A few weeks ago, a huge discussion burst throughout several animation communities after attendees at the Oscars offered their take on the genre. What we got weren’t the most polite takes imaginable. They stated that animation didn’t mean much to the Oscars or any award ceremony. That animation is mainly for younger audiences and not many adults would want to choose an animated film for film of the year. Animation was ill-fitted, but this was an opinion by Hollywood higher ups. Many people, including myself, were quite offended with what they had to say. Why wouldn’t an animated film be chosen as a candidate for film of the year? Upon further inspection as to why the Oscars don’t nominate animated media this piece of information was found. The board members who choose film of the year candidates don’t believe animation represents the film industry all that well. They want films that use live action set pieces, demonstrate the talent of their actors/actresses, and make the most of the budget offered. They want films which they believe possess “high quality”. Do you see the problem with these statements? Not only do they believe animation is only for children, but don’t think animation demonstrates effort or talent within the industry. They don’t value the work being put towards animation which is incredibly sad. If we were to look back on the last thirty years of animation we would find that it has contributed a lot to the film industry. In fact, half the CGI technology and editing used in live action films wouldn’t be possible without the help of animators. There have been animated shows which have approached mature themes and handled them better than any Hollywood counterpart would. They’ve done it in such a way where both young and old can understand. Some of the most discussed and positively received pieces of media in the last two years were animated. Invincible, Arcane, Jutsu Kaisen, Ranking of Kings, Demon Slayer, Smiling Friends, Close Enough, Inside Job, Spy x Family, Love Death and Robots, and a lot more. Animation when you actually look at it has been more successful than half the live action stale crumpets which Hollywood has been pumping out! Yet, no one in Hollywood wants to point this out because they are too afraid to admit. Again, they don’t want to respect the hard work that has been put towards animation.
Why am I discussing animation all of a sudden? I’m supposed to be the gamer guy! I review video games for a living and talk about them on a ghost town website created on the cheapest editor possible. That sounds sad enough, so why do I want to make my life even sadder!? Well first off reader my life isn’t completely sad, and second is that the animation discussion doesn’t just apply to the film industry. It’s a broad topic and it can even be applied to subjects that don’t even deal with film and television. One of those of course being video games. Technology has been advancing over the last several years and with it has come new ways for developers to stylize their games. A majority of them have aimed for photorealistic environments and physics, but some have taken it a step further. There are developers who have incorporated hand drawn graphics into their games. Fully rendered animation which runs smooth and blends together well with the gameplay. They sacrificed realism and common standards, but in favor strike the fine line between visuals and interaction. Problems were faced and the hand drawn animation can drag out the development time, but with enough effort they pull through. Animators in the game industry, much like the ones in the film industry, demonstrate what hard work has been done and the rewards from it. However, there are some who aren’t willing to fully acknowledge their skills. They dismiss their work and state what the developers have favored is a motto known as “Style Over Substance”. It’s a popular statement mainly used with critics, and what it means is that the game focused more on visual appeal and finesse rather than core principles. Those being the writing and gameplay. If your game design is terrible and the writing is all over the place then players will quickly lose interest in your product. They see you didn’t put enough thought or effort with the rest of your project and focused more on a minor aspect that should have been handled last. That’s ”Style Over Substance,” and I can understand why critics would say this. Ever since the beginning video games have been about having fun. If what you spent hard earned money on doesn’t immediately appease you then you are going to feel pissed off. That’s just human preference at this point. However, is style not substance? Is the art style of a video game really not an important factor? Can an art style be helpful during certain occasions and aid either the story or gameplay department? That’s why we are here today. I want to explain to you all why I believe animation matters. Not just in video games, but as a whole. How I’ve come to appreciate the work of animators, art designers, and much more for making my favorite gaming experiences possible. I’ll try not to make this a long essay, but grab a notebook because there’s a lot we can learn from all this.
Here’s why and how animation matters.
To Convey The Themes and Setting
Setting the tone for a video game is important. You especially want to be able to do this within the first two to three opening hours, because failing to do so will lead to the player losing interest in the world you have created quickly. It doesn’t matter if the world is mind boggling, original, light, dark, or bland. As long as the setting appeals to the player then that is what it will take. A lot of modern day developers set the player into their worlds by either having these long drawn out introduction sequences. Where they have to show bit by bit how the world works and why the player should care. They have to spoon feed information rather than let the player figure it out for themselves. This shouldn’t always be the solution, because what you risk is losing your audience faster than just throwing them into the action immediately. Animation has mostly solved this problem with appealing. Through visuals, design, presentation, and color we can set the tone for a video game. We let the eyes of the player gaze with what is going on screen and let them determine what world they are in. Is this something that is comfortable to them? Is this a happy world or a depressing one? Shall good times await for me or bad events come next? A good reason as to why animation and art style can make us feel is because of three factors: approach, flow, and color. Smoother, lighter, and swifter animation can make us feel more relaxed and convey the sense that everything will be just fine. Meanwhile rougher, darker, or more violently maneuvered animation can get our adrenaline flowing. We know just by looking at it some action or stressful scene is about to happen. By knowing what type of animation styles to utilize we can set the tone to a lot of scenes and important moments perfectly.
