Many kinds of media around the world use some form of design elements or principles, from games, all the way to company logos. And for this post, I'm going to have two screenshots from two well designed games, and analyze their designs. First up is an image from an upcoming game called Anthem, releasing in February of next year, and one I'm personally looking forward to. There are multiple kinds of design techniques used in this scene, but lets start with the elephant in the room, or more like the monster in the room. Being the largest thing in the image, people will almost immediately look at it, and considering how some of the players standing next to look tiny, there is definitely examples of scale being used here. The second most noticeable piece is the largest player in the frame, they're not the center of the image, and if you use the Rule of Thirds (putting an imaginary 3x3 grid through the image), then that character is right along one of those lines. And one thing that this image doesn't entirely have is the Rule of Odds, the closest they get to that is the three characters around the monster. This second image is from Horizon Zero Dawn, which is a game that I have both played and completed. Scale is also once again used, but in two places this time. One being with the player and the monster next to her (Thunderhead), and the large monster in the distance (Tallneck). The Thunderhead in the front towers over the player so a sense of size is very clearly established, and is even further expressed by how the Tallneck in the distance is still quite easily seen despite how far away it is. The Rule of Thirds is seen by how the main character is right along one of the lines, and unlike the first image, the Rule of Odds is more distinctly used, with the three characters in the image. While at the same time, in a way contrast is also used, with the wide rocky landscape and the robotic beasts standing out. Regardless of what kind of form that design is used in, it is essential to good piece of artwork, a well taken photo, or any other kind of media.
Anthem Image:c1.staticflickr.com/2/1866/44687546612_acec1bf7e2_b.jpg Horizon Zero Dawn Image: c1.staticflickr.com/6/5679/30595768840_937acaa124_b.jpg Update: Anthem did not turn out well
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Anybody who has decided to join a digital art class has at least once heard of the term game engine, one of the more well known ones being Unity. I may just be starting my journey in this class, already getting into the features of Photoshop and design elements. But I already ponder on what possibilities that game engines might contain, regardless to my lack of knowledge on how they even work. I see Unity everywhere, from many games I play, all the way to people I know beginning to actually work with it. If I'm being honest, I'm quite excited to work with game engines eventually, not any time soon though, so I'll just have to stick with Photoshop for now. At the same time, I'm perfectly fine with that fact, that stuff looks pretty complicated anyway.
One of strangest, and most interesting games I've ever played is Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime. Or should I say, the first co-op game I've ever played without someone getting angry. There's a very creative story as well as some very funny ideas, such as love being a tangible substance also used as a power source, and the bosses being the constellations themselves. But the entire idea of the game is to learn how to work with others so you can pass a multitude of obstacles, from cannons all the to massive robots, which is ironic due to the fact that were there's a setting were you can play two player with a CPU, but playing that mode is a death sentence. Another piece that draws me to this game is the art style, the character designs are quite simple, but the vibrant colors jump out at any player to draw you away from the carnage you have to unleash just to beat a level. But besides the design and layout, the overall gameplay is also quite interesting. The combat system requires tons of teamwork as well as some thinking here and there. So unless you're really determined to beat the game with basic weaponry, you almost need to upgrade your weapons to defeat your enemies. But you might think that the higher the upgrade the better, but not in this case. Every upgrade leads to a very different cannon, shield, or super-weapon, and that doesn't even go all the way into the system, so you have a lot of options to start some mayhem. The total package of the story, features, and gameplay is enough to draw any kind of person in, whether you like to see compassion, or just things burning in a game, it's all here for you.
Colors are a large and very fundamental way to display an image or express an emotion, whether its in games, web design or other forms of media. Its quite hard not to see a form of color somewhere, and even the absence of color is occasionally used to display a certain message. The screenshot to the left is from a video game called Legend of Zelda Breath of The Wild, created by Nintendo. And this scene is what is known as the "blood moon", which revives all enemies that you had recently killed. Not only does the appearance of this phenomenon mean that dangers are on the way, but the colors are also used to express that extra display of evil. The color palette used in this occurrence is called Arseny, the combination of black and a variety of reds leads to a feeling of dread or might even make you scared, which is quite common the first time people see this thing. Since this is such a strange and unknown force to new players, the designers wanted to specifically give them a strong sense of fear. And from experience, I can say that they did a good job. But aside from this, most of the time this game is primarily using lush green colors and certain grays for mountain ranges or deep blues for oceans. This is to complement the vast and beautiful landscapes packed into this game. So if you were to look at this same screenshot without the blood moon, it would be a breathtaking sight. So in Summary
Other References: “Color Palettes Color Schemes.” Color Hex, www.color-hex.com/color-palettes/
www.color-hex.com/color-palettes/ |
AuthorI have a passion for creating things, and hopefully one day those things will be video games. You can check over on this blog if you wish to see any updates on my work or other subjects. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public Schools.
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