Comparing Different Game Art-Philosophies (SPOILERS)

[@TheRoyalSkies]

What art style do you prefer? Traditional, Hyper Detailed, or something in between?

[@RaichuWizDom]

Definitely in-between. I prefer and want to aim towards a design that's simple to read as what it is in its generalities, but with enough detail to give it uniqueness. Though, the other way around works, too, grouping by detail. Gaul men in fiction, for example, are easily recognisable by their beard and moustache style. You look at an Asterix comic, you can tell on sight who's a Gaul and who's a Roman. You see that style of moustache elsewhere (Red Foot Zef from One Piece, for example), you easily recognise where they got it from. But you can also still tell different characters apart. The general design is different, but the detail of the moustaches tells you characters belong to the same category. But on the main question, if I have to pick between one or the other: traditional. It's easier to read, it's a better starting point. Make a traditional design first and add detail as desired. I've seen the 30 to 60 ratio tossed around for detailed area versus area of rest, that's a fine enough ratio to start from. For examples, League of Legends is good at this balance. You have a plethora of sword fighters in general design, but they have distinct styles and emphases to set them apart, from broad-built Garen to iai-focused Yasuo... even the way they walk and carry their sword is recognisable and distinct within the game. And then there's animal characters, of course. I'm okay with stylisation, but you run into problems so easily. Pokémon's style is fine and it's iconic, but half the time you can't tell if a 'Mon is covered in fur or scales or even steel. I've seen people do fanart of reptilians where it ended up looking like an amphibian, and when pointed out, turns out the original looks like that, too. Just... no. It is not okay to have a desert-dwelling, xerophile monster look like it has a skin that needs constant water and would shrivel in direct sunlight. Tl; dr stylise, but make sure your end result still looks like what it's supposed to be. Edited for clarity, and so as not to dodge the actual question.

[@CRUMVIII]

Either traditional or something in between. More often than not the hyper detailed ones tend to come across as too noisy/busy and I don't even know where to begin looking.

[@GrinstCravtTV]

Of course all say between. But a real problem to bring this idea to life. It's deep system of trade-offs.

[@Libyan_Bayonetta]

one question. dose stellar blade had a ufc uniform outfit?

[@Chillin-jg8vg]

In between If I had to choose traditional or hyper though I probably choose Traditional since I don't have to look all over the character compared to Hyper I think if you have an artsyle that's great but simple designed than your good compared to having a hyper design that's generic I rather watch something with a great artsyle but it looks simple like DBZ compared to a show like Isekai anime which has a colorful design but looks generic

[@mataeria]

Just found this channel, and i gotta say as a huge fan of both Nier and SB i really liked this video and the animation one. Subbed right away! I wish the videos were longer tho, in both animation and art style there is so much to talk about in both these games (combat animations are next level, and both art styles are super prominent in every detail, environment and character) and i love the way you presented your analysis, could've easily watched a 30-40 minute video, one for each topic lol. Hope you'll do something more in depth in the future, it's great content and the art and talent put into these games usually goes kinda unnoticed. Keep it up!

[@rodneyabrett]

A lot of classic character concept art was simple because of the limitations in polycount at the time. If you look at old Jak and Daxter model sheets for example, the goal was to focus on larger bold, distinct shapes that are readable from a distance as well. Details like zippers and buttons weren't a thing until texture map sizes and polygon counts got high enough to support them. When I worked on PS2 games, we had to test how the assets would read on a CRT TV with composite cables hooked up to a PS2 dev kit. If shapes were too small, they would disappear and look bad. Today, this sort of became a deliberate stylistic decision(like SIFU) instead of one driven by hardware limitations.

[@DannyKS3D]

This is so awesome! You've just made a really digestible breakdown of what I've been thinking about Character Design for past decade, but haven't found a way to convey it.. I was wondering too why studios going wild on character design now, instead of back then when they made it really simple.. and found the answer with your video: Sensory overload. 🥰

[@ConcavePgons]

There's still a lot you can do with the Traditional (Simple) style today. Just look at modern anime/manga character designs outside of video games. The characters have to be simple (in comparison to games) so they can be relatively quick to redraw over and over again. If anything, I think the reason character designs for vtubers and videogames are getting Detailed is because once they create the character's model, they can get a lot of potential usage out of it without too much additional work (Ex: Reusing certain animations or using the model to make videos and streams for vtubing). Characters made in 2D are able to get away with more Detail by using cutout animated mesh rigs such as the ones in Live 2D or Spine, which are much easier to animate compared to redrawing them over and over again. This type of design is more practical for today's 3D/2D rigged animation. Especially since the technology is able to keep up with rendering them.

