BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Unit 78: Digital Graphics for Computer Games
Assessor
name: Josh Rai
Student
Name: Leah Doohan
In
the assignment I will be describing about two games, one 3D and the other 2D. I
will be talking about the graphics of the game and the contrast. The types I
will be showing are Artistic style, Computer game
graphics, Pixel, Types of Digital Graphics, File Extensions, Compression, Image
Capture, Optimising, and Storage of Image Assets.
The games that I have chosen:
3D: Beyond two souls - 2013
2D: Yoshi’s Island DS – 2006
Art
style: Beyond two souls 3D
The art style for this game
is photorealism. This game is as beautiful as the way it has been displayed.
What I mean by photorealism is that it looks like it is a photo from real life
but it is not, it really plays with your mind but it is very clever. In the
game, the main character (Jodie) has so much detail from the face all the way
down. You can even see the different skin tones on the face to the mouth etc.
Through the game you see a lot of scenery as there’s parts that would you go
through, bars, trains and even power stations and they all look so realistic.
Jodie’s hair is also a good
way so show photo realism, what makes this so believable is that the hair flows
with the body and also how the way the hair settles is just amazing, you can
even see the shine on the hair when you pass street lights are some sort of
light. This also goes with the skin reflecting light as to the clothes too.
There is a part in the game were you are training is the army, you are doing a
routine exercise and through it the weather looks so real and the way the mud
splashes look is just genius. This really makes the player see the moods of the
game and also effects the player’s emotions while playing it.
Here in a link to show you the mud and the way
the weather looks in the game when Jodie is doing the excise/ go to 6 minutes
and 26 seconds:
Art
style: Yoshi’s island 2D
The art style for Yoshi’s
Island is pixel Art, Pixel Art is an old retro type of style but is one of my
favourites. It is a mixture of colours
(elements) on a Grid. This art is bold and very colourful by the way the
characters and the game scenery have been designed. The characters in the game
are 2D flat based but sometimes they look 3D by the way the colours have been
shown on them same with the backgrounds of the game.
This can be similar to the
light tones that I explained earlier how in the curtain parts of the game, the
shadow parts of the characters in Yoshi goes down the pipes have different
shading to the way his shading tones are on the surface. The toning is usually more in the background
then more on Yoshi.
Here is a link to show you the shadowed parts
of the game by the art style/ go to 2 minutes 37 seconds:
Computer
game graphics: beyond two souls 3D
Concept art is one common
type of design in production. This type of design can be used in video game but
can be used in other ways such as animation, films and architect design; also
it is used in a lot of illustrations. The type of art is before the final
project. For example it is how the characters and the scenery is going to be designed.
For beyond two souls they did something different with the way they were going
to make their characters. They used motion Capture (MC) this is very good way
to make your characters look exactly like you want them to look. For this the
creators used Ellen Page and the main character Jodie and for her canceller in
the game they used Willem Dafoe.
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Motion
capture was also used for all of the stunts in the game and scenery. To
summarise what motion capture is, it is a software program that allows you to
pick up the pointed on the actors in 3D and is able to put there body structure
on to the computer for then the designers to add the final details to the characters
and scenery. For example, colour and skin tones, lighting and textures to the
game as well. This is also how they created Aiden’s ghostly figure and effects
too as the glow follows Jodie in the game and the way they had to make that
look 3D is by doing the same effect with the characters with the special
effects too. (Aiden is Jodie’s dead brother, another character) You can see in
the photos at the top and below, this is what motion capture looks like.
Here is a video showing how they did motion
capture:
Here is a video to show the concept art and the
designs leading up to it:
Here is an Illustration of Aiden in the image bellow: |
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Computer
game graphics: Yoshi’s Island 2D
The concept art from Yoshi’s
island is a lot different to how beyond two sols displayed their game. As this
is a 2D game they didn’t use motion capture they used 64- bit machine. This is
retro type of game and in this time this game was based for children to play
and that is why this game is simple and colourful to capture the eye. Artoon
were the designers that created the concept art for the game, they wanted to
make the game look as if it was drawn by crayon in curtain parts of the game.
They made a texture for it that looked like crayon.
Also
for the concept art, the menu screen is very creative by the way they have
displayed it, they make it look 3D by the Island that has been shown in he
middle rotated 360, so you see the whole island at the beginning. The only
thing on the menu screen that is 2d is the logo. Even the art for the sky is
animated and made to look 3D with the clouds in the background and the
different shades of blue in the sky.
The colour scheme for this
was very basic but in a way would make you want to play it. The character Yoshi
in the game came with a choice of different colours for you to choose which one
you wanted to play as which made the game that a bit more funnier. The game its
self is creative by how the different levels are designed and are very similar
to super Mario bros. This game was meant to be a sequel to the Mario bros but
the creator Shigeru Miyamoto
wanted Yoshi to have his own spin off in a sense, have if own story to how he
got to the Mario brothers.
Here is a link to show you the main menu you
360 terms/ go to 26 seconds:
Pixel /
Resolution: beyond two souls 3D / Yoshi’s island 2D
A pixel is an element that is
visual on a display screen wither you are playing a videogame on the console or
pc. An image consists a lot of pixels just to make one full image. Higher
resolution images is it harder to see the pixels unless you zoom in as the
about of detail is in that image and depending on how big the picture is. In
Beyond two souls the resolution is very high as the concept art that goes with
it is very detailed. This also goes with the size of the pixels would roughly
be 1920 x 1800 as this is also to do with the hardware running the game as
well.
