You’re excited to share this game idea with your team, but it turns out they are all occupied with high-priority projects and have no room to begin another one. Then, a great solution strikes your mind, which is to outsource your game art project to any Game Design and Development studio.

However, you have no idea how to begin your hunt for a reliable game art outsourcing partner who can be your great ally in delivering the outcomes you need. Luckily, you don’t need to worry, as this guide is here at your rescue.

In this guide, you will learn everything you need to know about outsourcing your game art project.

So, let the hunt begin…

What Is Game Art Outsourcing?

Outsourcing game art projects refers to the practice of delegating the creation of digital game assets and artwork to any professional game artist rather than handing it in-house.

The aim of opting for game art outsourcing is to collaborate with and leverage skilled game artists and gaming studios to create high-quality visuals that meet your expected criteria.

Why Should Gaming Businesses Outsource Their Game Art Project and What Benefits They Can Get?

By outsourcing game art projects, indie game developers and even gaming businesses can benefit from several advantages, which are as follows:

Cost Effective

When we say outsourcing is cost-effective, it doesn’t mean getting top-notch game art solutions at a cheap rate. It means cost-effectiveness in comparison to hiring in-house staff and managing those talents.

With outsourcing, you get access to a global talent pool, leveraging which you can hire the best game artist from any region, which can cost you less than your region, resulting in cost savings.

Access to Specialized Skills and Vetted Talents

Game art is a super field covering many game design sub-fields, including concept art, environment design, 2D/3D modeling, character design, texturing, animation, and many more. And the field has specialized experts.

So, when you need to hire specialized game artists, outsourcing game art projects gives you the freedom to hire different remote artists from different regions who are experts in their field and up-to-date with the latest industry trends and best practices.

No Training is Necessary

With outsourcing your project, you can hire dedicated remote talents who are already well-versed in their field and have worked on diverse projects.

So, when you outsource your game art project to any creative gaming studio, like 300Mind, you don’t need to train them to understand your company culture and give them time to adjust. They are already ready to get onboarded and start working on your project and delivering outcomes.

Scalability and Flexibility

Outsourcing game art projects also gives you flexibility in scaling resources as per your project requirements. Also, they have the flexibility to outsource different project parts to different talents and gaming studios.

Time Efficiency

The best benefit you get by outsourcing your game art project is time-saving. When you outsource your project to professional artists, they utilize their project management skills, quick decision-making skills, and expertise to deal with the design tools, to deliver the gaming artwork within the agreed-upon timelines.

Expert Tips On Successful Game Art Outsourcing

Game art is crucial in game design, and to execute it smoothly and get an innovative solution, your game art outsourcing partner plays a vital role. So, here are a few tips to consider to outsource your game art project to your right-fit gaming outsourcing studio:

Create Your Detailed Requirement Document

When starting the search for your ideal game art outsourcing partner, you need to first be clear from your end. So, this requires gathering game art requirements that can help you decorate your game and bring your imagination to reality.

Apart from game art creation requirements, you should also conduct your research on what kind of skills and expertise the game artists you’re looking to hire should possess.

In the game art requirement specification document, you should narrate your requirements in an easy-to-understand manner, so the gaming studios you’re approaching for your project can comprehend and provide you with the best-fit quote meeting your budget and objectives.

Start Your Search for the Game Art Outsourcing Partner

In the world, you’ll find countless game art outsourcing firms, where each has its unique way of working. So, your hunt for your ideal game art outsourcing partner can be a long journey, but to cut through that distance, you need to set some qualification criteria and filters.

So, when it comes to evaluating your game art outsourcing partner, you should consider some factors, such as their staff, effectiveness, and diversity of their portfolio, overall industry experience, clientele (in written and video testimonials), expertise of their game artists, their communication skills, collaboration effectiveness, and whatnot.

By evaluating all these, you can come near to your hunt for an outsourcing partner.

Evaluate Candidate Qualifications and Expertise

Although you have shortlisted your game art outsourcing partner and have some familiarity with the expertise of their game artists, you cannot solely rely on the overall specifications. Sometimes, the portfolio may not provide enough clarity on the candidate’s competence for your world-class game art project.

It is important to seek personalized assistance to interview the talent and assess their technical skills, familiarity with game art techniques, and proficiency in using game design tools such as Unity, Unreal Engine, Blender, and others.

Conducting a thorough evaluation of the candidate’s skills will assure you that the talent working on your project is indeed the one you are looking for.

Clear All Your Doubts with Effective Communication

It’s right! You’ve created and shared a detailed game art job description (JD) with the game art outsourcing firms you’re interested in. However, you and them will always have own queries to solve.

