IGDA New York City/Meetings/20050502
International Game Developers Association
[edit] Hi-Res VS. Lo-Res: A Game Design Debate
Written by David Allen — based on both my personal notes taken at the event and video footage of the event by Nick Smolney, Lead Programmer, Gameloft. The opinions and critiques expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect those of the IGDA, Parsons, NYC SIGGRAPH nor any of the companies involved with this presentation.
[edit] Introduction
On May 2, 2005, over 150 Tri-State game developers and students gathered at the New School's Tishman Auditorium to witness the Hi-Res VS. Lo-Res debate between local game development professionals despite the heavy rain (and missing an episode of 24, as Ellen Scott pointed out). After a brief delay due to a panelist stuck in traffic, Bill Folsom, Event Coordinator, NYC IGDA, and Ellen Scott, Event Coordinator, NYC ACM SIGGRAPH, each took a turn at the podium welcoming the audience and giving thanks to the many people and organizations involved in producing the event.
Katie Salen, Director, MFA Design & Technology, Parsons School of Design, then both contextualized and provided the framework for the Hi-res VS. Lo-Res debate. Katie started by pointing out that despite the relatively close proximity of the panelists' offices, many of them were meeting each other for the first time. Then, in an effort to avoid engaging game art as simply “eye [or ear] candy”, she stated panel members would be framing their discussions in terms of aesthetics and the user experience of game art debunking “Resolution” as the deciding factor in the debate.
As a prompt for their presentations, Katie had asked each team to do a mini post-mortem on a game of their choice. Katie pointed out, however, that each team approached the problem in their own unique way. Starting with the Lo-Res team, each team would make a 10-minute presentation. After the ground arguments were presented, Keith Halper, CEO, Kuma Reality Games, Daniel Kitchen, VP, Product Development, Majesco, and Matt Hawkins, Game Designer, Pixeljump, would provide some marketing and historical game art development context for the team presentations. Then, the floor would opened for debate, at which point, Katie encouraged the audience to participate.
Table of contents |
[edit] Lo-Res
As Halo's Master Chief appeared face-to-face with Mario at the beginning of the Lo-Res PowerPoint Presentation, the audience chuckled a bit. Then, as Mario proceeded to defeat the Master Chief with a pixilated fireball, the auditorium erupted in laughter.
[edit] “Res” as Level of Realism
Once the audience settled down, the Lo-Res team proceeded to present the results of their research into the term “Res”. They established a “Res” range that begins with Lo-Res games like, Pong, Donkey Kong, Super Mario, Duck Hunt, and Snake; then moves to ambiguous-Res titles like Snake 3d, Quake, Doom, and Super Mario 64; eventually making its way to decidedly Hi-Res games like Half Life and Grand Turismo 4.
Then, based on that range, they made the following conclusions about the definition of “Res” in the debate. First, using Starfox as an example, 3D graphics do not equal “Hi-Res”. Second, comparing two FPS games (Duck Hunt to Half Life), the Hi-Res of today is the Lo-Res of tomorrow. Finally, with Snake and Snake 3D as examples on different platforms, Hi-Res on one platform is not the same as Hi-Res on another.
The Lo-Res team's assertion was that most people use “Res” to describe the level of realistic representation in graphics and audio of a game rather than the specific art characteristics like dimensions, bit depth, or sampling rate. Having established this redefinition of “Res”, they then began to make a case against the use of “Hi-Res” art based on claims that Hi-Res imagery has not only been historically declined for more abstract representational methods, but is in fact less economic in many ways.
[edit] Practical Issues
The Lo-Res team asserted that Hi-Res projects tend to require more memory and processing power on the delivery platform than most Lo-Res games. When you consider the facts that realistic games usually have more content in terms of assets and that realistic assets require more time to produce than Lo-Res assets, Hi-Res productions usually have higher development costs and, therefore, more financial risk than Lo-Res games.
Their claim to higher development costs was at least partially validated by the Marketing Impact Presentation and the Million Dollar Budget question later on in the debate.
