Should game developers focus more on stylistic art direction than hyperrealism in video games?

[__grep]

The only great examples of phenomenal art direction in games imo are Bungie's Halo Trilogy, HL2, and the MGS games. The last game I played that had wonderful art direction was FFXIII. There is just something about lower fidelity games that keeps you immersed into the game. Plus it would help with allocating more resources into game mechanics/features than hyper realistic textures. Or maybe I am just getting old lmao.

 

[MaraFirebrand]

Definitely style over hyper-realism. Much as some modern games have breathtaking graphics (Mortal Kombat One is the first to come to mind), I'd rather they go for stylized stuff if they can't also include substance.

There's good reason a lot of indies go for things like low-poly or good ol' pixel art, and not just because it's a budget option.

 

[AnonymousCookieMonster]

Realistic and Hyper Realistic can look nice. But at probably 1/50th the effort to make something at lower textures and more stylized i think is preferred.

If it's realistic enough and gets past the uncanny valley, then you just get something like a TV or Movie that doesn't require hundreds of millions to achieve.

Games should target the game experience and mechanics, be it driving or combat, or the like. Super simplistic graphics should be used during development using mid-level models for hit detection and physics. Then swap the visible models/textures, but i wouldn't exceed 2k textures.

 

[__grep]

Definitely style over hyper-realism. Much as some modern games have breathtaking graphics (Mortal Kombat One is the first to come to mind), I'd rather they go for stylized stuff if they can't also include substance.

There's good reason a lot of indies go for things like low-poly or good ol' pixel art, and not just because it's a budget option.

The low poly ones are my favorite especially that Demake of Bloodborne it gives me the House of the Dead feel to me.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 11:14 PM

Realistic and Hyper Realistic can look nice. But at probably 1/50th the effort to make something at lower textures and more stylized i think is preferred.

If it's realistic enough and gets past the uncanny valley, then you just get something like a TV or Movie that doesn't require hundreds of millions to achieve.

Games should target the game experience and mechanics, be it driving or combat, or the like. Super simplistic graphics should be used during development using mid-level models for hit detection and physics. Then swap the visible models/textures, but i wouldn't exceed 2k textures.

Yeah, anything past 2K textures makes things visually unpleasant to me.

 

[dropsmegamega]

Both are fine, but I wished realistic graphics weren't exclusive of a few trendy video game genres. Sadly because of development costs there are many types/genres of games that will never get realistic graphics.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Definitely style over hyper-realism. Much as some modern games have breathtaking graphics (Mortal Kombat One is the first to come to mind), I'd rather they go for stylized stuff if they can't also include substance.

There's good reason a lot of indies go for things like low-poly or good ol' pixel art, and not just because it's a budget option.

Their games also won't need more optimizations too since the games they've made doesn't doesn't need high requirements

 

[RanmyakuIchi's iconRanmyakuIchi]

I prefer stylized graphics personally as I feel they age much more gracefully. I don't dislike hyper realistic graphics, but it's not my preference.

 

[Yoru Momo]

The only great examples of phenomenal art direction in games imo are Bungie's Halo Trilogy, HL2, and the MGS games. The last game I played that had wonderful art direction was FFXIII. There is just something about lower fidelity games that keeps you immersed into the game. Plus it would help with allocating more resources into game mechanics/features than hyper realistic textures. Or maybe I am just getting old lmao.

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All of the games you posted are +15 years old.
Developers should focus on going bankrupt,
so I can stop pretending to care about the slop they are dishing next.

 

[Thegurdian1936]

I has been thinking a lot about this, personally I feel games in general should have more refined mechanics than graphics, mostly because hyper realistic graphics are more difficult to optimize than fully destructible terrain.
Just look at red faction: guerrilla, that thing runs in the 360 and you can destroy almost everything inthe map.

 

[ThatOneLum]

Having an art style over chasing hyper realism any day. Even if you're trying to render something in a realistic way, having a consistent design aesthetic trumps just chasing the real world as hard as possible.

Besides today's cutting edge is tomorrow's blunt end.

 

[mrmoe273]

i believe that a game should have there own style and good gameplay, but even then they should put gameplay first but still put effort into visuals

so yeah

stylistic art direction WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO​

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

Never thought fully realistic graphics ever benefited gaming. The graphics aren't good enough to beat the uncanny valley element, plus the inherent nature of games goes against realism.

