I have always been interested in art and especially art within video games; the way that colours and drawing style can evoke different emotions within a game. The psychology behind this is something that I wish to look further into; also the way that games have changed from 2D to 3D and whether this means 2D games are inferior to 3D games. To start off this exploration into the world of art style I will talk about some of the games I feel are a good example of great art style.
One of my favourite art styles is the work of Telltale games; in their games The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us they use a beautiful cel shaded 3D modelled scheme with perfectly thought out colours and lighting. The use of cel shading in The Wolf Among Us brings a gritty cartoon feel to the game; this means it can be serious and childlike when needed. The style also gives it a unique look and brings depth to the already created fictional world. The game also gives off a film noire feel through its storyline, camera angles and art style this makes the player feel more drawn to the game and more compelled to play it.
The next game on my list has been called art rather than a video game; Journey is honestly one of the best looking games of all time. The cartoony look to the game gives it a light hearted feel however the game has extremely well thought out colour schemes. The game uses no speech or text therefore the environments, characters and music need to portray the mood and storyline of the game; each different part of the game has different colour schemes the darker the colours get the more dangerous and scary the section is meant to be.
Another interesting game is Don't Stave which uses a 2D cut-out dark cartoon style; the drawings are very Burtonesque and therefore give off a gothic vibe adding to the games overall cutesy but gloomy style. The colours in this game are fairly realistic there is no over powering colours everything is quite desaturated and dark giving off that overall gothic theme.
The game Hotline Miami is also an amazing example of a successful 2D game with an interesting art style. Hotline Miami's art was influenced by the 80's and games of its time; the use of bright neon colours and music work so well together and create an upbeat game atmosphere which gets the player in the mood to smash some heads in (in-game of course). Hotline Miami is a perfect example of how even low resolution 2D games can still be as good as any 3D realistic game.
A great example of how art style can influence the market is Angry Birds; they took a pre-existing game and threw some pretty colours, cute characters and interactive sound effects on it and it has sold Billions; just showing us how important art is to games and how colour choices and draw a player in.
Overall we can see that 2D games and 3D games are equal; we look at games such a journey and the power of the colours used are incredible the way that these colours can create dense atmospheres and mood along with telling a story is astonishing, it is now obvious to me how important these aspects are to creating a brilliant video game.
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