Digital graphics – Task 2

Photorealistic

Photorealism in video games is a graphical process which aims to achieve a realistic look and style in order to gain the look of reality within a video games virtual world.

Games which attempt this style of graphics are generally based on real things, such as Football, or Shooters.

However, that’s not to say that this graphical style is limited to things from the real world, photorealism often finds it’s self into supernatural and even fantasy based games.

Popular games which have adopted this graphical style include the “Uncharted” series, “Tomb Raider” and the “Call of Duty” series.

Photorealism takes information from both camera shots and paints in order to build up a near-realistic image.

Cel Shading

Cel shading is a process of toon-like shading which aims to make computer generated graphics appear to be hand drawn. This process is especially common in cartoon or anime based video games such as Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm and Jet Set Radio.

Due to their cartoon-esque nature, cel shaded graphics can often be considered exaggerated too, in which other worldly levels of strength and power are demonstrated, especially when it comes to anime-based games.

Abstract

The abstract graphical style tends to be made up of various lines and colours as well as geometrical shapes. This style doesn’t resemble anything in particular from reality, although this style is especially present in music based games as a visual representation of sound waves.

Abstract graphics can also show up in other games which for the most part are unrelated to the abstract style, such as the travel segments in Rayman 3.

Exaggeration

Exaggeration in video games is a common feature (as I mentioned earlier) in the cel shaded genre, however it is not limited to it. Other popular games within this genre include “Final Fantasy”, “God of War”, “Rayman Origins”, “Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit” and many more.

Exaggeration is common place in many video games as it allows the developers creative flares to truly shine, it would be difficult to find any video game without some degree of exaggeration.