Graphic Design Principles A Brief Overview of Art in Games

Player 1

PRESS START

Player 2

PRESS START

“Every age has its storytelling form, and video gaming is a huge part of our culture. You can ignore or embrace video games and imbue them with the best artistic quality. People are enthralled with video games in the same way as other people love the cinema or theatre.”

-Andy Serkis

Contents “Every age has its storytelling form, and video gaming is a huge part of our culture. You can ignore or embrace video games and imbue them with the best artistic quality. People are enthralled with video games in the same way as other people love the cinema or theatre.” -Andy Serkis

“Every age has its storytelling form, and video gaming is a huge part of our culture. You can ignore or embrace video games and imbue them with the best artistic quality. People are enthralled with video games in the same way as other people love the cinema or theatre.”

-Andy Serkis

Contents Scale - 3

Contrast - 5

Movement - 7

Color - 9

Figure/Ground - 11

Scale

3

Video games excel at conveying a lot of information visually, and it’s vital the box art mimics this trait. Through the use of scale, abstract concepts both grim and whimsical in nature can be effectively conveyed to the player by demonstrating the protagonist’s relationship to the obstacles they face in the worlds presented by developers.

Scale is the easiest way to intuitively communicate a kind of danger that’s both imminent and overwhelming; it begs the question, “How do I overcome that?” and stokes excitement at what the adventure promises. It can also be used to create a sense of playfulness; to convey that the rules of reality don’t apply, and that what lies within is a kind of gleeful insanity that will toy with your perception as it entertains you.

Scale allows for the illusion of dimensionality within a piece, and it can also be used to create a playful contrast between objects or to play with one’s perceptions of things around them.

In Catherine, scale is used to convey a sense of overwhelm mixed with a subtle foreboding at the protagonist’s sexual and relational struggles. Shadow of the Colossus conveys a different brand of overwhelm; there’s a sense of danger as the protagonist stands in the presence of an awe-inspiring beast. On Katamari Forever’s cover, any sense of overwhelm and foreboding is replaced by the game’s signature insanity which is expressed by a large ball of matter towering over a city in the distance.

Scale

4

Contrast

Contrast

5

Contrasting colors and gradients, when used correctly, catch the eye and create a mood or atmosphere true to the work. Even the simplest combination - that being black and white - can be used in a variety of ways to convey a gritty, violent world or a sense of isolation. Everything from an adult’s desire for violent escapism to childhood anxieties made manifest can be conveyed simply by alternating between the harsh shapes and soft shadows and tones that can be made by mixing black and white.

Contrast can be used to convey the tone of a work when combined with the right imagery.Mad World uses a hard-edged black and white style combined with a splash of red to convey that it offers violent escapism whereas Limbo uses softer tones to create a sense of isolation and to tap into childhood fears.

Contrast

Contrast

6

Contrasting colors and gradients, when used correctly, catch the eye and create a mood or atmosphere true to the work. Even the simplest combination - that being black and white - can be used in a variety of ways to convey a gritty, violent world or a sense of isolation. Everything from an adult’s desire for violent escapism to childhood anxieties made manifest can be conveyed simply by alternating between the harsh shapes and soft shadows and tones that can be made by mixing black and white.

MovementMovementMovementMovement

7

Creating a sense of movement within a still picture can be as simple as adding lines to a form. When combined with a sense of dimensionality, it makes it easy to project into the picture and imagine what it would be like to pilot a ship or see a surreal space within our particular dreamscape.In video games, motion is used to convey action; it tells the player that this game is promising to test his or her reflexes in such a way they won’t have a moment to relax. If it’s done especially well, it both catches the eye and fosters excitement for the experience that will soon be had.

A sense of movement can be fostered with somethig so simple as lines connected to an object, and in game art movement is meant to coney a sense of action and excitement; it promises an experience where a player’s reflexes are tested. Gradius brings to mind space operas akin to Star Wars through its cover art; the blurring around the ships successfully conjures the illusion of not only movement but incredible speed. Nintendo attached lines to Mario’s figure to create a sense of movement that was fitting for the product they ovvered, and Arkanoid creates an illusion of movement akin to Gradius except in a much more surreal setting.

MovementMovementMovementMovement

8

Creating a sense of movement within a still picture can be as simple as adding lines to a form. When combined with a sense of dimensionality, it makes it easy to project into the picture and imagine what it would be like to pilot a ship or see a surreal space within our particular dreamscape.In video games, motion is used to convey action; it tells the player that this game is promising to test his or her reflexes in such a way they won’t have a moment to relax. If it’s done especially well, it both catches the eye and fosters excitement for the experience that will soon be had.

Color

9

Color is perhaps the most deceptively difficult principle to master.

Color, similar to contrast, can be used to instantaneously convey the tone of a video game, but it’s harder to utilize correctly than a simple contrast between black and white. Viewtiful Joe uses garish colors to help convey it is a game that it’s committed to irreverent fun, whereas Persona 4 uses bright poppy colors to foster an upbeat but substantially more restrained vibe. Deus Ex utilizes little color, but by combining blacks with yellows, the technocratic aspects core to the game’s plot become clear. The metallic sheen on the main title helps drive this home, and the light behind the main character which reflects on the shattered glass masterfully imbibes a sense of the underlying conflict between hope and dystopia.

Color

10

11

Figure/ground could be summarized as creating the illusion of form through its absence. Resistance 3 calls to mind images of mankind’s greatest monuments and achievements juxtaposed against the image of an alien skull created through the absence of the red-orange color that fills the rest of the space, and by doing so it conveys the incredibly bleak tone of the game within the first moment that it catches the player’s eye.

12

White Space

When a composition is defined by the white space contained within it, it tends to conjure a feeling of peace and possibly awe. The Final Fantasy series is one of the best examples of this in gaming; by leaving an immense amount of white space around generally minimalistic compositions it helps foster a sense of wonder akin to the ancient myths the series creators draw inspiration from, and arguably invites the player’s imagination to fill in the blanks. The Last Story follows in Final Fantasy’s footsteps and provides little in the way of information on the plot or characters, and by doing so it draws the curious in; it makes them wonder exactly what it has in store.

13

White Space

14

Credits All images were grabbed from gamefaqs.com

Page 4 Catherine - Atlus Shadow of the Colossus - SCE Katamari Forever - Namco/Bandai Page 6 Madworld - Sega Limbo - Playdead Page 8 Gradius - Konami Super Mario Bros - Nintendo America Arkanoid - Taito Corporation Page 10 Viewtiful Joe - Capcom/Clover Studio Persona 4 - Atlus Deus Ex - Eidos/Square Enix Page 12 Resistance 3 - Insomniac Page 14 Final Fantasy X - Square Enix Final Fantasy VI - Square Enix The Last Story - Mistwalker/Xseed