Video game art styles · Game Art Styles

GAME ART STYLES

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Discover Games Styles Series Daily Deadcakes

Look Technique Color Influence Game Screenshot

Look

Dimension

2D402 gamesDrawn or sprite-based images on flat planes, including isometric 2D and 3D models pre-rendered to sprites.

2.5D59 games3D geometry played on a 2D plane, or a 2D world with real depth (side-scrollers rendered in 3D, billboards in 3D space).

3D438 gamesA real-time 3D world the camera moves through.

HD-2D / Mixed7 games2D sprites deliberately composited into 3D scenes with modern lighting and depth effects.

Rendering

Pixel art376 gamesImages built from a visible, deliberate pixel grid at low resolution.

Voxel11 gamesWorlds or models built from visible cubes (3D pixels).

Low-poly60 games3D with deliberately few, visible polygons, usually with flat or simple colors.

Retro 3D21 games3D that imitates late-90s console limits: wobbly vertices, warped textures, low resolution (see Hardware look).

Cel-shaded41 games3D rendered to look hand-inked or animated: hard light bands, flat color, often outlines.

Stylized 3D152 games3D with simplified, exaggerated forms and colors that is not cel-shaded, low-poly or realistic.

Realistic257 gamesAims for photographic or film-like believability in materials, light and proportions.

Painterly29 gamesLooks painted: visible brushwork, soft edges, painted light, whether 2D or textured 3D.

Hand-drawn48 gamesDrawn or animated by hand: line drawing, frame-by-frame animation, illustrated sprites.

Vector / Flat10 gamesClean geometric shapes with flat fills and crisp edges, like vector illustration.

Pre-rendered43 games3D scenes or characters rendered offline and shown as images or sprites.

Digitized / FMV10 gamesPhotographed actors, digitized sprites or full-motion video.

Papercraft4 gamesLooks like cut paper, cardboard or folded paper in layers.

Diorama11 gamesPresented as a miniature physical model or toy set, often with tilt-shift blur.

Silhouette1 gameDark or black shapes against lighter backgrounds; forms read by outline, not detail.

Minimalist23 gamesStripped to very few shapes, colors and details on purpose.

ASCII1 gameBuilt from text characters or a character grid.

Wireframe1 gameLines along polygon edges or vector-display lines, with little or no fill.

Not on the site yet: Claymation

Technique

Linework

No outlines527 gamesShapes are separated by color and light only.

Black outlines188 gamesA dark, mostly uniform outline around characters or objects.

Colored outlines37 gamesOutlines in a darker shade of the fill color instead of black.

Selective outlines1 gameOutline color changes along the edge with the light (lighter where lit), a pixel-art technique called selout.

Inked lines25 gamesVarying line weight like brush or pen ink, as in comics or animation.

Sketchy lines3 gamesLoose, rough, doubled or wobbly lines that show the drawing process.

Interior lines97 gamesLines mark folds, creases and details inside shapes, not just the silhouette.

Shading

Flat / Unlit163 gamesLittle or no shading; surfaces are solid fills.

Two-tone cel29 gamesOne hard step between lit and shadow color.

Three-tone cel10 gamesTwo hard steps: light, midtone and shadow bands.

Soft gradient281 gamesSmooth transitions between light and shadow.

Hatching9 gamesShadow built from parallel or crossed lines.

Halftone1 gameShadow or tone built from printed-style dots.

Dithered shading68 gamesTone built from patterns of two alternating colors.

Rim lighting12 gamesA strong bright edge light separating forms from the background.

Baked lighting154 gamesLighting painted or precomputed into textures and sprites rather than live.

Realistic lighting160 gamesPhysically based, dynamic light and shadow, global illumination or ray tracing.

Texture

Untextured58 gamesFlat or gradient color with no image texture.

Hand-painted textures72 gamesTextures painted by hand with light and detail painted in.

Low-res textures132 gamesSmall, visibly pixelated or blurry textures, often deliberate.

Vertex colors2 gamesColor stored on the model's vertices, blended across faces, no texture image.

Photo textures35 gamesTextures made from photographs.

PBR materials77 gamesPhysically based materials: realistic roughness, metal and reflection.

Brush strokes10 gamesVisible painterly strokes in the surfaces or overlays.

Paper grain4 gamesPaper, canvas or print texture over the image.

Pixel details

8-bit165 gamesEvokes 8-bit consoles and computers: very few colors, chunky sprites.

16-bit170 gamesEvokes 16-bit consoles: richer palettes, more detailed sprites.

32-bit12 gamesEvokes 32-bit era 2D: large, detailed, many-color sprites.

HD pixel art12 gamesPixel art at high resolution or with modern lighting and effects beyond any retro limit.

Dithering86 gamesCheckerboard or patterned pixels used to blend colors or show gradients.

Mixels4 gamesPixels of different sizes mixed in one image (scaled sprites, mismatched resolutions).

Not on the site yet: Anti-aliasing, Sub-pixel animation

Hardware look

NES9 gamesNES limits: tiny palettes, small sprites, few colors per tile.

SNES2 gamesSNES-era look: 16-bit sprites, layered parallax, transparency effects.

Game Boy1 gameGame Boy look: four shades, often green-tinted.

PS11 gamePlayStation look: wobbling vertices, warped textures, dithered color, no texture filtering.

N641 gameNintendo 64 look: blurry filtered textures, heavy fog, low-poly models.

Not on the site yet: PC-98, CGA / EGA, Amiga, PS2 / Dreamcast

Post-processing

Dithering filter2 gamesA screen-wide dither pattern applied after rendering.

Pixelation filter2 gamesThe scene is rendered at low resolution and scaled up to look pixelated.