[edit] Aesthetic Considerations
Riffing off a recent popular game, Katamari Damacy, the Lo-Res team came up with a hyperbolic illustration for their first reason for claiming that highly representational graphics are not always a desirable goal for all games. They asked the audience to imagine a Hi-Res Katamari Damacy II while displaying an image that resembled Tornado Alley after a recent natural disaster. With that photo, they claimed that using a highly realistic level of carnage for that particular title would completely change the emotional response of the user to horror rather than playful amusement — one of the Hi-Res panelists muttered that they'd probably be more interested in KD II than the original title. Then, when taken a bit further into realism, Katamari Damacy III becomes an underground movement played out by real people wearing hand-made costumes in a basement in Toronto — the auditorium erupted in laughter again.
The Lo-Res team then used a principle in robotics called the uncanny valley — illustrated concisely by the Lo-Res team's use of a still frame from the recent film, the Polar Express — to further erode the idea of Hi-Res as an aesthetic idea. They used the principle of the Uncanny Valley, insinuating that as a result of abstraction, the user becomes less concerned with the question “is this real?” and is better able to concentrate on other game aspects like actually having fun. Ironically, if the user's idea of fun is being in an environment that is eerily real, or the intent of the author is to horrify their audience, then realism could be a desirable ideal in that particular project. This connection between negative response and realism also seems to be reflected by the fact that most Hi-Res games generally elicit negative emotional responses (fear, adrenaline frenzies, and horror), while Lo-Res games tend to elicit relatively positive human reactions.
[edit] Visual Abstraction Throughout the History of Art
Their third argument against Hi-Res was the assertion that throughout art history, abstraction has been not only preferred, but also claimed to be more effective in communication than realistic depiction.
With that thread of thought, they began to weave a web of visual abstraction throughout the history of art, echoing Scott McCloud's claim that visual abstraction has a strong connection to viewer empathy. From Byzantine Art to Modern Comics, Lo-Res imagery has been successfully used to connect artists to their audience without realistic depiction. The Lo-Res team, tried to use images of Superman with varying degrees of abstraction to illustrate that concept, but the audience poll on the subject was ambiguous. The ancient icon, Venus of Willendorf, was also shown as an example of abstraction throughout hi.
The Lo-Res team wrapped up their presentation with a Hi-Res photo to signify Hi-Res, then they zoomed in on a portion of the same image to represent Lo-Res.
[edit] Hi-Res
Nick Laing, Producer, Hypnotix, took the stage and started his team's presentation by expressing, an admiration for the analytical structure of the Lo-Res presentation because of the importance that academic and scientific thinking has in the growth and development of the games industry. He then proceeded, however, to narrow the scope of the Hi-Res Platform to “now” in order to avoid some of what they view as the cumbersome complexity and “never-ending logic” that is inherent in historical rhetoric.
[edit] “Res” as Fidelity
In a mild combination of both agreement and discord with Katie's statement about debunking “Resolution” as the deciding factor of the debate, the Hi-Res team redefined “Res” to mean “Fidelity” rather than resolution. I mention discord because the term “Hi-Fidelity” is usually used to describe the reproduction of sounds and images that are faithful to their originals in terms of specs, which is exactly what resolution is. So the Hi-Res redefinition of “Res” to mean “Fidelity” does not necessarily debunk resolution as the deciding factor, but instead broadens the scope of the debate to include all specs rather than just “Resolution”. This is where the main rift in the “Res” debate first became apparent.
[edit] Imers-addiction and Mysterious Integration
The Hi-Res team constructed their argument for Hi-Res (read as “Hi-Fi”) art production on the grounds of immersion, while briefly mentioning the word “integration” without further elaboration. Based on the comparison of QIX and Halo that followed, however, the Hi-Res team equated addiction to immersion.
[edit] Eye Candy
In a jokingly stated effort to win over the audience, the Hi-Res team introduced a Doom III trailer as “eye candy” for visual aid and evidence to support their side of the debate. In a twist of irony, due to a technical difficulty, the trailer was presented with no sound. As a result, the audience provided their own verbal Lo-Res sound effects for the Hi-Res presentation to break the silence. I speculate that the audience might have even derived more pleasure by providing their own sound track than they would have by listening to the actual “Hi-Res” audio for the piece. The audience eventually quieted down in an effort to hear the whisper of audio that was audible, only to have Steve Derrick, Group Manager, Handheld Art, Vicarious Visions, use their silence to prove the audience's immersion in the Hi-Res art.
