Game Art Question...

[Luridis]

As I am working on little projects of my own, I am beginning to see the same terminology barriers exist in game development as CIS or EE also exist in the games industry. When you don't know the industry vernacular for a particular thing or idea, you're at a loss to find help and/or examples.

 

I was watching a video the other day where a guy was talking about "figuring out when two game objects touch or overlap". I realized that without knowing the words "collision detection", finding code examples would be difficult. Now, I've run into the same problem with the artwork in modern games.

 

3D: I know this covers everything in the area: textures, meshes, sculpting, uv & bump maps, shaders, etc.

 

Pixel Art: I know this covers most of the legacy and retro stuff, mostly with tiles or sprites under 512x512 px.

 

What I am trying to figure out is the term used for game art that is both modern and 2D. I'm thinking of things like modern platform or isometric games where the pixel density is high, with 24 bit+ color. There must be a specific term for assets of this type, but I've been unable to figure out what it is as of yet.

 

Thanks...

[Orogun01]

2.5D or 2 and a half D.

Basically fake 2D.

[Luj1]

yup. games like doom or wolf3d

[Blarghagh]

An example I know about it that modders and other non-professionals often refer to creating textures as "skinning" (this was more prevalent before, when 3D modeling was more difficult and most mods were "skin pakcs") whereas in CG art skinning generally refers to the process of binding a 3D model to a rig/bone system.

[Emc2]

There are stuff like pre-rendering (for example backgrounds are 3D render "screencaps" to get the lighting etc. right without having to be a professional artist), Vector art is used to make the graphics more scaleable. If you are looking for high pixel-density assets, it's either vector art or just HD sprites. Can't think of anything else. People usually use "hand drawn" as a selling point, so there's one term.

 

Examples of vector art would be Angry Birds games and Dust: Elysian tail is example of game with HD assets.

 

Generally 2.5D is used to describe games that are processed as 3D but have fixed camera and the movements happen only in 2 directions, or on rare occasions that means games that are essentially 2D but look 3D due to some perspective stuff. SNES had a thing called mode7 (it was used on FF6's airship sections for example, or terranigma's underworld) that was pseudo-3D. I'm not sure how that worked, but it had something to do with asset scaling and rotating, as far as I've understood. Not really a "modern" thing though.

[Orogun01]

There are stuff like pre-rendering (for example backgrounds are 3D render "screencaps" to get the lighting etc. right without having to be a professional artist), Vector art is used to make the graphics more scaleable. If you are looking for high pixel-density assets, it's either vector art or just HD sprites. Can't think of anything else. People usually use "hand drawn" as a selling point, so there's one term.

 

Examples of vector art would be Angry Birds games and Dust: Elysian tail is example of game with HD assets.

 

Generally 2.5D is used to describe games that are processed as 3D but have fixed camera and the movements happen only in 2 directions, or on rare occasions that means games that are essentially 2D but look 3D due to some perspective stuff. SNES had a thing called mode7 (it was used on FF6's airship sections for example, or terranigma's underworld) that was pseudo-3D. I'm not sure how that worked, but it had something to do with asset scaling and rotating, as far as I've understood. Not really a "modern" thing though.

Ok, I don't know the point of your post but I just want to clarify a few things.

 

Pixels and Vectors are two completely different rending methods, Vectors have the advantage of maintaining quality at any resolution and pixels can store more diverse color information. 

 

2.5D uses 3D assets in a 2d manner, if they changed the perspective then it would full 3D. It's developed the same as 3D just with less detail as the camera is fixed on just one perspective (e.g: you don't make the back of a building because it will never be seen as it is an isometric game)

Although the mode 7 is interesting (I didn't knew about it) It is not what is currently used.

[Emc2]

 

There are stuff like pre-rendering (for example backgrounds are 3D render "screencaps" to get the lighting etc. right without having to be a professional artist), Vector art is used to make the graphics more scaleable. If you are looking for high pixel-density assets, it's either vector art or just HD sprites. Can't think of anything else. People usually use "hand drawn" as a selling point, so there's one term.

 

Examples of vector art would be Angry Birds games and Dust: Elysian tail is example of game with HD assets.

 

Generally 2.5D is used to describe games that are processed as 3D but have fixed camera and the movements happen only in 2 directions, or on rare occasions that means games that are essentially 2D but look 3D due to some perspective stuff. SNES had a thing called mode7 (it was used on FF6's airship sections for example, or terranigma's underworld) that was pseudo-3D. I'm not sure how that worked, but it had something to do with asset scaling and rotating, as far as I've understood. Not really a "modern" thing though.

Ok, I don't know the point of your post but I just want to clarify a few things.

 

Pixels and Vectors are two completely different rending methods, Vectors have the advantage of maintaining quality at any resolution and pixels can store more diverse color information. 

 

2.5D uses 3D assets in a 2d manner, if they changed the perspective then it would full 3D. It's developed the same as 3D just with less detail as the camera is fixed on just one perspective (e.g: you don't make the back of a building because it will never be seen as it is an isometric game)

Although the mode 7 is interesting (I didn't knew about it) It is not what is currently used.

