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Graphics Matter - Visual consistency and its importance for games. | feutch | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Graphics Matter - Visual consistency and its importance for games.
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[Music]
graphics don't matter I'm sure you've heard this one before It's a common sentiment It's the idea
that story and gameplay are primary and that everything else that surrounds that is secondary
At face value it seems like a no-brainer Of course it's true Why would I care about the visual or
auditory experience of the game if I'm not even having fun interacting with it the game play of a
game is above all else the vital factor Recently though one question has kept rattling around in
my mind If games truly do live or die on their gameplay then why all the effort what I mean by
that is why do we have so many talented artists and designers creating these immaculate worlds
constantly pushing the barriers of visual fidelity and artistry spending ungodly amounts of money to
do so when the crux of a game and its gameplay and by extension the design of its systems which
inform that gameplay are vital Why is it when we see games and experience them talk about them to
others so much of that conversation is framed around fidelity immersion or artistry something
to me just wasn't right Something about the term graphics don't matter just doesn't add up And I
believe I know what it is The term graphics don't matter hinges on a distinct separation between
the vital component of a game its gameplay and everything else that surrounds it I think what
it fails to capture is that the vital component our gameplay is not distinct from everything
else Visuals audio art performances even It all coaleses alongside systems level design UI to
form what ultimately becomes our gameplay the way that we play a game the way that we experience it
So much of our visual experience is filled with noise Skins packs of goodies particle effects
celebrity cameos it's not really a surprise that despite gameplay innovations getting lost into a
game's world is becoming harder and harder There's so much about graphics that we can dive into today
but I really want to focus on that aspect that I just spoke about the visual consistency the noise
because I believe it does in fact matter and it does have a tangible impact on the way we play
games Recently I've been playing a lot of Horizon Forbidden West I went into it with
middling expectations thinking that it would just be background noise to YouTube videos
late at night like so many games are now Another distraction from chores rather than anything that
was of some real substance The reason for this is that it just didn't appear to be systematically
that absorbing Or in other words the game play looked fine passible You shoot dinosaurs really
and you dodge them Cool What ended up happening when I booted it up was quite the opposite
I was immediately drawn in not by its gameplay or its itemization which were as I said fine Not
even by its story or characters or worldbuilding which was again fine decent nothing groundbreaking
No Horizon drew me in because its visuals and the ease in which it allows you to explore them
was enough to get me deeply immersed It was the way in which it presented its world to me How
astonishing that world looked was the hook that became my experience my game play Most obviously
its main draw was the machines the giant robot dinosaurs It's pretty simple to create a techno
dystopian aesthetic We see it a lot in games especially because it really evokes that sense
of mystery and strangely occult fear that games can leverage to create tense experiences What's
difficult though is going further beyond that and using that as a base whilst attempting to
blend it with a very rich and colorful world This isn't a techno dystopia akin to cyberpunk
This is a lush beautiful world and these aren't mindless soulless monstrosities They were created
to reflect and sustain the diverse biology that once inhabited the planet It's not a combination
that's really supposed to work On paper it's a visual contrast that is so stark but through the
sheer attention to detail on display it manages to accomplish this so well that it allows me as
a player to suspend my disbelief despite the impossibility of it all Visual consistency
Every machine looks completely different but they are unified as if they were created by the
same system in the same manufacturing plants which they were Every tribe in the game has
pieces and influences of the previous world plus ideologies and aesthetics that have emerged as
a result of this machine dominated landscape All of their clothes ornaments housing It's
littered with pieces of these machines a looming mechanical presence in an otherwise natural world
Not only that but the remnants of previous times and battles littering the landscape are distinctly
different in their design from the living machines that we fight It all works It all makes sense
within the context of the world And it did so well at allowing me to engage and make sense of
it all In hindsight now that I've completed the game and I'm looking at it from a different lens
not a lot of Forbidden West actually makes any sense at all the plot the inhuman abilities of
its main character the gameplay scenarios that you're placed in they're wild to say the least
And thinking about everything now it's very easy to poke holes in its plot and its setting But the
