Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 3. Graphics for Mobile
Videogames strongly rely on graphics. The production of graphic assets for mobile
games poses several challenges to game artists, mostly dependent on the necessity
to both create nice-looking and appealing graphics while dealing with reduced screen
dimensions and limited memory allocation. In this chapter we will describe how to cre-
ate 2D and 3D assets for mobile games, what software packages and techniques can
be used and what file formats support graphics for mobile games.
In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
• Raster and vector graphics
• Graphics file formats
• Game videos and cinematics
• Software to create graphics for games
• 2D game assets
• 3D game assets
• Character design for mobile games
• Interface and HUD for mobile games graphics
After gameplay quality, graphics are the most important factor in selling a game.
Some have argued that good graphics are the most important factor in impulse buy-
ing, since most of the time a gameplay demo is not available. It sure looks good, it
must be good.
This has been an ongoing discussion for decades, notably with the release of two
games in 1990:
Wing Commander
by Chris Roberts and
Balance of Power
by Chris
Crawford. Wing Commander had cutting edge graphics with light game play and
storyline.
The following figure represents a screenshot from Wing Commander (source:
Moby
Games
).
