The realm of 3D art styles has garnered substantial popularity among both game artists and players alike. This is evident when examining the top game downloads, which encompass a plethora of 3D titles such as PUBG, Subway Surfers, and many more, amassing up to 4 billion downloads. The key factors contributing to their success encompass high-quality designs, intricate graphics, and artistry. While some may argue that 3D games prioritize visual content over gameplay, the most prominent titles consistently captivate millions of satisfied gamers.
Crafting a remarkable 3D project entails navigating through a multi-stage, intricate process that demands additional effort, specialized software, and boundless creativity. If you’re embarking on such a venture, assembling a team of highly skilled professionals well-versed in understanding your vision and adept at transforming ideas into reality is imperative, whether in-house or through a reputable video game art studio – room8studio.com is the best example of this.
What distinguishes the primary types of 3D art and what elements are essential for creating a visually stunning 3D game? Our team is well-equipped to provide insights and guidance. Leveraging our extensive experience in video game art design, we are committed to delivering top-tier results and bringing any envisioned 3D art forms to fruition.
In this discourse, we aim to delve deeper into the creation of video game art and elucidate the prominent styles utilized in three-dimensional games.
What is 3D Game Art?
Within the realm of game design, 3D video game art emerges as a dynamic creative pursuit, where artists harness width, height, and depth to craft immersive environments, characters, and objects. Diverging from its 2D counterpart, 3D video game art occupies expansive space, allowing for multidimensional exploration and interpretation. This dimensional freedom is facilitated by advanced software, empowering artists to create lifelike representations of people, scenes, and fantastical elements, transcending the constraints of imagination.
Distinguishing 3D video game art styles from their two-dimensional counterparts are several key factors:
- Visual Element: 3D games boast heightened realism and depth, with designers empowered to incorporate a plethora of visual effects into the game world, enhancing immersion.
- Movements: In the realm of 3D gaming, players enjoy unparalleled freedom of movement and exploration, traversing environments with fluidity and depth.
- Controls: Unlike 2D games, 3D titles often require joystick controls for precise navigation, offering players greater control over movement direction and speed.
- Production: Crafting a 3D shape involves intricate modeling processes within digital environments, contrasting with the simplicity of drawing 2D objects on flat surfaces.
As the gaming industry continues its exponential growth, projected to reach $196 billion by 2022, the demand for 3D video game development, particularly in the realm of AR/VR projects, is on the rise.
Sure, creating 3D art games is generally more complex compared to 2D games. The development pipelines are harder to establish and maintain, as developers must manage separate animation assets and skinning for each object or character. However, despite these challenges, a well-made 3D game can be highly rewarding. If we look at the current list of the best-selling games in the world, most of them are 3D titles such as LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Elden Ring, MLB: The Show, and others. So, is it worth trying?
Applications of 3D Art Styles: Where and How They Are Utilized
Three-dimensional art finds application across various domains globally, including architecture, sculpture, 3D printing, and many other conventional processes. Similarly, in the realm of gaming, 3D art plays a significant role. Below, we explore some practical applications of 3D art in game development.
Enhancing Scene and Character Dynamics: Techniques and Strategies
Game artists leverage 3D art forms to infuse vibrancy and vitality into their titles, fostering a sense of presence. By incorporating animated flora and fauna and creating movable objects and landscapes, artists enhance interaction and elevate the overall excitement and exploratory aspect of the game.
Facilitating environmental discovery and object interaction
The ability to navigate and examine objects from different perspectives enables players to delve deeper into the game environment and influence gameplay. For instance, in Mortal Kombat, players can utilize nearby barrels, columns, and other elements to engage with and overcome enemies.
Creating a more intricate universe to enhance engagement
3D art styles offer increased value and complexity, leading to extended gameplay time and heightened player involvement. They serve as an ideal choice for crafting immersive worlds across VR, console, and PC games. Visuals play a pivotal role in most three-dimensional games, often serving as a wow factor that enriches the overall gaming experience.
Top 3D Game Art Styles: Aesthetic Innovations in Virtual Worlds
So, what are the top-selling 3D art styles in games? Each style is unique and original, even those that strive for realism! Here, we present a compilation of the primary styles for a closer examination.
Realism
Realism involves digitally transferring the real world onto a digital platform. People, weapons, objects, buildings, and everything else resemble their real-life counterparts. This style is commonly employed in simulators, training and racing games, shooters, and adventure titles.
The primary objective of realism is to create an immersive experience for players, making them feel like integral parts of the virtual world. It is considered one of the simplest yet most effective methods for engaging players in 3D titles.
Prominent examples of games employing this style include Red Dead Redemption, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and The Last of Us Part II.
Low Poly
Low Poly is another prominent type of 3D game art style. In this style, the entire environment and characters appear to be constructed from geometric shapes known as polygons. Each element typically features a single color, uniquely chosen by developers for every component. Unlike other styles, low poly art focuses primarily on shapes, materials, and lighting, with minimal emphasis on textures.
Due to the need for a high polygon count in many titles, creating low poly art can be time-consuming and labor-intensive, resulting in relatively higher production costs. Interestingly, artists often combine low poly with other styles to craft unique worlds and experiences, making it suitable for adventure, mystery, and puzzle games aimed at both children and adults.
Developers opt for this 3D art style when prioritizing gameplay and storyline over graphics. Notable examples of games employing low poly art include Virginia, Morphite, and For the King.
Fantasy Realism
Fantasy Realism, along with sci-fi and steampunk, is synonymous with action, movement, and excitement, making it immensely popular among gamers. This art style features fantastical creatures like aliens, monsters, and robots rendered in a realistic manner against magical or futuristic backdrops, complete with epic battles, races, and quests.
Offering a more exhilarating experience than traditional realistic games, Fantasy Realism is well-suited for VR and console platforms. Popular games showcasing this art style include Horizon, The Witcher 3, and Dark Souls.
Cartoony
Cartoony is a preferred choice for kids’ games, puzzles, educational titles, and adventure games, as well as casual and hyper-casual mobile games. Characterized by a diverse range of appearances, from human-like to entirely non-human, defining the key characteristics of this style can be challenging.
Cartoony art style imparts a friendly, playful, and seemingly harmless vibe. Despite its appeal to children, many acclaimed titles in this style cater to players of all ages.
Some of the famous examples include Overwatch and Fall guys.
Our team recently launched a new cartoony 3D mobile game — Super Panda Rush. Developed using Unity3D, C#, and Firebase, it caters to those who dislike waiting for their deliveries. Enjoyed by both kids and adults, it showcases our expertise in creating captivating video game art.
Collage
The collage style is an intriguing approach, combining various art techniques and approaches. This creates a diverse range of emotions, from fascination and excitement to fear and horror.
This versatile art style suits different games, from adventure and MMORPGs to kids’ titles. Notable examples include Ecosystems and Cartoon Network FusionFall.
How to Create 3D Video Game Art
The process of creating 3D video game art is intricate and involves several key steps:
Modeling: Creating a 3D representation of objects or characters using inspiration from images, real-life references, and imagination. This step is crucial for high-quality results.
Texturing: Adding color, texture, relief, and details to models, enhancing realism. This step helps showcase materials and physical properties effectively.
Rendering: Visualizing characters or objects with proper lighting, shading, transparency, and effects. These final touches breathe life into characters before implementation.
Animation: Making 3D objects move through various techniques such as keyframe animation and dynamic environment animation. This step adds dynamism to the video game art.
