Post by Morreion on Jun 21, 2010 8:33:27 GMT -5
Garrett Fuller: The Westernization of Eastern Art in MMOs
MMORPG.com's Garrett Fuller fills in for columnist Jon Wood this week, talking about the trend toward Eastern and Western art styles in our MMOs.
I see what he's saying- old D&D drawings, the Brothers Hildebrandt paintings and The Dragon magazine illustrations formed my idea of the genre's style, so I tend to prefer the Western style. Though I have to admit Aion which was definitely Eastern looked very good.
I also tend to like a realistic style vs. a cartoony style- it took me a while to get used to cartoony WoW. I definitely prefer a LOTRO type realism. That doesn't mean that a stylized landscape approach can't work for me- I liked WoW's landscapes a lot. I just dislike cartoony characters.
Art style is a very subjective and personal thing. It can make or break a game for me. For instance, for whatever reason, EQ2's artistic style never 'clicked' with me. It was subtle, but it was a definite factor in my not staying there long-term.
MMORPG.com's Garrett Fuller fills in for columnist Jon Wood this week, talking about the trend toward Eastern and Western art styles in our MMOs.
When looking at an MMO, what is the first thing that strikes you? Is it the game play, the genre, the world and characters? For me it is the artwork and concepts. Although I do look very closely at the game play and make my final decision on whether or not to play in the end, it's always the visuals the strike me first. Lately with more MMOs being designed in Asia we have seen a trend toward Eastern style or Anime style artwork. Aion is the perfect example of this style, yet TERA which is coming out soon and is made by the old Lineage team seems to be trending back to a more Western style of artwork to appeal to an overall audience. It's not that I am against Eastern style art in MMOs; it is that many times I miss the Western style of design in games. We'll go through some examples and try to explain why art and design can have such a huge influence on a gamer's decision...
As a player I have always looked at screenshots to decide on a game. It is important that the world I plan to spend hours and hours in appeals to my own visual tastes. We cover all kinds of topics here at MMORPG mostly focusing on game design and theory. Art is a tough one and something that is truly personal in appeal. Yet it is the one thing that will drive us to pick up a box in your local game store. I can remember looking at the old D&D Monster Manual for the first time when I was 7 years old. The artwork still remains in my consciousness as a staple for what appeals to me, even though they were just simple pencil sketches. I am very curious how much art and style play into your game purchasing decisions? I would encoruage the fourms to open up on this issue. You cannot really argue about another person's taste, but more importantly, does artwork play into your game buying decision? When you think about it, the world you'll be playing in during an MMO is pretty important given the amount of time you spend there.
I see what he's saying- old D&D drawings, the Brothers Hildebrandt paintings and The Dragon magazine illustrations formed my idea of the genre's style, so I tend to prefer the Western style. Though I have to admit Aion which was definitely Eastern looked very good.
I also tend to like a realistic style vs. a cartoony style- it took me a while to get used to cartoony WoW. I definitely prefer a LOTRO type realism. That doesn't mean that a stylized landscape approach can't work for me- I liked WoW's landscapes a lot. I just dislike cartoony characters.
Art style is a very subjective and personal thing. It can make or break a game for me. For instance, for whatever reason, EQ2's artistic style never 'clicked' with me. It was subtle, but it was a definite factor in my not staying there long-term.