This is even important for you to solve your queries about the services they are providing, the approaches they are using, and more. And for them to deeply understand your exact requirements to portray them in a way meeting your expectations.

So, set up your virtual meeting (project manager and game artists) and achieve fruitful communication with them to ensure effective collaboration.

Cost Factors and Time Management

After the initial meeting and understanding of the game art requirements, the next step is to know the project management approach they have to offer with milestone planning and cost estimation.

It will help you comprehend how their costing and project management approach justifies what they are promising. So you can decide whether their offerings fit your criteria or not.

Intellectual Property and Legal Considerations

Your ownership of the game art and the privacy of intellectual property should be your topmost priority, and you should never compromise on them, even if other benefits are offered.

When negotiating your game art project outsourcing with the gaming studio, ensure clear ownership and rights to the game art. Additionally, discuss and formalize legal agreements, contracts, and a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with them to protect your intellectual property throughout the duration of the project outsourcing.

Risk Management and Contingency Planning

When thinking of outsourcing not just your game art project but any other one, you must do risk management and contingency planning. And in this planning, you should identify potential risks and challenges associated with outsourcing and the respective firm.

After that, it’s required to develop contingency plans that will help you mitigate those potential risks and handle unforeseen circumstances.

The aim of creating this risk management and contingency planning is to closely monitor the progress of your outsourced project and address issues promptly.

What Types Of Game Art Projects Can You Outsource?

As you’ve landed here and are reading this blog, consider that you’ve added one more name to your list of reliable game art outsourcing partners. Because in the category of game art creation service, 300Mind can help you with the following services:

2D and 3D Game Art

Whether you require design and assets for your 2D or 3D game, at 300Mind, we have expertise in both areas with a dedicated team of 2D artists and 3D artists.

When it comes to choosing the right art for your specific requirements, we recommend 2D game art for concept art, game UI design, backgrounds, and more.

If you need designs with realistic dimensions, eye-catchy game character modeling, or anything created in a hyper-realistic manner, we suggest opting for 3D art.

Considering the current bias towards realism, you may wonder if 2D game art is still in demand today. The answer is a resounding yes! 2D games and 2D game art continue to dominate in many simpler RPGs (Role-playing games).

At 300Mind, we create top-notch game assets in both 2D and 3D art. To see examples of our work, we invite you to visit our game design portfolio.

Concept Art

Concept art is a kind of visual art that helps you bring your imagination to life in the form of assets that further can be used by animation and VFX teams to add it into films, video games, animation videos, etc.

When it comes to concept art, 300Mind leads the way with its creative artists creating imaginative, alluring game concept art of different categories, such as character concept art, environment concept art, prop concept art, equipment concept art, and more, in abstract, stylized, and realistic styles.

Game Environment and Maps Designing

Game environment design sets the entire tone and mood of your game. At 300Mind, we design immersive game environments that keep players engaged and create maps that are easy to navigate and understandable.

Read also: How to Design Engaging Game Art That Elevates Mobile Gaming Experience?

Props Designing

In a game, props can be anything. Those can be barrels, weapons, furniture parts, or anything that is used by game characters in many ways. And when it comes to props designing, 300Mind has a repertoire of props, where our medieval stylized weapons grabbed the attention of many game props lovers.

Character & Outfit Designing

Be it character art modeling for the game or any video animation – 300Mind holds expertise in designing diversified characters for different genres of video games and animation videos.

Game UI Designing

You may feel confused between game UI and game environment, but they both are really different.

Game UI covers every visual element that players interact with and refers to, which includes menus, buttons, icons, heads-up display (HUD), health bars, navigation gestures, and much more.

On the other hand, game environment design refers to the virtual world where the whole game takes place, which includes atmosphere, landscape, lighting, textures, architecture, and a lot more.

Along with the game environment, 300Mind can also help to design a game UI that is as immersive and interesting as the game environment.

Why Should You Choose 300Mind To Outsource Your Game Art Needs?

Now, you know a lot more about game art outsourcing and finding the best game design partner for your gaming needs, along with ways 300Mind can be your gaming champion.

And there are many reasons to choose 300Mind as your game art outsourcing partner, which includes a client-centric approach, a result oriented & highly skilled team of game artists, up-to-date industry trends and best practices, utilize cutting-edge designing tools, assurance of getting quick responses to your queries, flexibility in engagement models, and most importantly, respectful to delivering projects on-time.

So, interested in partnering with us? Contact us today with your gaming project requirements!