As the projector continued in silence, the Hi-Res team provided more commentary that added some stipulations to the claim of immersion. The game could be extremely scary ... when played in a dark room. It was perhaps a bit too violent for some ... but fun. They made general mention of other Hi-Res games that were less violent but, in their opinion, not as good, then rattled of some specs like “dynamic lighting ... normal mapping, multi-pass texturing” until an audience member heckled “what?” which caused yet another eruption of laughter.
[edit] Marketing & Historical Perspectives
Keith Halper, CEO, Kuma Reality Games, presented the idea that Hi-Res games are profitable as common knowledge. He also introduced the concept of the backward development cycle — when a game is based on existing Intellectual Property Licenses like sports franchises, films, books, and the like — and how it affects creativity and budget. Since most IPLs are associated with an established audience, there is usually a great amount of money flying around such projects. And, as the result of the higher risk involved with more development capital, most IP holders tend to favor already well-established genres.
Both Matt Hawkins, Game Designer, Pixeljump, and Daniel Kitchen, VP, Product Development, Majesco, agreed with Keith and, in turn, added the connections between budget size and level of “Res”. They stated that most Lo-Res projects, from the beginning of game development to the present, generally involve smaller budgets, smaller production teams, and less intellectual property licenses than most Hi-Res projects. Daniel then, based on his experience developing entire games by himself for the Atari 2600, stated that Lo-Res projects generally have a greater amount creative freedom in terms of gameplay and subject matter than Hi-Res projects.
Based on their personal experiences in the industry, both the Marketing and Historical Perspective panelists seemed to generally agree that Hi-Res equals more profit, while Lo-Res equals more creative freedom.
[edit] Debate
(The actual debate portions of the event were scattered in several places. So, for the sake of clarity and report structure, I have included all open discussions here.)
[edit] The Lumines Dilemma
The debate began with a rebuttal of the Market Impact on the issue of Res in that an already enormous yet still growing segment of the games market is completely content with casual Lo-Res gaming either online or on cell/portable devices. In the middle of the Lo-Res statement, the Hi-Res team interrupted, however, to insist that even handheld games are “pushing the envelope” listing Tony Hawk as a great Hi-Res success in the hand-held market. Lo-Res then graciously bounced back with a sarcastic reference to the most popular Hi-Res hand-held game, Lumines. “Oh, I'm sorry, it's not really Hi-Res”. The Hi-Res team then conceded that it Lumines is a “block graphics game on a Hi-Res platform ... but it's so shiny ... it's pretty much a Hi-Res version of Tetris.”
It was in their conflicting claims on Lumines that the difference between each team's definition of “Res” was brought into the highest contrast. Because Lumines is a “Block graphics game” that pushes the technical envelope, according the Hi-Res definition of Hi-Fi as “pushing the envelope”, such a game would clearly fall into the Hi-Res side of the graphical scale. However, if you consider the Lo-Res definition of “Res” as level of realistic representation, the game obviously falls on the Lo-Res side because its block graphics can be considered visually abstract.
[edit] “Res” in Feature Animation and Viewer Expectations
An audience member asked for the “Lo-Res” team's take on certain stylized projects in the animation field. Pixar's Toy Story or The Incredibles were mentioned as examples. The Lo-Res team responded by claiming such projects for their side of the debate because they use abstract representations of reality.
Through their responses to this and other questions, the Lo-Res team asserted that abstract representation lightens the audience expectation load for developers. They claimed that abstraction does this because it is allowed to live beyond the rigid rules of realism. If you try to emulate reality in art, people have much higher visual and aural expectations than if you were obviously taking a stylized and, therefore, abstract approach to sound and graphics. Therefore, as the result of lowered viewer expectations for Lo-Res art, Lo-Res developers experience a great deal of creative liberty.
