Photorealism
The term photorealism was first used in the late 1960s and early 1970s to describe an art movement where paint was used to create images that were more real than those that could be created using a camera.
Long before digital art, these artists would work from photographs by gridding them up and then recreate the images square by square.
For example, Chuck Close created larger than life portraits that detailed each hair and pore on the skin.
Mark, 1979. acrylic on canvas
The problem for games, unlike films, is that the scene being played has to be rendered in real time. This requires a lot of processing power and is the reason many games have favoured gameplay and interactivity over the way a game looks. For example, Minecraft and World of Warcraft.
However, the desire to create ever-more high quality levels of realism have led to reputedly the most expensive video game of all time, Destiny. There is still a big difference between the photorealism quality of the trailers/cut scenes and gameplay.
Cel Shading
Cel shading or toon shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make 3-D computer graphics appear to be flat by using less shading color instead of a shade gradient or tints and shades.
Cel-shading is often used to mimic the style of a comic book or cartoon. The name comes from cels (short for celluloid), the clear sheets of acetate which are painted on for use in traditional 2D animation.
Here, TheArchivist42 runs through his top 5 cel-shaded games, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Okami, Borderlands 2, The Wind Waker HD and The Walking Dead (interesting in itself because it started out in life as a graphic novel).
Abstraction
Abstraction takes its name from the art movement that began in the late 1800s. It is known for imagery that is non-representational, focussing on shape, colour and movement. There is little or no narrative (storyline).
The first game to fully illustrate this style was Tetris.
Geometry Wars is a game that advertises its abstract qualities in the name.
There are still many current examples of successful games adopting this style. Dyad takes the player through colourful and abstract tunnels.
Exaggeration
This is a very prominent style as any form of public entertainment uses an element of exaggeration to draw in an audience. It also serves to take the gamer into an immersive, alternative world.
Over the top graphics, music and gameplay are used. A good example of this can be found in Anime/Manga inspired games like, Ultlimate Ninja.
However, more conventional party game simulators like Just Dance also employ many of the same visual techniques.
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