FAQs on Game Art Outsourcing

The post Key Factors to Consider When Outsourcing Your Game Art Project appeared first on 300Mind Blog.

In other words, decide if you prefer a creative or thematic style versus hyper-realistic illustrations. A whopping 26.9% of games fall in the action genre. First Person Shooters are a close second at 20.9%. Out of both these popular genres, the graphical style ( in this case hyper-real vs. Stylized) is split evenly down the middle.

Hyper-realism is self-explanatory. A great example is the development of the Call of Duty and Battlefield series. Their graphics have become more realistic over time. Visuals, assets, and elements are all improved in sharpness, simulating a real-life appearance. Faces and characters now resemble real people more.

The opposite side is more difficult. The distinctions between “stylized” games like Cuphead and The Wolf Among Us are vast. The first was carefully hand-drawn over many years and is a 2D side-scroller. It is a cartoon-like homage to the challenging old-school scrolling shooters.

Using Telltale’s exclusive game engine, the latter is a greatly stylized narrative experience that pays respect to the original comic books. Just like its inspiration, it draws players into the comic book world and keeps them there with attention-grabbing elements.

But which art style should you choose for your next game development initiative?

Read on for a thorough comparison of stylized vs. hyper-realistic art for your upcoming game.

Stylized Game Art

A stylized approach is simpler to make, at least at first glance. Delve a little deeper and the complexities begin to surface.

You need excellent artists to create strong stylized images. They must have a cohesive and creative grasp of color, design, shape, and form. Furthermore, defining an artistic style requires effort and research.

Not to mention, of course, a ton of creativity; not very pertinent when it comes to Hyperrealism, mainly because the artists have the real world as a reference.

A stylized design aesthetic also offers a considerable amount of flexibility to the designers. While stylization doesn’t mean baking in unappealing and slip-shod assets, certain imperfections add a sense of progressive art to the design.

Stylized art can be understated and minimalism is a powerful magnet capable of drawing in and retaining the playing audience. For instance, some of the most popular games right now on the App Store and Google Play Store include “Subway Surfers,” “Clash Of Clans,” “Genshin Impact,” and “Ragnarok Mobile.”

Not to add that all games with stylized art belong under the “Stylized Games” category in the Play Store and App Store. Therefore, having the game on this illustrious program can draw in additional gamers. Now that we know what stylized game art is, let’s move on to the advantages and challenges of the discipline.

Advantages of Stylized Game Art

Stylized game art offers a plethora of benefits. Here are some advantages of stylized game art:

1. Engages the Right Audience Benefits

One can learn a lot about a game’s effective tactics by researching its target audience. It’s no surprise that the majority of children’s and teen media feature cartoonish yet distinctive art styles.

Since they are accustomed to seeing styled graphics on television, the internet, and in social groups, choosing a stylized art aesthetic for a mobile game that is aimed at kids and teens will probably assist in app success.

By using a sophisticated art style that is not childish and has more solemn gameplay, you can also appeal to older audiences. For instance, “Ragnarok Mobile” includes manga-inspired objects and characters, which also fall under the heading of “Stylized graphics.”

As a result, given that many adults enjoy anime and manga, they’ll be interested in playing a game with a similar aesthetic.

In light of this, it is reasonable to believe that games with stylized graphics can appeal to a larger audience, including kids, teenagers, and young adults, as is the case with titles like Team Fortress 2 on PC and Subway Surfers. But stylized graphics can also have a lot of other advantages, particularly in terms of the gameplay experience. Let’s go deeper.

2. Benefits of Stylized Graphics for Gameplay

As discussed before, stylized games frequently provide more opportunities to showcase impressionistic settings and characters, enhancing the gameplay’s immersiveness.

However, stylized graphics can also be advantageous for important in-game information. For instance, “Team Fortress 2” was designed to feature realistic graphics, but the game developers soon discovered that doing so could make it harder to distinguish between potential collaborators and enemy graphics.

The TF2 team consequently came to the conclusion that realistic graphics wouldn’t be as beneficial for a game with classes and fast-paced combat. It’s safe to assume that they got it right based on the game’s enduring popularity after many years since its release.‍

3. Making It Through the Test of Time

The likelihood is high that a project will succeed in its goal of realism upon release. A previously realistic game, however, can lose its appeal within a few years, when most games offer higher levels of detail and reality-centered objects and textures. This is because realism-rich graphics in video games are always evolving.

On the other hand, games with stylized graphics tend to continue longer since they aren’t truly competing in terms of realism. For instance, PC games like Morrowind and Oblivion are starting to seem a little stale.

