details, the location and who sponsors them. The label has to be attractive the human eye so they think that the game is worth buying. Use and experiment with different fonts and with other materials to make the game look eye-catching. Posters for the game also haves to look cool and perfect with the right contrasts and with the right colours that match the games genre to make it sell well and to get hype for the games release.

 

                                                         Types of digital graphics

Raster images (BMP, GIF, TIFF, and JPG): A raster image has got matrix's made of a data structure representing a rectangular grid of pixel which are viewable via a computer monitor, piece of paper or other types of display. Raster images are saved and stored in image files with varying formats. BMP means 'image file format' (bitmap) was introduced on the windows platform, but no recognised on both Macs and PCs by many programs. It stores colour data for each pixel without it being compressed. GIF means 'Graphics Interchange Format' can be saved with the maximum of 256 colours. However this makes it a poor format for photographic images because it can be sometimes tight. GIFs have the option to dither (an attempt to approximate a colour from a mixture of other colours when the colour you wish to require is not available). They can also be animated and interlaced which is where a saving graphic can be loaded progressively-first a blurry, low-detailed version is loaded and then the successive layers of detail is added. This usually means an overall larger file size.  TIFF means ' Tagged Image File Format' it is a standard in the printing and publishing industry. TIFF files are significantly larger than their JPEG counterparts which can be compressed or either uncompressed using lossless compression. They can also have a 'bit depth' of either 16-bits per channel or 9-bits per channel, and multiple layered images can be stored in a single TIFF file. JPG means 'Joint Photographic Expert Group' and, as its name suggests, was specifically developed for storing photographic images. It is also a standard format for storage in cameras and displaying photographic images on the internet web pages. I have also found a file known as PNG which stands for 'Portable Network, Graphics' and is a raster file format that supports lossless data compression. PNG was a non-patented replacement for Graphics Interchange Format (GIF). It is also the most used lossless image compression format file on the internet.

1.   Vector images (PSD, WMF, FLA, and AI): A Vector image is the geometrical primitives such as points, curves or polygons which are based on mathematical expressions to represent images in computer graphics. PSD means 'Photoshop Data File' and is the standard format for saving in Photoshop. The saved image in Photoshop has options which include layers with masks, colour spaces, ICC profiles, transparency, text, alpha channels and spot colours, clipping paths and duotone settings. WMF means ' Windows Metafile (file name extension)' this contains both Vector and bitmap image information. WMF files were 16-bit when initially included with Windows 3.0. The WMF files can be opened by Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or Publisher. FLA is a Flash file and is used for managing the resources and code for your Flash files, however the FLA files are not intended for publishing to your users. SWF is another Flash file that I found and is a Shockwave Flash file format created by Macromedia and is now owned by Adobe. SMF means 'Small Web Format' and can contain video and Vector animations and sound and are designed for efficient delivery which you can do over the internet. AI means 'Adobe Illustrator Artwork' and it is for representing single-page vector based drawings in either EPS or PDF formats.

 

An example of a Vector image:                                         An example of both image types:

 

File extensions: A string of characters that are attached to a filename, usually preceded by a full stop and indicating the files format for you.

Compression: Where you compress an image or file so it takes up less space but this may cause lack of picture resolution due to a loss of pixel intensity.

Image capture: You can capture an image in many ways such as a photograph, screenshots or a scanner that is designed to capture 2d works or a camera which can be set up to work with either 2D or 3D originals.

Optimising: Is to make the best/most effective use of a resource or situation. To edit images or scripts to improve the efficiency of retrieval or processing.

Storage of image assets: The rules and process of an organisation that puts in place management, retrievals and the distribution of their digital media such as photos, videos, PDFs, presentations and documents. However don't get DAM and DAM software mixed up because they are not the same thing.

Comparing and contrasting two games one 2D and one 3d

1.   Yoshi Island and Borderlands 2

 

 

 

Exaggeration: Yoshi Island does not really have exaggerated colours apart from the bright green grass and then the really dark caves so the contrast is exaggerated for that part of the game. The sounds aren't exaggerated either but the sounds are classic for the game considering when it was released. Borderlands 2 has some exaggerations to it with the amount of damage the enemies take on easy level with good guns and with 'Bazillion guns too loot'. This is because they is not actually 'Bazillions' of guns for you to find but only around a couple hundred. The gameplay is not exaggerated and the colours look nice and normal and not too exaggerated.

Photo-realism: Yoshi Island does not use photo-realism as far as my research shows but it does use Photoshop with the backgrounds with the clouds and skies. This makes Yoshi islands backgrounds look more realistic due to the backgrounds being from the real world. Borderlands 2 does use photo-realism and 2K games says photo-realism is needed for innovation and to make the game have more emotion. The boss of 2k games says that "recreating a mission impossible experience in gaming is easy; recreating the emotions in Brokeback Mountain is going to be tough, or at least sensitive in this country... it will be very hard to create very deep emotions like sadness or love, things that drive the movies".

 

Cel-shading: Yoshi Island uses shading similar to Cel-shading styles for its 2D shading inside the game. Borderlands 2 is a famous example of Cel-shading inside a game. Most of borderlands 2 is shaded with Cel-shading such as the environment, characters, weapons and vehicles. All of the borderlands games, Borderlands 1, Borderlands 2 and Borderlands the pre-sequel all use Cel-shading for the environment. 

Artistic styles: Yoshi Island has slightly similar graphics compared to borderlands 2 with the characters which look cartoonish and with the environment. Borderlands 2 has a more cartoonish artistic style because the game is designed to look that way in every shape and form.

 Abstraction: Yoshi Island uses geometric shapes with the green poles and with the flat grass that it has in the beginning levels of the game. Other than that the game doesn't really use abstraction because the rest of the characters and environments are other shapes that are not classed as abstraction. Borderlands 2 does not abstraction at all because the entire game has ridged shapes with the rocks and the guns are not smooth straight lines either. All of the borderlands series does not use abstraction because all of them have similar environments. I think that if borderlands 2 had abstraction shapes then it would not be borderlands 2 because the game has its cool shapes and good looking guns that have not got abstraction shapes on them.