I would like to point out that this discussion about projects like The Incredibles also stood out as yet another example where abstract projects can push the technical envelope, as stated by one of the viewer's comments during this segment. Therefore, it could also be considered both Lo-Res and Hi-Res at the same time depending on which team's definition is being used.
[edit] Resemblance
In the form of a question, Eric Zimmerman attempted to redub “Res” as “Resemblance.” I was thinking the same thing myself at the time. In retrospect, however, coining “Res” in that way might work perfectly for the Lo-Res argument while ignoring the Hi-Res team's definition of “Res” as it was still loosely tied to resolution. In the end, the Lo-Res panel declined the new term, preferring to describe their stance as based on the idea that Hi-Res Productions put so much effort into producing Hi-Fi graphics that they neglect other aspects of game development like gameplay, innovation, and meaningful narrative.
[edit] Million Dollar Budget
As the result of the previous Lo-Res response, an audience member asked the “Lo-Res” team to describe how they would divide a $1 Mil game development budget. Unfortunately, the question was posed with a dollar sign rather than asking for percentages, so, the responses that were talked about did not really answer the question that the audience member was trying to ask. Instead of breaking down the budgeting of individual portions of a Lo-Res game's production, the Lo-Res team simply joked about how many games they could actually make with $1 Mil.
[edit] Miscellaneous
Towards the end, there were a few general miscellaneous questions about “Cosmology” and the future of the industry, followed by a long statement (rather than a question) challenging the panel to create a build-your-own game system. Despite such questions broad scope and seeming lack of connection to the Hi VS. Lo-Res debate, perhaps they could serve as inspiration for future game-related events, as they are still interesting questions.
[edit] Conclusion
Overall, the conflicting definitions of “Res” put forth by each team made for an interesting debate. Despite their differences, the entire panel was unanimous in the general belief that there is a direct relationships between level of “Res”, licensing, and budget size. They also shared the belief in an inverse relationship between “Res” and creative freedom. As Katie pointed out in the beginning, this is the first time that some of the panelists had come together, so, the fact that they all agreed in any respect is proof that such connections currently exist or at least are commonly believed to exist throughout the industry.
Looking into the future, it would be nice to see further explorations into both any hard market data that exists about the “Res” question, as well as a deeper exploration into the relationship between aesthetics and the user experience. It might also be interesting to see the relative comparison of Hi-Res and Lo-Res budgets, as it would certainly be useful in demystifying some of the financial assertions put forth throughout the event.
[edit] Photos
by Nelson Ramirez & Joshua Segall
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[edit] Credits
[edit] Panelists
- Lo-Res
- Brad McDonald, Art Director, Large Animal Games
- Demetri Detsaridis, Game Designer, Gamleloft
- Michael Sweet, Composer and Sound Designer, Audiobrain
- Nick Fortugno, Senior Game Designer, gameLab
- Hi-Res
- Jason Schreiber, CEO, Powerhead Games
- Nick Laing, Producer, Hypnotix
- Steve Derrick, Group Manager, Handheld Art, Vicarious Visions
- Market Impact
- Keith Halper, CEO, Kuma Reality Games
- Historical Perspectives
[edit] Moderator
- Katie Salen, Director of MFA Design & Technology, Parsons School of Design
[edit] Sponsors
- Parsons School of Design
- NYC ACM SIGGRAPH
- NYC Chapter of the IGDA (The Gamoids)
[edit] Organizers
- Ellen Scott, Event Coordinator, NYC ACM SIGGRAPH
- Bill Folsom, Event Coordinator, NYC IGDA
[edit] More Information and discussion
- Videos by Nick Smolney, Lead Programmer, Gameloft. (Please note the video links below point to files kindly hosted by Nick on his personal website at http://www.nsmolney.net/debate_stuff/ and might eventually be removed from this article if the files become unavailable in the future):
- Article by Ben Serviss, Creo Ludus Entertainment, for IEE Multimedia Magazine.
- Input your comments on this article's discussion page (You must be logged in with an active wiki account to use this feature.)
- Event Thread on the Forums for those of you who would like to provide the chapter with feedback on the event but do not have an active wiki account.