The popular Wind Waker game for the Nintendo GameCube continues to look fantastic. In conclusion, strong distinctive art will still look good after ten years, however realistic graphics may begin to look dated after some time.

4. Making a Visual Statement

A little more polish can be added to your game using stylized graphics. Naturally, a lot will depend on the genre. Take the overuse of realistic graphics in first-person shooter games, for instance.

FPS games frequently strive for realism, making the genre oversaturated. See how the popular game series Borderlands uses toon graphics to somewhat alter the FPS genre. Additionally, other recently launched PC games, including Overwatch and Valorant, have stylized graphics as well, which has proven to be incredibly profitable given both games’ current success.

The same strategy applied to an FPS on mobile has the potential to be equally beneficial. In genres where realism is overused, cartoon or stylized graphics help your game stand out.

5. Compatibility with Legacy Technologies

Games with realistic graphics would therefore need a specific technology, most likely one that is modern. You won’t get the best results if you attempt to attain realism by employing outdated technology.

As a result, you are now dependent on new technologies, which will also have an impact on game updates in the future. Styled graphics don’t necessarily require modern technology; they work well on the majority of software and hardware with less effort. You won’t necessarily need to rely on cutting-edge technologies if you use stylized graphics.

6. Catchy Artistic Lighting

Game artists are often forced to adhere to the lighting and color standards of real life when creating graphics with a focus on realism. Of course, when done right, this can provide amazing results. Mobile devices might have a little trouble recreating this, though. However, styled graphics give the opportunity to benefit from good lighting combined with artistic flair.

Thus, without having to worry about it deviating from realism, this allows artists to improve and manage the lighting as they see fit.

For instance, it’s perfectly fine in games with stylized graphics to make the ambiance in-game appear as though it’s been put through “filters.” As seen in the PC game Kynseed, fascinating lighting effects are frequently used in pixelized games.‍

7. 2D Design is Quicker and Allows for Experimentation

Although this isn’t a hard and fast rule, in most cases, stylized design is quicker. A stylized item often takes less time to create and combine textures since it typically has more pronounced shapes and less surface information. For example, orange skin is very porous, wrinkled, and organic, making it difficult to replicate and sculpt.

On the other side, when a stylized design approach is followed, pores are more likely to be larger, wrinkles to be more obvious, and organic aspects to be less minimal in stylized graphics.

Since stylistic assets typically take an exaggerated course, they will probably be simpler to sculpt and texturize because they will display more obvious shapes.

Challenges of Stylised Game Art

At first glance, stylized game art may seem easier to create, however, this is quite far from the truth. Here are some challenges:

1. Stylization Struggles against Hyper-Realism in Terms of Popularity

A significantly smaller subset of the global gamer user base prefers stylization versus hyper-realistic games. This is because stylized games are generally considered to be more child-friendly and immature. This is unequivocally untrue but once a perception builds it becomes very difficult to alter mass beliefs.

2. Extra Effort is Required to keep the Stylization Cohesive

Stylized art has a smaller target audience and this can shrink even more if the art style isn’t cohesive throughout the game. A lack of aesthetic direction can significantly impact appeal and subsequently sales. As mentioned earlier, stylized games are generally perceived as ‘inferior’ to games that are hyper-realistic.

Hyper-Realistic Game Art

At first glance, one might assume that achieving hyper-realism would be very challenging. Attempting to replicate a real-life appearance must be more challenging than an artist’s interpretation of a certain style or theme.

Realistic game art and models are now more available than ever because of the games industry’s rising reliance on technology. Although it is pricey, the tools are already in place to scan an actor’s entire body and create a high-quality 3D model. Things that were once only dreamed of by game artists and designers suddenly look truly doable with the release of next-gen game engines.

Technically speaking, establishing a hyper-real baseline is simpler. Refining is difficult and time-consuming. Errors are readily apparent with such intricate and realistic representations. The animation must be flawless; if it is hyper-realistic, players will immediately notice a poor run-cycle. In this situation, the devil is in the details.

However, it’s crucial to keep in mind that these particulars require a lot of resources. Both in terms of technology and human resources. And because these expenses are frequently significant, larger studios are typically those who strive for hyper-realism.

Advantages of Hyper-Realistic Game Art

Here, we examine the significance of realism in video games and question whether it is actually necessary for us to have a positive and fulfilling experience.

1. Immersive Visuals

The caliber of the graphics and the art direction the developers follow are two of the most significant elements that are consistent throughout video game genres. These play a critical role in what distinguishes the game from the competition and form the user’s perception of the game.