Right now I’ll explain two examples which use their art style to convey their main themes. We’ll try to use one game with a dark setting and tone, and another with a happier setting and tone. The first being our dark toned example which is Hollow Knight. You should all know by now how important Hollow Knight is to me, and one aspect that Hollow Knight does better than any other video game I know is its atmosphere. You play as a small knight with a hollow antlered head venturing into the ruined kingdom of Hallownest to hopefully stop a godly created plague from destroying whatever is left of the dying world. All of the inhabitants have been driven mad and those who have kept their sanity are struggling to find refuge. Hollow Knight is trying very hard to replicate the hopelessness of Dark Souls, which was the game’s main influencer, but there are some factors which made Hollow Knight an easier to appeal game. Not just the game design and how tight of a metroidvania it was. Your entire adventure takes place underground, and the deeper you go the harder areas you’ll venture through. Areas in higher ground are illuminated using cooler colors while areas deeper in the earth are blackened by bleak colors. Greenpath is glistening with shades of green and teal, while Deepnest is shrouded in darkening black and gray. The Crystal Peaks glow with the several pink and purple crystals lying everywhere, and the far off corners of Kingdom’s Edge is made white snow and gray ash. Combine this with the soundtrack, sound design, and subtly, Hollow Knight reminds the player of how alone they are. The world is in ruins, but that doesn’t mean what is left isn’t beautiful. You’re a small adventurer unraveling what has happened and whatever quietness is given provides peace. The idea that not everything is after to kill you and there is some hope to be found. I also really love how all the characters and inhabitants of Hollow Knight are depicted using bugs. The game goes for dark mature themes similar to the ones of Dark Souls. That the once powerful being of the world made terrible sacrifices to preserve what power is left, and that mankind is bound to perform the same greed driven sins over and over. Characters in Dark Souls are always there to remind the player of these themes and how difficult it is to survive in an apocalyptic setting. Hollow Knight does the same thing with its characters, but conveys the themes much easier. By using bugs as the main characters you can quickly adjust any viewer into the game easier. Fantasy knights may appease to certain audiences, but bugs are much easier to reconcile with. The players should be able to understand and appreciate the lessons Hollow Knight is teaching more than Dark Souls thanks to visually appreciable characters with easy to analyze designs that can be imprinted into their memories. Notice that I didn’t say it was an art style that appeals to younger audiences. That Hollow Knight can look cute, but still delve into deep topics about life and death.
For our happy example I’ll be diving into Disco Elysium and how its several shades of orange convey the theme of personal triumph. Now, why would I choose Disco Elysium when it’s a game about being a failure in life? Well that’s exactly why I chose Disco Elysium! You play as a man who has lost to recollection of all his memories, and he’s been assigned to investigate a hanging behind a hostile cafeteria. Solving the murder isn’t your only priority as you quickly discover you don’t have any of the mental capabilities to hold your sh*t together. You are a complete f*ck up. Everything you touch turns to rubbish, and the lieutenant assisting you makes note of every terrible mistake and action you make. Combine this with a world struggling to economically recover from a war and what you should have ended up with was pure depression. Why isn’t Disco Elysium completely depressing then? How does this game make you feel better about yourself in a blissful world? It’s a game about adjusting your personality. Fixing yourself and the way you view the world. Trying to stay positive even when everything has gone terribly wrong. I don’t know much about the developer’s intentions, but I’m betting there was a reason why they used the color orange so much. We tend to associate colors with specific meanings when paired together enough times. Red signifies danger or hazards while purple signifies poison or chaos. Orange can be associated with a lot of objects, but what a majority of us should associate it with is the sun. How it lights the sky up with orange whenever it rises or sets along the horizon. The sun tells us time, and whenever the day comes to a beginning or end. Those last two words I underlined, because they play a big role in how our protagonist struggles each day. He’s trying so hard to put his life together, but there’s so many surrounding factors trying to bring him down. We have the choice to quit at any moment, but the story motivates us to push forward. The sun rises to signal a new day is approaching and that new opportunities await. There’s a future waiting for us and we can reach it. The sun sets and it signals the end of the day. That we survived all the hardships of life. That we can stop worrying and rest our weary bones. Orange signals the sunset and sunrise, the sun signals beginnings and ends, and the beginning and end of the day signifies triumph. Our ability to push through life and find some reason to be happy. Yellow and orange is always associated with the emotion of happiness, and that’s what Disco Elysium is trying to do. Make the player feel happy about themselves and the world despite all the flaws. I also love how the artists went for a watercolor expressionist style. Sure Disco Elysium is made up of 3D models with the Unity engine, but the strokes of paint help the foregrounds and backgrounds pop out. Our character is just this small person in a huge world. A small blot in a large painting. Reminding us we must triumph. It’s also pretty funny how a lot of people complain how bad the Unity engine is, but when you look into the games made with it you discover a lot of the most highly acclaimed indie games in the market were made using Unity. Return of The Obra Dinn, Outer Wilds, and previously mentioned Hollow Knight.
