Finished Article

For my finished article, I have decided to write about the phenomenon of Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games and their status in the video game world. I want to talk about how their presence has affected the games industry, what the future holds for MMOs and what makes MMOs a unique and surprisingly diverse genre of games.

What makes Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games so unique? Firstly, they are usually massive. This means that there is a significant amount of content for the player to experience. Vast open world environments, in depth levelling and combat systems, more quests and activities than you could ever complete and raids/dungeons are all to be expected.

Secondly, they are entirely online, and as a result, have so far only been available to a PC audience. This is however a vital part of why the genre is so interesting, as the play experience you have depends significantly on the players around you. Scarcely populated servers and empty PVP rooms can (and often do) kill potential MMOs in their early stages of development , as if no one is playing the game with you, there is very little fun to be had.

Roleplaying is the final vital part of any good MMO. Roleplaying games owe their existence to classic role playing board games like the infamous dungeons and dragons. Their charm and unabashedly fantastical setting can be traced back to these board games from the early 70s and 80s.

(Dungeons and dragons board.)

There are thousands of MMOs at the moment, most of them are renowned for being clones of more successful MMOs, and some are renowned for being boring. Obviously personal preference dictates what MMOs. A subgenre of MMOs includes ‘Japanese’ MMOs which take influence from Anime and oriental culture in particular. The diversity of MMOs is surprising, as many interesting new takes on the genre have been seen in recent years.

‘Star Wars: The Old Republic’ is one example of this, and was incredibly popular for a while, both with fans of the film series, and MMO players wanting to explore the galaxy far far away. SWTOR cleverly utilised an already existing universe, and a huge one at that, meaning that more attention could be paid to making the gameplay interesting, rather than insuring interesting and meaningful backstories were present.

Despite the mouth-watering idea of a Massive Online Star-Wars game, many fans complained, saying that the game lacked any engaging end game content, that it was too short and that it simply “wasn’t that fun”. The game had so much potential that I think it was over hyped a little, and it has now become ‘free to play’ (3 words most MMO developers never want to associate their games with.)

Of course, it would be impossible to talk about how revolutionary MMOs have been without talking about World of Warcraft. WoW is often considered the cookie cutter of how to do an MMO right, with over 12 million players worldwide and an ever expanding library of bestselling expansion packs. Renowned for being the ‘most addictive’ game, WoW has caused some controversy in the past, with several deaths associated with the game and spoofs of the culture connected with it.

My experience with World of Warcraft is similar to most people. A friend introduced me, I hadn’t played an MMO before, but had seen WoW spoofed in the famous episode of Southpark ‘make love not warcraft’ , which initially gave me a bad impression. It took a while to get into, and the apparent depth of the gameplay was overwhelming. If a game’s first impression intimidates you, then most people will not attempt to get into it. Even the interface is complicated, with a plethora of spell icons, text boxes, item slots and coloured bars to indicate various different things.

(Basically me in my teenage years.)

Being in year 10, GCSE’s were the only thing I had to worry about, so most of me and my friend’s time was dedicated to WoW. Raiding  on weeknights and competitive ‘player vs player’ games at the weekend. Setting up our laptops next to each other after school, we would play for hours.

(My Orc Mage character, sporting some old PVP armour.)

 We became very engrossed very quickly, to the extent where missing school to level up our professions seemed like a good idea. My friend even gave me my birthday present via World of Warcraft, giving me 5000 gold, which enabled me to purchase the ability to fly a dragon around. (My 16 year old self was very happy.)

Having grown up a bit, I now spend time practicing my drawing skills, instead of my blacksmithing, but I can say that playing games like World of Warcraft is really what inspired me to pursue illustration and concept art.

The art for MMO games is really important, and I think that as a genre, they demand the most work in the way of visual development. The mood and layout of different areas and environments has to be well established well before the modelling of said assets even begins.  With the huge amount of armour, clothes, character models and NPCs that need to be fleshed out as well, it really isn’t a surprise that teams of 20+ artists can work on one MMO.

Some of the concept art from Wildstar is below (an upcoming MMO that is challenging some existing clichés of the genre). I really like to see games that take a significant influence from the art created for it. You can see how the mood of different areas, and the silhouettes of creatures has really been prioritised, to ensure that the visuals of the game are strong, distinctive and unique.

This article has gone a little off topic, but I hope I have given you a little bit of an insight into the world of Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games and how they have inspired me.

2000s to Present

Here we are in the 21^st century, the future, and games have exceeded our expectations. The 2000s saw the release of the 7^th and now 8^th gen consoles, with revolutionary platforms like the Nintendo wii, xbox 360 and ps3.

