01-25-2015, 05:46 PM
Everyone always likes to do the Gameplay > Graphics thing, but lets not fuck about here. Graphics are hugely important. They add so much to the atmosphere, the gameplay - everything. Journey, Rayman Origins, any horror game, any FPS (say what you like people's heads blowing off is fun). It really annoys me when people throw down the "graphics don't mean much card" because they do, it's just people don't like to say it because of all of sudden "they don't get videogames."
Look at Alien Isolation, the detail in getting all that old-future stuff looking good sucks you into the game. Uncharted with all it's beautiful water and foliage. Last of Us for it's absolutely terrifying death scenes. Pix the Cat for it's crazy bouncing retro goodness.
Hell, look at Pac-man. It's use of big large colourful sprites made it more fun to look at, appeal to a greater audience and made the gameplay easier to understand.
Not everything has to be photo-realistic or have super "real-time" lighting. I'm talking about style. Just like with how your game plays and sounds thinking about how you want it to look is massively important. Would Guacamelee be as good with generic graphics? I don't think so. Would I have enjoyed Rayman Origins as much as I did if it used polygons (aka "2.5D" as the kids call it) - I doubt it. Would Journey have had any impact at all if it looked like Fable - probably not. If Shovel Knight used "flash" graphics like Castle Crashers, sure it would still be good, but it would have a lot taken away from it.
If a game doesn't look good, It's probably not going to peek my interest. Galaxian's simple sprites are beautiful. Titan Attacks! (PS4) might be the better game, but it looked awful. It looked so generic I just couldn't get into it.
Look at all your favourite (or universally agreed "best") games and I think you'll find they all look pretty damn special.
Look at Alien Isolation, the detail in getting all that old-future stuff looking good sucks you into the game. Uncharted with all it's beautiful water and foliage. Last of Us for it's absolutely terrifying death scenes. Pix the Cat for it's crazy bouncing retro goodness.
Hell, look at Pac-man. It's use of big large colourful sprites made it more fun to look at, appeal to a greater audience and made the gameplay easier to understand.
Not everything has to be photo-realistic or have super "real-time" lighting. I'm talking about style. Just like with how your game plays and sounds thinking about how you want it to look is massively important. Would Guacamelee be as good with generic graphics? I don't think so. Would I have enjoyed Rayman Origins as much as I did if it used polygons (aka "2.5D" as the kids call it) - I doubt it. Would Journey have had any impact at all if it looked like Fable - probably not. If Shovel Knight used "flash" graphics like Castle Crashers, sure it would still be good, but it would have a lot taken away from it.
If a game doesn't look good, It's probably not going to peek my interest. Galaxian's simple sprites are beautiful. Titan Attacks! (PS4) might be the better game, but it looked awful. It looked so generic I just couldn't get into it.
Look at all your favourite (or universally agreed "best") games and I think you'll find they all look pretty damn special.