Source: 3news.co.nz
Remember the days when video game design consisted of one circle and a few rectangles? For most of the history of gaming, engineering has played a much larger part in the success of a game than visuals. Sure, you’d get your occasional combined triumph, where art and mechanics work hand in hand to change the gaming landscape… but let’s face it, the most popular game of all time involves ghosts that a nine-year old can draw.
That’s not quite the case any more. IGN sees a change happening; one that makes video game designers more important than ever.
Game design has always been a product of two spheres: mechanics [physical inputs (e.g. quarter circle forward + punch) and their consequences (e.g. a fireball hits an opponent and reduces his energy)], and aesthetics (how these processes look and sound; possibly feel, given Wii-motes and rumble cores). However, while the lion’s share of the player’s experience was once driven by mechanics – games’ “skins” being so similar – the amplification of aesthetic power has caused it to insinuate itself into our gaming experiences in such a way that it’s no longer separable from a game’s mechanics. Games don’t just look and play a certain way anymore – they look-play. Mechanics and aesthetics, in isolation, don’t determine a game’s overall quality. Rather, it’s by virtue of the harmony or disharmony between the two spheres that a game sinks or swims.
A step forward in design… from 15 years ago. (Source: recollectionsofplay.wordpress.com)
In other words, how a game looks is inextricably tied to its success. Games have become a more complete experience for the player, and even for the casual observer – check out the rise of the cinematic trailer and the growing importance of actors. Sorry if I’m stating the obvious here, but more jobs and more creative freedom means good things for video game artists.
So why is this happening? Video games are fundamentally about engagement, and to fully engage the player you have to wrap them up in the world you’re creating. That means a compelling story, a fully realized world and realistic characters (emotionally, if not necessarily biologically).
All things considered, the improvement of aesthetics is more complicated than simply looking or sounding “better.” Improvement is conventionally assessed by fidelity to a source found in reality. But what is often overlooked is the fact that such fidelity is of interest because reality provides us with the greatest level of engagement and stimulation. Reality doesn’t merely look or sound – it feels. With a new aesthetic leap approaching through the next-gen hardware and engines, it will be the games which maximize engagement through the melding of mechanics and aesthetics that become the new totems of the gaming world.
The designer’s responsibility used to be making something that looks cool; the growth of gaming makes it so much more.
The future of design. (Source: ign.com)
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