2. Enhanced Levels of Interactivity

Consider what occurs when a game’s goals change and the art style changes in a similar universe, like that of The Walking Dead. For instance, the developers of Payday 2, recently revealed a co-op first-person shooter set in the world of The Walking Dead.

Being a shooter is one thing, and it is probable that they are aiming for a more realistic experience with the added RPG elements of the game. To experience the grime and misery of the world in a fresh way, hyper-realism is a must-have.

Their art style aims to depict the gore and atrocities of a post-apocalyptic world, while Telltale’s draws you into the emotional component of the story. For these games to accurately convey the experience they want the user to have, hyper-realistic art styles are required.

3. A “Connect” with the Character

In terms of producing characters that seem authentic and true to life while also having at least a plausible backstory, story and characters are where realism should be applied consistently throughout games.

The player won’t enjoy the game as much overall if there aren’t accurate representations of individuals in it.

Consider some of the best authors of our time, such as Stephen King, who didn’t set out to write huge, expansive works of literature but are skilled at telling a compelling tale. Forgive the pun, but his portrayal of children, particularly Danny Torrance in The Great, is a shining example of what realism can do. Because of how realistically he writes about people, the supernatural elements are exceptionally believable and visceral.

The same is true of video games, while there are some outlandish circumstances that, when executed effectively and you relate to the characters, make you believe the plot. The Last of Us is the ideal illustration of a scenario that has never occurred in our world, but the writing of the story and the characters makes you believe it.

Even though it doesn’t seem particularly possible, you are drawn in and feel a connection to the story. Joel’s actions at the end of the game, losing friends like Tess, and the bond between Ellie and Joel develop slowly; these elements give the game a gritty, real-world feel that propels it onward.

4. Realism helps further the Plot

When it comes to the plot and characters in video games, realism is unquestionably a major factor. For you to believe the story you are being told, visual art matters a lot.

Though it is crucial to incorporate realism into the plot, it should not be present in every aspect. Without it, you would aimlessly switch between games without ever experiencing the thrills and heartbreaks that gamers have come to know and love when playing a game.

Challenges of Hyper-Realistic Game Art

Although there are other elements that help a game succeed, this does not mean that realism should be completely ignored. Here are some challenges of hyper-realistic art:

1. Larger Download Size

Hyper-realistic games have a larger download size. This becomes a major issue when it comes to games for mobile platforms.

A large installation file might dissuade customers from downloading the game leading to a loss of users. Furthermore, larger games take up more space on the limited storage that mobile devices sport, resulting in a larger number of uninstalls.

2. Increased production Time

Given the amount of work required to make a game as life-like as possible, the production time of a hyper-realistic game is a lot more than its stylized counterpart.

From lighting to animation and rigging and on to asset creation, every facet of game design needs to focus on the finer nuances of realism where even a single misstep could spell doom for a hyper-realistic game.

3. Increased Art Budget

The art budget of a hyper-realistic game is a lot more than that of a stylized game. Game artists need vetted expertise in the art form. Lighters and technical artists have to put in extra work to bring the game art to hyper-realistic levels.

Moreover, it is much harder to cover up errors while working on a hyper-realistic game. A single botched animation or an in-game asset that looks even slightly cartoonish could prove to be a massive snag when it comes to game art design.

3 Factors to Consider While Selecting Your Game’s Art Style

There is consensus among the game development industry on three major factors to take into account when choosing your art style. The factors are as follows:

1. Budget

Hyper-realism frequently requires more money and resources. Because of this, we frequently notice larger studios utilizing this art form. Many studios, including Naughty Dog, have found success with hyper-realism. The Uncharted series and the GTA titles are renowned for their advancements in achieving photorealism.

2. Market

Both hyperrealism and stylization require a market and an audience to be successful. Your team must comprehend your target audience and how to interact with them most effectively. Because you are a larger studio, you are not required to attempt hyper-realism; if your audience like your stylized games, go for it!

3. The Effect of Management

In comparison to the other two points mentioned above, this could sound weird. But the art selections can be affected by your creative director, CEO, or owner. In the end, your creation serves a purpose.

The stylized comic-book aesthetic in The Wolf Among Us was forced from the top down. There was a clear intention to directly imitate the original in order to honor it. The design team and those in charge must take their desires into account. Games are labors of love; to create the best ones, one must be passionate about what they are doing.

In Summation: The Battle Rages On

It is challenging to find a soft spot for your project because every style of video game art often has pros and cons in terms of gameplay, technology, and aesthetics. The general rule is to keep in mind that the game’s aesthetics should express the essential elements of the gameplay while also being realistic about the team’s experience and the available budget.

