Literature Review Draft
There has been debate about whether video games can be viewed as art. Aaron Smuts (2005) states in his paper that though not all video games should not be considered art, several games have exceeded the majority of popular cinema. Though under the definition of fine art, video games may seem artistically insignificant. There’s no doubt that the art of video games has been given great importance. Grant Tavinor (2009) demonstrated that video games, though different from traditional artworks, are similar to many other forms of art. Like artworks, “they do have perceptual and formal structures that are the objects of an aesthetic and interpretive engagement in much the same way as other artworks. Games are created by talented individuals and groups who can garner a reputation for their creative exploits, and who we are in many cases tempted to call artists”(Tavinor, 2009, p.174). Tavinor’s point is significant because top-tier companies in the industry, like Nintendo and Square, often hire artists trained in this field to work. It is because of the work of artists that game aesthetics like Mario became a world phenomenon. This is significant because there are few in-depth studies about visual art from video games, and the phenomenon should inform that attention in this field is necessary. Tavinor’s statement also leads to the point that game art can be created and analysed through the perspective of traditional art.
So what are the visual genres of video games? A study in 2012 found Owen Demers, an award-winning art director with years of experience in the industry. He defined six visual genres of digital painting: realistic, hyper-real, stylized, simplified, graphic, and fantastic (Wu,2012). Though for most artists who generally divide video game visuals under the category of realistic and stylized, Demers’ genres of digital paintings seem too complicated.
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With the development of technology and sufficient budget, companies nowadays can produce realistic environments that capture the shape of reality. However, many major companies still use stylized art over realism. It seems strange because realism appears to work better in the way of bringing an immersive experience, which is essential. In Gombrich’s book on art history, he shows that during the post-impressionist era, artworks featured using visual distortion when representing objects and subjects. Such as Picasso, whose artwork is famous for its intentionally distorted physique. Though realism is ignored, the artistic process of reality brings out more of the artist’s intent (Gombrich, 1995). Gombrich’s view shows that perhaps intentionally done stylized art can help a game convey emotions to players more efficiently than realism. Also, video games usually have fantasy or sci-fi backgrounds. By using stylized visuals, it is easier to achieve the visual which realism cannot. Bordwell and Thompson commented on the German expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari that the film uses stylization to present a madam’s fantasy, so the lack of realism in this film cannot be condemned (Bordwell & Thompson, 2001). Saito and Takahashi’s Comprehensible Rendering paper shows examples of how just changing contouring lines and material can present various effects for different fields (Saito & Takahashi, 1990). A study from 2015 also believed that shape and material are two of the most influential factors in defining how stylized characters look (Zell et al., 2015). Inspired by that, this research will thereby experiment based on comparing the material and shape and its effect on stylization design.