With Yoshi’s island you can’t
customise as it is retro and doesn’t have that advanced settings, also it’s a
DS game so it’s not running on such a good hardware compared to beyond two
souls. The size of the pixel resolution would be 360 x 480 as it’s a small
screen display. Most games now have advanced settings that allow you to
customise the way the display is if they don’t have a limit to 1800p. In beyond
two souls you can see the high resolution and detail to the game.
As you can see the lights and
the colours in this image is strong and powerful and the resolution is high
with the pixels too in this. The main menu is also amazing on how it is done as
each chapter you finish the menu screen updates Jodie to an older version of
her self as you play through her story.
Here is a link to show the detail of the main
menu screen display of beyond two souls:
This video will show you the
intro to Yoshi’s island so you can see the difference in detail.
Here is a link to show some game play of
Yoshi’s island / go to one minute 18 seconds:
Types of
digital graphics: Beyond two souls 3D / Yoshi’s Island 2D
Digital graphics is the
different scenes and backgrounds of the game; this also is if you playing as
curtain game that needs extra navigation there are usually a little map on the
display screen. This can be heaths bars too and other things that need
displaying on the screen the backgrounds are the key to really showing the
games setting and giving you the mood of what the game is all about. 3D games
it is a lot more visual then a 2D game because the character is able to go in
any direction of the game un like 2D which you can only go a curtain way on the
screen. This doesn’t mean that 2D can’t be detailed. In 2D the screen is mostly
the background and it follows the character as it goes through to the next
level.
For beyond two souls there
are so many parts of it that are just brilliant, for the start menu as I
explained earlier, it shows Jodie in the stages of her growing up through the
game. And the in game display has a few features come up depending on what part
of the game you are playing or when the player is in control.
There is also box art which
is what the game comes in and what is in the box. So the front of the box will
have Illustrations of the game which catches the eye and then the content
inside will be How to play the game, as booklet to show you all the controls
and also items in the game and what they mean this can also be for Yoshi’s
Island as well. There are also posters for the game to make sure sales go well
and for people to go and by it, this is printed media. This can be shown in
adverts, trailers and posters that can be shown on the sides of the bus. Here
are examples of printed media, (The playing disc is also be decorated).
Here is a link to show you these parts of the
features I have shown / go to 1 hour, 45 minutes and 51 seconds:
For Yoshi's Island there is a
few features to the game, most of them involve you interacting with the timing
of when to shoot and what you’re aiming for. The way it is done is simple but fun. You are
usually shooting eggs at enemies that are being made by Yoshi himself. The
number on the screen symbolises how many flowers you have picked up and that
also tells you that you have been given an extra life.
File
Extension / Compression: Beyond two souls 3D / Yoshi's Island 2D
A file extension is where it is the end of a
file name that helps in defining the type of file it is on what system you are
using. So for example if you were saving a file on illustrator you would save
it as image.jpg. The most common of
formats are JPEG, GIF and also Mp3 and 4 for converting music. So for games developers they wanted lossless,
this means that the image is reduced without losing any of the quality for that
image. When making game it is important to make sure everything is labelled so
that it stops wasting time on trying to find a file and to decrease the amount
of bugs to fix. The file being labelled makes it lossy. As beyond two souls is a big game there would be so many assets to find and doing so they need to be all labelled to stop further bugs in the game and to all of the further updates into the game too that would need to be linked with the game. For Yoshi's Island it can be just as difficult but not as bad because there are fewer assets to the game and less bugs to fix.
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Image capture: Beyond two souls 3D / Yoshi's
Island 2D
Image capture is where you
can take a photo in real life and also from the internet. It is easier now to
capture an image as technology has progressed through the years. The most
popular way is by taking photos by your phone or tablet or any device that has
a camera to it can capture an image. You can Also do it by getting a usual
standard camera but that has now advanced to DSLR which is allot of higher
quality. You can also take screen shots of the internet and also on console
while in the game play.
For Beyond two souls tried to
do a similar layout to San Francisco for the scenery but adding in there on
details to you can't really tell, through the game there are lots of different
areas that look similar to real life places but changed in the way that you
can't tell. An easier way to show an example of image capture for this s how
they did the actors from real life with motion capture which I explained
earlier.
For Yoshi's island on the
other hand didn't really use this that much as it was all designed and
illustrated on to the computer. Also this game is more cartoon based them real
life but that is what makes it interesting. Which this image capture would be
internet form.
Optimising:
Beyond Two souls 3D / Yoshi's Island 2D
Optimising is making the best
of use of a resource or a situation. For a game this would be making sure the
game is running to its full capability and the resolution is at its highest.
This also can be making sure game has no bugs or glitches while playing. Also this can be as making sure it is on the
best software and hardware to run. For beyond two souls this will have to be a
big hardware and operating system for it to run smoothly. For Yoshi's Island it
is Easier to run smoothly as it doesn't need s big operating system to run it
and for it to run smoothly is to making sure everything is to its highest
ability, this includes resolution but doesn't need much as it is on DS.
Storage
of assets: Beyond two souls 3D / Yoshi's Island 2D
Storage is very important in making games as
the developers do not want to be able to refer back to a curtain part in the
game and having to go through all of the assets just to find that one part so
they can adjust it to the way they would like it to be. This goes back to file
extensions as labelling all the assets in storage to go Easily back to the item
you were looking for. Beyond two souls
has allot of assets from when the scenery with each tree to the parts in the
game were the characters are dressed in different clothes and what items that
they are going to use. For Yoshi's island this would be a lot easier to find as
there are less assets to find.
First
version of the game, 1995.
UNTILL
RELEASE ON DS, 2006.
RELEASED
2013, 8 October
