Beauty in Videogames

[Attilio]

Hi there.

In this period I'm playing Red Dead Redemption, and, along with all the cool features of the game, I've found it extremely beautiful, in the precise sense of the term.

I explained my point of view in this blog entry:
http://www.attiliocarotenuto.com/game-d ... videogames

Beauty is an almost unexplored aspect in videogames. What do you think about it?

[Darien]

I've played several games that I would say are beautiful in that sense; the Baten Kaitos games on the Gamecube come immediately to mind. They were just an absolute joy to behold. So I wouldn't say it's unheard of precisely, but it's not particularly common, and I'd suggest this is likely due to the quantity of environments needed and the fact that they need to serve practical functions in addition to being something to look at.

[Jonas]

There's something about the combination of colours, landscapes and music in Gothic II that affects me very powerfully. That's one example of beauty in video games, but certainly not the only one.

Thinking about graphics more in terms of beauty than in terms of visual performance is certainly something that I wish more people did, though it's not entirely unheard of.

[Ian Snyder]

The unfortunate thing about beauty in games is that they often require clarity above beauty, or at the least, prioritize clarity over beauty. Consider, for example, how the games in the platformer genre tend to follow certain conventions regarding composition. The player must be centered in the middle, the player must be small and the landscape vast; since platformers are largely about planning an efficient course through your surroundings, the player must have the ability to see their surroundings to do so. Generally, the proportion of the ground must be such that it can run along and jumped across. Other genres have their own conventions: graphic adventure games tend to focus on room-sized settings, fps's typically have a gun jutting up in the middle of the composition, abstract or puzzle games such as tetris have compositions based entirely on their self-consistent rules, and so on. Most games' compositions are driven by such utilitarian constraints, determined by however the player interacts with the game.

Not to say that this can't be used to an advantage. Limbo utilizes the small character trope in platformers to emphasize the menacing nature of its environment and the relative powerlessness of its main character against it.

Still, I think we are arriving at a time in game development where we can begin to explore the idea of beauty more fully. Hardware is not nearly as limiting as it used to be.

[Kor]

Above images from http://www.deadendthrills.com - game photography


Screenshot from Iconoclasts. A game I think is beautiful. (Half finished but) available here: http://www.konjak.org/index.php?folder=4&file=30


Sword and Swocery: http://vimeo.com/20379529


Bayonetta: http://platinumgames.com/tag/developer-commentary/

Then there's the abstract art games

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44itXFp-6us

Thats enough image spam for now >:D

[Digitalistic]

I'd agree with Darien and Kor. The beauty you'd see in a game seems like it's almost always derived from it's environments and art style.

A couple examples I thought were interesting:

Okami:

Okami's awesome. If you haven't played it, you really should. I don't think there's a single part of that game that isn't visually striking in some way. This probably has a lot to do with the art style being applied, but even without it, they do a great job of bringing their world to life and making things look like they belong. When a field of flowers starts blooming in front of you, it actually looks like that's what happening, instead of just an animation playing.

Journey:

A game about walking through a barren desert, and somehow it looks great. Lots of sand flying around all over, and every hill, dune, or cliff just looks like it belongs, as if they spent as much time making each one as they did the main character. The game seems to have a lot of ambient stuff just kinda flying around, which does a good job bringing it to life, making it memorable.

Proun

This game is so weird, but oh my god does it look beautiful. I think it would fall under the "Abstract" category. It's like a racing game where the environment is almost completely made of primitive objects. Absolutely great use of color. It sorta just pops off the monitor. I kinda feel like it's a beautiful game more because of it's use of color than anything else. You could take a screenshot of it at any time and end up with something that might be appropriate an art exhibit.

[Kor]

Okami

Still on my to-play list =X

Journey, Proun

HOW DID I FORGET THEM xD
Really really looking forward to Journey, almost more than Deus Ex. Almost... maybe
Also see flOw, flower etc~

You could take a screenshot of it at any time and end up with something that might be appropriate an art exhibit.

That'll be partly due to the fact that its heavily influenced by expressionist / abstract painters like Mondrian and Kandinsky - sauce:
buts its also just awesome :D

[terrawah]

A couple of years ago the artist for Braid wrote this great series of blogs on how he designed some of the set pieces. He talks a bit about how he managed balancing aesthetics with readability; it's all very interesting. I'm sure a lot of people on here have already seen these, but I'll post just in case. It is very informative.

I think Braid is definitely worthy of being called a beautiful game. Every room is just stunning.

[Kizzycocoa]

I don't know about you guys, but I find nearly every Minecraft screenshot to be a form of art in it's own right.

[Kor]

I don't know about you guys, but I find nearly every Minecraft screenshot to be a form of art in it's own right.

