Hello all
Sorry if it's mess.

But i'm questioning the world.. Why there are so few games which are not trying to look like real materials based on?

Please, don't talk about "just cel-shading" - yes there are tons of cel-shaded game but there are just usual graphics with outlines.


I can remember only two games with interesting visual approach.

Killer 7
[media][/media]
There is great work with colours and gradients which are changed dynamically, if you remember.

El Shaddai http://kotaku.com/58...ual-masterpiece
It has wide variety of styles.

Well, for example, there is also a level from Psychonauts
[media][/media]

And i forgot MadWorld, ok.
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So, if you remember, in 80s - 90s 2D games, artists used limited palette - they used painting principes.


The question is not only "Where are?". but also it would be great if you'd talk about methods and ways what could be done?
Maybe smth without cel-shading at all, maybe some other ideas.

You know, there is a photo and a drawing.
99% 3D games tend to be a photo.. Something is wrong

There're a lot more, i.e.
zelda windwalker(Wii)
team fortress 2(PC)
many MMORPGs (including WoW)
L.O.V.E.
many casual games
valkyria chronicles (PS3)
SWTOR
Borderlands
...

NPR games tend to polarize the gamer community and many have a bad attitude to NPR games. In the western culture everything which looks like a comic, is colorful or is exaggerated is often viewed as childish. I think, that it needs some more time to be accepted by the majority of the gamer community, but the industry is already on a good way. Due to hardware restriction, NPR games were quite hard to be implemented a few years ago, but now hardware is more capable, the game community more open, and there're several NPR games with great success, so be patient

Team Fortress 2 - just cartoonish
Borderlands - the answer is "NO", too.
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L.O.V.E. - yes, this is good! Thanks for reminding..

Well, i guess i understand you. People will be bored of crysis-style one day.
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Well, but besides a "comic look".. what about more artful variants? Like that l.o.v.e. that has some pastel things
in its look

Have you seen Braid? Samorost? There really are plenty of different art styles out there, 'though it would be good to see truly interesting styles more often.

Ah? Sorry, but i'm speaking about visuals in 3D only , cause in 2d there is no such problem.

Because detailed textures appeal to people. And the commercial market aims on getting a lot of people play games. It's impossible (or at least very difficult) to make something like you ask with a lot of details and not getting lost in all the details on screen.

I bet if killer 7 would go in production now i would have chosen realistic graphics since in 2002 texturing 3D objects was still very limited where the GPU could only hold like 128Kb of textures. Using the textures like they did back then resulted in a very smooth looking game instead of all those pixelated walls. I bet there are plenty of indy developers experimenting with the idea of using a different style but i don't see big companies take risks any more.

I still prefer unreal tournament 99 to ut3 cause it has better (in archeticture planning) maps and there is no tons of details which runs into the eyes.

So as i understand, mainstream only will continue emulate real-life quality. Only hope for indie-s then.
Ah, btw, thank for answers.

I always thought XIII was pretty cool.

XIII is cool, though it's outlines are a bit "naive".
I'm looking for any new variants also.

So there are two main variants - outlines and midtones\halftones and when textures are like painted.

When you really want to dig into NPR you should think about a few things:

1. It is like a magic triangle. Each corner represents a pure style: realism, abstraction, simplification
Examples:
- realism: a character looks like a real human
- abstraction: a character is just a blue square
- simplification: a character is stripped of all details, looks like a cartoon i.e. simpsons
Each (game) art style could be placed in the triangle, everything which is not really close to the realism corner is actually NPR.

2. From an artistic view, it is not easier to create a simple style instead of a realistic style, thought an abstract style could be easier. Some styles needed less work, but creating a good looking style is much harder when moving into the NPR realm. So, as coder, don't expect to find a good looking NPR style which will take the burden of finding an artist, this will not work as long as you don't choose a strict abstraction direction.

3. Moving away from the realistic corner will alienate more and more people. The amount of people who like or dislike your style depend heavily on culture. A comic book style or toon style is widely accepted in the western culture, thought it is associated with childhood. From a financial view, it is a logical choice to move to a comic style to minimise risk when you choose to utilize some kind of NPR.

4. NPR shading has its roots in improving image perception, these are not artistic roots but, more or less, technical one.
I.e. it is simpler for a child to recognise an image with less details, more contrast (color saturation), and outlines of the shape of an object. They don't use the toon shading to make it look cute, they use it, so that children can catch on what is happening. Going further, Gooch, the pioneer in NPR rendering, tries to improve image perception for technical reason (I.e. you want to improve the visualisation of X-ray images to accent certain medical features).