I've created this representation of a "2D Game Art Spectrum" to aid me in finding an art style for my game. To my knowledge (based on all the 2D games I've played/researched) the spectrum consists of six visual genres: Pixel; Geometric; Cel Shaded; Illustrative; Painterly and Realism.
Pixel Art
Pixel art tends to be used in games that aim to evoke nostalgia for games of the 8-bit and 16-bit era and, as a result, often appeal to the post-core gamer demographic. It is characterised by it's low resolution, raster graphics which are edited on a pixel level.
Mega Man X2 (Capcom 1994)
VVVVVV (Nicalis 2010)
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (Superbrothers 2011)
Geometric Shape
This art style is characterised by heavy use of standard, you guessed it, geometric shapes. Many games utilising this art style may have been developed by a team without an artist and thus turned to a minimalist geometric art style due to its ease of creation (this may have been the case for The Impossible Game, for example, pictured below). However other games have used this art style much more stylistically, almost crossing over to the "Illustrative" category of the spectrum. By making effective use of colour and mise en scène they achieve a simple yet beautiful geometric art style.
The Impossible Game (Flukedude 2011)
Thomas Was Alone (Mike Bithell 2011)
Chasing Aurora (Broken Rules 2012)
2D cel shaded games are characterised by their use of simple block colours (usually consisting of a base colour, highlight and shadow) and thick line art. I personally find 2D cel shading to be quite a commercial art style as it seems to be used in a lot of casual/social games. This is likely because it is a very neutral and therefore accessible art style that most target demographics find acceptable - as opposed to a very stylistic game where the art style would likely be more subjective.
BattleBlock Theatre (The Behemoth 2013)
Skullgirls (Lab Zero Games and Reverge Labs 2012)
Plants Vs Zombies (PopCap Games 2009)
Illustrative
Illustrative art styles are the most varied out of all the styles on this spectrum as they tend to depict the game artist's personality and personal art style.
Illustrative art styles are the most varied out of all the styles on this spectrum as they tend to depict the game artist's personality and personal art style.
Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall)
Tiny Wings (Andreas Illiger)
Child of Light (Ubisoft 2014)
Painterly
This is a popular art style and games that use a "painterly" art direction are often praised by critics for their aesthetic appeal. A painterly art style "relies on colour and working with balancing the different hues to create value" and "is recognizable by 3 different factors: use of colour shifting, visible brushstrokes, and fantastical lighting." [emboldening mine] (Von Rueden 2014)
Bastion (Supergiant Games 2011)
Dust: An Elysian Tail (Humble Hearts 2012)
Rayman Legends (Ubisoft Montpelier 2013)
Realism
From previous art tests for my game I can confirm that, although many find this style very aesthetically appealing, realism is the most time consuming and difficult style to achieve. This is likely the reason it is very difficult to find examples of realistic 2D games. Many early games, such as the first Mortal Kombat games, attempted to achieve a realistic art style though were still bound to pixel art due to technical limitations. Nowadays most games that utilise realism tend to be games of the point and click adventure genre, as most only require static background images and no complex animation (which would be very impractical to achieve in this style).
From previous art tests for my game I can confirm that, although many find this style very aesthetically appealing, realism is the most time consuming and difficult style to achieve. This is likely the reason it is very difficult to find examples of realistic 2D games. Many early games, such as the first Mortal Kombat games, attempted to achieve a realistic art style though were still bound to pixel art due to technical limitations. Nowadays most games that utilise realism tend to be games of the point and click adventure genre, as most only require static background images and no complex animation (which would be very impractical to achieve in this style).
Tormentum (Ohnoo)
Mortal Kombat II (Midway 1993)
The 39 Steps (The Story Mechanics 2013)
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References
Von Rueden, T. 2014. Exercise 18: painterly style. [online]. Available from: https://cgcookie.com/concept/2014/01/27/exercise-painterly-style/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
Images Used
Andreas Illiger. 2011. Tiny Wings Screenshot. [online image]. Available from: http://www.cnet.com/news/tiny-wings-for-ios-discover-the-joy-of-flight/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
The Behemoth. 2013. BattleBlock Theatre Screenshot. [online image]. Available from: http://www.battleblocktheater.com/media/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
Von Rueden, T. 2014. Exercise 18: painterly style. [online]. Available from: https://cgcookie.com/concept/2014/01/27/exercise-painterly-style/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
Images Used
Andreas Illiger. 2011. Tiny Wings Screenshot. [online image]. Available from: http://www.cnet.com/news/tiny-wings-for-ios-discover-the-joy-of-flight/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
The Behemoth. 2013. BattleBlock Theatre Screenshot. [online image]. Available from: http://www.battleblocktheater.com/media/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
Broken Rules. 2012. Chasing Aurora Screenshot. [online image]. Available from: http://www.destructoid.com/review-chasing-aurora-239071.phtml [Accessed 30 October 2014].
Capcom. 1994. Megaman X2 Screenshot. [online image]. Available from: http://gamefabrique.com/games/mega-man-x2/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
Flukedude. 2011. The Impossible Game Screenshot. [online image]. Available form: http://www.gamespot.com/the-impossible-game/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
Humble Hearts. 2012. Dust: An Elysian Tail Screenshot. [online image]. Available from: http://steamcommunity.com/app/236090/screenshots/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
Infinite Fall. 2013. Night in the Woods. [online image]. Available from: http://www.nightinthewoods.com/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
Lab Zero Games and Reverge Labs. 2012. Skull Girls Screenshot. [online image]. Available from: http://www.gamesradar.com/skullgirls/screenshots/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
Midway. 1993. Mortal Kombat II Screenshot. [online image]. Available from: http://www.giantbomb.com/mortal-kombat/3025-7/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
Mike Bithell. 2011. Thomas Was Alone Screenshot. [online image]. Available from: http://steamcommunity.com/app/220780/screenshots/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
Nicalis. 2010. Vvvvvv Screenshot. [online image]. Available from: http://steamcommunity.com/app/70300/screenshots/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
Ohnoo. 2014. Tormentum Screenshot. [online image]. Available from: http://www.moddb.com/games/tormentum-dark-sorrow/downloads/tormentum-demo-beta-windows [Accessed 30 October 2014].
PopCap. 2009. Plants vs Zombies Screenshot. [online image]. Available from:
http://www.gameinformer.com/games/plants_vs_zombies/b/xbox360/archive/2010/09/28/review.aspx [Accessed 30 October 2014].
Superbrothers. 2011. Sword and Sworcery Screenshot. [online image]. Available from: http://steamcommunity.com/app/204060/screenshots/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
Supergiant Games. 2011. Bastion Screenshot. [online image]. Available from: http://www.platformnation.com/2011/08/06/bastion-coming-to-pc/steeltron-bastion-screenshot-3-4/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
The Story Mechanics. 2013. 39 Steps Screenshot. [online image]. Available from: http://steamcommunity.com/app/234940/screenshots/ [Accessed 30 October 2014].
Ubisoft. 2013. Rayman Legends Screenshot. [online image]/ Available from: http://www.gameguyz.com/pictures/screenshots/rayman-legends-new-screenshots-released.html [Accessed 30 October 2014].
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