Originally I was going to do a blog post about game graphics but I realised quickly what I had to say about them wasn't unique or a new viewpoint but I did get to look at some funny pictures anyways here is a link if anyone wants to know more about graphics fair amount of profanity you have been warned!
Bad Graphics - YouTube
Since videogames came into existence alot of developers have tried to make their game look as realistic as possible and because of this whole styles and looks of games were left by the wayside so someone could make sure that every hair on a random characters kneecap looks as realistic as possible in an attempt to immerse the player. but what most developers haven't realised videogames aren't about immersion half the time they are about creating a universe so that a player can do as much dumb stuff as they want with no repercussions when I play GTA 5 I'm not playing to immerse myself in the city of Los Santos I'm playing so that I can blow up a police station with a grenade launcher and then go back to a house and take drugs within a videogame. The games that are the best at this are the ones which do away with immersion because then there is no distraction no barrier between the game and the player and they already have a perfect template retro graphics.
This is Undertale one of the biggest games of 2015 an insanely fun game where you can do so much stuff from defusing a dog flirting with a skeleton killing an evil flower and watching snails race its chockful off stuff and has over 75 tracks. This was al made music and game by one man Toby Fox how he took the tools from yester years games and made one himself without having to spend tonnes of money on sound designers graphic designers game engines and so much more and this is how retro games have risen there are tonnes of other examples from the last few years but it's really simple with a few tools and a fair amount of time people can make a big game with "bad graphics" and make lots of money but there are limits...
This is Hotline Miami 2 wrong number it is another awesome game but there are limits to it each level consists of the character entering a building and brutally murdering everyone inside but it is only that Undertale is a game you can finish within a few hours so is papers please all small pixel games created cheaply in comparison to other games so in the end alot of them are fun but short games. Other games like Enter The Gungeon are longer and are alot of fun are still greatly overshadowed by big budget games which have 60+ hours of content in them from the beginning. But all this leaves a question if all these games are short and overshadowed how are they on the rise?
They are on the rise for multiple reasons
1. they're cheaper because they are cheaper to produce
2. style without top notch graphics most have to create their own interesting art style compared to other bigger games which sometimes give up on style altogether
3. abundance because they're smaller more come out whereas bigger games take longer to complete and finish
4.This generation of gamers wasn't around when the first pixelated games came out so it is completely new fun and different to most things they've played before
5. replayability there is no replayability in a big game because it's too damn big and you've usually done everything the game has to offer a dozen times before you get to the end.
6. smaller and better for computers big games are fun but they make my PlayStation sound like a jet engine use half the Wi-Fi in the universe and have 4 billion updates a year.
7. glitches its a million times harder to find glitches in pixel games because there isn't really any space for them
8. they take up much less space on your PC or console
9. dedication some of these games take years to come out not because they're big but because the creators have put care and time into every single little aspect which just isn't possible with the bigger games.
10. shortness in bigger games there are big detailed maps but that means if i want to kill something and that something is on the other side of the map it takes me 5 minutes to get there in the first place in pixel games there is obviously none of that.
11. nostalgia
I'm sure there are a few more reasons I'm forgetting but we'll leave it there the message is this small companies like Devolver and people like Toby Fox have the time and resources to make some of the best games ever made Graphics will continue to go forward but there will always be room for these games because they are different to the norm and due to the quality of said games people will buy more and more of them bringing more money and resources to these companies and people and with the power in the hands of everyone to an extent I am 99% sure this will become one of the biggest game categories in years to come. for a bad example of what I'm talking about watch pixels it brings pixels into the modern day for fun it falls flat on its face but admittedly inspired this blog post. this post may be a bit meandering because I was planning to put 2 topics into one post with pixel games being more of a case study than the entire thing but that didn't read well but at that point they were linked in my head so may be a bit meandering anyways blog passed 300 page views because I am a master of self promotion but seriously thanks to anyone who ever clicks on one of my blog links I get alot of enjoyment out of writing them and hopefully one day maybe it may be a part of my career :) next bl;og post is about character survival in franchises
that was good, you made some really true and vaild points
ReplyDeleteInteresting points. I mean, who doesn’t still like Pac-Man or Soace Invaders
ReplyDelete