Originally Posted by Ravenslayer

why don't we just do that outside of the contest? make a list of every element that defines gameart today and what's wrong with it, then search for things that are inspiring and truely considered art by each individual (it's very subjective anyway) and work towards that.
Get some sort of alternate gameart movement going where the cliches are thrown away.

I like this.

Me too, dominance war entries typically are extreme game art clichés.

Just to play the devils advocate, but...

Mr. Zwebbies idea on how we should change gameart to no longer be theese killing simoulators or generic soldier games, and make 3d thats art in their own right, seems to be counter productive to the people here who wants to get into the industry at the moment, since its what the industry demands. I'm not saying that one shouldn't do anything to stand out of the crowd.

And how would one go about creating 3d thats game related that is art on its own accord. Art is a medium that's supposed to invoke feelings in the beholder and make them relate to it, so I could go about making some disoriented 17 year old that don't know what he wants to do with his life, we can all relate to that, but making that would also give the guy that's recruiting for a studio the abillity to say "Well, that looks okay, but it ain't what we need for our games".. When working for a studio, you ain't an artist, you're a craftsman that conveys the vision of someone else.


With that said,

this contest is gonna be awesome! Compeitions are a huge motivitional factor for alot of people(I know I love them) and depending on when this starts, I'm so gonna join!

Let's make a game full of beautiful naked women running around in a garden of pretty flowers that look mysteriously like penises.

Let me just state that i don't have any problem with well executed cliche gameart. I love overly muscular monsters and well rounded babe gameartpieces and i will not judge people who make it since i try to do it myself. I'm not the hipster type that wants to say everything the mainstream does is totally not cewl.

My proposal on the other hand is just the "Let's try something different on our own time" approach.

I wouldn't mind a generic theme for the contest, it still gives people the possibility to try and make it special by using their own creativity.

Originally Posted by Jackablade

I'd like to see a contest that encourages people to work outside their own comfort areas as well as the comfortable archetypes that typify game art. I've been thinking quite a bit about what Zwebbie's lamentations in the on the state of creativity in the industry and the communities it supports. They can be read here:
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showt...t=79722&page=7
I think he raises some very good points and it'd be great to see Polycount encourage a movement into less familiar areas of style, theme and whatever else.

Perhaps if the contest rules are already drafted and artwork being created, we can leave it for this comp, but I do think it'd be something well worth considering for future ones.

If I could go back in time, I would totally try to encourage michaelangelo to stop painting and sculpting naked men and women, or cloth draped men and women, and then I would encourage him to expand his mind and try new styles and get away from doing what he always does - because to be honest I'm totally sick of seeing the same awesome paintings and epic depictions of the same subject matter in that michaelangelo style.

*rolls eyes*

TBH I dont care what style, theme or subject matter anyone chooses, I'll still try to work what I like to make into it

Originally Posted by Hazardous

TBH I dont care what style, theme or subject matter anyone chooses, I'll still try to work what I like to make into it

Agreed. I hardly think the subject matter is "what's wrong" with game art. Amazing, unique art exists in every genre, even the overused cliche genres.

I think what everyone should be clamoring for is better art.... not different subjects. But that's just up to us, bros.

using watercolors,pastels in texturing as a technique of hand painting is something I want to give a try using photoshop brushes.

Just by making a brief that make you have to try stuff out of the box does this

I see where people are coming from with the make something beautiful, but it wouldn't be right to exclude the possibility of soldiers and brilliant characters that people make just because they are made a lot. I mean there are some beautiful things in past dominance wars. Something that allows people to do what they want would be cool, not based around war but doesn't have to exclude it.

If it does go down that route, I hope it's not called "Make love not dominance war"

Outside the box, is another box.

With it's normals flipped.

Originally Posted by XenoKratios

Outside the box, is another box.

With it's normals flipped.

outside the box is the vast space of a infinite universe of universes where creativity is a universal language of sexy juice.

Its definately a nice thing to push for something fresh and interesting.

I've not really read over it all yet but im going to guess theres a spot for concept art in this competition?

ill cross post this from the awesome thread;

You Tube

no generic scifi or fantasy poop is all

We should all try and recreate Prodigys One Love music video.

You Tube

We should think about all the truly great game characters (Gordon Freeman, Big Daddy, Adam Jensen, etc...) decide what makes them so great, and then base the contest on that principle(s)

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

We should think about all the truly great game characters (Gordon Freeman, Big Daddy, Adam Jensen, etc...) decide what makes them so great, and then base the contest on that principle(s)

~ We already know the answer to that: The game was good.

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

We should think about all the truly great game characters (Gordon Freeman, Big Daddy, Adam Jensen, etc...) decide what makes them so great, and then base the contest on that principle(s)

Freeman, if pulled outside of Half-Life, would suck ass. Applies probably to every iconic game character out there. Because it's not just some awesome model but combination of storyline, voiceover, animations, cutscenes, etc.
So in order to achieve similar result you would have to put alot more work into your entry, besides making cool pose and render. That's something beyond our possibilities. Let's just stick with what we already can do.

^ He speaks the truth.

I remember the characters from Wolf:ET and ET:QW better than I'll ever remember any from major block buster games, and there were 20 of them. All completely plain.



Those sneaky fuckers always ruined your day.

If that's the case we should also break down why Duke Nukem, Marcus Fenix, Isaac Clarke and Astaroth are truly great game characters. The problem I have with, I guess we'll call it Zwebbie's Idea, is that it's a loud minority expressing their personal desires. Not really taking into consideration that TONS of people actually do like making big muscular dudes with guns, or chicks with tight asses and katanas...and not to mention that even MORE people like to buy those products (Madden, Gears, Call of Duty...which I know must just kill a hipster with each sale) and that those people are the audience for a lot of people around here. A lot of the times, like in the examples Grim gave (not to single you out), have a solid backbone in game design and story - not actual character art. We're here to make art assets for a product, that's it. You're not changing the world one character model at a time and, realistically, what new ground could you break with something experimental? "Hey, I used watercolours to paint my guy..." "Hey, I recreated Dali's "The Persistence of Memory"" "I created an abstract character made entirely out of 1 x 1 cubes..."

As a side note, I noticed a while ago while spying on Zwebbie that most of his work is the exact same thing he's bitching about. We have a goblin, we have Joan of Arc (arguably the most recreated female in cg), Rorshach, Cammy, etc. All seems pretty mainstream to me.

That said, whatever the topic happens to be - I'm sure you can rock out some kind of weird impressionistic style if you want but forcing other people to do it is just as lame as me forcing you to make me a space marine. And, to add to that, I hope that - unlike DW - this is actually a game art comp...so...if you do decide to lick a few toads and go all artsy, it comes down to how you technically pulled it off and how it would actually "work"

Originally Posted by Gav

If that's the case we should also break down why Duke Nukem, Marcus Fenix, Isaac Clarke and Astaroth are truly great game characters. The problem I have with, I guess we'll call it Zwebbie's Idea, is that it's a loud minority expressing their personal desires. Not really taking into consideration that TONS of people actually do like making big muscular dudes with guns, or chicks with tight asses and katanas...and not to mention that even MORE people like to buy those products

~ Amen.

do tons more people really like them? or do they just buy them because that's what's fed to them?

tons more people like them. Numbers don't lie.

We love them.

Is that a serious question?