When it comes to game art, few people know more than James Zhang.
He worked on the Star Wars franchise with LucasArts, help set up Massive Black, and is now CEO of the 130-strong Concept Art House (part of Zattika, where he's CPO).
It's worked on social and mobile games from Zynga, Pocket Gems, Crowdstar and ngmoco, and more.
At Develop in Brighton 2012 conference, he spoke on the subject of Evolution of art in social and mobile games.
Looking nice
Zhang broke down the business in terms of how and where game art works particularly well.
For example, for puzzle games and resource management games, art is more about setting the mood or creating a strong first impression but not impacting gameplay.
The biggest change in terms of mobile game art has come with RPGs, which have move from list-based games such as iMob to creating a much more sophisticated world atmosphere, even if the gameplay hasn't changed that much.
Good virtual goods
Zhang argued, however, that art is crucial for decoration management games such as CastleVille.
"Often digital goods are just artwork, which may or may not impact gameplay," he said.
"10 percent of virtual goods are just for customisation. Art is very important for these games. You have to create something that generates desirability."
But more generally, art can improve the performance of all games.
"The quality of art can increase the initial install. Even changing the loadscreen art can change this," Zhang said.
It's also becoming more important as the competition in the social/mobile sector continues to increase, especially as company make the transition from 2D to 3D graphics.
News
Contributing Editor
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.
Related Articles
News
Jul 12th, 2012
Develop 2012: Gbanga's Robin Di Capua on the opportunities of location-based games
News
Jul 12th, 2012
Develop 2012: Infinity Blade designed to prove iOS could pack a punch, says Epic's Mark Rein
Top Stories
Feature
May 17th, 2024
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from a battle royale to a console classic remake
Feature
May 16th, 2024
Behind the scenes: How adding sandwich offers to an idle merge game boosted three metrics at once
Events
Digital Dragons | Europe | May 19th |
GamesBeat Summit 2024 | North America | May 20th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Nordic Game Spring 2024 | Nordic | May 21st |
Impact 2024 - Indie Games | May 23rd | |
Morocco Gaming Expo | Africa | May 24th |
MomoCon 2024 | North America | May 24th |
Unreal Fest Gold Coast 2024 | Australasia | May 29th |
Popular Stories
Feature
May 14th, 2024
53 top mobile games in soft launch: Squad Busters, Battle Guys: Royale, Plants vs. Zombies 3, LEGO Hill Climb Adventures, and more
Feature
May 13th, 2024
Hot Five: Dubai's new Gaming Visa, April's mobile game charts, and Xbox studio closures
Interview
May 13th, 2024