Action Games - iPhone Game Blueprints - page 298

One of the creative advantages of minimalistic 3D models is their cuteness. Incred-
ibly, but in most cases, low poly characters (if they were done with some style) are
perceived as very sweet because they look like laconic toys made of paper or wood.
Just for example, try to create the simplest game hero ever made of several cubes
and parallelepipeds, and you will see that it looks very cute like an attractive paper
craft discovered on the Internet.
Thus, using low poly art in a mobile 3D game, you may catch a few birds with one
stone. The game is rendered fast, even on legacy devices. It looks pretty stylish and
3D models are quite easy to produce. But of course, there are disadvantages, such
as minimum level of details, a generalized look for all objects, and imperfect curved
surfaces.
Here's an improvised receipt of a good low poly model:
• Faces : These are shown intentionally. The model has a faceted design.
Stealth aircrafts are a pretty good source of inspiration as well as the design
of many Lamborghini cars.
• Simple look : The design is minimalistic. There are no tiny details and com-
plex surfaces, as if the model should be easily gummed up of paper.
• A circle has four angles : In low poly models, there are no circles. They are
replacedwithrectangles,trapezes,orpentagons(octagons,inthiscase,look
like a real luxury). The idea is that the circle element is fully reinterpreted, not
simply surrogated with a more primitive shape.
• Non-realistic proportions : Because the style itself is not pretty naturalistic,
it is better to use a more creative approach on the character's proportions:
bigger heads, short arms, and short legs.
• Controlled mess : The faces should not look like they are being placed by a
machine, such as automatically created tris in a default sphere created in 3D
editors, especially if the model illustrates some natural objects such as rocks
or tree crowns. There should be some individuality and manual craft in the
order of the vertexes.
• Large minimalistic textures : In contrary to low poly modes used in early
games, the textures can be larger; they should not be blurry. Their design
must be based on laconic geometric shapes, clean colors without gradients,
or any photorealistic structures.
• Sharp animation : Movement of objects and character should obey the over-
all tone of the graphics. Any moves must be a little bit sharp and non-linear
as in stop-motion animation.