Since I want to mainly focus on an environment for my final major project, I thought that looking into the different possible art styles that are used in games could help inspire my own environments art style. For this section of research, I am going to look into the art styles that appeal to me the most, and I am going to write about how they may work in the environment I plan on making for my final major project.
Cel Shaded
The Cel Shaded art style is a style that is mainly used in the games such as Borderlands (which does have space station esque environments in the Pre-Sequel). The style is very unique compared to most art styles due to how it highlights the edges around objects by using big thick borders/outlines. Rather than focusing on realistic textures in-between the thick outlines, the cel shaded art style mainly goes for more cartoon simplistic textures. Although it may be simplistic in terms of the detail in the textures, the style still looks extremely unique and interesting. It also helps old games stand out in the future (e.g Borderlands 1 still holds up to this day).
PRE-SEQUEL SPACE STATION
BORDERLANDS 1
EXAGGERATED REALISM
Exaggerated realism is an art style that is used in a lot of games. It’s basically realistic graphics (however realistic the console will let them) with certain elements of fiction added to it. For example the game Dead Space uses exaggerated realism, all of the main characters looks as realistic as they possibly can. They try to make the fictional things in the game (the enemies) try to match this style, making it seem like they could exist in real life. This style isn’t as unique as cel shaded but it seems more time efficient due to a lot of the realistic textures being easy to create on photoshop.
DEAD SPACE SPACE STATION
CHARACTERS IN DEAD SPACE
ABSTRACT
Abstract is the final art style I looked into for my final major project. The abstract art style is the most unique out of all the styles I looked into, and this is because of its more vibrant geometric style and its bright and vibrant colour, compared to the other art styles I looked at. (cel shaded is also bright and colourful at times but just not as much as the abstract style). The abstract style also does not conform to other art styles, giving people using it a lot more creative freedom.
GAME WITH ABSTRACT STYLE
Overall I feel like I will be using the exaggerated realism art style, as I want to make my environment have a similar feel to the industrial setting of the dead space environments. However, I would not mind adding some aspects of the abstract style into my environment, to make things seem more unique.
Game Design 