Computer Game Graphic Types

2D Sprites

2D sprites are images used to represent a thing in a game, these things can be characters (main player or sub playable characters), objects (capsule, coin, fruit), enemies (big bad a baddies, mobs, creeps), etc. Everything (except the background image) are sprites in a 2D game.

In this image of mario we can see loads of different sprites like mario, mushroom, blocks, tubes, etc.

Different types of sprites

3D Isometric Sprites

A 3D isometric sprite is a 3D model of a character, object, and enemy and with that model you take an image of it at isometric angle. They do this to give the image depth and give the illusion of 3D but requires a lot less graphics to process so that low powered machines can run them. The sprites are made like a 2D sprite (Frame by frame) and are used in a games like sims, strategy games like command and conquer and most MOBA type games like DOTA (Defence of the Ancients)  and LOL (League of Legends).

 

Concept Art

Concept art are the initial designs for a game and are what the rest of the games development team have to base their work on. Concept art is needed for virtually everything in the game like characters, weapons, vehicles, environment, etc. Once the concept art is made 3D modellers can start working on these designs and create the concept art as a 3D model and add other details if needed. Concept artist are usually freelancers that go from one job to the next and are only really needed at the start of the project.

 

Textures

When a 3D model is created it is made in a shade of grey but that is no good in a game, so it needs colour. Textures are those colour that are applied to a 3D model. But in order to apply the texture the 3D model needs to be “unboxed” so to say where we need to unfold the model so it is flat add the texture and rewrap the model back together. There are different types of textures like Normal map, colour map/diffuse map and a specular map. A colour map is when we add all the colour to the model (the end result looks like this). A specular map is used to add shine to the model, the model is made up of black and white colours and the white parts represent shine/highlights and the black is not shine (Matt). The last one is a normal map which is coloured in blue and give fine detail to models like scratches.

Colour Map

Normal Map

Specular Map

All three of the same texture

 

In game Interface

An in game interface are feedback and interactive images that appear on screen. In a game you will have a heads up display (HUD) which will give simple but useful information to the player like (maps, remaining ammo, what button needs to be pressed to interact with something, etc. The graphics needed to make a game interface are 2D images that represent each thing on screen like icons that represent the weapon equipped with the amount of ammo left, minimap, etc.

In this example there is a minimap at the top right, remaining missiles just below it, health bars at the top of the screen, a radar at the top left, the current type of weapon equipped at the bottom right.

Printed media

There are different types of printed media used in video games like Box art, manuals, posters, etc. These are one of the most important aspects of creating the game because they will be the first impressions that the player see’s when he walks into a shop or looks it up online and can determine if they buy the game or not. The art used on these need to be eye-catching and show what the game is more or less about.

 

If we look at this box art of infamous 2 we see the main character and that the game is most likely a magic type game because the character is using lightning, there is also blue one side and red the other which gives off a good and bad effect which most gamers would see as a game where you choose whether to be good in the game or evil.