The 2000s saw the huge success of ‘blockbuster’ games, big, loud, high budget game franchises like Halo or Call of Duty, and the market was dominated by large companies, EA, Blizzard, Epic Games and Bethesda to name a few. There seemed to be no market for smaller budget indie games any more, and ‘casual gaming’ became more difficult to pursue.

The quality of 3D graphics in games has taken a huge jump from the 90s. In 98 Unreal engine 1 came out, compare the screenshot from Unreal tournament to the remake of the train station from Half Life 2 in Unreal Engine 4.

Indie games have become a significant part of what makes up the games industry nowadays. Many interesting and experimental titles have been released, being created by a team of maybe 3 or 4. Some really cool ones I have played recently are Braid, Hotline Miami and FTL. Indie games are a real breath of fresh air from the somewhat stale titles being churned out from larger companies. The indie game market feels very distant from the mainstream games industry. The larger companies seem to make games of typical and recycled formats, while indie game companies are making games for themselves.

(FTL, a game that allows you to manage your own space ship and explore uncharted regions of space.)

Smart phones have really influenced the games industry, and now most people considered ‘casual gamers’ can play a plethora of puzzle and arcade style games on their phones.I think mobile gaming has become such a huge phenomenon because it is so accessible to the players AND the developers.

Mobile versions of larger franchises exist, and in a way, phones have started to take the place of more specialised portable gaming devices like the PSP and Nintendo DS. Being able to jump into a simple and addictive game at the push of a button on the train home seems to be more attractive in today’s society than lugging a separate gaming device with you.

(the Game-Boy advance is now bigger than some smart phones, but it's clunky and classic design holds some of it's charm.)

The games industry has changed rapidly, and has shifted from a slow moving niche industry to one that’s presence is felt worldwide. There are so many directions the industry could travel in, with exciting new technology being funded like the Oculus rift, and with cloud gaming having becoming a reality in recent years, the sky really is the limit.

Art Direction.

This painting by Sargent is one of my favourite portraits. Portraiture is notoriously difficult, as human faces are the thing that we see the most, so it is very obvious when one is painted incorrectly, or the likeness of the model is incorrect.

Having read the Art Spirit, by Robert Henri (The leading figure of the school of American realism.) my eyes have been opened to some of the many philosophies of painting. Considering things talked about in this book really makes you appreciate good art. Henri discussed such topics as brush economy, colour harmony and the relationship between colour and form.

The Piece appears very monotone, using only orange and brown hues, even for the suggestion of the background. No colour seems out of place, even the very saturated tones of the face where the light hits are not harsh in appearance. These bright colours are surrounded by their complementary colours:

Above is the actual colour of the darkest part of her hair. Sargent has very cleverly chosen to place a warm light brown next to a dark saturated purple to create contrast in value and colour, even if we don’t recognise the colour as being purple at first glance. This is one of the ways Sargent managed to create such harmony and ‘wholeness’ in his work, while still maintaining a painterly and expressive feel. (This is an example of colour harmony.)

The edges of the face are very well considered, in order to capture her likeness and personality. If I zoom in further, you can clearly see the variation in hard and soft edges around different areas of the face.

(Hard edges describe the point where two planes meet eachother, while soft edges describe the soft transition of one edge into another. I made the little example to make more sense.)

If a painting has too many of one kind of edge it can look flat and boring. One of the keys to a good painting is to create contrast in many different ways. Having contrasting edges in a painting is very important in leading the eye around, and helping the viewer to understand the forms of the painting better.

Above I have labelled where some examples of good edges are. Typically, the female face has more soft edges than the male face, but it does not contain ONLY soft edges. This is another area where Sargent’s work is really impressive. The few hard edges in this painting are used in places where there would be a sharper transition into another tone, for example on the nose where the light hits it’s side and the contrast between edges in this painting that push the realism in the impression of  this young girl’s face.

It is easy to talk about these things when looking at masters like Sargent and Velazquez, but very difficult to implement into your own work without a lot of practice. I find studying from paintings like this to be incredibly valuable, and every study I do I feel further develops my understanding of painting realism. 

80s-90s

I realised I have missed out the 90s video game history task, so I will dedicate this blog post to the 80s - 90s era of video games and consoles. This console generation was one of the most eventful, and many game titles that are still with us today were founded then.

(The big 3)

In 1983 the Nintendo Entertainment System was released. This was Nintendo’s first attempt to break into the fast moving video game console market that was now booming. They entered at the perfect time with a console that delivered a quality gaming experience for many different ages. Most importantly, it stood out from the competition.

