911
submitted 6 days ago by Catoblepas to c/onehundredninetysix
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] MudMan@fedia.io 14 points 6 days ago

Design = graphics.

Or maybe Design(graphics).

Graphics ARE design. Barring very few exceptions, games communicate themselves visually. What the graphics look like, how they are laid out and how they convey the rules are absolutely fundamental parts of the experience-as-designed on every game, regardless of how technically complex the visuals turn out to be.

These arguments always bum me out a little, because they start from the premise that, say the people at, say, Yacht Club care less about or put less effort into what their games look like than larger devs using photorreal visuals, which should not survive looking at a single frame of their work.

[-] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 13 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Same word, different meanings. It may not be the technically correct definition of the word, but typically when people talk about "good graphics," they're talking about photorealism. In MrMobius's comment, "graphics" = high resolution, photorealism, the kind of thing the comic we're commenting under is talking about, and "design" = art direction, aesthetic.

ETA: That said, higher resolution can make already strong art direction even better. I think a large part of what makes Clair Obscur look so pretty is the juxtaposition of the surreal elements with the photorealistic graphics. Esquie sticks out to me in particular, because he looks so physically real, and also so alien.

I'm not trained in media criticism, so I'm sure someone else can phrase that better than I can

ETA more: Also, games that are designed to look as real as possible also take a lot of effort and talent. Just because Bodycam doesn't look like a comic book or a surreal painting doesn't mean it doesn't have strong art direction. It cannot be easy to make a game that looks so indistinguishable from actual body cam footage.

[-] MudMan@fedia.io 6 points 6 days ago

Well, I assume most people splitting things this way typically think of design as gameplay design or systems design.

Either way I'd argue it's a bit of a misunderstanding of both what goes into good non-photoreal visuals and of the concept of game design.

[-] EldritchFeminity 3 points 5 days ago

Yeah, I can't tell whether they mean aesthetics > graphics or everything else that goes into a game trumps good graphics.

With the latter, I generally say that good graphics can't save a bad game, while the former I refer to as the Wind Waker effect. People complained about how cartoony Wind Waker looked after the GameCube graphics demo showed off a realistic-looking fight between Link and Ganon, but today Wind Waker is looked back on fondly for its art style that defined many Zelda games after it while many of the "realistic" FPS games from the time are looked back on as the "real = brown" era.

[-] MudMan@fedia.io 4 points 5 days ago

Oh, yeah, that's a branch of this argument I had almost forgotten. Such violent swings in the stylization wars.

I think these days it's less aesthetics/graphics and it's more photorealistic graphics/minimalist graphics, except minimalist graphics don't register as graphics at all in some cases.

In the middle there we also have the "graphics haven't improved since the Xbox 360" crowd. I think remembering that we spent like a decade playing games in black and white will become the new "PSOne games looked terrible and we didn't realize" in a minute. It's due, because now we're in the wave of "PSOne games looked awesome, here's a lo-fi stylized game people think took no effort to make for some reason" after people stopped referring to pixel art as "retro".

I have to say I wasn't ready for how much getting old makes these nerdy arguments start to pile up in sediment layers. It's been a long trip.

[-] HellieSkellie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 6 days ago

Dwarf fortress is peak.

[-] Zagorath@aussie.zone 6 points 6 days ago

Design = graphics.

Or maybe Design(graphics).

I would say design ⊃ graphics.

[-] MudMan@fedia.io 5 points 6 days ago

Honestly, I briefly considered going to fish for the right symbol and I decided it wasn't worth it.

I can't decide if I'm annoyed or proud that obviously someone was going to get pedantic about it.

I genuinely thought people were going to pop out to mention I was saying design is a function of graphics with that second one before they did provide the symbol, so you've exceeded expectations there.

[-] Zagorath@aussie.zone 4 points 5 days ago

Well, I didn't want to correct that because frankly "design is a function of graphics" is arguably true. The biggest problem with that notation is the possible implication that it's only a function of graphics, which is obviously wrong, but as an informal notation I see no reason to insist it must be interpreted that way.

[-] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 days ago
[-] Zagorath@aussie.zone 6 points 6 days ago

I'm afraid I don't know what that means.

[-] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 6 points 6 days ago

⊃ looks like つ (Japanese character from the Hiragana syllabary that is pronounced "tsu")

[-] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 days ago

(っ◔◡◔)っ

this post was submitted on 15 May 2025
911 points (100.0% liked)

196

3254 readers
1552 users here now

Community Rules

You must post before you leave

Be nice. Assume others have good intent (within reason).

Block or ignore posts, comments, and users that irritate you in some way rather than engaging. Report if they are actually breaking community rules.

Use content warnings and/or mark as NSFW when appropriate. Most posts with content warnings likely need to be marked NSFW.

Most 196 posts are memes, shitposts, cute images, or even just recent things that happened, etc. There is no real theme, but try to avoid posts that are very inflammatory, offensive, very low quality, or very "off topic".

Bigotry is not allowed, this includes (but is not limited to): Homophobia, Transphobia, Racism, Sexism, Abelism, Classism, or discrimination based on things like Ethnicity, Nationality, Language, or Religion.

Avoid shilling for corporations, posting advertisements, or promoting exploitation of workers.

Proselytization, support, or defense of authoritarianism is not welcome. This includes but is not limited to: imperialism, nationalism, genocide denial, ethnic or racial supremacy, fascism, Nazism, Marxism-Leninism, Maoism, etc.

Avoid AI generated content.

Avoid misinformation.

Avoid incomprehensible posts.

No threats or personal attacks.

No spam.

Moderator Guidelines

Moderator Guidelines

  • Don’t be mean to users. Be gentle or neutral.
  • Most moderator actions which have a modlog message should include your username.
  • When in doubt about whether or not a user is problematic, send them a DM.
  • Don’t waste time debating/arguing with problematic users.
  • Assume the best, but don’t tolerate sealioning/just asking questions/concern trolling.
  • Ask another mod to take over cases you struggle with, if you get tired, or when things get personal.
  • Ask the other mods for advice when things get complicated.
  • Share everything you do in the mod matrix, both so several mods aren't unknowingly handling the same issues, but also so you can receive feedback on what you intend to do.
  • Don't rush mod actions. If a case doesn't need to be handled right away, consider taking a short break before getting to it. This is to say, cool down and make room for feedback.
  • Don’t perform too much moderation in the comments, except if you want a verdict to be public or to ask people to dial a convo down/stop. Single comment warnings are okay.
  • Send users concise DMs about verdicts about them, such as bans etc, except in cases where it is clear we don’t want them at all, such as obvious transphobes. No need to notify someone they haven’t been banned of course.
  • Explain to a user why their behavior is problematic and how it is distressing others rather than engage with whatever they are saying. Ask them to avoid this in the future and send them packing if they do not comply.
  • First warn users, then temp ban them, then finally perma ban them when they break the rules or act inappropriately. Skip steps if necessary.
  • Use neutral statements like “this statement can be considered transphobic” rather than “you are being transphobic”.
  • No large decisions or actions without community input (polls or meta posts f.ex.).
  • Large internal decisions (such as ousting a mod) might require a vote, needing more than 50% of the votes to pass. Also consider asking the community for feedback.
  • Remember you are a voluntary moderator. You don’t get paid. Take a break when you need one. Perhaps ask another moderator to step in if necessary.

founded 4 months ago
MODERATORS