One of Crytek’s epically talented graphic designers and gun expert Pascal Eggert has written an interesting blog for thefirearmblog – a blog for gun enthusiasts.
It touches on the often asked question of where developers should draw the line between realism and entertainment.
“Guns in games are like guns in movies: it is all about looks, sounds and clichés. Just like in the movies, games have established a certain perception of weapons in the mind of the public and just like in movies games get almost everything wrong,” he writes, going on to explain, “ Many of us in the game industry know this. Because games are looking more realistic and appear to simulating reality better but the guns do not, a common misconception is that those of us in the game industry don’t know anything about guns. The fact is that we are not trying to simulate reality but are creating products to provide entertainment.”
“In real life horses don’t move in L shapes like knights do on a chess board. The chess game rule governing knight movement is designed to make the game fun and challenging, not to replicate the movement of a real knight riding on a real horse. It is the same with guns in games, there is no fun in holding virtual breath and nobody wanst to watch how a revolver is reloaded cartridge by cartridge. The game gun is a visual representation of a game rule.”
It’s an interesting read for anyone who has ever given any thought to how realistic games can, or should be. Read the rest here.
