Graphics vs Mechanics

A common thing people talk about in a conversation about a particular game is the graphics. People might say the graphics of a particular game are great when it comes out, and then 5 years later, they find that they graphics didn’t age very well. This is a common pitfall of games that go for hyper-realistic graphics. After a certain amount of time, they just don’t look very good anymore. Now, people still play old games. I find myself enjoying old games with friends. Games such as Mario cart, Tony Hawk, and others. None of these games look great anymore, but what keeps us coming back is the gameplay. Games with good gameplay and tight controls will keep players playing for much longer cycles than games that put more emphasis on graphics.

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I want to start by saying that graphics aging does not happen to every game. Games with distinct art styles age much more gracefully, if at all, over time. Games like Borderlands will always look pretty good due to its art style. This happens a fair amount in indie games as well. Because they don’t have the budgets to make realistic looking games, they often come up with really cool art styles. This only helps the game, as people can be playing the game for a long time.

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Now that being said, gameplay is king when it comes to longevity. When games are fun, people remember then fondly and are more compelled to come back to them after a certain amount of time. The most prominent example of this is Mario cart. At any party, if you whip out an N64 and Mario cart, people will play. It is a testament to the well thought out mechanics of the game. It doesn’t look great, but it is still insanely fun. Another game like this is Super Smash Bros. The game had very simple to learn controls, and yet there is an inherently difficulty in mastering the game. It sparks competition in people, and this brings them back.

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I am not saying graphics aren’t important. They most certainly are. They can drive a lot of aspects of the game, and push the imagination of the player. But, the key to longevity in a game is mechanics and gameplay. Solid gameplay will keep people coming back to play your game long after the graphics are past their prime. Good gameplay makes a game timeless.

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4 Responses to Graphics vs Mechanics

  1. Andrew Ryan Knittle says:

    The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is another game that exemplifies the point you are trying to make. When the game’s first trailer was shown in 2001, people were upset that the cel-shaded graphics looked nothing like the Zelda on display at the Spaceworld 2000 demo. Responding to this, Nintendo created the next game in the franchise, Twilight Princess, to feature the most realistic graphics in a Zelda game to date. Fast forward a few years, and Wind Waker still has all of its charm, while Twilight Princess is looking old, dull, and blurry. This just goes to show that great gameplay is more eternal than realistic graphics.

  2. Matthew William Fink says:

    Growing up, I was one of the older kids in the neighborhood, so whenever I’d pull out an OG playstation, I would always get the same reaction.

    “Eww these graphics are terrible. They are nothing like the new CoD!”

    To which I replied with a drop kick that sent them into the next dimension for not having appreciated the art that I have shown them.

    It wasn’t until I realized that nostalgia plays a great roll in how timeless a game is. For me, I grew up with old games and I try to make a point to play old ones that I never have tried before, because I can see past graphics. I could be an outlier when it comes to that specific preference in games. However, I believe it has very much to do with this topic of graphics vs mechanics. Some people are fortunate to be able to take something older than they are and see how great the mechanics are, despite the graphics aging horribly.

    I personally cast my vote for mechanics playing a larger roll in the gaming community, but I know several people first hand that would disagree with me. What do you guys think?

  3. Max Marze says:

    You bring up a good point. I think in recent years we are really seeing a split in games where you have graphically pleasing and mechanically pleasing games. If you take a game like say Halo for example, it is graphically really pleasing but the gameplay itself while fun is nothing special. If you take a game like the original Super Smash Bros. It is the type of game that is graphically rather ugly but has an unbelievable amount of replay value. I still pull out my N64 to play games like Super Smash Bros. and Golden Eye. Those games have a lot of replay value. I cannot see myself pulling out my Xbox 360 and playing some Halo again though, while those games were a fun experience, they were not really a replayable experience.

  4. sue2 says:

    I feel that the design choice to put more emphasis on graphics is dependent upon the game platform being used for games. If you take a game such as Battlefield 4, the graphics were largely debated between console and PC gamers as to which platform had the best. This debate was largely centered around the new release of the next-gen consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One. However, PC is a platform that has constant upgradability for hardware and where graphics are supreme to other platforms but with technology in console gaming improving, the gap between the platforms in terms of graphics is diminishing.

    I like how you brought up the design choice behind graphics being able to age depending on the art styles used and I completely agree that a game like Borderlands will continue to look beautiful is all it’s cartoony graphical glory now and into the future. This can also be seen in relation to our discussion about World of Warcraft, where the graphical aesthetics were chosen to look slightly cartoonish, but also to keep graphic models and textures simple enough that the game would be playable with decent FPS on the “everyday” computer back when the game was released. By everyday computer, I am talking about the computers that many people used for work or school which did not have much hardware that supported gaming. I feel that Blizzard chose to do this because they wanted to give access to their game to as many people as possible.

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