Old Games Had Better Graphics

Old Games Had Better Graphics

A Video Too?

This write up is actually meant to accompany a video I made. Check that out at https://youtu.be/J3PhkOCOGTg.

What are graphics? 

Graphics are digital artworks. They are meant to convey an idea, much like any piece of art. 

What are old graphics? 

The last great “old looking” game in my opinion is Black Ops 1. So I’ll be sticking to 2010 and older.

Rococo for the Blind

Complications Don’t Ease Simpletons

We start our journey with one of the most well known triptych pieces in art history. The Garden of Earthly Delights is a painting that depicts Earth as it was in the beginning of the story of Genesis. It was started in 1490 and took 20 years to complete. Upon opening the painting in the middle, a second, trifold painting is revealed. On the left, Bosch depicts the Garden of Eden, Earth as it was when first touched by God. In the middle, the painting matches the left-most tone but tells a much different story. Mythical creatures intermingle with humans, who interact through carefully planned positioning. On the right, a tonal shift. Hell becomes one with Earth as cities burn. The liminal nature of the entire painting is transferred to the figures who invade the right-most side.

The Garden of Earthly Delights is a piece that can’t be fully understood in a single art appreciation attempt. Even after a dozen viewings, untold stories will reveal themselves within the painting. It’s safe to say that the use of advanced art techniques has given Bosch a rarely found ability.

So the question is, why does the general population ignore pieces like this one?

Simplicity Doesn’t Ease Genius

Now let’s come face to face with one of my favorite pieces. Bob Ross’s Quiet Stream was painted in 1983. The painting was completed start to finish while recording a half hour long Joy of Painting episode. The painting itself depicts.. A quiet stream. That is all. A gentle trickle of water parts a grassy hill. Bob Ross utilizes a specific painting method that produces fast results. Broad strokes and aggressive brush presses create rough ideas that become abstract on close inspection. Still, when I rank my favorite paintings, Quiet Stream sits comfortably above The Garden of Earthly Delights. If I had to guess, I’d say by brain prefers seeing the bigger picture all at once. A busy work may be a fun experience, but it isn’t something I can grasp with a glance.

I don’t think my opinion is necessarily a special one. It isn’t controversial to say we want to enjoy something for relaxation’s sake. More often times than not, I would rather appreciate a simpler graphic over a complex one, even if that means sacrificing high amounts of effort and story telling. Sometimes I simply want to enjoy a quiet stream. We can dig further though. In an effort to make simple art, new metas are created. A feel a new chapter coming. 

Bob Ross: The Lil Wayne of Painting

Bob Ross perfected a technique that allows for great imagery with very few brushstrokes or moments of intense thought and planning. His outlook on making mistakes and placing props on landscapes in itself has opened a door to a meta that calls for no planning whatsoever. 

In similar form to Lil Wayne, Bob Ross helped revolutionize how art is made. Rather than worry about carefully constructed pieces, these two work to create a new standard within their understanding of art. You wouldn’t listen to a Wayne song for his ability to structure a song or test his vocal range. No, you listen to Wayne because you understand what he’s going for and can appreciate what aspects of art he decides to focus on. He, much like Bob Ross, does what he does well given the limitations set.

When I look at graphics in video games, that same concept applies. A low poly world, hardware-limited or not, is set with the task of being immersive without the luxury of HD textures and large object counts. In the same way complex graphics can impress due to the immersion they bring to the table, not-so-complex graphics can impress due to the immersion they portray. 

Aesthetics

The Basics of Aesthetics

In order to discuss aesthetics, we must first understand what the word means, and more importantly, how it operates mechanically.

Aesthetics have to do with appeal. It’s the how and why something excites the brain. Visual stimulation can take you back in time to places you’ve never been. Sometimes it helps us understand things that are purely abstract.

Color palette is key in determining mood. We often associate colors to feelings. A mix of colors can work to organize and balance visuals, while other mixes can cause messiness.

Space comes hand in hand with color. Long gaps in color and shape create room, whitespace for our mind to travel. Placement in design is key.

With placement comes composition. Angles and alignment such as the rule of thirds help catch the eye. The brain is drawn to things in specific areas of our vision. 

All of this leads into contrast. Focal points, mental lines drawn between shapes, colors, and their position give us an understanding of those objects as a set. Scale among these elements feeds even more into this.

Everything I’ve touched on is only visual. Games allow us to experience visuals, sound, and haptics in strings of time, preset by creatives in spaces that they imagined. 

Setting a Vibe

Max Payne came out in July of 2001. The PS2 and Xbox were all the rage at the time. The Xbox wouldn’t come out for another four years and the PS3 for five. At this point in consoles, there was no way to give an accurate rendition of the world. Even if a game were to attempt to reflect on the world we live in, it would be forced into a box of limitations.

