Computer Game Graphics

Sam Gregory-Haigh

2D Pixel Art• Pixel art is a form of digital art, created through the use of raster graphics software,

where images are edited on the pixel level. Graphics in most old (or relatively limited) computer, console, graphing calculator and mobile phone video games are mostly pixel art.

Isometric Pixel Art• Pixel art is commonly divided in two subcategories: isometric and non-isometric.

The isometric kind is drawn in a near-isometric dimetric projection. This is commonly seen in games to provide a three-dimensional view without using any real three-dimensional processing. Technically, an isometric angle would be of 30 degrees from the horizontal, but this is avoided since the pixels created by a line drawing algorithm would not follow a neat pattern. To fix this, lines with a 1:2 pixel ratio are picked, leading to an angle of about 22.6 degrees.

Concept Art• Concept art is a form of illustration where the main goal is to convey a visual

representation of a design, idea, and/or mood for use in films, video games, animation, or comic books before it is put into the final product. Concept art is also referred to as visual development and/or concept design. This term can also be applied to retail design, set design, fashion design and architectural design.

Texture Art• Texture mapping is a method for adding detail, surface texture (a bitmap or raster

image), or color to a computer-generated graphic or 3D model. Its application to 3D graphics was pioneered by Edwin Catmull in 1974.

Background Graphics• Background graphics are any graphics that appear behind the main objects in the

game, such as walls, forests, clouds, and so on. Many background graphics, such as walls, benefit from textured bitmap images. A texture is an image that models a piece of a graphical surface that can be tiled without notice. Textures are very useful primarily because they take up relatively little space; this is because they are tiled repeatedly to create a larger image at runtime.

Print Media Art

• Print Media art is things like advertising posters and video game case covers. These can be very important to the advertising and sales of a video game.