I shudder at the giant cube world, with massively overly repeating textures -_-, but you can't beat it in the "players as an artist" / full "presence" in a game world side of things.

[Stephen L (inactive)]

Beauty is an almost unexplored aspect in videogames. What do you think about it?

On the contrary I find beauty to be ubiquitous in videogames.

People seem to be focussing on visual/immersive aspects of games in this thread. I wonder what leads to this focus (it's certainly not the definition given in the article, which seems to have little to do with anything).

[Ed K]

Beauty is an almost unexplored aspect in videogames. What do you think about it?

On the contrary I find beauty to be ubiquitous in videogames.

People seem to be focussing on visual/immersive aspects of games in this thread. I wonder what leads to this focus (it's certainly not the definition given in the article, which seems to have little to do with anything).

Sometimes "challenge" detracts from my enjoyment of beauty. I think this is one of the points being made in the article but I could be wrong. Conversely, there can be a certain "poetry" to game mechanics, especially when these fit together to convey a mood.

Music can obviously be beautiful. Poems can be beautiful too, I think..? (In a sort of composition of rhythm, moods, evocations)

I feel like there's something about the poetry of games that is nebulous and just out of reach. I am far from an expert in poetry.

Talking about non-visual aspects, a friend wrote something about games as music, here.

[Kor]

People seem to be focussing on visual/immersive aspects of games in this thread. I wonder what leads to this focus (it's certainly not the definition given in the article, which seems to have little to do with anything).

I would argue, the definition given has very much to do with immersion - and involves all sensory input (including visual).

Perhaps that nature of our discussion (an online forum) limits our ability to portray the 'perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction' effectively? Images/visuals are quicker and easier to put the point across. "1000 words" BS.
I'd simply hope that if you found interest in a screenshot of a game presented here you might go and experience it for yourself (if you hadn't already).

Personally what lead me to games was the fact that they are(/can be) the combination/mastery/influence of all creative disciplines. Art / Design / Literature / Music / Psychology / Engineering all mixed with interactive user/player/audience input (and what ever other History / Science etc) to provide the most powerful and potentially immersive forms of media/entertainment/experience.

They have the most potential to to impact, to influence the audience. In comparison to a static picture/painting, or singular sensory art form (music), or linear non-evolving/involving (movie).

Alice has environments which I find amazing.
Mass Effect has a world that feels alive.
Iconoclasts has beautiful design, color, animation which impressed me - was disappointed to learn that the creator was no longer going to continue with it.
Sword and Swocery is beautiful in a still, but the experience in itself.. just has to be played :)
Bayonetta's design - the environments, enemies, attacks and gameplay are fucking amazing in my opinion (mute)
and so on.

I would call them all of the above beautiful. Or perhaps I'm using the wrong word and I'm completely off topic =)

but personally I defiantly do not think beauty is an almost unexplored aspect in videogames.

Also "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" BS

Talking about non-visual aspects, a friend wrote something about games as music, here.

Epic subject, thanks for the link. Going to give it a read.

[Attilio]

Beauty is an almost unexplored aspect in videogames. What do you think about it?

On the contrary I find beauty to be ubiquitous in videogames.

People seem to be focussing on visual/immersive aspects of games in this thread. I wonder what leads to this focus (it's certainly not the definition given in the article, which seems to have little to do with anything).

Surely there are a lot of videogames with beautiful environments, but my point was to talk about videogames that put beauty as their main focus.

The definition I give in my article is related to this, since is beauty itself that brings the experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction.

[nyarla]

Surely there are a lot of videogames with beautiful environments, but my point was to talk about videogames that put beauty as their main focus.

This might not be quite what you mean, but I think it's an interesting idea....

Gridrunner Revolution by Llamasoft is a shoot-em-up type game where the trajectory of your bullets can be influenced by the gravity of "suns".. it has a mechanic where the more "beautiful" the curve of your bullet streams, the more points you get. I don't know how it actually works...really must spend some more time with this game..

from http://minotaurproject.co.uk/grr_grstyle.php :

Gridrunner Revolution is intrinsically a pretty simple game to play. The basic essence of it is simply to shoot the things attacking you, to collect the sheepies, and not to die. Basic shooter stuff, and if all you do is stick to those basics you'll have a solid and satisfying game.

Above that level there is a further guideline which will, if followed, yield better scores. It is simply this: if something looks beautiful, then you are getting a better score.

...

Now, on to the most significant idea in all of the gameplay: graceful and interesting bullet trajectories are rewarded with better scores. If you use the game's gravity sources to create lovely-looking flowing curves and intriguing glowing knots out of your bullet trajectories, then you will get more points.

Gridrunner Revolution is, I believe, the first shoot-em-up to employ calligraphy as a gameplay mechanic ;).