A game, there are many factors that attract people, it may be the gameplay, it may be the story, or it may simply be the popularity. In recent years, the major game companies have chosen to spend a lot of money on the game’s outer packaging, that is, the game art. In addition to the pursuit of art and beauty, the more important reason is naturally profitable – even if some of the game’s gameplay is mediocre, it can still make a lot of “face control” players willing to “jump” because of the golden jade outside, beautiful painting style and other reasons “The game has been a great success.
Unlike video games, board games do not have intelligent interactive AI, gorgeous and cool special effects, or immersive graphics. And usually accompanied by higher learning costs, can directly catch people’s eyes part is very little. Therefore, the most superficial and intuitive game art has become one of the important reasons why many board game players are willing to pay for it.
Of course, for a successful board game, the art is not the main factor that determines its success or failure, but excellent art can definitely add to it. Aesthetics are personal and diverse, and the art styles of board games are influenced by culture and region, with dozens or hundreds of subdivisions. But no matter what art style, the fit with the game theme is crucial. In this article, we will talk about the inextricable ties between various themes of board games and their art styles.
A. Atmospheric European and American style
1. Western-style magic
Modern board games were born in Europe, so the Western-style magic art style, which is born from European mythology, is also very common. With this art style of board games are also mostly based on mythological or magical background, generally with dark background, metallic color as a secondary, to create a mysterious and unpredictable sensory stimulation, and then with bright magic visual effects impact on the eye, along with the story to bring the player an unforgettable game experience.
As in the Dungeons & Dragons series, players of different professions wander in a world where good and evil are intertwined, with mysterious and dark maps, legendary magical monsters and evil dragon cards, dark and heavy color scheme full of fantasy card picture design, the raised ball of magic, wielding sharp blades, with dark colorful evil color scheme, making people seem to go back to the world where they fought with evil dragons to the death. The magic, crystals and various metal elements on the screen also make the players have great interest in that mysterious and unpredictable board game journey.
Including the later board games such as “The Mysterious City” and “Sword and Sorcery”, all of them were best-selling based on the excellent mechanism and grand western magic background, and became the word-of-mouth works among players.
2. Quaint medieval
Throughout the history of Europe and the United States, the Middle Ages has a very fatal attraction, the royalty and nobility, ladies and gentlemen, poetry and distant places, reflecting a sense of the weight of time.
Medieval theme board games generally use the art style generally favors warm colors, the sense of old also has been through it, let people seem to go through the stacked brick walls, back to the era of the powerful religion, red bricks and green grass.
There is a board game named directly after “Medieval”, a heavier German-style board game, restoring the medieval farming, religion and the Black Death and other life scenes. Some players have complained about the lack of artwork in this board game, yet this is precisely its unique medieval style. The hand-drawn-like token pattern restores items such as pearls, fish and dyes well, and the few strokes and vintage colors distinguish it from modern art.
Also the tabletop game Endless Killing: Black Death has a lot of medieval art elements in it. Paladins, dwarves, knights and magicians are dressed in ancient and bulky armor, wielding powerful swords, crossbows, and even magic to defeat zombies, giving the game an air of chaos and death all around from the medieval period. Give players the most direct sensory stimulation.
3. Steampunk
Steampunk is a synthetic word, consisting of the words steam steam and punk punk. Steam stands for large machines powered by steam engines, while punk is a non-mainstream fringe culture, which is meant to be independent of the genre of the subject matter. Pastiche is one of the distinctive features of the postmodernist aesthetic, and this pastiche of steampunk’s worldview often mixes elements of past and future, reality and imagination, magic and science.
In the world of steampunk, modern science has just come into view, many common sense issues have not been resolved, backwardness and advancement coexist, magic and science coexist, and the utopian ideal is pursued spiritually, so the art style used will be on the cooler side. Due to the intervention of machinery, a large number of metallic colors will be used, and the embodiment of farming or backward productivity will make the whole present a stern and cold sense of magic.
For example, the board game “Scythe War” depicts an overhead steampunk world. The game combines traditional military themes and everyday village life with modernist design, giant battle robots and sci-fi themes to show a great era of nostalgia and innovation where farming and warfare go hand in hand, rusting gears and hearts are intertwined.
The game paintings are full of contradictions and stark contrasts everywhere. Large robots and airships representing advanced civilization coexist with the slash-and-burn of farming civilization, with the advanced intruding into the backward, giving a sense of mist overall and leaving unlimited room for imagination.
There are also board games such as “The World of SMOG” and “In the Service of Her Majesty”, which also use the steampunk art style, as well as classic steampunk elements such as clocks, gears and walking sticks, which are combined with the background just right and give players a strong sense of immersion.
