Week 10

Reflection:

As I reflect my journey of research on the topic of stylized art, I think this journey has expanded my understanding on this topic a lot. I think I realized more of its potential and application in the gaming industry.

My journey began with my curiosity and interest on stylized art: what makes it so captivating? How they made it? How it is developed? These question let me trace the history of video game and how stylized art developed.

Stylized art favour exaggerated features, vibrant colours. This style can evoke emotions and create memorable experience while providing a unique identity to a game.

I consider the knowledge gained from this study to be the cornerstone of my future endeavors. Whether from the perspective of designing games, art directing, or critiquing and analyzing games, this study on stylized game art will be invaluable. I envision applying these concepts to create unique gaming experiences or contribute to discussions about the future direction of gaming art.

As I finished this chapter of my research, I realized that my journey on stylized game art has just began. I think this field is ever-evolving, with new technologies and ideas emerging and developing. There’s a lot for me to explore and learn. I’m looking forward to use what I learned in theory on real life application. I wish one day to use my skill to contribute to the vibrant world of stylized art.

Afterall, this research meant more for me than just an academic study. This research makes me see more possibilities and makes me more passionate about stylized game art. I think there’s a bright future in this field and I want to be part of it.

Full Draft:

Introduction

1. Realistic art in video games can bring players a fast and strong sense of immersion. exp: Horizon 2, “The Last of Us 2″ and Red Dead Redemption 2

2. The cost is expensive

3. Player’s equipment not good. Stylized art demand less.

4. Stylization is a term that has evolved with the development of digital games.

5. Explore the history of video game and study the role of art and aesthetics in video games.

6. Why some artists still prefer stylized aesthetics rather than solely focusing on achieving hyper-realistic representations in modern era?

Literature review

1. Järvinen (2009) stated that with the advancements in audiovisual technology, caricaturists have presented an alternative to photorealism as well.

2.According to Understanding Video Games: the essential introduction, the focus of stylized art is the exaggeration of a person or an object’s most prominent features (Egenfeldt-Nielsen et al. 2013).

3.Patrick Wyatt (2012), former producer and lead programmer at Blizzard, expounds upon the rationale behind the choice of stylized art for World of Warcraft. He states that the vibrant and resplendent visual landscape of the game was deliberately adopted to differentiate it from contemporaneous counterparts that predominantly employed a more realistic and restrained colour scheme, thus enabling World of Warcraft to carve a distinct market for itself.

4.E.H. Gombrich explains that artists during the post-impressionist era purposefully use distortions in physique within their art to emphasise their artistic intentions.

Methodology

literature review of the historical progression and evolution of digital games.
case study on renowned game designer Jenova Chen. Chen’s exceptional ability to achieve both artistic and commercial success offered valuable perspectives for this research.
Examining the benefits of stylized arts from the actual creation of stylized art, this examination aims to reinforce previous points on the benefits of stylized arts.

1.Development of stylized art

1.1 Evolution of digital games

1.70s a marked the infancy of video games, and technological limitations greatly limited the graphical capabilities of gaming systems.

2. the 80s that art started to develop (Bethke, 2003). Artists like Shigeru Miyamoto managed to create the iconic art of Donkey Kong and Mario (Roger, 2014). Game developers needed to effectively present a unique and simplified art style within the limitations of the limited graphics capabilities of the time.

3. All in all, the prevalence of stylized game art in the early days was largely driven by the technological limitations of the time. This period in gaming history is a testament to the ingenuity of developers who managed to create timeless classics with the limited resources available to them.

1.2 Contemporary application of stylized art in Digital Games

1. The current mainstream games are 3D games, which can be traced back to the application of 3D technology in video games in the 1990s.

2. 1990s, the emergence of more powerful game consoles and computers, photorealism was gradually adopted by more and more people.

3. why some companies continue to favor stylized game development when today’s hardware allows games to run more realistically than they did in the 1970s?

4. Realism is not the only determinant of a game’s success or appeal (Mevada, 2023).
5. Historically, in game development, stylization choices have contributed to a variety of strategic considerations, such as brand identity, artistic vision, and even market demand. (World of Warcraft, Minecraft, Ashes, and Overwatch are known for their unique stylized art that has become part of their brand identity.)

