Level 3 games design

Unit 78: Digital graphics for computer games

Artistic styles

Photo realism

Photo realism is an artistic style which is used to give things a realistic style and is used in games like The Last of Us, Grand Theft Auto and Tomb Raider.

This image is from The Last of Us and shows photo realism which is used to set a realistic mood and gives the game a realistic feel and make you feel like the game is actually real 

Cell shading

Cell shading is an art style with bright colors that stand out and resembles the style of a comic book this is used in games like Ultimate Spiderman and Wind Walker XIII

 

This is used effectively in Spiderman as it resembles the style of the comics.

Abstraction

Abstract art is pretty much the opposite to photo realism as it isn't realistic, instead using shapes and lines trying to paint an image in your head. These are used to make the games stand out. Games that use this art style are Tetris and Geometry dash, This art style makes games fun without any major detail going in them.

Exaggeration

Exaggeration is mainly used in anime games and isn't meant to be taken seriously as the art style is so exaggerated. Used in anime as there characters have big features such as eyes. Used to make games look less realistic this is used in games such as Dragon ball Z and Fifa street 3.



Unit 78: Digital graphics for computer games

Computer game graphics

Pixel Art

This was mainly used on older games and can be divided into two categories isometric and non isometric. Isometric is used to give a 3d look to pixel art and is usually took at a 30 degree angle

   

This is used in games like Diablo and Fallout however is not used as much now there are 3D games. Non isometric style of pixel art is any style of pixel art that isn't 3D and is used mainly on older games but is still used today in games like Super meat boy. Its also used in games like Mario. 

Concept Art

Concept art is used to convey ideas before the final use and can be used to develop the work and show progress also Concept art can be hand drawn or down using a computer and can be photorealistic or stylized.

  

Texture Art

Texture art has three different types physical texture, visual texture and hyper texture. Physical texture is things such as metal, glass and wood that can be touched. Visual texture is a sense of texture created with the use of things like shading and color and hyper texture is a realistic simulated surface texture made by adding small distortions across the surface of an object.

  

Background graphics

Background graphics are what you can see in the background of your game and is used to make games look nicer and make them standout if they have a nice background

   

In-game interface

In-game interface are the things displayed on the screen such as your health and level that your on in the game, In game interface is also how much ammo you have left on shooting games like Call of Duty and is very important as it provides information that helps while you play.

  

Print media art

Print media art is used to make the game look better and make people want to buy it making it look attractive. These are things such as the game packaging, box cover, manual, label and posters. These help sell copies of the games.

  

Raster Images

Raster images are all pixelated being composed of pixels using many different colors which when put together form an image. When you enlarge a Raster image it loses a lot of quality as it has a much lower resolution to Vector images with most images on computer being Raster images. Raster images are very difficult to modify without losing some of the image quality. Raster files are usually larger then Vector. Raster images are also known as bitmap.

 

  

Vector Images

Vector images are non pixelated and made up of individual scalable objects made from mathematical equations making these images render at the highest quality possible compared to the lower quality on Raster images. You can enlarge these images and they wont lose any quality. Vector images unlike Raster images they are not restricted to a rectangular shape however they are very unsuitable for producing photo realism.

 

    

Killer Klowns from outer space

Story

Killer Klowns from outer space starts off when an ice cream van parks and eventually moves as nobody wants it there. This is where we are introduced to the main characters Mike and Debbie then we see a shooting star and are introduced into an old man, the old man finds a circus when a clown captures the old mans dog. The old man eventually gets killed by the clown.

   

We are introduced into two police offers who are with two people with one of the officers Mooney being rough towards them whereas the other officer Dave is more calm, then we go back to Debbie and Mike who look for the shooting star and eventually enter a circus which they find out was the shooting star they seen.

They eventually escape from the clowns and go to Dave who is friends with Debbie being her ex boyfriend. They explain what happened to Dave and Mooney, Mooney doesn't believe them but Dave hears them out. More unknown people are killed by the clowns. Dave takes Debbie home so he isn't in danger but carries on with Mike. The clowns carry on killing more people.