CRT / Scanlines5 gamesScanlines, curvature or phosphor glow imitating a CRT screen.

Film grain4 gamesVisible noise imitating film.

Chromatic aberration2 gamesColor fringes splitting red, green and blue at edges.

Bloom219 gamesBright areas glow and bleed into their surroundings.

Tilt-shift8 gamesBlur at the top and bottom of the frame that makes scenes look miniature.

VHS1 gameTape artifacts: color bleed, tracking lines, wobble.

Outline shader7 gamesOutlines drawn by a screen-space effect on 3D geometry.

Vignette16 gamesThe frame darkens toward its edges.

Not on the site yet: Posterization, Painterly filter

Color

Color

Red454 games

Orange489 games

Yellow501 games

Green533 games

Teal332 games

Blue669 games

Purple137 games

Pink163 games

Brown587 games

Black813 games

Gray814 games

White308 games

Palette

1-bit4 gamesTwo colors only.

Monochrome26 gamesOne hue (or grayscale) in different values.

Duotone2 gamesBuilt mostly from two hues.

Limited palette159 gamesA small, deliberate set of colors used throughout.

Spot color7 gamesA mostly neutral or monochrome image with one accent color (often red).

Vibrant423 gamesHigh saturation and strong contrast between hues.

Muted245 gamesLow saturation, earthy or grayed colors.

Pastel8 gamesLight, soft, low-contrast colors.

Neon22 gamesGlowing, saturated hues (pink, cyan, purple) on dark backgrounds.

Dark216 gamesMostly low values; the image reads as dark overall.

Warm48 gamesDominated by reds, oranges and yellows.

Cool65 gamesDominated by blues, greens and purples.

Influence

Imitated medium

Watercolor6 gamesTransparent washes, soft blooms and paper showing through.

Ink / Sumi-e5 gamesBrush ink, including East Asian ink-wash painting.

Crayon / Pastel3 gamesWaxy or chalky strokes.

Oil / Gouache2 gamesOpaque, thick paint with visible strokes.

Woodcut / Print2 gamesCarved-block or printmaking look: bold cuts, limited inks.

Paper cutout4 gamesCut-paper shapes with paper edges and layering.

Clay1 gameSculpted clay or plasticine surfaces.

Felt / Yarn2 gamesFabric, felt, knitted or stitched materials.

Comic book23 gamesComic or graphic novel conventions: inks, flats, panels, halftone.

Storybook3 gamesChildren's book illustration.

Not on the site yet: Pencil, Blueprint

Art movement

Anime68 gamesJapanese animation and manga conventions.

Western cartoon18 gamesAmerican or European TV and film animation styles.

Rubber hose1 game1920s-30s American animation: bendy limbs, pie eyes, white gloves.

Ukiyo-e2 gamesJapanese woodblock prints and Edo-period painting.

Art Deco5 games1920s-30s geometric glamour: symmetry, gold, stepped forms.

Gothic35 gamesDark, ornate, macabre: Victorian or medieval gloom.

Film noir2 gamesHigh-contrast black and white crime-film lighting and mood.

Surrealism2 gamesDreamlike, impossible juxtapositions.

Expressionism2 gamesDistorted forms and color for emotional effect.

Brutalism1 gameMassive raw concrete architecture and its heavy forms.

Poster art1 gameTravel, propaganda or national-park poster illustration.

Y2K1 gameLate-90s and early-2000s futurism: chrome, translucency, street culture.

Vaporwave / Synthwave2 games1980s retro-futurism: neon grids, sunsets, magenta and cyan.

Cyberpunk4 gamesHigh-tech dystopia: neon signage, dense cities, rain.

Steampunk1 gameVictorian industrial machinery, brass and steam.

Cosmic horror2 gamesLovecraftian dread: the vast, alien and incomprehensible.

Not on the site yet: Ligne claire, Art Nouveau, Bauhaus / De Stijl, Constructivism, Pop art, Memphis

Proportions

Chibi117 gamesBig heads on small bodies (super-deformed).

Realistic315 gamesHuman-scale anatomy.

Exaggerated184 gamesPushed anatomy for style: huge hands, tiny waists, long limbs.

Cute164 gamesRounded, soft, appealing designs.

Grotesque39 gamesDeliberately ugly, distorted or unsettling designs.

Faceless15 gamesCharacters with no or minimal facial features.

Game

Perspective

Side-scrolling232 gamesViewed from the side; movement mostly left and right.

Top-down76 gamesViewed from directly above.

Three-quarter147 gamesTop-down at an angle showing fronts of objects (classic Zelda-style).

Isometric35 gamesAngled view with no perspective convergence, usually diamond-shaped tiles.

Third-person265 gamesCamera follows behind or around the player character in 3D.

First-person152 gamesSeen through the character's eyes.

Fixed camera95 gamesPre-set camera angles that do not follow the player freely.

Era

1980s105 games

1990s227 games

2000s205 games

2010s243 games

2020s99 games

Genre

Action291 games

Adventure151 games

RPG156 games

Platformer183 games

Roguelike11 games

Puzzle67 games

Strategy32 games

Simulation31 games

Shooter157 games

Fighting29 games

Racing34 games

Sports85 games

Horror34 games

Visual novel6 games

Rhythm1 game

Platform

PC399 games

Console740 games

Mobile63 games

Arcade88 games

Screenshot

Shot type

Environment867 gamesThe world or a location is the subject.

Character526 gamesA character or close-up is the subject.

Combat689 gamesActive fighting or action.

UI / Menu506 gamesMenus, inventories or interface screens dominate.

Cutscene378 gamesA non-interactive story scene.

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