(The variety of titles available for the NES was unbeatable.)

The launch titles of the NES are still famous to this day, duck hunt and Super Mario Bros to name just a few, but hundreds of really quality games came out on this pivotal console, making it the bestselling console of its time, outselling its rivals for the next 8 years, even those who boasted better graphics in the infamous ‘bit wars’.

Almost everything about the NES was both aesthetically and haptically. The console itself was lightweight, but the shape of it was robust and blocky. The cartridges were also a pleasant shape, they were also square in shape, andfitted into the neat slot with a satisfying click. Everything outside the actual gaming experience felt good and looked good, and the actual games were exactly the same.

Soundtracks from games were also very memorable, and utilised the 8 bit sound capabilities well. Such classics as the mega man theme, Super Mario Bros 3, Duck Tales and Battletoads all have really great sounding music. This made the games just that much more enjoyable than the earlier consoles had like the Atari 2600. Is this where Aesthetics and graphics really started to matter in video games?

Towards the end of the 80s, Nintendo’s NES was still well ahead of rival consoles and the most popular console of the time. This crown wasn’t going anywhere, with ‘Nintendo Power’ having been released, and games such as ‘The Legend of Zelda’ and ‘Dragon Quest’ establishing strong RPG titles for fans to lap up. It wasn’t until the 90s that gaming was to change again, and this time, it was even more significant.

(Nintendo’s magazine ‘Nintendo Power’.)

The 90s saw the introduction of processors such as the Intel 80386, which allowed for the first MMORPGs to start, although nothing really major happened in this genre until the late 90s. The big thing that blew everyone’s minds was the transition into 3D.

The market was flooded by cool new games that didn’t hold the all-powerful ‘licensed by Nintendo’ sticker. Games like The Sims, Sonic the Hedgehod, Warcraft and Command and Conquer were on the market by 1992. These great titles were all still running off 2D graphics, and it was ID’s game DOOM that started 3D gaming.

(A screenshot from ‘Doom’ one of the first and most significant 3D games.)

Consoles in the Fourth generation were now in swing, with PS1 and the SNES being the coolest toys that everyone had to have (including myself.) Sega and Sony were still trying to figure out how to best develop and use this new 3D power to their best ability, which required some time. Some of the ps1’s titles were gold, like soulblade, which paved the way for one of the most famous 3D fighting games Soul Callibur. Other classic games that were born from this new 3D technology were the Crash Bandicoot series, Wipeout and Resident Evil, all of which exist today, having been remade on newer consoles.

(My favourite PlayStation game ‘Hogs of War’.)

Game history 70s - 80s

Continuing from an older post about the history of computers from 1850 to 1970, here is a post about games history from the 60s to the 90s

To recap, the idea of video games didn’t exist until 1947, when the infamous ‘cathode ray amusement device’ was displayed. This ‘amusement device’ is rather farfetched from any video games you might see today and was essentially a 2D tennis simulator, where a light would bounce over a white line. You had to really use your imagination.

Before the 70s began, the biggest and most available console was the odyssey. It retailed around $412 in today’s economy, which, looking back, seems a little pricey.

(People pretending to have fun playing pong)

It was a revolutionary idea having a device in your home that could play games on your T.V, even If it involved putting plastic layouts over your TV screen to play the different games.

(The controller for the Odyssey, yep, that’s wood on it.)

All the things we take for granted about video games today, such as decent controllers  and a lot about the mechanics of video games was established by the release of bad consoles and bad games. Failures in the video game market (not that the Atari 2600 failed) paved the way for the successful and innovative games consoles we have today.

The 70s was where video games really started to grow as a market and discover it’s true potential. Pong was released in 1972 by Atari, which certainly looked a lot like the odyssey in graphics, but it had its own console entitled ‘Home Pong’. Another improvement was the addition of a score counter on top of either player’s side of the screen.

Other strange consoles began to fill the market, with the Fairchild being the only half decent console between Pong and The Atari 2600. The Atari 2600 was the first console to use game cartridges and is renowned as one of the most classic video game consoles. It’s sounds and primitive graphics are incredibly nostalgic and take you back to a time where using your imagination with video games was essential.

(Frogger on Atari 2600.)

Here is frogger on the Atari 2600. The games available for this console were colourful and easy to play. They were the closest thing people would have to an arcade in their own home for a while to come.