important part is that in the moment whilst I was going through the game playing the game I
never had a moment where I stopped and questioned the insanity because I was so sold visually that
I could suspend my disbelief The world and all of its quirks made sense in that moment
because I could see it It was right in front of my eyes I dwelled on that for a bit and it got me
thinking what is it about visuals why is visual consistency so important what do we mean when we
say that a game is visually inconsistent that it doesn't have the right look about it the right
feel how difficult is it to make a visually consistent world and how easy is it to make
things feel disconnected and out of place all of these questions are the main topic of today An
exploration into visuals and visual consistency and what it means for games We are in the new
trade of advertising which is an American art form about ensuring people buy the correct things All
right so let's start with the simple part What is visual consistency visual consistency is about
keeping all of the visual components of your game or anything really in keeping with a vision an
idea a set of themes something that you can convey or are attempting to convey It's actually mainly
a term used in marketing It describes the visual consistency of imagery to convey a recognizable
and understandable brand identity In other words these visuals they convey ideas of what a company
and product is And so keeping them consistent helps define a niche and attract the right kind
of customers for your business In terms of games it's a very similar purpose Consistency helps us
identify the scope of the world that we're in It guides the player's understanding of the
limitations and rules of the universe which in turn better equips them to immerse themselves
and invests themselves into a game world similar to the ways in which a customer would invest in
a brand It can manifest itself in many ways consistency of characters and their overall
look the way they are depicted how stylized they are versus the world around them Characters can
visually represent alignments to factions or personality traits through their clothing their
look They can have deformities or scars reflective of their presence in the universe among other
things Characters visual appearances much like their writing and animations and mechanics play a
really central role in any game's visuals But this consistency also extends to the game world its
architecture and design Maybe it reflects or draws similarities to similar eras in time in the real
world or is a display of a development of culture Environments can be and often are thought out and
structured in a way that makes sense within the game's universe and its history Destroyed
monuments signs of battle central hubs of trading they are placed with purpose They depict to us the
player what words or exposition are unable to the real consequence of a game world that has
been lived in by its characters or civilizations who have their own understandings and have made
their own conscious choices Artistic consistency is another one Games can be rendered or colored
with certain recognizable artistic qualities They can use these artistic qualities to evoke emotion
or just simply present a unique style that separates it from other titles in the space
Consistency can take many forms Unlike books where the reader is obligated to fill in the
blanks and create their own consistent experience backed by the descriptions of the world or movies
where every frame can be meticulously perfected to create a sense of visual cohesion Games are
different Games allow the players to absorb worlds with more agency There's a more deliberate attempt
to make you the consumer a part of the universe In doing so they open themselves up to much more
scrutiny by the players that inhabit them It's one of the central components that makes gaming
so special compared to other art forms The ability for the player to interpret inhabit and understand
the work at a level of detail and pace which is determined by them not by the artist It means that
any lapse in consistency or any lack of nuance in design is more easily exposed by willing observers
And because these experiences are often far more consuming of a person's time and energy
errors or perhaps even creative decisions interpreted as misjudgments are exacerbated in
gaming critiques Why do you think he removes their skins agents darling thrown me with your acumen It
excites him I truly believe that one of the larger less talked about impacts of the push into a live
service landscape is the impact that it's had on visual consistency and its priority The games
that have the toughest time remaining visually consistent are MMOs and live service offerings And
this is just purely because of their size scale and longevity The more tight your development
timelines are and the more you focus on building player retention infrastructure models rather
than video games the more difficult it becomes to maintain a consistent visual experience long-term
and still find a way to impress These are also ironically the types of games that are least
motivated to do so These kinds of experiences rely on wow factor the next shiny item that you can
show off in front of your friends and strangers alike And to impress you need to stand out
To generate revenue from the sale of cosmetics there is an inherent requirement to disobey the