 Mike and Dave check and find a pair of glasses belong to one of Mikes friends. Mike and Dave see a clown making shadow puppets who kills someone with the puppet they try kill the clown but he escapes. They try calling Mooney for help but he doesn't believe them. They see the Terenzi brothers who own the ice cream van.

Mooney sees a clown at the police station and puts it in a cell with the two people from earlier on. Dave goes back to the station and sees footprints going into the cell and seeing the two prisoners have been killed and that Mooney is being used as a puppet by the clown. Dave kills the clown by destroying its nose causing it to spin and explode.

 

Back at her home Debbie gets attacked by clowns and fights them off until she eventually gets captured and put into a balloon. The Terenzi brothers Mike and Dave chase after her. The Terenzi brothers get split up and captured by the clowns, Mike and Dave find and rescue Debbie by shooting the balloon. 

Whilst escaping from the clowns they see the Terenzi brothers who help them out in the ice cream van. Then a massive clown shows up and explodes the ice cream truck then Dave distracts the clown as Mike and Debbie escape. An explosion happens a car falls from the sky and Dave and the Terenzi brothers emerge alive. The film ends as it is snowing and then a pie flies down hitting them in the face ending the film.

Game developers

 

Electronic arts: Fifa, Madden, NBA live, Fight night and NHL hockey

Naughty dog: Uncharted, Crash bandicoot, the last of us, Jak and Daxter

Insomniac games: Spyro, Ratchet and Clank, Resistance, Sunset overdrive and Spiderman

Konami: PES, Metal gear, Castlevania, Silent hill and Contra

Nintendo: Super Mario, The legend of Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong and Star Fox

Blizzard: Diablo, World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Overwatch and Hearthstone

Capcom: Resident evil, Street fighter, Devil may cry, Mega man and monster hunter

Microsoft studios: Zoo tycoon, Gears of war, Fable, Age of empire and Forza motorsport

NetherRealm Studios: Mortal kombat, Injustice

Rare: Battle toads, Killer instinct, golden eye 007, Donkey Kong country and Banjo-Kazooie

Independent Studios

 

These are self-funded independent development studios also known as indie developers and make games that rely on digital distribution these games are known as indie games.

Successful indie games include: Braid, Fez, World of Goo, Super Meat Boy and Minecraft.

Number none Inc: Braid

Mojang: Minecraft

Polytron Corporation: Fez

2D boy: World of goo

Team meat: Super meat boy

 

Other indie game developers Artix entertainment who developed games like adventure quest, another very popular game is castle crashers developed by The Behemoth and lastly there is the creators of angry birds Rovio Entertainment. Indie games have become a lot more popular now than it ever has been before with many indie games making millions.

Fifa 16 Review

Fifa 16 is the newest installment in Electronic Art's hugely successful Fifa franchise. 

Yet again EA have managed to improve on there game creating the most realistic football game to date.

Plenty of new features and improved graphics have given the newest Fifa a much more authentic style to it adding training in career mode to make you feel like your actually in control of your team. The pace of this Fifa has been massively slowed down to get it as close to real football as possible, all the errors in the previous Fifa have been solved in this new and improved game with a lot of glitches and errors being corrected.

Graphics

Graphically this years Fifa has improved massively with the player faces looking more realistic then ever before and plenty of new player faces added, crowds have been improved slightly and look much better then in the last game. Grass in the stadiums is a lot nicer with noticeable footprints and lines being left all over the pitch making it look a lot more authentic then ever before with easily the best graphics in any football game to date

Gameplay

Gameplay on this Fifa has changed drastically compared to last years version offering much more slower pace games however the slowed down speed in this years Fifa is a massive downgrade compared to last years fast paced action making some games feel slow and boring. The passing in this game is the worst from any of the last few installments with passing constantly going in wrong directions and being over or under powered which can be annoying. However goalkeepers have been improved and several bugs have been removed from the game.



Rating

Overall this game is very good and although the realistic slow paced style takes away abit of the fun it is still a very enjoyable game and another improvement to the Fifa series. Overall I give the game an 8/10 and its definitely worth the money, there are also plenty of other reviews to check out here. http://www.trustedreviews.com/fifa-16-review 

http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/gaming/611524/FIFA-16-review-Xbox-EA-Sports-PlayStation-Ultimate-Team-PC-FUT