 

[Pinballbuzzbro]

Y E S

 

[Omegapunch's iconOmegapunch]

Graphics are temporary.
Art Style and Art Direction are eternal.

 

[DragonMals]

Everyone should focus on what they are capable of. The only exception is making indies that are inspired by other AAA games that Generation Z and below have fond memories for. Its good to pass the generation through allowing them to have what we'd had under a different spice of life that was given to us, but with indies making that the half known standard for indies, is quite dissappinting.

However, I will say that making every video game realistic is a bit of an annoyance, because all you're doing ia competing which is the most accurate to real life graphics can your game be, which sucks the creativity out of your game as realism doesnt portray cartoons and pixel art in the same way as they do. They have their merits, but they don't match.

 

[jon2]

Style (and of course, gameplay)

We aren't in the real, full dive VR era yet, no matter how hyperrealistic the graphics are, the controls will hinder it

Better make the game more playable than spend resources somewhere else

Games are meant to be played, not to be looked at

 

[otogirisou]

hyperrealism IS stylistic art direction​

 

[Parasite_Steve]

Should game developers focus more on stylistic art direction then hyperrealism in games?


Short answer, yes.

Long answer, yes again with more letters to drive home the point.

In the end whatever works best for the game is the best choice but I personally find realism on its own rather boring and it’s often used as a crutch to defend uninspired generic art direction.

There is so much untapped potential with current tech to have wonderfully stylized graphics. I don’t think games are quite as boring anymore visually as they were in the xbox360 era, but I wish developers (or rather the publishers breathing down their neck) were more adventurous.
Sure it’s great to see how far graphics have progressed but the incremental improvements are getting smaller with each iteration to the point where they are almost negligible, while budgets, team sizes and work hours get inflated to ever more absurd numbers. With the worsening working conditions in the business, we basically reached a point where I already find many games to be ethically indefensible.
In the end that’s not a sustainable model.


To think of an example of the vast potential: I think it’s a great shame we never got a Final Fantasy fully rendered in Yoshitaka Amano‘s artstyle a la Okami.

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

hyperrealism IS stylistic art direction​

Fair point. Realism is a stylistic choice. Plus many games that attempt realism have to compromise in some way and aren't truly realistic.

 

[RageBurner]

Different styles serve different purposes, but well made stylized art has much broader application than hyper realism.

 

[Gamma]

Having both is fine, really. Depends on what the people making it want. Realism and Stylistic are both valid artstyles afterall.

 

[cola?]

hyperrealism IS stylistic art direction​

straight up. but i think you can fuck it up really easily
half life 2 i remember was a real serious 'realism' powerhouse, but now over time the way it's done realistic i think is leagues ahead of games using standardized realistic pipelines. shit somehow still looks more realistic than some games that come out now

something similar almost happened with the order 1886 except that game was way more boring. i think a lot of tech that the order used has since become standard but there's something to half life 2's colours in particular. a lot of games use filters and colour correction a LOT to the point you can point at a scene and go THIS ONE IS BROWN but half life 2 was really creative about it and let all sorts of colours shine through

 

[Arifolly]

The only great examples of phenomenal art direction in games imo are Bungie's Halo Trilogy, HL2, and the MGS games. The last game I played that had wonderful art direction was FFXIII. There is just something about lower fidelity games that keeps you immersed into the game. Plus it would help with allocating more resources into game mechanics/features than hyper realistic textures. Or maybe I am just getting old lmao.

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You need to play more video games

 

[Sir Auriel of Lionel]

It'll depend on the story they want to tell, but I'll pick a fleshed out style over hyper-realistic graphics mainly due to hardware limitations of my laptop which is why I bought a Steamdeck (which does the job with a small battery life) to keep up with a few new releases locked to current gen. It would also cut the studios some slack in the short run so they can pack more into a game and not take 8+ years to make or 3 years with them chained to the desk. Not like the newest generation appreciates their games today, I got flak by playing vanilla Skyrim on my Deck while he's playing Roblox on PS5. "Ew what kind of graphics are those? Is that an old game?" Yes kid and it's as old as you.

 

[peachGummiez]

I was roasting games in the PS2 era for how many "you're a guy with a gun and you're walking around" games were getting released. Fast forward all these years later and it's still a plague.

Obviously if people dig it, it should exist-- but from my perspective I look at it and I'm like "...why are they still making more of these?" They all seem like the same thing to me and it's not like the level designs are so inspired that it justifies the same game coming out for two straight decades.