#2 Most artistic Game

In the number 2 spot we find a game that is relatively new (past 5 years) and in many ways is a sleeper hit. With a base game style that seems to be all its own Valkyria Chronicles possesses a style that both impresses and intrigues.
Released in early November 2008 by Sega, Valkyria Chronicles had a bit of work ahead of itself. Sega as of late has had poor reception for its games and since most of them have been rehashes of the Sonic Franchise or similar spin offs I was hopeful for this change.
Valkyria Chronicles is a hybrid FPS (first person shooter) strategy war game in a classic anime style but with a beautiful cell shaded twist. This game in all honesty boasts some of the greatest cell shading I have seen in a game which amplifies the lighter moments in the games while still bringing the range of detail not normally seen in this style of rendering. Bright colors illuminate urban battle fields and brings action to life in cartoon glory, and while the game does touch on several darker themes I do not feel that it loses its general tone set by the art style.
After its release Valkyria Chronicles gained quite of bit of attention getting high acclaim from4-TV, IGN, Gametrailers, and Gamespot however despite this acclaim its sales were less then stellar in the US which in many ways could have been predicted as the US market seems less inclined to buy Anime styled games (A prime example is the total drop out of the Sega Dreamcast game market).
Regardless of it's sales Valkyria Chronicles is a very strong title and boasts many awards such as "Best Artistic Graphics" from GameSpot, "Best Original Soundtrack" by GameSpy and Strategy Game of the Year 2008.
At the least Valkyria Chronicles has earned a spot on my shelf and a place in this countdown a great title that I would recommend to anyone looking for a stylistically impressive game with game play that they would not find anywhere else.

A great resource

So a while ago I stumbled upon the website known as the Escapist. It is in essence a web magazine featuring video games and related pop culture. It has the usual game reviews and massive library of trailers and teasers, but there was one thing the truly stuck out to me.

Its within the Escapists webisode library, it is a series called Extra Credits. Extra Credits looks at video games from a different perspective, the perspective of not only a designer but looking at it like someone would look at and analyze a piece of artwork. What they do on Extra Credits is something very similare to what I was to do with this blog. Look at and analyze video games in a mature manner looking at is as an artform rather then a toy. The guys over at Extra Credits are very experianced in the industry and can offer some great insight for those who think video games are more then a toy (which they are most certainly not toys).

#3 Most Artistic Game

In my number three spot we find a game that has a bit of age on it. Originally released for the Dreamcast (which I still believe was a very good console). Jet Grind Radio was released in June 2000 by Sega and developer Smilebit.

Jet Grind Radio brought a fun cell shaded adventure with light hearted punk undertones. A game devoted to the idea of using graffiti to defeat not only rival gangs but an oppressive government. With a colorful (literally) cast of characters perfect music pairings and an almost arcade fell Jet Grind Radio for me was an incredibly enjoyable experience.

We see in Jet Grind Radio a great portrayal of Japanese popular culture(J-pop. The outlandish wardrobes of the character made even more stylized by the bold color choices truly reflects the J-pop feel that the games' artistic style is drawn from. One main ass est of the game is the world design. Due to Jet Grind Radio's sandbox play style the environment needed to be not only incredibly interactive (from a game design perspective) but it needed to be more then a pretty backdrop. Given the games cell shaded style this was going to be a daunting task for developer Smilebit, but that pulled it off seamlessly. Buildings and cars seemed to be made from layers of cardboard drawn into the game with certain exaggerated details and brilliant colors. The layout of actual buildings were kept simple yet effective to make navigating them easy, a great help in game play especially when you graffiti artist was confronted with tank brigades invading the streets.

Overall Jet Grind Radio was a fun, light hearted experience that brought the vision of J-pop culture to a video game in design that was simple, effective, and stylized in a way to enhance the feel and experience of the game.

