Realistic characters in games and the death of cartoons

[iDEATH]

So this topic has been in my head for the last year or so since I had to write an essay/logbook on character design for a uni class.

I started by listing various characters from a bunch of different media and explaining the thought process that went into their designs.

In terms of video games I obviously described Sonic

I described how he was blue to match the sega logo, with peach arms so that the arms were easily defined in the sprite and that he is built our of simple geometric shapes to make it easy for kids to draw.

 

I also talked about crash bandicoot, how he's bright orange to help him  stick out of the background, has a large head so more polys could go into facial animations and wore black gloves to show clearly where his arms ended.

 

Both these characters were built from the ground up to deal with the limitation of their hardware.

 

Then as I got into more modern designs.....

 

Now don't get me wrong, I love a lot of these games, but it feels like we're heading down a fairly crappy path. The muscle-bound-shaved-head-guy is becoming the star of more and more games.

Now obviously this is to do with updating hardware meaning it's easier to render characters like these but is that a good thing? Why isn't this hardware being used to make awesome looking characters not just lifted from real life?

 

It feels like the only characters we get outside this style in mainstream titles these days are older characters like sonic and Mario that have stood the test of time, new ip's in that sort of style seem to be all but dead.

 

I'd personally like to see more cartoony characters make a comeback in games, not just anthro characters, characters like Q*Bert, Pacman, Kirby.

Not to say I want realistic characters  to disappear, i'd just like to see developers more willing to make new cartoony characters

 

It could be bias, I got into gaming during an era where most games were cartoony and bright, maybe i just yearn for more of the same out of nostalgia.

What do you guys think? Would you like to see a return of more cartoonish characters or have they had their day?

[Diogenes]

It's not like they didn't have the Doom guy and the Contra dude and a hundred other testosterone-fueled toughguys before the more recent eras of gaming. And it's not as if there are no colorful cartoon characters in gaming these days. Yeah, it's shifted more towards the former than the latter, as the increased power has made it less necessary to exaggerate and stylize and more possible to portray realistic humans and locations. But it's hardly the death of cartoony characters, and I like to think as graphics start to plateau we'll see more experimenting with design and art styles.

[MegasonicZX]

Yeah I noticed this too but I think it just mainly has to do with creativity cause you almost never see any original character designs much nowadays (not saying that the more modern ones are bad) and also things are starting to go to the whole cinematic movie style of story telling too with some games.

[iDEATH]

I'd like to point out that I don't think a lot of modern characters a bad, just as much effort goes into designing them as any other character obviously, it's  really more of a visual thing.

I remember going into stores as a kid and seeing row  upon row of great colourful characters and unique worlds, there were also a scattering of realistic titles too.

These days however, walking into a game store you're greeted by row upon row of grey and brown titles set in realistic worlds.

I just want some  good old fashioned escapism

 

I'll also mention development, games are getting shorter and shorter because of the ammount of time it takes to create these realistic backgrounds. Modelling them is a mammoth task for something that might be onscreen for a couple of minutes.

Therefore games require less locations to make modelling cost effective and thus games get shorter.

 

Cartoonish characters  and abstract worlds are free from this  absurd level of detail and could lead to longer games overall.

[Yoko/葉子]

Relax, they'll get milked to the point of not being as popular and then cartoony designs will rise!

[JezMM]

There are some storylines that just fit better with more realistic graphical styles.

 

 

 

TF2 started life as having generic realistic graphics, but as clarity became an important aspect of game design amidst all the chaos, they realised a strong colour palette and instantly recognisable sillouhettes were important for instant communication without having so much HUD display signifying these things that it ruined the atmosphere of the game.

 

 

Meanwhile, from the same company, Left 4 Dead uses more realistic designs because more importantly than clarity of gameplay elements was the idea that you were supposed to have felt thrown into the apocalypse headfirst with characters you can relate to.  Having said that I do think L4D has quite striking and memorable character designs (same for Uncharted since you mentioned it up there).  I agree that the generic shaved head guy is getting overdone though.