I hope by now you understand how a good art style and use of color can set up the mood for a game. Darkest Dungeon and how grim looking characters remind the player of how hopeless their team is. That they really are a group of ruthless mercenaries who hate one another and can’t be trusted. Ender Lilies and how much like Hollow Knight it’s use of cool colors reminds you of how beautiful a dying world can be. Death’s Door and how it’s quirky papercraft style adds to the humor. Katana Zero and the presence the city makes with the several neon lit colors. Psychonauts 2 and how the unproportionate character designs didn't drag down it's themes of mental health and improvement, and added to the wackiness of the universe and psychedelic mind trips. Persona 5 and it's hip look helping the simplistic combat and mechanics stand out. The best example I could have used, but didn’t have enough time to write about was of course Hyper Light Drifter. The environments are made up of unusual neon color combinations, but this helps add to the sense of mystery. That you really are exploring a world far unlike our own which hides many secrets. That’s the one takeaway I wish you readers get. That animation not only serves to entertain, but visually tell their stories and world without having so many explanation dumps. I could keep going, but this section is lasting to long and we aren't even halfway through the short essay.
The Meaning of Art Games
There’s a certain category of video games out there called art games. These are titles which mainly focus on their art style and the quality of their animation. They are also the ones who easily fall victim to the critic’s slogan, “Style Over Substance.” The gameplay and interaction may be dumbed down so that the player will never hit a fail spot and the flow of the animation can stay consistent. The developers sacrificed good game design for style….. but that isn’t a bad thing. Just because a developer makes their game extremely easy doesn’t mean all substance and appeal was lost. I always bring up that video games should be challenging. Games that incentivize action or use of knowledge should push the player beyond what they can already do. I don’t want every game in the industry to be overly easy, but I’m not saying every game needs to be Sekiro levels of difficulty now. Any game can exist within the industry and we just have to appreciate them for what they are. That includes art games, and to be honest I’ve come to respect them more than half the soulslikes I’ve played. What is the purpose of art games then? If the gameplay isn’t the focus then what else is there? Well there’s the story and how it’s presented to the player. This section is more of an expansion to the previous one, but now we discuss games that fall under the “art game” category.
Gris is a short animated experience created by small french team, Nomada Studio. It’s roughly around two hours long which is the shortest run time I’ve ever gone through, but what if those two hours were some of the best? What if I tell you that Gris conveys numerous emotional themes within those two hours? Well buckle your seat beats, because I’m about to break it down for you. Gris tells the story of this young woman who has found herself in a ruined world. These statues and monuments which represent higher beings have been shattered and it’s up to you to restore them. You explore each area uncovering new wildlife and returning color to a colorless world. Gris can be vague at times, but by looking deeper into what the story is trying to say we see Gris is an emotional experience. It explores depression and what the mind can be when going through stages of emptiness. No creativity, color, or happy thoughts fill the mind. Just this bleak void separated from life and we spend hours wandering around. Trying to find something within to cheer us up. We uncover fragments, remnants, and sparks of what could be happiness. Slowly force out the void and remember what makes us happy. Find beauty in the world and all the good it can provide. Depression may work against us and try to suck the color out again, but we have the strength to create. To conjure and bring life back. Life back to ourselves so that we may enjoy the world once again and view it as art. The world is art. You are part of this world. You are art within a masterpiece. Gris shouldn’t have been this deep, but it did and that’s why I love it. My review for Gris wasn’t all that long, but it’s an experience enjoyed best by going in blind.