Working with torque 3D

Just a quick update post. I have recently been doing some work with Torque 3D on a small game design project. However I have been getting some sluggish performance from it when importing 3D models onto the stage. I have to admit I was a bit surprised considering how well my PC runs 3DS Max. Well regardless it may be time to start looking at updating at my graphics card or a new stick a ram.

Online 3D modelling and Animation classes

Taking a quick reprieve from the countdown to share something intresting I found while checking the articles today over on the 3D World Blog. A small company called Digital-Tutors has recently started up and has created quite a stir in the 3D art community. To celebrate their creation Digital-Tutors is offering several free beginner level classes. Check out the article on 3D World

#4 Most Artistic Game

Number four in our countdown of most artistic game should be no surprise (well at least not a surprise making the list). Our number four game is Okami, put out by the Japanese developer Clover Studios Okami is truly a sight to behold.

Clover Studios originally founded by Capcom Japan as their own development studio was originally known for its work on the incredibly successful Viewtiful Joe series, a game whose ingenious design and art style won Clover Studios the attention of consumers around the world. When after finishing the Viewtiful Joe franchise after five installments they wasted little time launching Okami only a year after publishing a PSP port of Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble.

Okami released in 2006 on the Playstation 2 at first suffered from poor sales because of the decision to release it onto the Playstation 2 rather then to delay it for the soon to be released Playstation 3. Despite this unlucky distribution planning Okami still went on to be well awarded winning IGN's 2006 game of the year, as well as developing a sort of "cult" following in the video gamer community.

What makes Okami stand out to me and pushes it onto my list is that Okami features (what seems to be) a very traditional Japanese folk tale, and while that is not the focus of this analysis that story is what influences the art style of the game and what makes it stand out so much in my mind. Okami borrows heavily from traditional Japanese painting and calligraphy so much so that it is a major game mechanic in the game play itself.

Character models are colored and textured to imitate classes calligraphy brush strokes, details in the environment feature obvious markings from brushes to make the game feel more like a moving painting then an actual 3D rendering. The artists also made great use of a limited pallet of color, choosing faded color tones of mostly browns, reds, and greens to tie in each element beautifully.

I also feel I have to go into a bit of detail about one major game mechanic in Okami, this mechanic being the Celestial Brush. Throughout the game when the player encounters a puzzle or obstacle he will (more then likely) have to use the Celestial Brush, what this does is changes the perspective of the game into a 2D ink drawing that the player can then manipulate with an on screen brush. Drawing onto the game to cut down trees, kill an enemy, or cross a gap in the terrain. This Celestial brush brings a whole new interactive element that not only further draws the player into the idea of Okami being an interactive painting but allows the player to be part of that painting in a new and exciting way.

#5 on the Countdown

For number 5 on the countdown we have a relatively new title, which many would think is obvious with the advances in 3d modeling technology and higher processing consoles (but this is not entirely the case). So we are looking at Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkham Asylum was developed by the independent studio known as Rocksteady Studio of North London, England and published by Edios.

As of note this is only Rocksteady Studios' second AAA release (its first being Urban Chaos), and what a breakout title it has been for the studio. After the incredible way it was received by the gaming community and the industry as a whole it is no wonder it rocketed Rocksteady Studios into the 24th most successful studio in the world (according to the annual listing on studio100.com). Arkham Asylum has been praised all over the industry receiving rave reviews from IGN, Game Rankings, Spike TV, and holds a Guinness Book of World Records record for "most successful super hero game of all time". So as you can see before I even delve into an analysis of the game it already has proved itself in many other categories. This does raise the question though of why then does it fall at number 5 of my list, well lets take a look.

Batman: Arkham Asylum's art team is led by David Hego, David has worked with Rocksteady since 2004 originally working as their senior FX Artist and then moving on into his position as Art Director, and from the results of his labor on Arkham Asylum I can certainly see why.