 

 

 

I personally don't think we have an abundance of realistic games for any reason other than the fact that we couldn't then and can now.  The art style should reflect what feeling the game hopes to evoke in the player and both ends of the spectrum, and everything inbetween, has its place in the medium.

 

The only reason it feels like there's way more realistic games now is because the most popular genre has shifted from platformers, which usually have a cartooney art style and characters, to shooters and action/adventure games, which usually have a realistic art style.

EDIT

I'll also mention development, games are getting shorter and shorter because of the ammount of time it takes to create these realistic backgrounds. Modelling them is a mammoth task for something that might be onscreen for a couple of minutes.

Therefore games require less locations to make modelling cost effective and thus games get shorter.

Cartoonish characters and abstract worlds are free from this absurd level of detail and could lead to longer games overall.

You're just assuming a cause and effect here. Look at games like Skyrim. Very high graphical fidelity, ridiculous amounts of content. There's no reason for short games other than budgetary reasons, and just because an art style is unrealistic, doesn't mean it's easier to make. In fact in many cases it may be harder - textures must be built from the ground-up rather than photographed or scanned, motion capture and face model reference needs more manual labour to convert from it's realistic source to the exaggerated cartoon form, etc.

Even if it meant having some extra areas, I very much doubt BioShock would have been quite the same game if it had a minimalistic/cartooney art style.

Edited January 26, 2013 by JezMM

[Teoskaven]

Well, it's easy to say why there are more "realistic" characters around nowadays: motion capture. It' more practical then programming from 0 an entire 3D model, so most company choose a way to use this method as much as possible. And yeah, this is kinda the death of creativity in videogames (with some exceptions, as showed by JezMM).

 

And you know how it's started? With Andy Serkis doing the facial capture of Bohan for Heavenly Sword.

[Crash]

(Like the post from above.)

 

I agree with the motion capture thing. Many actors want to feel like actors when they give the voices so motion capture is becoming normal these days.

[Lamor]

Reason why we get more and more realistic characters is this that we get more and more realistic games. You can't make a fps with cartoony characters, I mean you can but it would be really weird.

 

I like realistic characters just as I like cartoon ones but sometimes when playing Infamous games I just can't stop thinking "Jeez he looks so stupid! Why did you shave your hair?".

[Alluusio]

Reason why we get more and more realistic characters is this that we get more and more realistic games. You can't make a fps with cartoony characters, I mean you can but it would be really weird.

 

I beg to disagree. Ever played Red Steel 2? Part of what makes that game so enjoyable are the visuals which use cel-shading. It really doesn't look out of place at all. It just makes the game stick out from the rest in a positive manner. 

 

http://youtu.be/uQ6-_65lvWM

Edited January 26, 2013 by Prownage

[Salamander]

Personally, I can't wait for the rush to squeeze as much realism out of graphics as possible to end so we can get back to stylisation, which I find far more compelling and interesting.  If I wanted realism, I'd look out of the window.

[Stacy]

Is this another Platformers VS Other Game genres debate? 

 

It all depends on the tone and genre of the game for me.

 

Of course a Gritty Realistic Frist Person Shooter isn't going to look believable if it looked Cartoony. Just as Team Fortress wouldn't be as fun and amusing if looked realistic. 

 

What I love about games now is you take something real and something unreal and make them look believable. 

 

Ever since the 32 Bit Consoles came out developers had the technology to flesh out new genres and re-establish others giving gamers more choice then they with previous consoles which were largely dominated by Platformers.

 

Platformers may not dominated consoles like the Glory Days of the Mega Drive and the SNES but that doesn't mean they don't have their place and the genre thrives in the Indie game scene where hopefully some will crossover. 

[Teoskaven]

I don't think the Final Fantasy series is a platformer, but clearly one (and probably the stupidest) of the reasons responsable for its decline is the costant impoovement on realism and graphics. I stated always that if it had took the same route of the Tales of series, maybe now we will not have things like Lightning Returns or the delaying of Versus XIII.

