Leading the Way

Appealing visuals is always a bonus for a game. It has played an important role in making a game feel immersive and believable. Any time someone asks for the best looking game on the interwebs names of games with gob-smacking realistic visuals will always pop-up, one game in particular: Crysis. Now while the use of realistic graphics in a game can be lovely, it doesn't add to much if a whole bunch of others games also are boasting the use of realistic graphics. In situations like it is always nice to have a game that is visually unique and fresh, making it stand out amongst the rest.

To make this happen developers hire art directors. Being one is a big responsibility, after all they're responsible for creating the artistic vision of a game and maintaining that vision consistently throughout the production process. The choices they choose in some situations can make or break the game, such as deciding whether to render the game in a particular way or the choice of character designs.

The art direction of most game nowadays has been stuck in the mud for a while now. The game market is saturated with games that barely differ from one another. I think a reason for games for not adopting unique art-style is because developers are too afraid of the risks. Playing it safe by copying another game style which people are reasonably comfortable with is the strategy that most developers take. Honestly... if developers aimed to be more unique and obtain 'cult' success the results can be more rewarding.

I suppose this problem is just habit that the mainstream has developed in their quest to make as much money for as little creative work as possible. While big corporations like Activision and EA continue churning rubbish and raking in all the profits (the majority of the time) it is surprisingly the smaller indie developers who are trying out new things. So now I suggest to go pick up some indie developed games, they really need our support and maybe this will encourage the big boys to get arses out of their seats and develop some new and unique stuff.