Friday 19 October 2012

Concept Development: Games/review analysis

Hello,

Earlier on today i posted up my meeting with Lynn, where I had a few tasks I wanted to do for today so here is what I have done. (its going to be a rather big post today so sit down and grab a brew)

Games Analysis


1970s






pong(1972), Asteroids(1979),space invaders(1978)

Games in the 70s were very basic due to the computers limitations most of them only consisted of very basic sprites (16 pixels give or take ) and only white as a colour. "0" counted as an inactive pixel so shoed up black and "1" indicated that the pixel active showing up in white. This remained the norm until space invaders came out with a brand new colour "green" due to the developers working on a new engine from the ground up. Sprites remained limited to the same pixel size and the computer struggled to keep up but it was an early sign of what was to come.

1980s












Donkey kong (1981) ,Alex Kidd (1986) ,PacMan (1980), MegaMan 2 (1988)

In the 80s with the introduction of 8-bit consoles games could have more colour and more pixels giving sprtes more detail and depth, now and up to the early 1990s is what inspires the nostalgic games of today.


1990s



Doom(1993), Prince of persia (1990), super mario bros.3 (1991)

Early 90s and the introduction of 16 - bit consoles brought more shades/colours and also more pixel adding more detail than before but the real movement was on PC where games could be more detailed pseudo 3D games such as doom appeared paving the way too 3D. pixel based games decreased from then on.


Reviews Analysis

So I have decided to read into reviews of games that use pixel art as the visual style and see what is said of the game purely on its aesthetics.

Fez(2012)

Scored highly in reviews and sold well come release reviews from eurogamer said;

"The games unique artwork its perspective shift mechanic its nostalgia for the 16-bit years and its bewitchingly strange setting all exist in harmony and make a single deliberate statement. Maybe its about perception, reality and subjectivity like the old man said. But i think its about something else: what games were to us in there charged infancy, what they have expanded into in the 30 years since and how to fold these things together into a signle beautiful whole." - Oli Welsh (2012)

Edge said;

"Fez blends 2D and 3D spaces at will, strings a series of otherworldly puzzles acorss dainty hovering islands and and delivers a pastels and pixels visual style that manages to feel voguish as well as sweetly nostalgic" - Edge staff, (2012)

What I think,

Both reviewers make excellent points and to praise the game for its visual style. Both of them mention nostalgia in their reviews but if you look back to the 16-bit consoles of yesteryear you will see alot of significant changes mainly the colour is super clear rather than the bold colours back then the environment also seems more detailed. I would say Fez is the image you get in your head when you think back to a game you loved when you were younger but when you see it again you realise you have tricked yourself. but what i would also say is that I would think even a non gamer would appreciate Fez for its own simplistic merit.


Scott Pilgrim Vs The World: The Game (2009)

IGN - Review

" an awesome design style gives an old school vibe without at all seeming outdated" Hilary Goldstein (2010)

Joystiq - Review

"Scot pilgrim is almost "hyper 8-bit" somehow managing to be insanely detailed and all within a pixelated reviews"

What I think...

Oddly the reviewers pretty much summed up my thoughts on Fez, which is strange because I would have said that scott pilgrim was more of a nostalgic trip as its more 8-bit than fez and it was built and made for the very reason of remembering the games of old. 


minecraft (2010)

Minecrafts a weird one mainly because none of the reviewing sites have mentioned the graphics atall focusing entirely on the gameplay which is odd ( however i do realise there are many review websites out there and i have just scratched the surface so there might be mention of it yet ) but I will update when I hear anymore on it.

What I think...

Minecraft is 3D made up of blocks each block has a pixel art texture however, I feel they are trying to be realistic in the sense that they have realistic colouring/shading which looses the character that the previous games have in droves.


This Gave me an idea of another 3D project I choose games through the decades from pong all the way up to games today making a 3D cube textured the same way blocks were made then.









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