Our next example is Spiritfarer, another art game but one more incentivized on gameplay. Stella and her cat have been chosen to become the next ferryman on the River of Styx. They sail around a beautiful world, collect passengers, fulfill whatever needs they have, and help them move onto the next plane of existence. Spiritfarer took heavy inspiration from the works of Studio Ghibli, mainly Spirited Away. You can even imagine Spirtfarer attempting to be a spiritual successor to Spirited Away. All the spirits are represented with colorful animals, and the river you explore has islands taking influence from Japanese culture. Yet, Spirtfarer has a powerful theme that carries from beginning to end. It’s being able to cope with death and letting go of those dear to you. The passengers Stella escorts aren’t just randoms, but someone related to her life. A childhood friend, joyful uncle, patients which Stella helped in the hospital, and much more. These were lives Stella cherished and she did the best she could to make them feel treasured up until death. Death is unavoidable though and she never got the chance to fully say goodbye. She felt ungrateful for herself, because she wasn’t able to be a good person. In the afterlife she gets the chance to say goodbye. To see her friends depart and accept themselves, which in turns helps Stella accept herself. After delivering all your passengers it's then revealed the real world Stella is slowly dying and now it’s her turn to move onto the afterlife. She rows her to the gate of ascension and looking towards the sky she accepts fate. She has learned how to cope and there are no longer factors which hold her back. Stella became one with the stars and she’ll forever be imprinted into the memories of those close to her. For the actions and kindness she offered. Spiritfarer is a truly brilliant game. It’s grindy at times, but if you can ignore the repetitiveness of the gameplay then you have an emotional masterpiece.
Animators Deserve More Respect
Animation is truly brilliant and the work put behind it demonstrates triumph in the industry. Artists coming up with clever designs for their characters. Drawing frame by frame and making sure it all chugs along smoothly. Incorporating the animation into the gameplay and seeing if both fit together. There are people out there who believe this isn’t honorable work. That photorealism is much better and developers should always aim to push technology forwards by demonstrating what it can do. I do want to get some statements out of the way first. Photorealism isn’t bad. It’s quite good to be honest. Programming 3D models is as hard as designing a character. Texturing is equally as hard as coloring. Trying to get your in game world working is equally as hard as making sure each frame of animation lines up perfectly. Both sides are equal and possess talent in different ways. However, how many games already use photorealistic graphics? How many games have claimed they possess next generation visuals? This is where my concerns start to arise. If every game can be pretty just by having realistic visuals and physics then every game can look the same. We can just stick to using the same assets over and over to generate what are “believable” worlds. I’m sorry, but you can still immerse players into your setting without having realistic aspects. You want to know what it's called. Having believable characters, writing, and rules that actually add up. Disco Elysium from earlier is a great example of this. The writing and characters' statements always remind the player of how reality works. Of all the messed up events to expect. It accommodates them slowly before fully emerging them in. Compared that to Resident Evil: Village which had photorealistic graphics and flashy set pieces, but failed to immerse me into the setting and leave a memorable experience. There are photorealistic games which fall victim to “Style Over Substance” themselves!
There’s a reason why I always prefer independently made games to Triple A titles despite some of my greatest gaming memories coming from these high budget products. They are experimental. The developers are willing to try out new ideas no matter how risky the take is. The development cycle may be dragged out, but what we end up with instead is different. The same goes for animation! We see artists, designers, and more experiment with ideas and offer unique takes. Interesting ways to intrigue their audience and present their stories. The talent, effort, sacrifices, and strides to make a product which can be enjoyed by everyone. No matter their age group, gender, race, capabilities, and more. Animation isn’t limited to one target audience. So don’t go running around saying animation is for children. Don’t go running around saying animation isn’t the best example of what the industry can produce, because the effort put behind it does. Animation is honorable work and it’s sad so many higher officials don’t believe so. Yet, I do. I respect animation and what it stands for. What animators have achieved these last few decades and how they always push to entice. To show off creative ways to present basic ideas. Artists defining themselves and their works through the styles they created themselves! Animation is beautiful and it’s not just an important factor in not just games, but film and television. It should be seen as an achievement rather than doubted. That’s why the “Style Over Substance” statement is flawed, because we aren’t considering every factor in a product. We are limiting ourselves to specific core principles without accepting any of the other ones. We are gatekeeping! That is what media has become and doesn't seem like it’s going away anytime sooner. We live with a gatekeeper culture unwilling to accept differences. Animation has been looked down upon, but it’s not totally worthless. Style has a place in the world and all we can do is witness. The flow, color, and heart of it all. Thank you everyone for sticking around until the end. If you are someone who respects the work of animators then let me know. I always like listening to new takes. This article may not have been the best address to the topic, but it was my take. A response as to why animation matters so much to me and several others.
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