1. Task 1: Artistic styles used in
computer games

2. Photorealism
Photorealism is an art style that tries to make a created image
follow a realistic trend to the point that it could possibly be a
photograph, use of this technique is commonplace across the
modern media industry and more recently, the games
industry. Such images and textures usually require a large
amount of processing power to appear correctly, in the past
this has restricted its use in the games industry, as a game can
take many different pathways, whilst a film is set. For
example, Avatar has a greater photorealistic approach than
mass effect 2, despite the latter being released at a later date.

3. James Camerons Avatar: 2009 Mass Effect 2: 2010

4. Cell Shading
Cell shading is an older form of media used traditionally in
cartoons such as those created by Disney. Unlike
photorealism, it purposefully aims for a more cartoony, hand
drawn look, This is achieved in three steps, the model is
created as a wireframe, textured in one colour, and a gradient
is created. This style is evident in anime based games such as
Blazblue aswell as western games such as Borderlands. It is
also used heavily in the cartoon industry in cartoons such as
Felix the cat and many Disney feature films such as Beauty
and the Beast.

5. Borderlands Beauty and the beast

6. Abstraction
Abstraction is a form of media that does not follow any specific
form and is not similar to any real life object, a good example of
this is the game Tetris, as it quite simply, coloured shapes falling
into a gap in a certain order. This artistic style usually emphasises
bold, bright colours, outlined in darker colours, similar to cell
animation. Despite the heavy reduction of abstract art in favour
of more photorealistic games, abstract style games, such as
Hexic 3D can still find a place in the industry.

7. Tetris Hexic 3D

8. Exaggeration
Exaggeration can be seen most prominently in the styles of
anime and manga, their features being similar to real life, but
certain features, such as eyes, becoming over- exaggerated, this
can also be seen in the way that characters from these mediums
react to emotional changes, such as the teeth becoming sharp
with a red face and background when the character is angry.
Recently, Exaggerated form has become very popular in the
western world with the integration between western and
eastern cultures.

9. Fullmetal Alchemist BlazBlue