Art and Games - The Uneasy Relationship

Art and games get along for the most part. Art is in fact an integral part of every game these days. Without artists, there would be no graphics. Without animators, there would be no cutscenes. At very first, this was the way all games were.

In the beginning, there weren't any graphics drivers, so a console similar to that shown above was the only option for displaying the contents of your game. Eventually, we gained 8 hideous colors and one thing lead to another. This has lead us to the graphics of today where the goal of making things appear realistic appears to have largely capped out... for now. There was a time when we didn't think things would look better than this:

But, now that we've reached our peak (for the moment) artists, and designers, are looking for new things to try. And thus is born the "Arty Game". Most games just have art and animation to bring the world to the player. Some games though, are trying to make an artistic statement. Games as art, and if games are an art form in themselves, has been a topic of interest for some time now. Some of the arty games turn out really well, others do not. One reason for this is the key to game design. What should always be the first priority when making a game? Gameplay, what the player does. You can have a great story, wonderful cutscenes, and a beautiful world and few people will enjoy it if all they do is sit back and hit the A button to see the next thing. Games are not movies: games are interactive and movies are not. Where the arty game runs into trouble is when, in attempting to make an artistic statement, this rule gets ignored. The artistic statement may be brillantly executed, but the game sucks as a game, or at least has issues that could (and should) have been avoided.

Example: The Saboteur. As I understand it from what I have heard, not a bad game, but not really that good either. For those of you who do not know, The Saboteur is about an allied agent in occupied France during WWII. Clear sectors are normal realistic graphics, but occupied sections are presented in gray scale. The only colored things in these areas are you, your car, and the (very bright) red nazi banners. Driving around can be interesting as there is no transition from one style to the other. You can be standing on a fully colored hill looking down into a gray valley. In any case here is a video from someone playing The Saboteur. Feel free to watch as much of you want, but the time of interest is at about 2:55 until about 3:15 when he drives through a nazi controlled area.



You may be wondering what the problem with that is. Well, the problem is unfortunatly only hinted at as I cannot find a direct example of the problem, but take another look at it and consider the shadows. They're DARK. This is mostly because of the grayness of the area. This becomes a problem because when you're driving at high speed, as you often are in this game, you cannot see what you're driving into. It could be an evil nazi, or an old innocent french lady. You cannot tell if you are heading for a fence you'll break through, or a brick wall that will smash your car like a tin can. This then makes an artistic statement at the cost of gameplay. It doesn't ruin the game, but it does hamper it and adds another item to the list of problems people have with the game.

Now, let's shift to when art and gameplay get along very well. The best game I know of to have done this is Okami. The art and gameplay not only get along, they get married, have kids, and die happy together after thier 100th anniversary. Okami is not without issues mind you, the 18 minute intro sequence comes to mind, but the game makes an artistic statement and pulls it off very well. It comes to us from Japan and so is drawn in a manga style. Trees and rocks will be drawn in 2D but turn to make sure they are always facing the player. It works very well and looks very nice. It's not terribly realistic looking, but it's not trying to be and it seems to benefit from it. But here's the clincher, the player has the ability to draw things into the game. Being the Sun God the player has access to the Celestial Brush, which allows them to pause the game and paint on the screen as it was when they paused it. This provides a variety of effects: a stright line cuts things, a circle in the sky becomes a sun making it daytime, and a circle with a line coming out of the top if it makes a bomb. The player needs to use this in order to fight monsters, solve puzzles, and progress through the game. Here's an example of someone messing around with some of the powers of the brush. Notice how things flow, how the brush works, and the look and feel of the world. Like with The Saboteur clip, don't feel obligated to watch the whole thing, but the first minute should show you enough. (Also, note that the color is a bit washed out in the clip. Look up some Okami pics, though they are still washed out compared to seeing it on screen, they are better than the movie. The game is actually quite colorful!)



So, now it's your turn. What do you think? Are games an art form? Are they two different things? Is it a good idea to try and make artistic statements with them?

Take THAT bad game design!