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Solarski: Games' Multimedia Nature Makes It 'Easy To Be Lazy As Artists'
by Staff [Console/PC, Art]
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September 8, 2010
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For video game industry artist Chris Solarski, less is more. In a new Gamasutra feature, the former Sony Computer Entertainment artist and current creative director at Swiss startup Gbanga uses a fascinating overview of art history and education to back up his argument.
Solarski contends that an erosion of education in traditional art principles has led to video game artists that generally have "not very strong" knowledge in the arts.
"The reason for this absence [of knowledge] is partly the fault of the education system," said Solarski, "...and partly due to the fact that it's easy to be lazy as artists when visual communication is complemented by a complete multimedia experience of animated, audio, and visual prompts."
He added that "more detail, more sound and more special effects don't necessarily lead to better communication."
Solarski said that he spoke with British graduate art students, one who said that they are taught less about traditional art principles, and encouraged more to do "your own thing." This leads to art students -- and teachers -- who lean "more towards conceptual forms of art, such as abstraction and expression, as opposed to traditional practice."
Using Bungie's Halo 3 as an example, he said there is so much going on on-screen, from 360-degree movement to a dynamic user interface, that there's no way players can take in all the detail revealed even in one snapshot. In essence, the screen in such a game is visually reduced by the player as a collage of outlines of different objects.
"As a result, it's even more essential that video game developers communicate in simpler and more direct visual terms," Solarski said. "Simple iconographic concepts do just that by helping players to understand their gaming environment that much quicker and differentiate, say, enemy characters from allies."
For more from Solarski, read Gamasutra's fascinating feature on how traditional art principles have influenced modern media, including video games.
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sounds like he's trying to pitch to investors why they should continue funding him, obviously because his game will be superior to Halo 3.
You stop at a Large red Octagon called a stop sign that is easy to recognize at a distance.
(in fact all traffic signs have a colour system to easily recognize the type of message it is delivering http://www.trafficsign.us/signcolor.html)
Mall washroom signs (at least near where I am) are almost always White on Blue.
Don`t you hate the internet side bar ads that have lots of moving parts to them? They certainly do manage to drag your eye away from what you were reading on the page at least once.
If you can get your message across faster and subconciously you can allow the player to spend less time deciphering and therefore increasing either reaction time or recognition time. This is important to anything visual, be it making infographics, or banner ads(or really any advertising or brand promotion), or traffic signs, or game development.
Thanks for taking an interest in the article but I would recommend that you read the full text first before coming to any conclusions (the above is just an overview). Your points are discussed more thoroughly in the full text.
The articles pretext is simply to pass on experiences from my fine art education and to inspire readers to continued learning and questioning of established ideas.
You're also welcome to check out the game that I'm working on, as you'll find that it's not a console game, nor is it 3D, so it doesn't directly compete with the majority of games such as Halo.
Many thanks
Chris
Though i think a lot of gamers play games for 'entertainment' not for 'art'. So whatever is most entertaining wins. Not whatever is most solidly grounded in artistic principles.
The article doesn't suggest that art is more important than entertainment (if that were at all possible). It discusses visual communication and the benefits of a traditional art education. The ultimate benefit of a strong traditional training is that artists can contribute towards creating more entertaining and emotionally rich gaming experiences.
Please read the full article by clicking the above link.
Cheers
Chris
If he mentioned the amount of outsourced 3d static meshed incorporated into a game like Uncharted 2, I might follow, as it's too easy to give that game huge props on it's visuals, when there were probably 200 people doing work for it. Budgets and game design ambitions to that end are a bad way to grow the industry, imo.
However, I think you would NEED to have "too" much detail in a FPS as you are not supposed to sit and stare at the scenery (most of the time) and having a higher level of detail that what we 'notice' is not the issue; it's what we perceive, and I certainly perceive a richer experience with lush environments in a FPS.
Having a game where the nearly the ENTIRE appeal of the game is directly tied to "look how good this looks!" essentially forgoes creativity or innovation and just goes for eye candy.
Overall, FPS games like Halo are so by-the-numbers and predictable, that they BETTER put out some damn nice visuals. In fact, I am severely underwhelmed by the visuals of Halo:Reach, so if anything, I'd like better detail to environments in been-there-done-that games like Halo.
Thanks for your feedback. I would like to clarify that I'm not proposing simpler graphics when discussing primary shapes. The Lord of the Rings film trilogy is presented in a "resolution" mirroring reality, but the designers managed to communicate characters and environments with more emotional significance than in the majority of videogames.
The origin of simplifying reality has a real-world basis: the world we see around us us is just too complex for us to comprehend everything in detail. As we grow up we develop a mental shorthand for objects, without which navigating our environment would be too overwhelming. For example, once you learn that a pavement is solid you need never asses whether it's ok to walk on unless other factors are involved. The same applies to sharp and soft objects, which we regularly come into contact with.
Developing a stronger understanding of this principle of abstraction can be done through drawing. An experienced artist can speak more directly on this abstraction on a subconscious level even when the context is reality or "lush environments."
In addition to abstraction and traditional art principles, there is also a lot to learn in colour theory, composition and volumes.
Thanks
Chris