Max Payne is exactly this. It was an attempt at taking the audience to, what was then, modern day New York. With almost no room to focus on realistic graphics, the developers instead spent their time setting a mood– creating an aesthetic with the resources they had. In doing so, they gave us a dark, dingy version of New York; one that focuses on feelings of fear and loneliness. Max traverses through vast spaces inhabited by next to no one. Lighting effects are crude and therefore the textures of the walls are forced to be representative of the tone. 

The Max Payne developers had to set aside the skills that create realistic environments for the sake of portraying their image with the limitations set by the technology at the time. 

Limits, Artificial or Not

It’s safe to say that Bob Ross had unseen skill under his belt. Given enough time, whose to say he couldn’t have painted his own Garden of Earthly Delights? Although potentially limited by his capabilities, it isn’t far-fetched to come to the conclusion that his limitations were less technical and more artificial. Either way, it doesn’t change the beauty that he managed with what he was given and gave himself. 

Ross giving himself only a half hour to work with, and no planning ahead, hindered his final product. With hindrance comes adaption. With adaption comes growth. Ross’s paintings were unique because of the challenges he faced. The same applies to games.

Let’s say I turn on a new game: Cyberpunk 2077. Cyberpunk is meant to transport you to futuristic settings with never before seen architecture and technology that oozes with creativity. The characters have textured skin that moves fluently with their animations. The walls crack and indent as if they had existed for decades. Rain puddles bounce neon lights into the player’s view. Walking down the street reveals hundreds of interactions between non-playable characters, each with unique style of dress and attitude.

As game graphics improve, accuracy does too. Game developers have had years to fine tune assets and develop game engines that allow light to bleed into worlds, much like it does in reality. Cyberpunk 2077 is the Garden of Earthly Delights. Fully understanding the game aesthetic-wise may be impossible within a lifetime. Games like these are examples of artistic direction with almost limitless bounds. Modern games offer a unique experience: Entering a new world with almost no need to read between lines. Interpretation lost to vivid imagery. Modern games are clear as day.

Let’s return to Max Payne. Max is a jpeg– an image creased to fit his rough outline. He walks alone down hallways that are blurred and pixelated. Snow particles dissipate into nothingness, refusing to gather on the white-stained ground. The world is barren. No one is found when walking the streets. No one greets Max when he opens the door. The only people Max finds have guns pointed at him. The only people that haven’t wished death upon him are his dead wife and baby. 

Max Payne is a product of limitation. Accuracy is not afforded. There was not enough time or processing power to create a world in which we may relate to. Max Payne experiences a universe of jagged edges and matted color. Walls are flat with no nuance. The opportunities of today are nonexistent when Max Payne experiences nightfall.

Broad Strokes

Crude landscapes transport the viewer to the base of mountains and quiet lakesides, proving that aesthetic does not solely lie among masterpieces. In fact, a piece that has come to fruition from uncommon viewpoints has the capacity to take us to places that may only exist in the abstract. Anyone can comfortably place themselves in a realistic futurescape, but to ask of someone to contemplate a life within the truly alternate becomes a bit more difficult.

Before we move on, I want to make it clear that I enjoy all sorts of settings and art styles in games, but nothing scratches the itch quite like the odd worlds that form from limitation.

Function over Form

Functional Minimalism

If a painting may take hours to understand, a game may take years. A simple game may take months to digest. This gets us into the untraveled waters of another write-up I have planned. I’ll briefly touch on it here.

Functional Minimalism is a concept that I have made up, although credit is probably due somewhere. The idea is a promotion of minimalism for the sake of taking bites you can chew. Let’s try an example:

Say I won the lottery today. Surely there would be some changes that happen as a result. I may buy a house, add some more old hardware to my collection, go to the doctor more often. One thing I wouldn’t do is buy multiple cars. But why? Well, it’s simple, I’m not a big car guy. Multiple cars would be overwhelming. My willingness to be a single car dude may seem mundane, but it’s a state of mind that can be expanded to everything in life. 

I’m quite fresh in my journey to simplify my life down to what I can reasonably handle. Entertainment is definitely one of the main categories I’m working on. I’m investing in owning what I enjoy and evaluating what it is I actually like. 

For me personally, I like media with replayability and a realistic amount of content to experience. Having knowledge of a majority of the stuff I own is important to me. I may appreciate a big beautiful game with endless things to look at, but I’d be lying to myself if I thought I’d ever experience even fifty percent of what the universe had to offer. Simple graphics don’t hurt replayability and, if anything, make me feel more accomplished in my goal of understanding the game nearly fully.

Ease of Access

A lesser point before I close this out, lesser graphics means smaller file sizes. Smaller file sizes mean more content fits onto a disc and more on the disc means more game you actually own. Not only that, but lesser graphics equals lesser hardware requirements. Accessibility is important in any hobby and gaming is no different.