 

He was asking if anyone knew any terms for modern 2D game art, or that's how I understood the question. Vector art is modern-ish I guess, and I know it's completely different from pixels. He never really said he wanted pixel stuff, just the stuff they use in modern platformers or isometric games in general, that's why I mentioned the Vector thing, since some people don't know the difference.

 

I just wanted to point out that 2.5D is frequently used "incorrectly". There are games that don't use any 3D rendering/assets, but use purely 2D assets with different algorithms and tricks to add the depth or 3D feel. I just mentioned mode 7 because it was the first example I could think of. Those games are not 2.5D, at least not by your definition.

 

The pre-rendering is a valid thing in modern platformers and fighting games as well. For example Arc System's fighting games (BlazBlue and Persona 4 Arena) use 3D renders as base for the sprites to get all the frames done faster (or so I've heard, don't quote me on that). They then draw the renders to flat sprites and put them in game.

[Orogun01]

 

 

There are stuff like pre-rendering (for example backgrounds are 3D render "screencaps" to get the lighting etc. right without having to be a professional artist), Vector art is used to make the graphics more scaleable. If you are looking for high pixel-density assets, it's either vector art or just HD sprites. Can't think of anything else. People usually use "hand drawn" as a selling point, so there's one term.

 

Examples of vector art would be Angry Birds games and Dust: Elysian tail is example of game with HD assets.

 

Generally 2.5D is used to describe games that are processed as 3D but have fixed camera and the movements happen only in 2 directions, or on rare occasions that means games that are essentially 2D but look 3D due to some perspective stuff. SNES had a thing called mode7 (it was used on FF6's airship sections for example, or terranigma's underworld) that was pseudo-3D. I'm not sure how that worked, but it had something to do with asset scaling and rotating, as far as I've understood. Not really a "modern" thing though.

Ok, I don't know the point of your post but I just want to clarify a few things.

 

Pixels and Vectors are two completely different rending methods, Vectors have the advantage of maintaining quality at any resolution and pixels can store more diverse color information. 

 

2.5D uses 3D assets in a 2d manner, if they changed the perspective then it would full 3D. It's developed the same as 3D just with less detail as the camera is fixed on just one perspective (e.g: you don't make the back of a building because it will never be seen as it is an isometric game)

Although the mode 7 is interesting (I didn't knew about it) It is not what is currently used.

 

He was asking if anyone knew any terms for modern 2D game art, or that's how I understood the question. Vector art is modern-ish I guess, and I know it's completely different from pixels. He never really said he wanted pixel stuff, just the stuff they use in modern platformers or isometric games in general, that's why I mentioned the Vector thing, since some people don't know the difference.

 

I just wanted to point out that 2.5D is frequently used "incorrectly". There are games that don't use any 3D rendering/assets, but use purely 2D assets with different algorithms and tricks to add the depth or 3D feel. I just mentioned mode 7 because it was the first example I could think of. Those games are not 2.5D, at least not by your definition.

 

The pre-rendering is a valid thing in modern platformers and fighting games as well. For example Arc System's fighting games (BlazBlue and Persona 4 Arena) use 3D renders as base for the sprites to get all the frames done faster (or so I've heard, don't quote me on that). They then draw the renders to flat sprites and put them in game.

 

I've haven't heard of many games that used methods other than 2.5D to create faux 3D. Do you know any?

[Luridis]

Thanks for the replies guys... I looked through Steam real quick and found the video below.

 

https://youtu.be/7kQmATPC1fY

 

That's what I am talking about. It's not rendered 3D, but it's also not what I would personally "think" of as pixel art because the imagery is large and detailed enough to be drawn freehand and scanned in to be cropped for game assets. In this game it is also stylized, but I've seen games where that's not the case. i.e. An RPG where the art style is obviously fantasy and looks like it could have been lifted from a D&D book.

[Orogun01]

Thanks for the replies guys... I looked through Steam real quick and found the video below.

 

https://youtu.be/7kQmATPC1fY

 

That's what I am talking about. It's not rendered 3D, but it's also not what I would personally "think" of as pixel art because the imagery is large and detailed enough to be drawn freehand and scanned in to be cropped for game assets. In this game it is also stylized, but I've seen games where that's not the case. i.e. An RPG where the art style is obviously fantasy and looks like it could have been lifted from a D&D book.

Those could be vector graphics it seems, although it is more likely they are high resolution pixels with particle effects and a good shader. I couldn't get a good look at the color information from that video.

[Blarghagh]

Pretty sure they're vector drawings, yes. Drawings and animations that can be scaled because they were drawn in vector programs like Flash or Illustrator. Orogun might be right too, vector drawings are still used but they're kind of out of vogue. They've got that old school Flash feeling to me, though.

 

I think the term you might be looking for is "sprite"? All pixel art in games are sprites, but not all sprites are pixel art. A sprite is just a pre-created character made out of 2D images. An interesting example, look at the original Dungeon Keeper game: The characters are 3D models, but you're not seeing 3D models in the game. You're seeing pre-rendered 2D images of 3D models, so they're sprites. Technically the same as the characters moving around in that video.