Additionally, it’s critical to be conscious that the game’s art has a significant impact on immersion and user appeal. As a result, don’t choose the graphic design of the title before proper research.

The best course of action is to choose the gameplay first, then think about the graphics. You can begin investigating the art style that will enable the game to exhibit its features more effectively after generating an early prototype and playing it sufficiently to get the playtest data.

What can 300Mind do for You?

Offering a user base of thousands worldwide and years of experience on all key platforms, such as iOS, Android, Web, and PC, among others, top-tier businesses from all around the world depend on us as reliable partners. Interested? Drop us a line and let’s discuss your game development vision. Until then… Game on!

FAQs on Stylized vs Hyper-Realistic

The post Stylized vs Hyper-Realistic: Which is Better for Game Art Design appeared first on 300Mind Blog.

It’s always graphics/visuals and effects – that live at the heart of a game, aren’t they?

The visual style depicts the tone of your game and sets benchmarks for players’ commitment to the game. Hence, your game’s visual aesthetics should take your game design in a much more meaningful, storytelling, and creative way that elevates your gamers’ excitement level for the gaming experience to cloud nine.

And in the topic of the game, this visual aesthetics refers to “Game Art”, which is a prime stage in the game design process that can’t afford a single error.

That’s the main concern behind curating this guide for game art design with the help of game design experts at 300Mind.

Ahh…! Caught your excitement to dive into the ocean of game art design! So, let’s explore the matter of game art.

What Is Game Art Design?

The game art design is the core process of game development that creates artistic dimensions for video games. You can even call it a pre-production phase of a game design process, which covers all game elements, including the game world, characters, settings, props, etc.

Game designers – the game artists – create all these game concept designs before shifting these game pieces for the actualization – the development phase.

Some experts do call this game art design “programmer art” – involving more game artists and technical artists to convert the rough game element sketches into digital visuals.

Source: 3D Character Modeling for Games

As the game design is a broad term, it includes two or more game artists creating different game visual elements as each artist based on specializations.

At 300Mind, we have a dedicated team of game artists with varying expertise in the game art design areas who can help you meet varying game conceptualization, design, and development requirements.

As the game art design covers so many aspects, it becomes necessary for you to know to not leave loopholes in your game artistic medium.

Video Game Graphics Terms To Know Before Getting Started With Game Art Design

Game design is itself an extensive process. Below are some primary game design terms that all game artists should know about:

1. Pixel

A pixel is a minute of an area or a tiny square of colored illumination on a digital screen that composes many forms of visuals.

2. Pixel Art

Pixel art is a type of 2D visual art that composes and renders pixels to animate the game characters; and thus, the whole game world. It cites early video game aesthetics that are highly praised and marketed by world-class video game console firms, including Super – Nintendo Entertainment System (S/NES) and Sega Genesis.

3. Low-Poly Design Art

Low poly is a composition of 3D polygon-based visuals with relatively fewer polygons per mesh (around 300+ polygons). Because of this characteristic, low-poly design arts are highly used in real-time scenarios (online games) – contrary to high-poly design arts that are being used in animated movies and videos with special effects.

Low-poly design arts are used in many famous games that we have played, and many people are still playing those games, including Subway Surfer, Clash of Clans, Temple Run, and most arcade games.

Source: Medieval Bar Interior

4. High-Poly Design Art

Simply put, high poly is a 3D visual art composed of high numbers of polygons per mesh (1000+ polygons for mobile games). This type of high poly mesh is also known as high-quality animation with more realistic and detailed structures.

Due to this, since inception, high poly design arts have been in high demand and widely used in AAA titles, games offering real-world-like scenarios (AR/VR games), etc.

Source: Medieval Weapons

Now that you have basic knowledge of game art components, it’s appropriate to move to the process of creating the ultimate game art design.

Best Practices to Create A Compelling Game Art Design

If we see the design approach for video games, it changes with the type of games and the game system. It’s obvious that a game cannot directly go into development before the Game Art, which is created by doing tons of experiments for the game concept.

Here are the tips for creating game art that game visual experts use:

1. Pre-Production: The Game Concept Inception

It is evident that every product-based company is always in a hurry to launch its products into the market as soon as possible. But in order to meet such requirements, giving less priority to the game story inception process should never fall into the plan. Hence, you have to ensure to follow the proper process before jumping to the design part.

Competitor Research & Reference

Of course, as you’re planning to develop your dream game, you must have your game genre and future plans pre-decided. So, it’s time to do some competitor research on related game projects that are the best in the market.

For this moment, just collect references and highlight the best art features you like from their game art. This competitor analysis will help you figure out the good things to add and the unappealing game art style to avoid.