6. The preference for stylized games is a testament to the multi-faceted nature of the gaming industry, where artistic expression, innovation and market dynamics all play a vital role in shaping the interactive entertainment landscape.

2. The advantage of stylized art in game design

2.1 How Jenova Chen use stylized art in his game

1.Jenova Chen is an influential figure in video game design, known for her unique gaming aesthetic and use of stylized art.

2.Using beautiful graphics, engaging scenes or stories, and gameplay and missions that encourage interaction, players can achieve unique interdependent and helping relationships, teaching us how to get along with others and ourselves, and ultimately achieving emotional healing (Clark, 2010)

3.Chen’s cross-cultural background leads him to think deeply about games as an art form, ultimately creating games that bring transformative experiences to people.

4.As an important medium for Chen’s artistic expression, stylized art shows great potential in terms of emotional communication and artistic value.

2.2 How Jenova Chen use stylized art to create a positive interaction for players

1.Chen’s gaming style is often characterized by simplicity and harmonious visuals.

2.In “Sky”, cold colors are the main color of the environment, while the player’s is bright orange – the sharp contrast between the two colors is more conducive to highlighting the player’s important position in the game. Flower uses a vibrant, ever-changing color palette to reflect the mood and narrative progression of the game.

3. Jenova Chen’s game aesthetic and stylized artistic approach are characterized by emotional depth, minimalism, and a harmonious blend of visual elements and game mechanics.

3. Stylized art’s creation

The challenge of stylized game art is how to effectively convey the unique characteristics of an asset, environment, or character to the player while utilizing fewer intricate details.

Conclusion:

1.stylized art makes the style of the game more unique

2. stylized art typically requires fewer polygons, which makes it less demanding on hardware

3. stylized art can also enhance the image of a gaming brand in addition to being an aesthetic preference.

4. Stylized art is extensively utilised and widely embraced in the realm of video games.

5. As technology continues to advance, it can be expected that there will more innovative and visually stunning video game art in the future.

Bibliography:

Final Major Projects FMP

Week 15

Final and summarize

basic idea

Dawnbringer is an animation centered on a mysterious entity responsible for unlocking the dawn, symbolizing the transition from night to day. I set the story in a world shrouded in the mystery of eternal night. The story revolves around the arrival of a unique existence-the dawnbringer, who brings the first ray of light and heralds the arrival of dawn. The dawnbringer in this story symbolizes change and external forces in change. The house that transmits light symbolizes inner faith. The story weaves themes of renewal, hope, and the natural cycle of time.

Reflection

I think the basic idea of the story is very captivating. I want to explore the thematic and visual potential within this project. For this animation, I thought a lot about how dawnbringer can visually and narratively represent change. I thought about actions, appearance and the interactions with the world. Then I choose the change of the sky to show dawnbringer’s influence.

For the visual style, I choose stylized. I think stylized animation offers more potential on this project because it is fantasy theme. Through stylization, I can highlight the feature of the object I want to present. For the creation of stylized 3D art, a good understanding of the work flow is necessary. In order to achieve that, I learned a lot through different platforms such as Art station and 80 level. There’s multiple ways to create the ideal stylized effect, it is important to find the suitable way. After thinking about using substance designer to create the texture, I choose the ZBrush to Substance Painter workflow because it is more suitable for me.

Rendering and lighting is crucial for this animation as well. I always make sure the light goes well with the environment. I also used a lot of foliage and fog to achieve the mysterious feeling I want. Also the interplay of light and shadow is important as well, I want to use the transformation of the environment to narrate the arrival of the dawnbringer.

Overall, I used my opportunity to explore this theme through animation. By carefully crafting the narrative and using 3D workflow. I want to create an animation that conveys its theme.

Final animation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy3r9UE4mN4

BGM: “DREAMCATCHER” by Onycs

Showreel

Development log

Developmemt-log Download

Final Major Projects Thesis

Week 9

Introduction

1. Realistic art in video games can bring players a fast and strong sense of immersion. exp: Horizon 2, “The Last of Us 2″ and Red Dead Redemption 2

2. The cost is expensive

3. Player’s equipment not good. Stylized art demand less.

4. Stylization is a term that has evolved with the development of digital games.

5. Explore the history of video game and study the role of art and aesthetics in video games.

6. Why some artists still prefer stylized aesthetics rather than solely focusing on achieving hyper-realistic representations in modern era?