[@ariesdemiurge]

I mean the real trick to overdesigning really is more to focus on silhouettes, filling the inside of the shape with greebles but highlighting central patterns. Whether it's visors like Isaac Clark, Master Chief, or a modern Kamen Rider, or a helmet shape like with Saint Seiya. I have a hard time remembering most Gold Saints' body armor but if you show me their helmets or shoulder pauldrons I could easily tell you "OH! That's Scorpio Milo!" Also if you count patterns, there's Spider-Man. If you've tried drawing those damned webs, you know why other Spideys either don't have them, or shrink the web area.

[@VoltGraphics]

Fantastic and insightful video

[@dpolaristar4634]

TBH I find the Genshin characters pretty recognizable to me they seem pretty distinct from the other random Google image examples you were showing on screen.

[@invarkul7831]

Fr. I can't name a singe objectively bad genshin character design

[@GhostEmblem]

@@invarkul7831 Gorou? I just picked the one I liked the least.

[@hireathecho4]

@@GhostEmblem I don't love his design, but it definitely isn't bland

[@Christian___]

I thought your distinction between designing characters for transient attention-grabbing versus designing characters for recognisability was very insightful; I'm not sure I agree with your assessment of how hard it is to do that today, or the need for a character to be perfectly original to be iconic--Mickey Mouse was basically a generic 1920s cartoon character after all.

[@ModernDayGunSlinger]

Nice take on the simple vs hyper detailed artstyles. I always referred the latter as Bayification in reference to the Michael Bay Transformers movies. I thought it of mostly as a studios needing to justify the investment into higher graphical fidelity, but you're totally right that the insane amount of details is very eye-catching, even if those minute details are forgotten. Personally, I'm all for simpler designs as I find the contrast and flow of the character elements to be much more easy to digest, and more memorable.

[@lapiswolf2780]

At the beginning, I had no clue what was censored. Both versions look basically exactly the same.

[@CallanElliott]

I'd contend that the simple design built for recogniseability just takes me skill. Look at Ghost from the second MW2, how many people fell in love with what amounts to a dude in a ski mask and black tactical gear? He's arguably among the most generic soldiermen in history.

[@SianaGearz]

Curiously Paimon is very recognisable in Chibi form, sooo... there isn't really a lot of crazy key detail to it. I mean there sort of is but you can simplify it the fuck out and the design still works. But then it's also sort of the mascot.

[@samizo5842]

Very informative, that's why I love this channel One day I will be back for game dev ❤

[@dreamingacacia]

who knows? In the future people might preferred minimal but iconic design once again. I personally like minimal designs because they're simpler to make.

[@Suirioujin]

Sky ace is also mu favourite skin fot Eve, it's simple, but I really like it, I really like the belt just hanging

[@Yumiter123]

Thanks 👍

[@abdosak9811]

great as always, you're the best

[@telefrag.]

I disagree with your assessment of Eve's design. If she relies on large shapes of volume (hair) and color (suit) - it's a traditional design. Details don't matter in that case, they are visible only under close examination. Just like FF7 remake characters, they retain their original shape design, but under closer look they've been modeled with a lot of realistic detail on their clothing.

[@KinnikuGameDojo]

Detail follows structure. Detail is nothing without structure. Bigger shapes matter most in everything.

[@herbertcoxe3601]

I mean Eve’s design can 100% be iconic, most characters are actually judged based on their personality and looks are loved over time, but yes design wise only I think that 2B is sexier than that matters to me but I think that Eve has a better overall design even though it’s close, because they are fairly similar in the smaller details, we are talking about opinions here, if you said pick one I’d pick 2B but there’s a problem… 3 problems 1: 2B is a standard not because she’s designed so well but because yes she’s hot and the game is good, look at Lara croft… simple design, hot, games are good so she’s iconic and any character that hot and in a good game with a well done design will make the cut, I don’t feel like 2B has a special design and you can’t do better when you can do way better but still she is iconic and a great character 100% I love her still, I’m saying she’s not the bar just part of it. 2: in my opinion Eve’s skin suit is better than 2B and Eve’s green planet diving suit, I also think that Raven’s suit that you get is better overall as well, Black rose is also better overall, the 6th planet diving suit is also better overall, Daily force is also better, I think that all these outfits are just better than 2B by far but that’s my point Eve has a lot of outfits and that makes her designs better because there’s something for everyone, a lot of people think 2B looks stupid and that actually makes sense, I don’t think that but I understand how someone could think that and same for Eve, but Eve has more options you can’t have a different styles of outfits if you only have one, it’s a bad thing in my opinion to try to make one design that is just the best it’s not possible, there’s not one character that has ever been made that can’t have a better and more iconic design as a simple character. 3: 2B’s design is usually features that Eve’s main outfit doesn’t have and if it does they would be close… let’s now talk about the facts not opinions, Showing more skin on a character design will make men pull towards said design, 2B shows more skin, picking black or white for a outfit design is going to have men pull towards said design, men objectively find dresses to be sexier no matter the place or time, especially over pants, men also love thigh highs, the part at the top where you can see the thigh being hugged to death yeah that dives men crazy for some reason I don’t know, but my point is any outfit that doesn’t have this stuff is already at a lost outside of anything else. Eve’s design can’t compete with features that can’t usually be competed with… if you cut Eve’s green suit into shorts or short shorts, gave her thigh highs, made her outfit black and white, most men would out right like her design more closely because it’s just basic male logic. But I’m really just saying, it’s not actually a big deal or anything. I just understand that using the base things that men like in a outfit will make them like that outfit, 2B is iconic because of that not because she’s so well designed… any character could do the same with these changes as long as the character’s personality and gameplay is also likable.