You can even learn about the preferences of your target game players from the research, using which you can create unique game art that your audience would love to explore.

A Strong Backstory

Whether it is a movie or a game, a strong backstory for the game world, characters, and plots play an important role in designing creative game art. This helps game artists to visualize further game art inspirations.

Game Concept Art Documentation

Once all the planning and brainstorming work for the game art design is done, it is always the best practice to document the video game concept with detailed 2D sketches of game elements.

However, the approach to creating a game concept art depends on the game artist, like whether to sketch it on paper first or directly experiment with the software – Autodesk Sketchbook.

2. Hire World-Class Mobile Game Artists

The game’s strategic planning is done, but you also need someone to execute your game design. And that’s where it creates a need for game artists.

Professional game artists to whom you’ll give your game concept art design project will help you accomplish the following tasks:

1. Finalize the best-fit game art style for your game idea.
2. Extensively collaborate with your game creative team to aid the visuals.
3. Helps to anchor the game aesthetics with functionalities, which is highly advised for mobile game development.

Looking for the best game designers in India, then 300Mind Game Studio is the best-fit team of Game Artists and Developers that can prioritize to meet your game design and development requirements.

3. Delve Into the Mobile Game Art Design Principles

Usually, when designing a game for different devices, technical artists have to take care of many factors. And the slightest calculation mistake could create chaos in the game design to match up with the device compatibility and performance standards, especially for mobile games.

Visual Size

When creating a game object art for the mobile game, consider a large array of mobile screen types along with the visual size of objects (no. of pixels forming one object). This will help you balance the game screen visual size (pixel groups for objects – clarity) and the appearance of game objects as per the role priority.

The bigger the game object’s visual size is, the more texture space it would ask you to secure. And you probably don’t want to invest too much visual size on a game object that plays a tiny role or would require only limited pixels in the game world.

To understand this concept better, see the below screen art of the Clash of Clans game, which shows a world scenario with many soldiers who secure a limited number of pixels on the screen.

It fulfills a couple of roles:

1. A small texture reduces memory overhead.
2. A perfectly balanced texture enables you to visualize all important game objects in the game world map.

If you see the image below closely, you might discover the soldier with their triangle meshes. These low triangle countparts are pretty similar to texturing, playing an important role in reducing the GPU overhead during the triangle vertice rendering process.

Even though the object triangles secure a few pixels, they demand impressive GPU processing power. It helps GPU extensively in avoiding the micro triangle rendering issues.

So, the fewer the triangles, the less rendering effort it takes to process. Not just that, it also helps in maintaining the visibility of game objects when their size is small or they are at a far distance in the scene.

Game Art File Compression Type

When the game artists are done with the object texturing, they usually export the art into PNG, JPG, or TGA format. But at the time of game processing, all of these art texture files are converted into special, compact formats that are small in size and fast to load.

At the time of choosing an art compression file type, ensure to choose the format that renders quickly without compromising on the artistic quality of the design.

As a leading team of game artists with decade-plus years of experience, we highly recommend using ASTC (Adaptable Scalable Texture Compression) file type that uses varying block sizes to represent the art rather than a single fix-blocked size.

• For the most basic art assets, it is recommended to use a block size of 5×5 or 6×6.
• For the smaller assets, it is recommended to use a block size of 8×8 or 10×10 – that secures fewer screen pixels.

In some cases, we also recommend experimenting with different block-size settings to find the best art file representation configuration for the game.

Level of Detail (LOD) & Mip Maps

Now that we all know that the fewer vertices a game object has, the faster GPU rendering time it could offer. With the object’s visual sizes, it is also important to ensure its object form alike from a great distance as well as from close. And that’s where the Level of  Detail (LOD) concept comes into the picture.

A LOD system designs objects in the low-poly model and generates its different models as it moves away from the foreground. Game artists create these object movement models while keeping the count of vertices of micro triangles with top-notch performance for both near and distance views.

In order to improve the visual efficiency of LODs, you can even use the Mip Maps to flexibly scale up and down textures between LODs.

But what are Mip Maps in Game Art Design?

Mip Maps are the texture copies that save object LOD models at granular resolutions with details. So, whenever the game screen moves away from the object, it will directly render and replace with the smaller resolution model with a smoother page refresh rate.

In short, Mip Maps are applied on the objects with not so clear distance from the player’s focus game screen. Using Mips and LODs together will indeed boost the game screen rendering speed.

Optimize the Game Object for the Transparency

Rendering each transparent game element that overlaps the other game elements is expensive for all game systems.