Now enough of that, on to the game itself. Arkham Asylum gives the franchise a much needed dark twist. The entire game seems to coated in a heavy layer of sludge that not only brings the prison interior into the right perspective but binds the whole art style together. Throughout the game we are introduced to all of our favorite villains; Joker, Harley Quinn, Bane, Killer Croc, and many others. And from that first image of the Joker the player can see what they are getting into. The Joker is brought to life dirty, depraved, and frightening. This is the first time we see these characters portrayed in such a mature way from their comic book origins and then later cartoon reimaginations.



Artfully mapped faces mixed with frighteningly smooth motion capture truly brings these characters to life which is exactly what the game needed to get across to give the characters their frighteningly deranged personalities. Throughout my play through of the game I caught myself being put off at times by the antic of the Joker and the sheer monstrousness of Killer Croc and Bane ( not to mention what we all thought seeing the new style of Harley Quinn).

These reasons are why Batman: Arkham Asylum has made it onto my list, it is a beautifully crafted game that breathes a new life into the super hero game genre (which was almost killed by Superman 64). However Arkham Asylum is only at number 5 so it is not all good. While the art direction brings it into the dark and gritty that Batman so craves it feels held back. Whether it was the lack of total freedom with IP or from the publisher the art seems to be constantly reeled back in from reaching a new plateau. After seeing what the studio was capable I would have loved to see a new villain or two, something that could truly show their abilities. While yes they did an amazing job bringing new life to an amazing cast, it is a bit disappointing to only see familiar faces . I understand that it may not have been Rocksteady's choice but rather an IP restriction but in my opinion is is a major loss to the potential of the game.

So Batman: Arkham Asylum beautifully brings life back to a franchise that was begging for an overhaul, but in the end is simply just bringing back old faces with a new polish. I look forward to the rumored sequel, as I would love to see more work from David Hego and his team and hope that they can build upon their previous success and make their next Batman game something that can push the industry forward.

This Weeks Posts

This week I have decided to tailor all of my posts to a certain theme, this theme will be a countdown of the top 5 artistic video games. For this countdown I will be looking solely at the art style, presentation, motion capture, and creativity of the models. This list will not be just of the past couple of years but will be going back a bit on a few of the title so this may not be easy to guess.

It's funny as I begin to think back compiling the list of games that make it in my top 5, that not only were these games the most visually exciting I have seen but were some of the most enjoyable game experiences I have ever had (hmm I wonder if there is a correlation of some kind there... that may be an article for another time). Regardless, prepare yourselves for the...

Wine and Video Game Top 5 Most Artistic Games

Progressing Art in Video Games

For this post we will be taking a look at the progressing style of art in video games over the years. Now this is rather broad as every genre and development studio has its own styles (for example cell shading) so to narrow it down a bit I will be picking a specific franchise, one that I hold quite dear. The Street Fighter franchise.

From its very humble beginning in 1987 Street Fighter was a very modest 2D fighter, using (while boldly colored) simplified layered 2D backdrops to try an create a bit of depth while keeping it simple enough to not over complicate the game engine. There is little that can be said of its first installment many of the characters at this point lacked any real artistic potency, many felt like carbon copies with slight tweaks. Simply looking at the main character (Ryu) it became obvious that art was not the games main focus point.

Fast forward to 1991 and the development team behind Street Fighter take a major leap in not only the character design but in the design of special moves that brought a bit of flair to what was a bland punch and kick game. We see in Street Fighter II the return of the main character and his rival, but we also see the introduction of many new key characters all with their own very distinct style. From the dramatic villian M. Biso with his military style dress and armor to Dhalsims Indian witch doctor theme we now have many varying characters whose styles began to give the game a real distinction of its own.

Now comes Street Fighter 3 in 1997 which is a true sight to behold. With the advances in processing power for video game consoles and the forward development in video game studios we get a game that is not only a pleasure to play but for that time visually stunning. We see advances made in the character design focusing on facial structure of the characters turning Ryu from an indistinguishable Asian man into a face easily recognizable among the thousands of other fighting game characters. In Street Fighter 3 we see in addition of even more new charcters each as indivuidual and and artfully designed as their predessesors. We also see the actuall game play interaction between characters advance, fighting moves and attacks flow much smoother then we had seen before and the special moves become flashy displays that grab our attention. And we wonder how can it get any better?

