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Template:Infobox game/row/taxonomy/art styles

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Documentation for the above template (sometimes hidden from view).
Please refer to Taxonomy.
Category Definition Notes Examples
Abstract Abstract and not representing reality, usually reliant on shapes.
Anime Using an anime, or anime-esque art style, including manga and hentai. Not necessarily Japanese-only, but also not to be confused with cartoon art styles. MobyGames
Cartoon Exaggerated art styles based primarily on Western animated films and TV shows, with non-realistic character body shapes and proportions, colorful, larger-than-life environments, and sometimes a disregard of the laws of physics. Often runs on the rule of fun. Not to be confused with anime art styles.
Cel-shaded Art style that makes use of hard, flat shadows in a similar vein to animation cels. Wikipedia list
Comic book Art style that implements graphical elements typically seen in comic books.
Digitized Using footage or photographs of real-world actors, stop-motion figures, or 3D-rendered models as digitized sprites. Giant Bomb
FMV Games in which most of the game is presented as full motion video (FMV) or other forms of animations as well as live action. Many of these games are interactive movies where the player can from time to time choose a path to take with minimal or timed input. It also covers games where most of the game content is shown through full motion video. This art style refers to the gameplay content, not the cut-scenes. MobyGames
Live action Games where a large part of the interactive gameplay makes use of live action scenes.
  • This is an art style for videography that uses real actors in footage shot with cameras. It can be complemented with CGI, but the actors themselves are not animated.
  • This art style is not related to the use of motion capture to animate characters. Digitised characters also do not apply.
  • The live action scenes need to be part of the interactive gameplay.
  • A large amount of games with Live action as an art style for the interactive gameplay carry the art style FMV in addition.
  • It is also used for Chromakey recordings with actors against a video backdrop or an animated background, as long as the actors are part of interactive gameplay sequences.
  • MobyGames
Pixel art Graphics with old-school "blocky" by-pixel sprites and/or backgrounds. This was one of two default graphical styles of the early days of computer and video games, vector art being the other.
  • Does not apply to games that have pixelated graphics but are much higher-detailed and were meant to resemble full drawings (e.g. early Living Books and Disney's Animated Storybook games).
Pre-rendered graphics Computer-generated graphics rendered beforehand by the development staff and thus handled by the software, not the client's hardware. Used as static background images, animated cutscenes and game sprites. This technique was used most often during the earliest days of three-dimensional gaming, back when most home computers could only render simplistic 3D graphics, if at all. TV Tropes
Realistic Aims for realistic depictions of characters and environments with no exaggerations.
Stylized Rather hard to define on its own, "stylized" refers to something with its own distinct visual style. However, it is more often than not also used for exaggerated realism or hyperrealism, such where the game's world or environment is rendered realistically but contains some exaggerations, ranging from the subtle (e.g. a highly idealized version of an otherwise realistic environment; think "Disneyfied" versions of the real world) to the obvious (e.g. buildings with architecture that's very difficult or otherwise impossible to pull off in real life). [1]
Vector art Uses mathematical vectors to create geometric shapes, which can be transformed in many ways without loss of detail, unlike with raster images. Wikipedia
Video backdrop Games where the interactive gameplay largely or entirely takes place against a backdrop with recorded footage.
  • The footage can be edited or enhanced, but it needs to have been recorded with cameras. These games then have other elements in the foreground, either animated characters, vehicles or other elements, or live action actors brought into the game using chromakey.
  • This genre is not to be used for titles where in interactive parts both the actors and the environment are filmed together. It also does not apply to games where the video backdrop is only used for cut-scenes and not the gameplay itself.
  • MobyGames
Voxel art Graphics are constructed entirely out of 3D cubes called voxels or represents 3D cubes without the use of voxel tech (Minecraft)