Literature review

1. Järvinen (2009) stated that with the advancements in audiovisual technology, caricaturists have presented an alternative to photorealism as well.

4.E.H. Gombrich explains that artists during the post-impressionist era purposefully use distortions in physique within their art to emphasise their artistic intentions.

Methodology

literature review of the historical progression and evolution of digital games.
case study on renowned game designer Jenova Chen. Chen’s exceptional ability to achieve both artistic and commercial success offered valuable perspectives for this research.
Examining the benefits of stylized arts from the actual creation of stylized art, this examination aims to reinforce previous points on the benefits of stylized arts.

1.Development of stylized art

1.1 Evolution of digital games

1.2 Contemporary application of stylized art in Digital Games

2. The advantage of stylized art in game design

2.1 How Jenova Chen use stylized art in his game

2.2 How Jenova Chen use stylized art to create a positive interaction for players

3. Stylized art’s creation

Conclusion:

1. stylized art makes the style of the game more unique

2. stylized art typically requires fewer polygons, which makes it less demanding on hardware

3. stylized art can also enhance the image of a gaming brand in addition to being an aesthetic preference.

4. Stylized art is extensively utilised and widely embraced in the realm of video games.

5. As technology continues to advance, it can be expected that there will more innovative and visually stunning video game art in the future.

Bibliography:

Final Major Projects FMP

Week 14

Editing

I apply cuts, transition, effects and adjust the duration I need for each clip. Then I edit the color correction and contrast of each sequence. It is always important to adjust the exposure, contrast, saturation and other colour settings to achieve the desired look. After exporting, I always review my video to make sure everything looks and sounds as I expected.

3D storyboard

Final Major Projects FMP

Week 13

What I learned from past weeks of works:

pay attention to the lighting and colour grading. The gradual lightening of sky can be a beautiful way to show the transition from night to dawn. In the post-production, colour grading can be used to enhance the visual impact of transition. Also it is important to consider the camera interacts with the objects in the scene. Here I use slow gentle movement to enhance the feeling of clam. The duration of each shot and pacing of the transition can greatly affect the mood as well. A slow transition might convey a more reflective or peaceful mood, while a quicker transition imply a more dramatic change. To keep consistency in style with each scene is important as well.

Scene 6

This shot is a transition from night to dawn, and the next shot does the same thing. I wanted to use the shot of grass gently swaying in the wind to express the calm dawn after dark night.

Scene 7

Tree gently swaying in the wind as the day goes light.

Scene 8

The dawnbringer looks at the surrounding as the day goes to light, then she disappeared because her mission is done.

Scene 9

The house looking peaceful and harmony under the sun.

Final Major Projects Thesis

Week 8

Research Objective

The purpose of this research is to analyse the application of stylized art design in video games.

Academic research on visual aesthetics is relatively limited, as most studies examining video games tend to focus more on gameplay.

Since MoMA announced in 2012 to set video games as a new category of artwork with a selection of video games, there is no doubt video games can be seen as art mediums.

Like any other art medium with an entertaining purpose, such as film and animation, the art side of video games shouldn’t be overlooked, especially when video games rely heavily on graphic presentation to advertise and communicate to players.

This research aims to study the development of different genres of game aesthetics and their relation to fine art with the support of practical research.

The goal was to explain how stylized art design influences players’ experience and emotions attached to the game.

Draft:

Abstract:

1. Game community uses stylized art to refer to visual design that isn’t focused on achieving a photorealistic appearance.

2. Stylized art usually depicts and presents an object in a way that uses less detail and emphasises its features.

3. Stylized art is more like a concept that continues to evolve and update with graphics hardware development, and gradually forms its image in the game community and industry.

4. stylized art benefits greatly to the artistry and interactivity of games, and also provides unlimited potential in the future.