II. Genki Japanese style
With the introduction of modern board games from Europe to Asia, they have become more and more popular in Asian countries, especially in Japan, the kingdom of anime and games, and the art of board games has also “followed the customs” to show more styles and possibilities.
1. Japanese style magic
Japanese popular games and anime have many works with the theme of Japanese magic, which is a fusion of Western fantasy and Japanese culture. Usually a fictional world or a period of history is created, and then a legend is created based on it, with the characters possessing some special abilities, and the story is mostly about saving the world or eliminating evil forces on the way to growth.
Therefore, the overall art style of these works will be fresh and beautiful, UI and character design will also be on the moe side, giving players a sense of nurturing and generational struggle to heal.
The tabletop game “Dragon Slaying Expedition” is exactly such a work, which is a story of warriors teaming up to slay the evil dragon. The mechanics of the game are simple, the metal models of the characters are very secondary, the plates of mountains and forests are fresh and pleasant, and the crystal clear glass indicators are pleasing to the eye. Although the final fight with the dragon to the death, but the overall feeling is a trip full of vitality.
2. Japanese retro
Japanese board games are also a way to spread culture. In order to show the traditional Japanese culture, Japanese historical backgrounds are used in Japanese board games, combined with retro-realistic Japanese custom painting style art, with its slim lines, unique composition and bright colors, to convey a strong sense of local life.
The tabletop game “Edo Vocation Language” is a game based on the rich life of folk craftsmen in the Edo period. In the game setting, Nihonbashi was the most popular trade area in the Edo period. The main street is lined with a variety of stores, and the back of the street is lined with vendors and craftsmen living in houses called nagaya, who support the city of Edo with their unique business skills.
The game will go through a whole year of tests to choose the best successor to the spirit of Edo. As a German strategy game, the game as a whole is full of rich Japanese ukiyo-e style from the outer box to the board map cards, which is very eye-catching and the ancient Japanese style is overwhelming, making people feel like they are in the Edo period, and the sense of immersion is overwhelming.
Kusansui” is a Japanese realistic style game. “Dead landscape” is a kind of Japanese garden and a form of Japanese painting. Generally, it is a miniature landscape made of fine sand and gravel, plus some stacked stone groups, and also contains moss, lawn or other natural elements.
Kusansui is often considered an aid to meditation used by Japanese monks, and this game is very much recreated in that players have to build a Japanese garden with lawns and stones, and when meditating in the garden, you can earn virtue points on your favorite stones. Special effects affecting the garden can also be achieved through famous garden architects in Japanese history. The game’s character portraits are particularly realistic, and the Japanese lawn and real stones are quite Zen-like to play with.
Three, Chinese martial arts style
Martial arts is a popular culture unique to the Chinese world. Martial arts culture is characterized by various kinds of warriors, featuring fabulous martial arts skills, and portraying and promoting the spirit of chivalry.
Nowadays, we are more exposed to the new school of martial arts, which has a more exciting and broad theme, and the characters are also different from the old fashion of “chivalry”, and the plot arrangement has abandoned the feudal thinking and the real historical background, making the work more like being in a world that is empty but closely connected with reality.
Generally speaking, the game art style of this kind of theme is often influenced by traditional Chinese landscape painting, choosing ink and wash style, simple and pure colors, but brings people a different sense of amazement, containing the unique flavor of Oriental martial arts spirit.
For example, in the tabletop game “The Way of the Warrior”, players will play different characters from the five schools, with very different personalities, but due to various destinies, they will embark on the road to the jianghu, and eventually meet on the narrow road to compete for the position of martial arts master.
The game adopts the ink and wash martial arts art style, which is very closely combined with the theme. In the world depicted by the ink and wash painting, experience the atmospheric and heavy ink, swords and shadows, with the trend of the lines, reflecting the momentum of the martial artists’ rivalry. Every moment in the game can experience the real martial arts heroes of the rivers and lakes, adding a point of dashing and floating sense to the road to the end of the world with swords.
Summary
The art style of general games will require adaptation to the player’s state of mind and the needs of the game theme, because the visual design and art style of the game, like painting in general, will convey one or more psychological hints to the audience and play a metaphorical role. Tabletop games pay much attention to the interaction with players, and in the process of playing, players will certainly produce various psychological activities, the influence of which should not be underestimated.
Exquisite game art can promote communication between players, stimulate players’ interest to explore the game, and bring significant influence to the game’s message. Rough art will have a direct negative impact on players’ senses and discourage them from playing or even buying.
Game is the ninth art, and art is the traditional art, both of them are complementary to each other on the way of art. Want to game scenes, culture, connotation to the fullest expression, depending on the art designer’s excellent skills and creativity, traditional art style also by the game has given birth to a richer faction and branch, new life. I hope that the road of “seeking beauty” of board games will not end, and the beautiful and fun board games will continue.
