Printed Media

This is such things as box art, posters, CD's, manuals. These promote the game and make you want to buy it and also tell you about the game and tell you what is involved in it.

In Game Interface

This is such things as menu's in the game and where everything on the game screen is placed, e.g.maps, certain buttons on the side/bottom of the screen etc.

Textures

This is a top layer that goes round a model to provide an image. It is done by creating a 2D image and then wrapping it around a model to form a layer. This is usually done by using photoshop. Textures are used for everything in a game, not just the characters but also the floor and the walls etc.

3D ISOMETRIC SPRITES

This is an image made from pixels that has the appearance of looking 3D. They do this by making the image viewed at an angle. A known game that uses this is sims.

2D Sprites

A 2D sprite is an image created through pixels made to create a 2D image. A known game that uses this is streetfighter.

Concept Art

This is where a design or idea is formed through sketches to get a basic idea of what design is best. Through this, characters; weapons; armour etc. are created. Artists can create hundreds of different designs for every one idea as they keep developing their designs further and further until they feel they have created what they were looking for. Concept art can range from basic 2D sketches to fully coloured detailed images. Concept art is basically blueprints of designs. The purpose of concept art is to supply designers with 2D sketches of evrything that is wanted in the game.

Digital Graphics

Photo Realism- This is basically where a game has images as close to reality as possible,e.g. if you were playing a game of football it would look like you were watching it on tv. Everything that you see would be as close to reality as possible and at no point would you look at the game and think it looks like a game. A famous game that has this is Gran Tourismo 5. Every car in this game has every detail that a car has in real life.

Cel Shading- This is the opposite of photorealism, it is where images in the game are made to look hand drawn, or to look like a cartoon. It is often done by having a black line around every object to make them stand out and to mimic a comic book sketch. Two games that include cel shading are The Legend of Zelda and Prince of Persia.

Exaggeration- This is where a character or object is exaggerated, not to look distorted but to show what they are doing, e.g. running fast, skipping, or showing how they are feeling, e.g. if the character is happy, they will shine, if the character is worried make it look frantic. Exaggeration is not just about characters and objects but also about choosing the right colours for emotions, and the sound can also be incorparated sometimes. A famous game that includes this is Pokemon.

Abstraction- This is where ideas from the real world are put into games and turned wierd and un-real into something that people have never seen before. Example siclude, Pokemon and Lemings.

2D and 3D

What is 2D- This stands for two dimensional. This means they are flat images. You are given a hEIght and a width but no depth. These were firstly used due to not having the capability to create 3D games. They are typically used for mobile phone games portable devices e.g. gameboy, and old consoles e.g. playStation 1. The typical genres where 2D games are used are arcade, driving and fighting. Some 2D  games are:- Sonic the Hedgehog, Pac Man, Space Invaders, Mario, Streetfighter, Worms.

What is 3D- This stands for three dimensional. This means that you can go forward in the game instead of side to side and can peer round corners etc. This is used in modern consoles e.g. Xbox 360, Playstation3, and the PC because you need a powerful console to display 3D graphics. This generally is used in all game platforms allthough some games do like to stay in 2D, mostly arcade games. Some 3D games are:- Call of Duty, Gears of war, Forza 3, Grand Theft Auto IV, Final Fantasy XII.W

Dead Rising Box Art

This is good box art as it shows clearly the details of the zombies and how many of them you will be fighting. They are reaching out as if they are nearly touching you like you are getting pulled in. They are all facing and looking towards the person looking at the cover so it gives the appearance of you being in the game being attacked first person; it makes it seem that the main character is you so there is no need to show an alternative character. It shows two floors and an elevator so you’re shown you have got lots of space and straight away see that you are in a shopping centre. The name of the game is clearly shown without covering any crucial pictures of the area or the characters, while subtly having spots of blood on the corner of the title to show that the game will be gruesome. Also the main font of the title is good how it is all up and down in big block letters with a reflection underneath as if its hitting the floor. The artwork does a good job of selling the game because it shows exactly what is in the game and get’s the target audience interested which is mainly teens to 30 year olds. The one thing I would change about the artwork is that I would show a few weapons that you would be able to use.