When doing so, in the case of mobile screens, rendering transparency often leads to “overdraw” – where its GPU has to render the same pixel again and again to meet the characteristics. And this rerendering process directly affects the game performance, which is not good for players; and thus, business.

However, transparency in the game design and development is necessary. Hence, to use it intelligently in the design, you need to search for the efficiency available in the market.

Alpha Blend

Since the mobile GPUs have sufficient graphics optimization capabilities, alpha-blending the game objects is the highly recommended option. The reason is the Alpha blend enables artists to create different models with varying transparency rather than just turning graphic transparency ON/OFF as cutout offers.

There’s also another method to optimize the game object transparency level, which Alpha Tests. But as it makes the game transparent object completely transparent, like they were never in that space, it is often referred to as “Cutout”, which is not a recommended  practice by industry experts.

4. Create Art That Tells A Clear Story

“Let the art speak for itself” is the mantra that all visual mediums follow, including animated films, advertisements, TV shows, etc. Then why should mobile games stay away from this guru mantra?

Nowadays, the majority of digital users, including gamers, prefer to get all information by just looking at the graphics rather than reading a couple of text instructions. This creates a need for you to create information-aided gameplay.

Speaking of which, Subway Surfers reflects points to collect in an illuminated/super highlighted way so any user would get an idea to collect such. Also, when a new user starts the game, it shows actions to perform through guiding gestures. So, players can learn to play the game and the best game mechanisms from the very start without additionally watching any extensive user guide video or reading players’ gamecraft guide.

5. Appealing Appearance Matters

Games are for experience, and players come to play games to refresh their mood. Hence, as game artists, it falls into our responsibility to choose an appealing color scheme.

Not just the bold color scheme but also using shallow depths of field (Low f-number or f-stop, from 1.4 – 5.6 points) to effectively style the game nouns.

Just think and test your game animation choice to see how this choice impacts your psychology when seeing that effect in the game. And game designers should never underestimate giving preferences to the visual choices for the game because of the reason – the impact.

Note: While working on making the mobile game art appearance appealing, ensure not to use UX dark patterns.

6. Art Improvement is Necessary

Improvement is the nature of the world. In the tech world, settling down to one app version has never been an ideal option. With time, advancement in technology, and trends, each and every app present in the respective app store has to be up-to-date with UI UX design trends and technological advancements.

When speaking of game design and development, it becomes important to release new updates with upgraded game UI UX features, levels, performance optimization, security patches, etc. And the same applies to the game world.

Concept Art is the core part of the game design, which must be upgraded and optimized on time to meet players’ ever-changing game experience preferences.

Let’s take one example. In 2012, supercell launched Clash of Clans with that time’s art style. But over time, it has released many new versions with upgraded art style and performance to maintain players’ interest in the game.

In your game versioning, the update can include anything – new game levels with more difficulties, introduce new characters and weapons, add new story extensions, improved art style, etc. For better ideas in the game improvement, take your players’ feedback continuously.

In short, your initial game art style shouldn’t have to be the last.

7. Game Art Responsiveness

Last but not least! Once the whole game art design part is done, always ensure to make it adapted to all screen sizes, including mobile devices, tablets, Laptop/PC screens, TV screens, etc.

Nowadays, the digital device market is full of varieties in terms of screens and performance, especially in the case of smartphones. With this availability of screen size varieties, you – as a game designer – have to make your game art responsive to all possible screen sizes.

Definitely, it can’t be done so easily! It would require tons of conceptualization of time, adjustments, and experiments. And with such effort investment, you will eventually meet your game art screen adaptiveness goals for all screens.

Hence, it’s better to invest much time – fixing loopholes than releasing the game with tons of pixel holes and diffusions.

Do you want to know how mobile games are created? Luckily, we have prepared an extensive guide on Mobile Game Design, which you probably don’t want to miss out!

How 300Mind Can Help You Create Game Art For Your Dream Game?

The game concept art design lives in the heart of our game artists, who always love experimenting with different art elements, like a 3D armory, characters, etc. 300Mind Studio is a proficient full-cycle game design and development company based in India, helping game companies to bring their game ideas to life, from game concept art design, environment design, motion, and animation, to the final game development with extensive testing.

Here’s the case study on our star game product – Bal Hanuman, which is entirely conceptualized, designed, and developed by game artists at 300Mind.

Visit our 300Mind Game Art Collection for better design references.

Want to hire our game artists for your dream game project? Contact our game design consulting team today!

FAQs On Game Art Design

The post How to Design Engaging Game Art That Elevates Mobile Gaming Experience? appeared first on 300Mind Blog.