Alice videogame art book and game aesthetics

This week I had a chance to borrow some art books from my friend and one of them really stood out. Its 'The Art of Alice: Madness Returns' by R.J. Berg*. It contains artwork created for the American MaGree (game designer) videogame Alice: Madness Returns (EA)** which if based on Lewis Carroll's story.

Some of the concept art pieces from the book are absolutely amazing and very inspiring.

I really liked this image because it seem to have a lot of ‘visual texture to it' a mix of techniques. The grittiness of the rock and the ground is counterbalanced but the smoothness of the blue clouds (less 'texture' and many wavy lines).

This piece is also absolutely amazing. Digital art but look so traditional: very textured and layered and the brushstrokes really visible, and all the nice detail of the plants and trees. It just made me think why game art doesn't look like this!? It's so interesting to look at, and if one can interact with the world that would be absolutely amazing experience. It;' would be like entering another world.

Another picture, similar image to the above one. Really like the tree in the bottom right-hand corner as well as the texture in the clouds (middle left). It looks like a traditional media brushstrokes. They give that tactile feel to the image that I think is missing often in a lot of 2D videogame art.

Really like the tree design and how it's been painted. The texture of the bark and most importantly the leaves. A lot of interest for a viewer’s eye.

This image relates to the underwater scene for my game idea. I'm not too keen on the bed, but I think the shoals of fish and the underwater plants look nice. Also the colour choices and the way the artist created the feeling of space: brighter colours at the back and the hazy outlines of some kind of plants in the distance. I think something similar could work for my project; however the light would be located at the top and I would have to address the issue of the red-orange and yellow light in the water. (Since the water absorbs the reds I would probably have to go violet-green in my colour choices)

Also I have noticed a post on FB from the Child of Light creators and followed their link to the YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JieprG-zAx4

It is very inspiring to see videogame like this being developed and published by a big game developing studio. I think we need more people like Patrick Plourde and his team who can make videogames that enrich people. I think the 2D games are starting to reinvent themselves just like painting (e.g. impressionist), photography or movies did. They all at some point stopped trying to represent reality and started exploring other ideas, feelings etc. The history seems to show that when people reach the goal of realistic representation they turn their attention to exploring the medium and creating new things with it or through it. I think it is a natural evolution of creative mediums in general, and because videogames are creative medium, they are undergoing the same process. Patrick Plourde (creative director of Child of Light) in above mentioned video says that the experience they are trying to create is: "Being able to play on a living painting and see the hand of the artist in the game." I think if the gameplay will not be marred by the technical issues (bugs) this game is going to become really popular, because developers seem to be going for the aesthetic game and that should mean a more immersive game. Philosophers like Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Schopenhauer etc.. who have studied an aesthetic experience, have all noticed the fact that a more engaging/simulating piece of art is, perhaps even perceived as being different from the everyday, the more it tends to arrest and maintain spectator's attention, therefore draws the viewer in, makes him/her experience the art more profoundly and immerses him/her in to the experience (Hanfling 1992, p. 120, 126-127, 128, 129). Also having visible creators mark in the art makes it more personal and adds to the aesthetic experience (Emotionalist theory by L.Tolstoy and C.J. Ducasse) (Hanfling 1992 and Cahn and Meskin 2008).

Videogames are similar to books: serve the purpose of removing oneself from reality and exploring other worlds. In addition to that, Jane McGonigal  in her TED talk*** mentions the reasons why this might be happening (for example people get inspired when playing games and positive feedback and feeling of achievement. She calls it an 'epic win' and points out that in real life we do not tend to experience it) and quotes Edvard Castranova (economist):  "We're witnessing what amounts to no less than a mass exodus to virtual worlds and online game environments."
I do not think video games will go way so why not make it the experience not only more pleasant  and enriching since there are so many people playing them and it ultimately got to have an impact on our the culture?