[Xenos]

I don't think the Final Fantasy series is a platformer, but clearly one (and probably the stupidest) of the reasons responsable for its decline is the costant impoovement on realism and graphics. I stated always that if it had took the same route of the Tales of series, maybe now we will not have things like Lightning Returns or the delaying of Versus XIII.

 

No, that wouldn't have changed anything worth a damn.

 

It's not because the graphics for the main games have gotten constantly more realistic and pretty, it's just that, well...

 

 

Square Enix can be fucking idiots.

[Candescence]

Even if it meant having some extra areas, I very much doubt BioShock would have been quite the same game if it had a minimalistic/cartooney art style.

Nevermind that Bioshock was already rather stylized and far from realistic to begin with. I dunno what you'd call the character designs, but "realistic" is certainly not a word that comes to my mind, aside from the actual body proportions.

Edited January 27, 2013 by Masaru Daimon

[JezMM]

Nevermind that Bioshock was already rather stylized and far from realistic to begin with. I dunno what you'd call the character designs, but "realistic" is certainly not a word that comes to my mind, aside from the actual body proportions.

 

The envioronments may be surreal but they're realistically rendered.  The characters are kinda cartooney looking because 99% of them are horrifically mutated I'm pretty sure.  The only ones you see up close, Cohen and Ryan, are totally realistic looking despite being eccentric in personality and striking in their reveal.

[Candescence]

The envioronments may be surreal but they're realistically rendered.  The characters are kinda cartooney looking because 99% of them are horrifically mutated I'm pretty sure.  The only ones you see up close, Cohen and Ryan, are totally realistic looking despite being eccentric in personality and striking in their reveal.

Eh, even the non-mutated characters in Bioshock are rather stylized, it's the same with Bioshock Infinite as well, and much more apparent due to the fact that normal-looking people get much more screentime in that game. They've got somewhat realistic proportions, but a good look at the models makes it obvious that they're far from photorealistic, it's kinda like something you'd see in a Pixar/Dreamworks CGI movie or something.

[Remy]

Eh, even the non-mutated characters in Bioshock are rather stylized, it's the same with Bioshock Infinite as well, and much more apparent due to the fact that normal-looking people get much more screentime in that game. They've got somewhat realistic proportions, but a good look at the models makes it obvious that they're far from photorealistic, it's kinda like something you'd see in a Pixar/Dreamworks CGI movie or something.

So the like exaggerated human look in everything from uncharted to Halo 4, to DmC.

 

Apparently the games we don't like look realistic, and the games we like are stylized. Go figure

[Tornado]

I'm honestly not seeing why realistic characters are a problem. If you railing against the Real is Brown style archetype, sure. I can get that. At that point it becomes such a push towards a false sense of realism that it impacts gameplay; particularly when it is often applied in situations that are absurdist as they are.

 

But realistic art design as a broad concept? There's nothing wrong with that. People also seem to be acting as if there is a hard line between realistic designs and 90's bubble head anthro designs. Sonic could have been a hand drawn 2D platformer with a realism bent. There was nothing stopping it from happening in 1991, and there were already a wealth of games of that nature at the time. They chose that style because it suited their gameplay (or marketing) vision better. There have always been games that have pursued realistic art styles and there were always games that pursued cartoony ones.

Edited January 27, 2013 by Tornado

[Candescence]

So the like exaggerated human look in everything from uncharted to Halo 4, to DmC.

No, no, certainly not like those examples, which are far less stylized and more realistic.

Edited January 27, 2013 by Masaru Daimon

[Kuzu]

I honestly don't have a problem with this; I mean not all current games have this "Real is Brown" thing that you seem to be against, we got games like Madworld, Borderlands, the aformentioned Team Fortress 2, and games like No More Heroes and Lollipop Chainsaw. All of those games have stylized artwork to a certain extent.

 

And even so, Realism in it's self isn't a terrible, nor is it what's killing the platforming community, because I don't think Sonic or Mario would be less if fun if they were more realistic. Hell Jak & Daxter is as real as an anthro series can get and it's still pretty stylized.