Miss Jen Game

This is my latest bit of writing work.  I will be developing this in much more depth over the next 8 months or so to form my dissertation.

You can either read it below or click here to download a PDF version.

“How do stylistic games offer a greater depth aesthetically while providing a deeper play experience than games which boast photorealistic visuals?”

Introduction

Brilliant graphics are not essential for a successful game, but they do have a certain amount of importance when creating an overall game experience for the player. The game industry started with games that had no choice but to be highly stylised due to the technology available at the time. However, today’s technology has advanced to a point where photorealistic and hyper realistic visuals are possible, giving the game industry new windows of opportunity. Despite these stunning hi-res scenes and insanely high polygon models there are some elements which are yet to be achieved successfully. Stylised games have been using certain techniques to their advantage and have been doing so for years, this has played a huge part in the successfulness of video games.

I have always been naturally attracted to games with fantastical worlds, emphasised characteristics and highly stylised visual appearances. I find that games with highly stylised visuals offer a unique and far more rewarding experience allowing you to immerse yourself as a player in a new world. I will be investigating which elements work well together to achieve this and why many photorealistic games struggle to achieve the same experience. To illustrate my arguments I will be analysing and closely referring to the Sony PlayStation 2 game called Okami (Clover Studio, Capcom, 2006) due to its captivating game play and unique Japanese Sumi-e art visuals. For the photorealistic side of the argument I will be referring to a number of different games include Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream, Sony Computer Entertainment, 2010), Bayonetta (Platinum Games, Sega, 2010) and Vanquish (Platinum Games, Sega, 2010), which Okami creator Atsushi Inaba is currently producing.

Read More »