With that the answer comes, in 2008 we get Street Fighter 4 and boy does it change everything. Street Fighter 4 is the first time we see the franchise displayed in 3d (well not counting EX). Character models are brought to life in 3D models that have a distinct comic book feel to them, keeping heavy black outlines and non realistic color palletes we get to keep our favorite Street Fighter style while gaining the HD graphics we so crave on the new generation gaming consoles. We also see the addition of beautifully rendered scenery with background characters cheering and having their own events giving a real life feel to every fight. Vibrant colors and well rendered character motions bring this fighting game into another realm for others of the genre, and as a fan of the franchise I can't wait to see where it goes from here.

Featured Artist Christopher Desse

Some featured artwork from renowned 3D artist Christopher Desse, he has work with several well know game developers in character design, modeling and, texture design. Most notable is his work with Naughty Dog on the title "Uncharted 2: Drakes Fortune".

Images courtesy of http://www.xtrm3d.com

A first glance at DAZ 3D

While browsing through this months issue of 3D artist (a publication I frequently pick up) I cam upon a piece of software that was included on with the issue (which is something they frequently do) this bit of software called animate1.5 was an add-on for the design software known as DAZ 3D, something I was unfamiliar with.

So now having access to his bit of software I went online to see what I could find out about this DAZ 3D and to my pleasure found that it was available for download absolutely free. I quickly and eagerly began my download and while I waited began to browse the companies site. This first thing I noticed was that DAZ 3D offered a large gallery of free downloadable models right from the site that are editable and for the most part ready to use in any animation project. DAZ also offers a great community and support section, featuring forums, galleries, tutorials and general FAQs.

As a designer accustomed with the professionals standards of 3Ds Max, Maya, and ZBrush I was very impressed with the power this relatively low key software has. I am hoping to get a bit more of a chance to explore what Daz 3D has to offer and give a more in depth review of the software in the next weeks but at first glance Daz 3D seems like a great solution for aspiring 3D artists giving them an affordable (free!) and powerful engine to start working with.

Dead Island, bringing a bit of hope to the industry

So it has been about two weeks since the momentous trailer was released for Dead Island. I can already feel you beginning to frown just from its title but fear not! This is not the zombie hack and slash we would normally expect from such an ostentatious title.

Starting from this announcement trailer alone it sets a mood that this game is something more, something much much more. Personally I have never been so moved by a video game trailer nor have I seen such time and planning gone into it (well outside the Cinema level budget Blizzard games usually spends on its trailers, but that's another story). From beginning to end this trailer is beautifully crafted, running in reverse the trailer is very misleading and creates a greater tension of not knowing. This sense of mystery coupled with the obvious terror of an imminent zombie threat makes a marvelous atmosphere for the trailer as a whole.

Outside of the composition of the trailer itself (which I am not truly qualified to analyze) lies the actual design and 3d art. Character models are beautifully crafted with special attention to detail that creates a very personal feeling for each involved (yes even including the zombies). From the father's "fohawk" to a zombie patrons ugly Hawaiian Shirt all the characters feel very believable and leads us (or myself at least) to feel very connected to the situation.

One of my favorite pieces is the young girl falling out of the window in reverse. It is a bit hard to tell but from how natural the girl's movements are I am lead to believe that this bit is a truly remarkable bit of motion capture, in fact throughout the trailer the motion capture and animation works seamlessly (and is shown off even better in a forward running version) the actions of the father wielding the axe and trying to remove his zombie daughter from his neck are all very natural.

This trailer is an incredible piece, and only heightens my anticipation for it's release. I am truly hoping for great things as this more role playing central zombie thriller is a very welcome "mold breaker" for the industry.

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