Valve's art director on Team Fortress 2 reckons games have a long way to go when it comes to art style.
"I think video games are at such infancy in terms of art style, actually developing it. We're dealing with 4000 years, really, of art and conceptual design", Moby Francke has told Gamasutra.
"For it really not to be utilised, and for the industry to basically dwell in a certain type of genre which has been around the 1980s up to present time, it's pretty much all they're embracing... Hopefully people will wake up someday."
Francke believes the reason unique art styles aren't seen to often in games is because of the high risks involved with producing a game. "But I think when you take high risks, sometimes the results will be much better. That's what we were lucky to achieve with Team Fortress 2."
When asked about GTA's art style, he said "It just seems like other games out there".
I agree. where are the more unique visual styles? Games like Ico, Viewtiful Joe & Okami have a timeless look to them. These are games that you will be able to look back on in 20 years time & still say the graphics are amazing. This is not somethig you can do with almost all realistic looking games. Why do developers try & shove so much reality into games? Making them mostly grey & brown in the process. Surely one of the most appealing things about games is its a way to escape reality. Why is it then 95% of developers are striving for reality.
Bit of a self-justifying rant from Mr Franke. I mean come on ... is he seriously suggesting that all games should avoid trying to achieve realism. Piffle. The fact is that some games benefit from realism and some benefit from the (excellent) art direction taken by games like TF2. Also art direction and realism are not exclusive bi-polar issues. Take BioShock for instance.
I mean come on ... is he seriously suggesting that all games should avoid trying to achieve realism.
I don't see him say that anywhere, or even allude to it. There is a difference between criticising the safe option that has been taken 1000x before, and saying that no games should ever be made in a realistic style.
Also art direction and realism are not exclusive bi-polar issues. Take BioShock for instance.
Agree with you there. So long as the end result is of artistic mertit (and somewhat original) I'm not terribly bothered what rendering technique is used. I wouldn't of thought that Bioshock was top of his list of games worthy of visual criticism.
Edit - I would say this is more of a PC issue though. Console games really do not suffer the same issue to the same degree.
I think once we hit photorealistic graphics, that's when more people will start to experiment with different styles. Until that time though, photorealism in games is seen as the holy grail right now, and is what most devs are striving for.
I think once we hit photorealistic graphics, that's when more people will start to experiment with different styles. Until that time though, photorealism in games is seen as the holy grail right now, and is what most devs are striving for.
Exactly, no developers seem to want to aim for "good art direction" just good graphics. Once every game starts looking the same, they HAVE to rely on really sweet art direction to stand out from the crowd.
The sad fact is that most people these days have entered gaming on the premise that the experiences offered are more familiar to them, be that more cinematic in nature, more simple to engage in, or simply not as obviously "game" looking.
In short, those that really wanted to see Street Fighter 4 look just like that first trailer, or wish that someone would make a shoot 'em up in the style of Matisse, are definitely in the minority against those who would prefer another "gritty" WW2 game or a chance to play through a generic cut-scene ridden action platformer (preferably with a tenuous movie license tied to it).
Games that take huge risks are rarely profitable, and in a world of mega-publishers, the risks are hardly justifiable when the safe option sells bucketloads regardless of quality - just look at NFS Pro-Street.
Again Mappman you have made an excellent point. My 3 games mentioned - Ico, Okami & Viewtiful Joe were all flops. More down to graphic style than anything else methinks.
I love the style used in JSRF, make more games like that I don't care about blades of grass fluttering in the breeze and London being recreated in perfect detail.
I want to do strange and crazy things and have insane things happen on screen
I mean come on ... is he seriously suggesting that all games should avoid trying to achieve realism.
I don't see him say that anywhere, or even allude to it. There is a difference between criticising the safe option that has been taken 1000x before, and saying that no games should ever be made in a realistic style.
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I don't care about blades of grass fluttering in the breeze and London being recreated in perfect detail. 
