Missing Links

There’s no better place to observe the advancement of digital characters than video games. The technology to create interactive media has always been on the forefront of visual animation.

As the technology has progressed, graphics have been getting closer and closer to what we could call realistic. This also means that many modern games have begun to fall into the valley, since we’re not quite there yet.

But just because photorealism in games is becoming a more real possibility with every new console cycle, that doesn’t mean that game developers need to pursue it in every game. In fact, there are many great examples of how developers have circumnavigated the valley by using a stylized approach to their games, rather than a realistic one.

To observe this today, first let’s take a look back on what a modern game is doing to achieve graphical advancement. In the mid 90’s, video games made the long transition from 2 dimensions into 3. This drastically changed how games are made at the fundamental level. See, 2D games are based on sprites, which is essentially a cartoon. Animators draw 2D characters and settings and animate them as they would a cartoon. Press a button to swing a sword, and every bit of the motion had to be drawn by an animator.

3D games, however, are based on polygons. Characters are drawn in 3D by putting shapes together onto a computer to resemble whatever is being created. Then textures are added to these polygons. These characters and objects are fully rendered. When the sword is swung with a polygonal figure, a 3D model performed the action by following a set of programmed motions.

Many gaming franchises have made the jump from 2D to 3D pretty well, so let’s take a character that has had a long career in gaming, and who has also both leapt the valley and fallen into it.

Pictured above is Link, the star of Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda series. Link’s first experience in 3D was in The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. Looking at his avatar, we can observe that the technology that brought him into 3D was still new. He’s blocky and point and pretty emotionless. Nevertheless, Ocarina of Time is often heralded as one of the best games ever made.

There were two direct sequels to Ocarina: Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. Both were released within the same console generation. Looking at the two models for the subsequent games, we can see a very different type of design at work.

Wind Waker’s graphics were designed using an art style called Cel Shading. In essence, it makes the graphics appear as a hand-drawn cartoon. The images and characters are fully realized in 3D, but you wouldn’t know it to look at them, as cel shading makes the game appear 2D.

As toon Link travels his brightly colored world, his wide eyes gleam with curiosity as he enters a strange place. His excited leaps as he slays a giant monster are hard to hate. He looks just right in a world designed for him. To put it simply, toon Link is charming and likeable.

In Twilight Princess, the graphics harkened for a more realistic, though still fantasy based, character design. Real Link’s face is stoic, dirty, and practically unflinching. His motions and actions seem stiff by comparison. Every so often, as he talks with various townsfolk, he’ll stare with his eyes that look just a little too big. His face is static as he glares at the people he’s trying to save. Frankly, it comes across as a little creepy.

Both of these games ran on the same platform, so one was not the result of better technology. They were simply two very different approaches to the same character.

The point here is that just because graphics are better than they’ve ever been doesn’t mean that other avenues are closed off, nor should they be. I could debate the overall merits of the two games to conclude which is better, but that’s not my agenda. I just want to point out that there’s no question in my mind which of the two Links I find more appealing.