rules of your own universe I've seen this sentiment a lot recently with the continued
updates to Call of Duty Black Ops which draws controversy and disgruntles its more
traditional fan base with each new available skin that proudly disobys the tone set by the
Black Ops series and its story For me personally though I felt this same disgruntlement with my
favorite MMO Guild Wars 2 As a launch Guild Wars II player it was easy to notice that as time went
on and development costs continued more and more outlandish and bright skins began to appear in
the game shop More particle effects on brand new in-game skills and just a general vibe that leaned
more into style than substance Both games aren't inherently bad by any stretch but again to remove
the visual equation from things is to ignore a strong part of what makes these experiences what
they are It's by this token that we can start to pinpoint some of the games or rather the types of
games that often do visual consistency really well Either because visuals and visual storytelling is
a pivotal component or because their structure just makes maintaining consistency much easier
Small scale indie games I think are the lowhanging fruit example here It's an obvious advantage of
not having the same development scale but the indie scene nails visual consistency because
it has such a huge advantage in this area compared to double or AAA Usually involving creative vision
and intention of maybe one or a few dedicated artists and storytellers Games like AI Timberborn
Abiotic Factor Signalis these are all games that put visual consistency at the center of their
identity and nail it But beyond that we can see some prime examples of this when looking
at a larger scale To juxtapose the example of Call of Duty let's take another fast-paced
action shooter Insurgency Insurgency follows a very similar formula to the COD franchise
Small maps multiplayer shooting some tactical kit without overdoing it and most importantly constant
action never a dull moment These are two very different games but fundamentally at their core
they share a lot of DNA and they have a similar live service structure Although their pricing
is wildly different I won't add But despite that similarity in gameplay and system and structure
these are two games that attract very different audiences They are two very different visual and
auditory experiences At its core Insurgency has a far greater respect for its theme and its identity
and the result is really an experience that has a much greater sense of immersion The experience
of playing it is more visceral as that respect allows you to really sink into a match mentally
It's a similar story for Battlefield 4 one of my favorite competitive shooters of all time Not
necessarily because its gunplay or progression was that much better than its competition but
because it had this innate quality of pulling me into each of its rounds on a deeper level than
just fishing for badges or rewards or high kill death ratios I was there for the excitement and
the moment and the visuals are a pivotal part of that moment Even when we divert from the realistic
nature and look at games that embrace a more silly poppy stylized approach we can still see
the merits of visual consistency The Borderlands series really comes to mind here for me Say what
you want about its writing but its visuals have managed to evolve in very interesting ways as its
universe has slowly expanded without detracting from its core cell-shaded identity from back in
2009 Proof that elevating your gameplay experience immersing your audience isn't always purely about
realism or fidelity It can be achieved regardless of how outlandish your style is It's achieving it
though that can be a real losing battle We've already touched on the rock and the hard place
of innovation and maintaining interest versus maintaining a visually consistent experience I
think further than that though visual consistency is an imperfectable component because as with all
things artistic much of it leans on the user's interpretation And so anyway um yeah I think this
looked okay It didn't look like super amazing It wasn't like the best game I'd ever seen or
anything like that but I would say that a friend of mine who I play games with hates 2D games He
doesn't really have much of an explanation as to why He just doesn't like him He believes they're
lacking in their ability to immerse him as the 3D space presents a world that just matches better
with his understanding of how a world should look I have another friend who I work with He
is the opposite He hates 3D games He associates gaming with his childhood And since he's older
there's no concept of a 3D video game back when he played them 3D games don't align as well with his
understanding of what a game is Because of that he just doesn't find that they draw him in as often
The point I'm trying to make here is that there is a whole different layer to this conversation
A game looking good a game feeling right it just doesn't come down to its visuals matching some
creative vision or tone or universe It's also about the consistency with the identity of the
consumer As consumers we often gravitate towards experiences that are consistent with our own You
see this a lot with writing and characterization where good characters are the ones that understand
and react to the world and their situations in a way that aligns with what we would deem
appropriate or relatable human behavior but it also extends to the visuals Do characters look and
