How 3D Works in Games - Beginning Game Art in 3ds Max 8 - page 5

This character has four colors. In those days many systems were limited in how
many colors they supported. Some had set colors, such as the old IBM PCs. Others
allowed some variations in color.
Progress was being made every day in computer graphics. With each succeeding
year, systems were introduced that boasted higher resolutions and more colors.
Figure 1.4 shows a game character with a 16-color variable set of colors, or palette .
More colors meant artists could start shading their characters. Notice that the
game character is starting to take on a sense of volume.
Figure 1.4
When variable colors became available, game
characters started taking on a sense of volume.
In the late '80s, games were becoming more realistic, but they still looked blocky.
The same thing was true for all computer art. Variable colors gave computer artists
a chance to start creating more realistic digital pictures. During this time, desktop
publishing was developed, the laser printer was invented, and people started to
look at the computer as an art tool rather than just as a business machine.
With a greater emphasis on graphics, personal com-
puter systems entered a whole new path of evolution,
bringing about better display systems and higher res-
olutions. The game characters went from being about
30 to 60 pixels high to around 200 pixels high, and
displays went from 320 × 200 to 640 × 480 resolutions.
Figure 1.5 shows a game character at about 180 pixels
high.
Figure 1.5
Greater resolution meant more detail for computer game characters.