Its been done in a few games but I recall look warm reception for it, but wanted to see what others thought about it. It’s an artistic style and in some games it would work better than others I’m sure. So any thoughts?

I'm working on a cel shaded kart racing game atm. I really like the cel shaded look but you are certainly correct it does suit some games more than others. Some of the NPR techniques around now are really nice tho, I think they are under used.

I seem to recall that cell shading was invented in Japan, to give the anime-style games a more comic look, so it definite does not suit all games (very few in fact). There was this one rollerskating game where you needed to paint over some graffiti stuff (cant remember the name) and this mech-game that used it for their advantage.

If you are thinking of using cell shading, I seriously encourage you to think if it really fits the mood and atmosphere of your game, before making any decisions.

Also, I haven't really seen it being used in any recent games and I think it's mainly considered as old eye-candy that didn't really work so well.

Peace out,

Personally, I dislike it. It worked great in XII because it was copying a comic book style. It sucked in Zelda just because it looked god-awful :(

So it can look good, but I generally am against it.

Quote:

Original post by -t3h- There was this one rollerskating game where you needed to paint over some graffiti stuff (cant remember the name)

Jet Grind Radio (or Jet Set Radio here in the UK)

I've often wondered whether it is used to for the 'reflections' on cars in San Andreas because they are not reflecting anything, just a lighter colour.

Quote:

Original post by Xantan the Foul Personally, I dislike it. It worked great in XII because it was copying a comic book style. It sucked in Zelda just because it looked god-awful :( So it can look good, but I generally am against it.

I completely disagree with you on this [smile]

I thought XIII looked awful and Wind Waker looked gorgeous [grin]

For the record, the term is "cel" in this context, not "cell." Strange, however, as it is an abbreviation of "celluloid," which does have two l's. Presumably the omission of one of the l's was to avoid confusion with the term "cell." It's kind of like the binormal/bitangent issue.

There are many, many ways to implement it and whether or not it looks good depends on a lot of factors. Personally, I find it a distasteful technique mainly because it's so trivial that it's become very overused -- it's the "Hello world," of non photo-realistic rendering.

I think if careful thought goes into deciding if its right that it can be utilized for very good effect. At the same time I agree with MrRage that this is usually not the case and thus it is cheapened.

You should specify whether you're talking about the 2D or 3D version - 2D cel-shading is one of the most common techniques used in games where an anime/cartoon feel is desired, for example Maple Story:


[Edited by - sunandshadow on February 27, 2007 10:53:33 PM]