Cahn, S.M. and Meskin,A. eds.2008. Aesthetics: a comprehensive anthology. Oxford: Blackwell Pub
Hanfling, O.1992. Philosophical Aesthetics:  an introduction. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing


* Berg, R.J.2011.The Art of Alice: Madness Returns. Milwaukie:Dark Horse Books
** Spicy Horse. 2011. Alice: Madness Returns. Play Station 3. Electronic Arts.
*** Jane MCGonigal. 2010. Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world. [online video]. Available from: http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world#t-24231 [Accessed  October 13 2013]

Aesthetics

To help me understand more about the art and the beauty of it I took out from a library a Cahn, S.M. and Meskin, A. book ‘Aesthetics: a comprehensive anthology’ as well as dug out from my books box another book ‘Philosophical Aesthetics:  an introduction’ by Oswald Hanfling.

I feel quite anxious about the prospect of getting back in to art aesthetics. I did study aesthetics a little bit during my college years and I remember this subject being quite hard to get to grips with. There are so many theories and theorist and because it is art and not a science, there is really no right and wrong or true and false. The two books are really tick and I would imagine it’s going to take me a while to get trough them. What I’m expecting from the reading is a better understanding about art, its meaning, also theories that I could use when looking not only at traditional art for inspiration, but also give me some sort of solid grounding when analysing art in games and producing my own art for my honours year project. Also, I hope that all this knowledge will help to move me forwards towards finally identifying my aim for the project, because at the current point in time I feel like I know what I want to create, why and perhaps how I’m going to do it, but just cannot tie all these things in to that one sentence that can actually explain my project.

Crit week is roughly in weeks’ time and Project proposal in 6 weeks and I am not in the right point in time with my understanding about the whole project. I just hope that all the reading and perhaps some practical stuff that I’m creating will help me finally organise things in my head in time for submissions.



Cahn, S.M. and Meskin, A. 2008. Aesthetics: a comprehensive anthology. Oxford: Blackwell Pub

Hanfling, O. 1992. Philosophical Aesthetics:  an introduction. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing

Videogames and Aesthetics

This week I’ve been looking at some games and game art. Additionally, I’ve also started to look for some serious relevant literature. By’s serious’ I mean something that can be used as a reference for my research proposal document) Took a couple of books on games and video game aesthetics. Hoping to find something useful and relevant to my project. In any case first glimpse at academic literature is not looking great. Either I don’t know how to look for relevant info or it’s just not there. In any case it’s quite early on and I hope that things will become more clear and therefore and information easier to find.

Happiest find so far is a quote from article ‘Games take on another dimension’ published by Financial Times:

‘In the modern gaming era, there will always be a battle between interesting art design and the other considerations that go into making a game. But the bolder the art design, the more players will feel they have escaped reality and visited another place. For Blow, “There’s a message in the visuals, and the effort that’s been put into the graphics. It’s a subliminal thing, a message which says that somebody really cared about putting this experience together ... it says you’re in good hands.”’


I think Jonathan Blow has been spot on with it, because it seems to describe very well what I like to create. I want to create art for games that matter, which looks like they’ve been created by people for people: games that have some personal touch and are interesting to look at.

Dennis, R. 2012. Games take on another dimension. Available from: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/9b08c878-2cbf-11e2-9211-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2nGj0OVpc
Here is David  Hellman (Braid) artist webpage: http://www.davidhellman.net/
and his blog on  Braid game art: http://www.davidhellman.net/blog/the-art-of-braid-index


GAMASUTRA article : Videogame Aesthetics: The Future!

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130840/videogame_aesthetics_the_future.php?print=1

Article mentioned Orisinal webpage with some free to play games. http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/
Games are really simple, but some of them look quite nice. I might use some of the game ideas for my projects game assets production. Also, since the games look very simple I could possibly try and attempt to write the code in Flash to make a game.


Also came across a page Buzz Feed Geeky  page '36 Beautiful Landscapes That Prove That Video Games Are Art'. Not all of the artwork would be relevant to my project but there are a few that would be relevant to my honours project:

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Skyloft from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The desert and mountain from Journey
The planet Pandora from Borderlands 2
The planes of Telara from Rift.