Yup. Take that one body cam game. Making an object look realistic is a matter of slapping a high resolution texture on it. Making a game look realistic involves a lot of prop work and stage setting. Making a game look realistic and still be playable is insanely difficult. Pay attention to the size of the doors in the next “photorealistic” game you play, and laugh at the fools who say photorealism doesn’t require art direction
What they’re talking about is what I call “The Wind Waker Effect.” When the GameCube was first announced, they showed off a trailer that included a realistic looking Link fighting Ganondorf to show off the power of the system. When the Wind Waker was announced and shown to the public, fans were furious. They didn’t want some cartoony Zelda game, they wanted that photo-realistic Zelda game that they had been teased with years before! When Wind Waker came out, it was universally criticized for its graphics. Today, it’s considered one of the best looking Zelda games of all time and was the main inspiration for the art direction of almost every Zelda game after it - including Breath of the Wild.
If Nintendo had made that “photo-realistic” Zelda game, it would look nowhere near as good nor be as fondly remembered today, because “photo-realistic” in terms of video game graphics is an obsession with graphical fidelity, not artistic quality. That’s why photo-realistic games from the same era are remembered as the “real = brown” era of games. It’s a technical or hardware question of “how many polygons can we fit in this character’s facial pores”, not taking something fake and making it seem real through art direction.
aight this scene takes place in Mexico so lemme color grade it very Mexican, but also it’s a flashback to the 50’s so I’m gonna dial down the color saturation and digitally add some film grain
Art direction isn’t purely aesthetics either. There’s so many things that go into makeing art, be it a game or something else.
Art should help us feel what the artist intended or sometimes something more personal to ourselves. Many aspects will facilitate or detract from that.
You can have stylized photorealism the same as other styles of art. You mght see pixel art of a realistic scene. Or you can have extremely detailed animation.
I think the better question is does the community allow for and reward that expression? Are there trends we don’t find too appealing universally? Are there styles of art that maybe seem overused?
OK we’re definitely talking about different things when we say photorealism. I see stylized and photorealistic almost as on a linear spectrum. I realise there are more dimensionz to it than that, but that’s the usage I think the meme is critiquing. That’s how I took it, anyway.
These aren’t mutually exclusive
Don’t make me point at the TitanFall 2 and MGSV sign again.
Its just that that’s hard for developers to develop, for management to allow, so, instead, use horrifically unoptimized UE5!
High-fidelity and artfully stylized aren’t, but photorealism is like… a photo.
Photo realism still requires art direction.
Think of a movie.
Yup. Take that one body cam game. Making an object look realistic is a matter of slapping a high resolution texture on it. Making a game look realistic involves a lot of prop work and stage setting. Making a game look realistic and still be playable is insanely difficult. Pay attention to the size of the doors in the next “photorealistic” game you play, and laugh at the fools who say photorealism doesn’t require art direction
What they’re talking about is what I call “The Wind Waker Effect.” When the GameCube was first announced, they showed off a trailer that included a realistic looking Link fighting Ganondorf to show off the power of the system. When the Wind Waker was announced and shown to the public, fans were furious. They didn’t want some cartoony Zelda game, they wanted that photo-realistic Zelda game that they had been teased with years before! When Wind Waker came out, it was universally criticized for its graphics. Today, it’s considered one of the best looking Zelda games of all time and was the main inspiration for the art direction of almost every Zelda game after it - including Breath of the Wild.
If Nintendo had made that “photo-realistic” Zelda game, it would look nowhere near as good nor be as fondly remembered today, because “photo-realistic” in terms of video game graphics is an obsession with graphical fidelity, not artistic quality. That’s why photo-realistic games from the same era are remembered as the “real = brown” era of games. It’s a technical or hardware question of “how many polygons can we fit in this character’s facial pores”, not taking something fake and making it seem real through art direction.
aight this scene takes place in Mexico so lemme color grade it very Mexican, but also it’s a flashback to the 50’s so I’m gonna dial down the color saturation and digitally add some film grain
What if it was neo mexico city? Need some cyberpunk chihuahuas
I was in a bluegrass band called Cyberpunk Chihuahuas. We offended many cultural sensibilities.
Albuquerque?
I think we’re talking about different things, but I see your point.
By stylized “graphics” I took it to mean like the actual resolution, polygons, draw distance, etc, and then aesthetics goes on top of that.
Art direction isn’t purely aesthetics either. There’s so many things that go into makeing art, be it a game or something else.
Art should help us feel what the artist intended or sometimes something more personal to ourselves. Many aspects will facilitate or detract from that.
You can have stylized photorealism the same as other styles of art. You mght see pixel art of a realistic scene. Or you can have extremely detailed animation.
I think the better question is does the community allow for and reward that expression? Are there trends we don’t find too appealing universally? Are there styles of art that maybe seem overused?
OK we’re definitely talking about different things when we say photorealism. I see stylized and photorealistic almost as on a linear spectrum. I realise there are more dimensionz to it than that, but that’s the usage I think the meme is critiquing. That’s how I took it, anyway.
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I think they mean that you can like both, you don’t have to choose only one to like
Oh well then there is no conflict at all, yeah