A Brief Look at Color Palette, by Console

On Color Palettes

Aesthetics is very important to the experience provided by design, and in the past art assets would be constrained by the ranges of color available and the amount of it usable by the given technology, which would constrain the quality of depiction (that is, until higher resolutions and ranges of color gave way to very artistic spritework). Spritework and the use of limited color palettes are still concepts present in today's game design field, and it is important to keep in mind those limitations. Especially in the case of hacked or edited games.

Interview with Lucas Wells, Game Design and Aesthetics

Foreword

I had originally had a different interviewee lined up for my second interview this week, but they backed out at last minute. Thankfully, my brother studies game design like I do, as well as art. In addition, he has served as a playtester before.

In Regards to Games and Aesthetics

Andrew J. Wells: Wells: Salutations! I am Andrew J. Wells, and I've been writing about various aspects of game design for my blog. Could you tell us your name and what you do?

Lucas W. Wells: Greetings, I am Lucas Wells, an amateur artist and game deisgner with a heavy interest in studying game mechanics within the industry.

Andrew J. Wells: I apologize for requesting an interview at such short notice, by the way. My other candidate backed out on me at the last minute. Now, as someone who is fairly aesthetically minded, how do you think art assets can affect a player's experience while playing a game?

Lucas W. Wells: I feel like art assests are a major part of building immersion within a game, and immersion is one of the most important things a game designer can accomplish. I've always been fascinated by works of art that can draw me into their own little world and make me care about exploring and interacting within it. One aspect a lot of more modern games incorporate is incredibly realistic graphics, which do help with increasing immersion because that's what we see in reality, but quality only goes so far. You can build a world the player gets involved in without photorealism. This takes in a lot of factors, but solely based on art and design, the world has to mean something to the user. It has to involve them in someway, by enticing them to investigate, inspire wonder, set a mood, etc.

Andrew J. Wells: I see! In regards to your previous response, what is your opinion on the possible advantages more stylized graphics have over more realistic ones?

Lucas W. Wells: In a sense, I think it forces innovation. Much in the way that photography inspired a lot of painters to break away from photorealistic renderings, as photorealism pushes more and more towards the norm in game art, other devlopers will strain to create more stylized and unique graphics once the realistic ones become boring. A more unique art style might inspire new mechanics, characters, any number of things within games. By breaking one stereotypical design process, developers might become interested in breaking even more conventions, despite the risks.

Andrew J. Wells: Would you say that bizzare or unconventional mechanics or themes would be better represented in stylization then?

Lucas W. Wells: Not necessarily. Realistic graphics can support more unconventional systems and mechanics, the combination of the two would actually be beautifully striking if pulled off well. I was just stating that an unconventional creative start can also breed more creative ideas down the road.

Andrew J. Wells: Fair enough, though I can see a lot of people out there debating that point, it is something of a controversial topic. However, speaking of controversial topics, there are some games out there whose main draw are art and story, with gameplay taking a 3rd or farther chair. What are your thoughts on those sorts of games?

Lucas W. Wells: Can you give me an example of such titles?

Andrew J. Wells: Well, Heavy Rain would probably be one of the more prominent examples, though Space Funeral and a large number of adventure games, such as To the Moon, have faced similar criticism.

Lucas W. Wells: I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing for games to focus on story and art vs. player interaction. Especially nowadays, where big house titles seem devoid of any plot players actually care about, it's good to see a couple independent and lesser known studios bringing a focus back to storytelling. While gameplay is a massive factor in videogames, defining what exactly counts as a videogame in this day and age is an increasingly problematic challenge. Sometimes it's more of an interactive story than a classic "videogame", but I don't think that's a huge issue, as long as you know what you're getting into before laying your money down.

Andrew J. Wells: I suppose the evolution of video games as an industry is bound to create some outliers, but they do have an important place, I agree with you. Anyway, that's all the questions I have at the moment, thank you very much for your time!

Lucas W. Wells: Certainly! Thank you for choosing me to interview with!

Interview with Ben Connor, Sound Design

Foreword

I conducted a brief interview with Ben Connor, known elsewhere as Fyresale, in regards to some of his thoughts on independent games and how music is involved with them. Ben Connor mainly works with music, and is attempting to release his first album some time in December, 2013.

In Regards to Independent Games and Music

Andrew J. Wells: Salutations! I am Andrew J. Wells, and I've been writing about various aspects of game design. Could you tell us your name and what you do?

Ben Connor: Evening, Andrew! My name is Ben Connor, and I train my skills in sound engineering and music composition for various small projects, as well as practice both fields as a hobby.

Andrew J. Wells: Perfect! I've always cared for music myself, just haven't had much in the way of talent. Now, we've worked a little bit together in regards to independent game design, what are your thoughts on the field as a whole?

Ben Connor: In all honesty, I see the entirety of independent development as an excellent opportunity to show what small organizations and groups can really accomplish, given the lack of support that larger AAA development companies usually have backing them up. I've seen plenty of indie titles that have worked out marvelously, due to the ability of creative minds weaving together ideas and different talents to come up with something great. It's honestly pretty admirable in my eyes.

Andrew J. Wells: That's an opinion I tend to back as well; what even small groups or even individuals can accomplish is amazing, given the main video game industry's habit of slower innovation. You do specialize in music though, so are there any independent games that you feel really use music and/or mechanics effectively?

Ben Connor: One of my favorite examples of that is Darren Korb's work on the soundtrack for Bastion. The rustic, blues-ish feel of the music created for that game helped blend the visual style and story fantastically, in a way that I find rare to see and hear. I'm happy to give props to the people who know how to make their music hone in so well to the overall tone and design of their projects.

Andrew J. Wells: Music is certainly quite important to design, I feel that it is sometimes overlooked with regrettable results. I think you may have (but correct me if I'm wrong) played Sequence, which is a very good example of innovation in the rhythm game genre. What is your thoughts on a game that places mechanics and music at its forefront?

Ben Connor: Yep, I have played through Sequence a few times. It'll forever be one of my favorite music-based games, mostly because of how Iridium Studios designed it to revolve around an RPG-esque mechanic alongside its wonderful rhythm aspects. Sequence is an excellent example that rhythm gaming still has breath, since it did what nobody else tried to do by branching out and breaking new grounds, and the developers pulled it off really well in the long run.

Andrew J. Wells: It is a very good example of the sort of innovation you can't see elsewhere in the field. This is more of a music-oriented question, but if you have played some of Space Funeral, how would you say that the music choices made by the game's creator affects the experience?

Ben Connor: I haven't played all that much of Space Funeral, in all honesty. Even though it's been a bit of time since I tried it, I do recall the tone of the music implemented in the game. Like the rest of the game (from what I can tell so far, anyway), I'd say that the music conveys the overall tone of slight confusion and psychedelia fairly well. I'll have to get back into it and continue playing before I'm able to come up with a better impression.

Andrew J. Wells: Fair enough, though just your initial impression is a much appreciated response. That's all I need to ask, at the moment. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts with me.

Ben Connor: Absolutely, I'm happy to do so. Thank you for the interview.