[@Nekotico]

Guys, have he ever made a video explaining how to make a good portfolio? I hear a lot opinions on how to approach, since artist that said "you have to vary your style, can't do all the time same cuz 1 piece will be basically the same that the other u have and most clients will look one or 2", and there is the other one that says , find a style you like and go ahead, I'm fighting so hard to not do anime style which is my favorite and the one I do the best, so I'm doing comic, toon, hyper realistic realistic (I hate it cuz takes so much time and I really don't enjoy doing it), and we'll I think I'm doing a mess on my portfolio and wasting time, any opinion also is welcome

[@wyrmlingable]

Hyper detailed (of this kind) = overdesigned. They're literally designed to be disposable and they're without creativity, making them seem algorithmic, which many of them kind of are. New iconic characters are still being made today, but they're not this overdesigned stuff. The better comparison, I think, is balanced/recognizable/streamlined vs flashy/loud/busy, or something like that. Eve, for all her detail, is in the former category. She's easily recognized, a balanced design, the details are smoothly integrated. She doesn't stand out because of being flashy. The latter category is easy. Not in that it doesn't take time and effort, but in that it lacks unique characteristics that take thought and creativity.

[@jimcarrey2866]

I didn't understand why I hated her default green outfit but, after playing it started to like it. Up close it's overly detailed and I hated it. But the transparency from far away hides the tiresome details. From a distance, her silhouette is much more lean and simple, the bright metallic green jumpsuit with white accents pops off. I hope they don't remove her side pony bc that's like removing Dante's trenchcoat, it's her signature

[@gungdesurya]

That's a little bit unfair when you compare simple design with their rendered gameplay image and hyper design with their splash art image. if you compare it with navia in her gameplay we still got your point. I mean your hyper design example is little bit too extreme

[@USER_3d]

You are right and I see the point BUT Genshin is probably the worse example you could bring to the table Genshin characters are overworked, the art on genshin impact is objectively for sure comparable or even better than final fantasy it obviously is not the same register and not comparable at all since its different, but keep in mind you not liking genshin characters or projecting love for ff doesn't change it

[@chengong388]

there's physics based movement in more than just hair and clothing for EVE...

[@Brou15O]

i also perfer the simple approach. with my characters im going to lean simple with some more interesting details depending.

[@ComplexAce]

Try checking Punishing Grey Raven, it's one of the best games I played which combines both concepts.

[@BlackMita]

The 2nd design philosophy is just cope.

[@S0m31wh0ush0uldntca3]

Great vid!

[@penguindragonts5152]

I thinks it’s less about art style and more about modern games try (and/or are just able) to emulate reality more. 🐧🐉

[@GrayghostAlpha]

For me: Hybrid > Traditional > Hyper Detailed.

[@Slydime917]

Oh my god why is there so much AI in your examples and in Google search in general... it all looks the same and it's crap. Also Genshin characters are VERY iconic. You can tell who it is just by their silhouette. It's the worst example you could've used. Also THANK YOU for showing this boss at 10:28, it looks SOOOO COOL. Angelarium looks epic as hell.

[@techgaming8940]

Bro make new anime character series ❤❤❤😊😊😊😊😊

[@Christian___]

I don't really consider the Nier Automata character to be an iconic design, it just looks like a generic anime girl with a French maid outfit on. That whole modern pseudo-anime art style is so restrictive that it's really difficult to tell characters apart from each other, even male and female faces look very similar--it's more about achieving the look of the art style than it is about creating characters. The only way you can tell them apart is clothing and accessories, which is bad design.

[@sfadasfsfds3208]

quantity over quality is definition of modern day design and it works but it kinda sucks

[@sfadasfsfds3208]

I don't agree with the idea that you cant make a better kirby like character though. Those characters are already influenced by another iconic character that looks like them. Eve is literally an example of 2b like character design.

[@hijarian]

PS5 exclusive... 😭😭😭