move the way we believe they should do they feel like we can personally attach to them beyond just
the moments where they open their mouth does the world look and feel a way that I believe it should
does it make sense to me for me personally this is a big reason why when given the choice I gravitate
towards male characters in games because as a male I find it easier to self-insert especially when
the characters are created They have no unique or written background It's not just the gender
of characters though Players will consciously and unconsciously gravitate towards characters that
are consistent with their own individual identity or possess traits and flaws that you can see in
yourself or others Broadstrokes term you'll often hear in other game reviews is that when characters
feel human or when the world feels immersive Now there's a lot to dig into here probably enough for
its own separate video but focusing on the visual Consistency with the identity of the consumer
really boils down to whether or not characters and visuals align with what the player believes things
should look like based on their own understandings life experiences and prior consumption of media At
a surface level this is really simple Does a powerful dragon look imposing and grand like
it should does a wise old shaman have the wear and age visible on their face the look of a life lived
but dig deeper and this topic can become quite unpredictably complicated especially when it comes
to the unfortunately sensitive battleground that is race and gender in games Again there's a whole
lot to dive into here but what I've often found when perusing game criticism in the form of Steam
reviews forum posts or YouTube comments is that much of it arises from games diverging visually or
otherwise with what aligns with players identities Be that women who are perceived to be stronger
than the player believes they should be Ethnicity is present in areas where players believe they
have no place or even small visual cues that awaken negative associations with certain
kinds of people Art is a real complex beast And even if developers are consistent with their own
understandings of a game world its writing its tone the messages that it wishes to convey you
are always at the mercy of interpretation Despite all of that though there is a clearly tangible
difference between games that understand and respect their universe and games that don't Games
that take great care to make sure their visuals are interesting but still aligned with that
central vision making attempts to really build something deeper than just a set of connected
platforms or a scoreboard My point really for this whole video is this If you are struggling to find
games that just fit right that just feel good if you are looking at a landscape of live service
offerings and grandiose AAA experiences that for a more broad or unknown reason simply aren't tapping
into that wonder and immersing you in the same way they used to then maybe what you're actually
looking for is visual consistency It goes back to the very start of this video I think people often
fall victim to that common rhetoric Graphics don't matter that it's gameplay that truly shines And I
think this sentiment comes from a good place Don't judge a book by its cover Understand what lies
beneath and be willing to look beyond the surface to find a great experience I'm fully on board with
all of that But to ignore the impact that expert artistry visual storytelling and just straight up
good graphics have on an overall experience is reducing games down to simply the sum of their
programming which they most certainly are not It's common sentiment that shocking visuals aren't a
barrier to a great experience and that if a game's inner workings its systems and fundamentals are
strong enough that you'll be able to enjoy it all the same But after looking at things a bit
differently I also believe that the opposite is true Weaker gameplay isn't a barrier to enjoy a
game if it can draw you in with great art design or fidelity The extent to which one or the other
has an effect really is dependent on the person And I'm sure you have a good idea of what that
is for you But it's so easy to get caught up in the noise of criticism interpretation Games are
judged in many ways But more recently there's been an alarming trend of declaring the inferiority or
unworthiness of a game purely because gameplay or reward structures do not match rigid expectations
of depth Or perhaps even more importantly this vital element of visual consistency is judged
based on whether or not it is consistent with the cultural and political identity of the people
criticizing it A trend that has sadly befallen all kinds of artistic mediums My advice the thing
that I really want you to take from all of this in the end is trust your gut If something looks
visually appealing if its world is consistently grabbing your eye whether it be through trailers
watching others play or experiencing it for yourself jump in if you can afford to Don't
hyperfixate on gameplay structures reward loops or perfectly interwoven narratives And
especially don't fall victim to the trap of overt criticism based on another's interpretation of a
game's visual appeal Give a visually consistent experience a chance to win you over and immerse
you and let it transform an otherwise middling formula into an experience that is truly special
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