The innovation of Nintendo’s famous game controller was still a while away, and the consoles that followed the Atari 2600 all seemed to follow a similar aesthetic, with joystick and some kind of strange pad, varying from a phone like number pad on the Atari 5200, to a mini keyboard with numbers up to 6 on the ‘CreatiVision’.

(RIGHT: Creativision. LEFT: Atari 5200 with it’s famous unresponsive broken phone like controller.)

Ideal Job

I have judged what my ideal job would be based on what I do most, which is draw. I was told Valve always scout out ‘T’ shaped people, meaning that my skills should be specialised in one area, but that I should also know enough in other areas of the design process that I can help other members of the team with aspects such as 3D modelling or texturing.

The skillset I want to have is below.

(I never want to learn coding ever.)

I think you are more likely to get a job the more useful you are. The better you are at more than one thing, the more employable you are. That said, I strongly feel that devoting more time to one area of artistic practice, in my case 2D work, results in being employable too.

I also would be interested to delve into UI design, as graphic design really excites me, but I suppose that feeds into illustration and 2D stuff in general. I looked at a list of active games companies in the UK, and most of them seem to be making IOS or indie games. This is really exciting.

Indie games are becoming really popular, due to the querky ideas behind them and the original concepts and game mechanics that developers are trying out. Indie games have been considered a form of art in themselves, as they demand many different types of interaction from the player, which can often be very obscure.

Working for an indie game company, or starting one with some friends would be fantastic, as you have significantly more say in the creation and development of the games you work on and are relatively easy to establish, with no more than a handful of creative needed to start a team.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/studiobento/gameloading-rise-of-the-indies

(This kickstarter is an example of how indie games have an increasing market presence.)

The idea of experimental games becoming a bigger part of online gaming is pretty cool. It puts the power into the communities hands, so that people can make stuff for themselves. It means more original content is going to be out there, which is always good. Steam and the Humble Bundle are probably the two best things to have happened to the indie game community so far.

Aside from working in a company, I really want to freelance as an illustrator. I think this jline of work truly encompasses everything I could look for in a job:

-          Paid to draw.

-          Work to your own hours.

-          Work from home.

-          Get to work on loads of different projects.

Sure that might be a bit idealistic, and I am aware of the downsides of freelancing: sporadic income, feeling depressed about your work all the time, crappy clients that take you for granted, eating your own face due to lack of food ect. (I think the pros outweigh the cons though.)

I know concept art and illustration are infamous for being ‘hard to get into’, I am very aware that the standards of my own work are far below that of professionals, but the skill of drawing and painting can only be improved through regular practice. 

Personal enquiries 2

Economy:

Wow is unique in the way it offers you the opportunity to become an entrepreneur. It does so with it’s in depth economy, consisting completely of players buying and selling materials and armour. You can choose 2 professions in Wow, from a vast list of them to suit your play style.

The level of realism is really incredible, as the prices of items for sale depend completely on what people choose to sell them for. This means that real business tactics come into play with undercutting competitors for your goods, to whole sale traders who choosing to buy and sell only when prices fluctuate. The rarity of goods also affects their price, as the more people there are trying to sell one particular thing, the lower the price will drop.

(The auction house layout in WoW.)

 The professions available cover all of the cliché RPG professions such as Blacksmithing and Alchemy, but include very niche ones too, such as inscriptions and gem crafting, each profession providing the apprentices of it the abilities to craft useful items to sell and trade with others.

The level of detail in the economy of WoW creates an entire game of its own where you can try to make a fortune and destroy your competitors, completely separate to the RPG elements of the game.

Aesthetics:

The Aesthetics of WoW have been debated for a long time, as the low poly characters and blurry textures have remained the same for 12 years, with very few updates. I agree that the character models look quite shoddy, compared to those of Guild Wars or SWTOR, but I also think that the hand drawn quality of the textures adds a unique style to the visuals, not only in the characters, but the environments.

...

(dat character design.)

Above is one of the newer character models for one of the Orc leaders. The shapes and colours of the texture are very stylized to fit in with the exaggerated feel that WoW’s models and textures boast. 

You get a sense of the weight and strength of the character and the model really captures the character’s traits. They are instantly recognisable as silhouettes. Compare the above model to those found in Guild Wars 2.

...

It is obvious that Arenanet wanted a realistic look to their characters, and the good thing about that approach is that your audience might be able to relate to their characters more. But I think realism can look quite dull if not done well.

Despite the high quality looking models, they don’t seem very iconic, and in my opinion fail to show any fun or interesting traits or personalities through their shapes and proportions. These character models really bore me and I think they lack character, which is the one thing they are MEANT to show.