Keywords:

Stylized Art, Digital Game, Computer Graphic, Game Design, Branding

Content table draft:

Introduction

Literature review

Methodology

1.Development of stylized art

1.1 Evolution of digital games

1.2 Contemporary application of stylized art in Digital Games

2. The advantage of stylized art in game design

2.1 How Jenova Chen use stylized art in his game

2.2 How Jenova Chen use stylized art to create a positive interaction for players

3. Stylized art’s creation

Conclusion

Bibliography

Final Major Projects FMP

Week 12

Scene 4-5 making the path of the light

In this scene, I made a light path generator using spline, emitter and tracer to create the path of the light. I didn’t use particle to create the trace because matrix is lighter to run on the software. With force field like turbulence, I can easily control it and get the effect I want.

The creation of cloud

I place the generator above the chimney because this is where the light goes away. For the cloud’s texture I used technique I learned from Unreal Engine texturing. For the normal map, I used a blurry round shape. For the base map and alpha map, I create the image with the free resource I find online. In this way, the cloud blends better with the sky.

Cloud texture map

Final Major Projects Thesis

Week 7

What is a methodology in a research paper?

The methodology in a research paper, thesis paper or dissertation is the section in which you describe the actions you took to investigate and research a problem and your rationale for the specific processes and techniques you use within your research to identify, collect and analyse information that helps you understand the problem.

The methodology section of your research paper allows readers to evaluate the overall validity and reliability of your study and gives important insight into two key elements of your research: your data collection and analysis processes and your rationale for conducting your research. When writing a methodology for a research paper, it’s important to keep the discussion clear and succinct and write in the past tense.

What to include in a methodology

Restate your thesis or research problem. …
Explain the approach you chose. …
Explain any uncommon methodology you use. …
Describe how you collected the data you used. …
Explain the methods you used to analyze the data you collected. …

My methodology draft:

literature review of the historical progression and evolution of digital games.
case study on renowned game designer Jenova Chen. Chen’s exceptional ability to achieve both artistic and commercial success offered valuable perspectives for this research.
Examining the benefits of stylized arts from the actual creation of stylized art, this examination aims to reinforce previous points on the benefits of stylized arts.

Final Major Projects FMP

Week 11

Scene 2

The second scene is mainly to reflect the arrival of dawnbringer. I set different keyframes in the power and colour of the light tag to reflect the changing sky colour with the arrival of the dawnbringer. The arrival of dawnbringer also indicates that the light in the house will be taken away. The lights in the house taken away here symbolize exchange and transform. Use inner light from the house to welcome the dawn of the outside world and illuminate the world.

Night

Red sky-symbolize the difficulty of change

The red sky is a symbolization of the difficulty in changing and the courage to change.

Keyframe on the light

Scene 3

In the third scene the dawnbringer finally arrived. I carefully adjust the light and the background graphic to fit in the atmosphere and show the influence dawnbringer has on the environment.

For the appearance of dawnbringer, I mostly use low-angle shot. Low-angle shot has two main benefits:

1. In terms of composition, it can effectively highlight the subject in the picture and purify the environment and background.

2. To show a sense of power and control.

Final Major Projects Thesis

Week 6

I talk to Nigel this week. He gave me a lot helpful tips on how should I construct my essay and how should I improve it.

Notes:

Should be able to refer back to the question.

What is the advantage of using a stylized game? Help with the conclusion

Find more proof for the essay.

In conclusion I can say: well the advantage is this. This advantage is this.

Clearly saying to people about answering the question

If there’s any question that can’t be answered, just say it’s fair to assume this, however, further research is required to establish this.

Does the production process make it easier or cheaper? Why is it easier and cheaper? Why is it an advantage? Is it because it’s faster? Less heavy file?

First: make the definition of stylized art in the abstract better. Make sure better what stylized means. Need to find who made the term stylized or a company. How stylized game different from non-stylized games.

What advantage stylized art has in modern games.

What advantage does it have?

Find proof and support for my conclusion.

What is the benefit of stylized art in modern games(contemporary digital game)?(title maybe)

Maybe the title could be:

Conclusion:

Although stylized game may have some disadvantage

Obvious one is not realistic, but it has other more advantages, more artistic and expressive. Can help with the narrative.