The Evolution of Game Art: From Pixels to Realistic Graphics
Video games are an art form, from the gameplay and visuals to the music and sound that surrounds them. Games, from a visual perspective, are like movies and television, video games use the visual medium to explore concepts, but unlike tv and cinema, games are interactive, and you as a player have control over what you will see and where you will go within the environments. This means that everything that is possible to see in the game must be rendered and fleshed out, unlike a show where only what the director is showing you have to be made. This is why movie sets can provide visual guidance for the final cut and games can’t. Because of this, there’s a ton of work that goes into designing a game that you, as a player, may not even care to think about, but the artists probably had sleepless nights over it, just like when they worked on things like clothes and surface textures to weapons, vehicles, monsters/enemies, visual effects, and even pre-production work like storyboards and concept game art. And just like tv shows or movies, games evolved over time with new technology. Games have come a long way since the early days of pixelated graphics and rudimentary sound effects. The evolution of game art has been a long and fascinating journey, taking us from the simple, blocky visuals of the 8-bit era to the stunningly realistic graphics of modern games. Pixel Art and the 8-Bit Era Compared to our modern-day standards, game art could have been better in terms of graphics due to limited technology, and developers had to make do with what they had. This led to the creation of pixel art, a style that relied on small, square pixels to create images on the screen. It all began with the single-pixel game from the 1972 Pong, a table tennis game with two-dimensional graphics, and continued to evolve with games such as Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Super Mario Bros. Even with their limitations in graphics, their gameplay and iconic characters made them beloved by gamers around the world. As technology advanced, the graphics in games became more sophisticated. The 3D Revolution In 1999, Sega released its Dreamcast console, which marked a significant shift in the gaming industry. For the first time, 3D graphics started to resemble modern game graphics, thanks to advances in computer hardware. Games like Sonic Adventure were truly 3D, unlike the previous generation of games that used sprites. The Sega Dreamcast was ahead of its time and showcased some of the best graphics and gameplay ever seen in video games. Moreover, Dreamcast was also the first console to feature a built-in modular modem for online play. Eventually, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, the big three companies of today’s gaming industry, followed suit with consoles like GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. The Rise of Realistic Graphics The turn of the millennium saw the rise of realistic graphics in gaming. The evolution of game art is closely tied to the development of hardware technology that supports it, and as technology continued to advance, so too did the graphics in gaming. In each game art, every 3D model (or mesh) in a game is composed of triangles and has generally gone through several iterations of optimization to reduce its ‘polycount,’ which refers to the number of triangles (or polygons) it contains. However, during the design stage, high-poly models that contain much detail are created using 3D design tools like Max, Maya, ZBrush, and others. Such high-res models can contain more than a million polygons and cannot be deployed in-game since the renderer would choke. Nonetheless, their details are necessary to make a scene believable. Advancements such as normal mapping allow the detail of high-polygon models to be transferred to an optimized mesh linked to a normal map, giving the illusion of detail and responding to lighting. And graphic shaders, which is a programmable shaders, first introduced by the GeForce 3, transformed 3D rendering and allowed developers to write highly complex shaders. The processing power and graphic capabilities of consoles continue to contribute to the evolution of game art graphics. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 allowed for even greater processing power and more advanced graphics engines, enabling game artists to create more realistic visuals. The Current State of Game art In addition to the ever-growing technologies that support game art, the current generation of consoles, including the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, allow for unprecedented processing power and graphics capabilities, enabling developers to create truly breathtaking visuals. Thanks to constantly evolving advancements such as physically-based rendering (PBR), High-Dynamic Range (HDR), and Real-Time Ray Tracing allows, games are one step closer to achieving photorealistic fidelity. Game art has come a long way in just a few decades, with smooth user interfaces, advanced gameplay, faster processors, and mind-blowing video technology providing gamers with an unparalleled experience. Early arcade game developers could never have imagined the evolution of computer game graphics to the extent we see today, with virtual cities in racing games that almost match real ones down to the smallest details. Competition among major players in the gaming industry is fierce as they strive to outdo each other. But this level of competitiveness is a boon for gamers, as it ensures that the best of game graphics is yet to come. It may seem unbelievable, but further advancements in computer game graphics are expected, promising even more breathtaking visual experiences for gamers in the future. The Evolution of Gameplay Video games have constantly been evolving since their inception, with advances in technology allowing for more complex and immersive experiences. As games become more sophisticated and offer more nuanced storytelling and emotional depth, they begin to blur the lines between traditional games and other forms of media, such as movies and literature. This evolution is not necessarily a linear progression but rather a constant exploration and experimentation of what the medium can offer. With advancements in game art, achieving
