Welcome, in advance, to those of you who may wander this way from my article over at Slashdot.org - “Realism vs Style: the Zelda Debate”. Or, if you’re just bumming around Heroine Sheik, feel free to send the traffic flow the other way and check out the piece. The article tackles that age old gaming question of realistic versus stylized graphics, and attempts to make heads or tails of who’s on what side, and why. And the lovely people at Slashdot have been kind enough to add some pretty screenshots for your viewing pleasure. If you have something to say about the piece, just gaming culture in general, feel free to leave me a comment or write to me at bonnie [at] heroine-sheik [dot] com. Other than that, I hope you enjoy the site!
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September 6th, 2005 at 3:30 pm
That was all very interesting and well-written. Kudos go out to you, little lady.
*continues eating ramen*
September 6th, 2005 at 3:46 pm
Great article. Nice to see the topic given some balanced and much needed discussion. I think that a balance can be struck between the two visual styles and work within the same title. Many games have been successful have been successful using realism as have ones that are hugely stylised.
Realism is much easier to create because it can be based on tangible rules and looks. Coming up with a cohesive visual style that is appealing and intuitive on different levels is a much harder bag.
This is the first time I’ve come across your site, and I love it. Have read quite a bit now. Keep the great work coming.
Benji
September 6th, 2005 at 5:08 pm
Thanks for your support, and glad you enjoyed the article (and the site) - Little Lady
September 6th, 2005 at 8:36 pm
My first job in the video game industry was doing computer art for a company that I won’t bother naming that did really bad educational games back in the late 80's (I was still in High School, I'm not THAT old). They also ran an after school tutoring school where I also taught. My friend Andrew would still be programming when the kids came in. The kids would see the stuff he was working on and would constantly ask, “Did you draw that?”
He finally got tired that nobody ever said “Did you program it to do that?” that he finally just started saying, “Yes, yes I did draw that.”
It really got me thinking about just how visually oriented we are. We do judge a book by its cover as the adage says. It’s much easier for us to investigate something based first on how it looks and everything else second. It isn't just video games its pretty much everything: we pick up books off the shelf because of the cover, going to buy a car we try out ones that look nice, we hit on girls/guys because they are handsome/pretty. It is much rarer and usually because of an added variable that we would read a book that we know nothing about if not for the cover (recommended by somebody or known author), buy a car based on how it drives with no thought to how it looks (blind want ad, strict monetary budget, sold by friend/relative), get to know somebody personally before seeing what they look like (met online, blind date).
I played Wind Walker and had no problem with the graphics; I even liked them for what they were. I like the cartoon look of World of Warcraft over a lot of other game's attempts at realism. Though now that I think about it other game's attempts at realism sometimes turn me off because of how off the mark they are. I hate EQ II's attempt at realism because it looks flat and plastic but love Battlefield II's realistic graphics because it looks so good. I honestly can't say how I would react to seeing Battlefield II on the computer store shelf with cell shaded graphics screen shots if it had the same base design/setting. Maybe I wouldn't have tried Wind Walker if it wasn't a Zelda game.
I guess the point is you do what you have to do to get somebody to try it and then once you have them hooked, and then you worry about reeling them in. It isn't like the developer can just project into your brain the feeling that the game is fun without having you make the conscious decision to try it first.
-Joseph-
www.working-as-designed.com
September 7th, 2005 at 3:14 am
Thanks for providing such an interesting and valid article about such an anticipated game.
After now going out and buying a GC to play Wind Waker, I am desperately waiting for a Zelda game that can cut it with the rest of the gaming world in terms of gameplay, graphics and maturity levels.
Thanks again.
Luke
September 7th, 2005 at 5:39 am
Thanks Luke! And Joseph, that’s an interesting point, though you also have to remember that some people would pick up Wind Waker specifically for its aesthetic appeal. We often assume in the gaming world that the quality standards most of us hold are the quality standards for all. In fact, certain subsets of the culture (for example, female and Japanese gamers) might actually have a reaction to visuals that you find counter intuitive. Just something to think about.