For or against Cel-shaded games ?

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Cel shading or toon shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering which is often used in video games to mimic the style of a comic book or cartoon/anime.

Some of my favorite games are cel shaded ones Fear Effect,LoZ wind waker,XIII..etc.


Many people still prefer photorealistic graphics which is generally seen as more sophisticated,for that reason i'm curious to know your opinion guys,what do you think about it? are cel shaded games that lame ? should cel shaded rendering be used only for anime adaptations like Naruto games or DBZ ? or maybe
it could be used for different types of games?

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404UserNotFound

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It's all about the aesthetic the game wants to go for. If it's an anime based game hyper realism isn't what they want to go for.
Heck; Sometimes hyper realism has the problem of breaching uncanny valley- being realistic but lacking in an important element that makes it fall just below realism by a tiny bit and making the audience uncomfortable because something just isn't right.
Each style has a pro and co really. And really as long as it's pretty I don't care if it's stylized or hyper realistic. (Plus other things like story/etc)

I'm gon' be straight with yall. I ain't coming back here.

yes ur absolutely right Hated Angel,it really depends on what kind of universe or atmosphere developers want to create.
both hyper realistic and cell shaded renderings offers certain qualities and flaws,for example it is hard to imagine movie like games as the Resident Evil franchise with a cartoony aspect,it is definitely not the right style because it would made it lose its cinematic charms. however maybe videogames are having the same issue as in fine arts. most people believe that a hyper realistic drawing or painting is superior to other styles, while artists from the renaissance era thought that on the contrary that a drawing or sculpture should be a little bit idealized and not too naturalistic,that a work of art should surpass nature itself.
it is just an opinion but sometimes i find excessive realism a little bit ungracious,i'll give just a little example with Castlevania Lords of Shadow its producers made it look like a modern Hollywood blockbuster which i believe is not really a good thing,most older fans enjoyed the previous Castlevania games for their idealized graphics,but today videogames must have that cinematic look or be considered as outdated corny games :/

Huesin

Administrator, Linguistics

Huesin

dead to everyone

I don't mind the use of cell-shading when done right, but most game designers and anime designers can't use it properly. For example, I disliked everytime they used cell-shading animation in Berserk. It was unnecessary and it looked artificial, it didn't look realistic at all. The movement of the characters was a bit sloppy, the facial expressions looked too stiff, especially when it changed from normal animation to cell-shading. The contrast in style was too obvious.

Realism isn't always superior ofc, but that's not the problem. I think the problem is the artist. A great artist could use any style of animation, and still make people believe their game is part of a real universe. Cuphead comes to my mind, I think that game looks great with that old cartoon style. Those artists did an awesome job with that game. Sadly, cell-shading didn't reach that level of creativity yet.

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That's true Hue, the Berserk anime looks a lil bit unnatural, like a video game cutscene actually. But tbh what bothered me the most was the lack of faithfulness to the manga :/ but i guess it cannot be adapted scrupulously since it's a very long story and..quite dark.

Cuphead is an interesting title ;3 i checked the trailer and must say it's quite amazing! looks totally like an old school disney cartoon, just amazing! a great example of a good cel-shaded game.

And i think you nailed it,a true artist can use cel-shading in a judicious manner and make a great game.

Angi

Retired Moderator

Angi

But it is not this day!

Cel shade goes well with games if done correctly, for example okami was supposed to be realistic 3d, I'm sure it wouldn't have had the impact it had if it was done that way, cel shade gave the chance to give the painty feel which was awesome. Other good cell shaded games to mention could be windwaker, ni no kuni, bastion.
As for cel shade in anime I'm not a fan of it, remember cel shade is still 3d, so even if it gives the cartoony feeling, it looks odd because you can see the obvious difference, and it's been used constantly in recent anime because is a faster/easier way to render, better to meet the deadlines heh (r.i.p Sailor Moon Crystal transformations ;-;)

So yeah, I'm all in to cel shaded (games) as long as story/gameplay is good too, this rendering can give the atmosphere some games need to meet the style they're looking for.

P.D.
Cuphead is not 3d cel shaded, every frame of the game is hand drawn, which makes it more awesome \>w</

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I totally agree Angi, it is indeed the cel shaded graphics which gave a game like Okami most of its charm.
Windwaker is just one of my favorite games ever, my second favorite Zelda after a Link to the past,i think the cel shaded rendering was the ideal style for a 3d zelda
game because if you look closely to a 2d game like ALTTP you'll notice that it already had a cartoony aspect like most 16 bit games.
Most of us are still not used to modern 3d animation maybe because we don't want animes to look and feel like a videogame ?
Good to know ^^ there must be a more appropriate term to designate this kind of rendering which it seems to be a promising technique :3

Angi

Retired Moderator

Angi

But it is not this day!

Quote by myri-chan
Most of us are still not used to modern 3d animation maybe because we don't want animes to look and feel like a videogame ?

I think it is because we want to see the 2d overall the animation, I mean a uniform style, if the main focus is 2d, then I want to see everything 2d, if you're going to add cel shade, then do everything cel shaded (like kemono friends maybe?), that's what I think at least.
Here's a bit of Cuphead's animation process, is old school animation mostly xD
click

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This day we fight!

Quote by Angi I think it is because we want to see the 2d overall the animation, I mean a uniform style, if the main focus is 2d, then I want to see everything 2d, if you're going to add cel shade, then do everything cel shaded (like kemono friends maybe?), that's what I think at least.
Here's a bit of Cuphead's animation process, is old school animation mostly xD
click

Yes that's a good point indeed, uniformity could be one the main reasons behind a succesful and attractive animation ^^
Wow O.O it's a lot of work! ^.^' everything is clearer now thanks to the video,it's really made as if it was a cartoon actually ^^
But i wonder if you guys have a good example of a well done 3d cel-shaded game not 2d .. Which one you think is the most exemplary?
Here some recent and well known other examples of cel shaded games: Legend of zelda breath of the wild,Tales of Vesperia,Madworld,Borderlands,Gravity rush..etc

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