Best CG game art?

[Sirrah]

What's your vote on the best 3D renders in a game?

I know "best" is a loaded term. Some of the things I look for are:

• Basic technical skills like consistent color and contrast, low noise, decent range of values, i.e. not murky or blown out. There are a lot of
• Photography basics of lighting (not just a camera headlight) and composition
• Original character models and sets -- at least some attempt to alter a downloaded model or design from another game
• Consistent look! Instead of character designs and skin textures that don't fit together at all.
• Stepping the game up to depth of field, IBL, background characters, original poses, animation, good "acting", high-res, etc.

And then beyond that, it's gotta be hot, or otherwise what's the point?

Good renders ain't the only value in a game by a long shot. Some of my favorite games have relatively crappy Honey Select images (for some reason, the most awesomely pervy games tend to be HS?!), and I love me some hand-drawn art. But finding a game based around good renders is always a joy.

Just to get things stared, a couple of examples that I've seen recently are A Wife and Mother and Estate Dominate. What else?

(I couldn't find a existing thread for this. If there already is one, let me know and I'll shut this down.)

 

[Avaron1974]

City of Broken Dreamers, hands down the best i've seen.

 

[vaal2000]

Depraved Awakening and City of Broken Dreamers

 

[Sam]

City of Broken Dreamers and Timestamps.

And Az's new renders (Halfway House), but they're not in game... yet.

Spoiler: Test renders

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Also, moved to general discussion from artwork, as this isn't sharing original art and more of a discussion about art.

 

[Deleted member 444674]

City of Broken Dreamers is the easiest to highlight here. It's absolutely stellar visually. If I had to pick ONE, that would probably be it. But some of my other favorites to look at are:

- Estate Dominate (I love Henissart's colors and use of DOF here.)

Spoiler: Estate Renders

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- Glamour (Poor game but Dark Silver has upped his skill in the visual department since BB. His lighting has gone from average to amazing and his environments are all original compared to the environments you see often in adult games.)

Spoiler: Glamour Renders

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- A Wife and Mother (Probably my least favorite among this list as the lighting and composition are nothing special, but it does look good and I'm amazed by how much assets L&P is able to pack into a scene.)

- Halfway House (Az's environments and uses of HDRI backgrounds are second to none, as well as posing and expressions. Out of all the games I listed, he's probably the one that makes "daily life" in a game appear the most natural. If you've played enough adult games, you can tell when some devs take shortcuts to mask things they probably don't have the know-how to do as yet, for example, making clothes and other cloth materials have the gravity to do what he wants them to do. He has a great understanding of the d-force tool it seems, as well as Zbrush.)

Spoiler: Halfway Renders

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- Double Homework (Someone named MuseX renders the images of this game I believe, as well as other games like Love Season, Farmer's Dreams, and Daughter for Dessert. I'm blown away by how colorful the renders for these games are. And his style is very distinct. You can tell it's his renders by just looking at one and seeing how he edits them. It's that unique touch that sets him apart from the others.)

Spoiler: DH Renders

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- False Hero (Currently my biggest inspiration when creating my own renders. Everything from his lighting to how he composes his scenes, it's all orgasmic. There is a certain scene within a club partway through and the lighting used there, I just couldn't believe my eyes.)

Spoiler: FH Renders

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Had to include a few more renders of this one to really drive home my point.

I have a few more I'd like to list, but this is already pretty long. So I'll stop here for now.

 

[kytee]

The environments and lighting in all those renders are gorgeous. It's too bad the character models look like shit (hate DAZ models). Looks like those pictures were all taken by a top notch photographer with a barbie doll fetish

 

[Deleted member 609064]

- False Hero (Currently my biggest inspiration when creating my own renders. Everything from his lighting to how he composes his scenes, it's all orgasmic. There is a certain scene within a club partway through and the lighting used there, I just couldn't believe my eyes.)

Spoiler: FH Renders

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Had to include a few more renders of this one to really drive home my point.

False Hero is legit. Beautiful game.

cc: Enyo Eerie

 

[Sirrah]

City of Broken Dreamers and Timestamps.

And Az's new renders (Halfway House), but they're not in game... yet.

Spoiler: Test renders

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Also, moved to general discussion from artwork, as this isn't sharing original art and more of a discussion about art.

Thanks for moving the discussion, Sam, and WOW, those Halfway House renders are stunning.

 

[Sirrah]

City of Broken Dreamers is the easiest to highlight here. It's absolutely stellar visually. If I had to pick ONE, that would probably be it. But some of my other favorites to look at are:

- Estate Dominate (I love Henissart's colors and use of DOF here.)

Spoiler: Estate Renders

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- Glamour (Poor game but Dark Silver has upped his skill in the visual department since BB. His lighting has gone from average to amazing and his environments are all original compared to the environments you see often in adult games.)

Spoiler: Glamour Renders

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- A Wife and Mother (Probably my least favorite among this list as the lighting and composition are nothing special, but it does look good and I'm amazed by how much assets L&P is able to pack into a scene.)

- Halfway House (Az's environments and uses of HDRI backgrounds are second to none, as well as posing and expressions. Out of all the games I listed, he's probably the one that makes "daily life" in a game appear the most natural. If you've played enough adult games, you can tell when some devs take shortcuts to mask things they probably don't have the know-how to do as yet, for example, making clothes and other cloth materials have the gravity to do what he wants them to do. He has a great understanding of the d-force tool it seems, as well as Zbrush.)

Spoiler: Halfway Renders

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- Double Homework (Someone named MuseX renders the images of this game I believe, as well as other games like Love Season, Farmer's Dreams, and Daughter for Dessert. I'm blown away by how colorful the renders for these games are. And his style is very distinct. You can tell it's his renders by just looking at one and seeing how he edits them. It's that unique touch that sets him apart from the others.)

Spoiler: DH Renders

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- False Hero (Currently my biggest inspiration when creating my own renders. Everything from his lighting to how he composes his scenes, it's all orgasmic. There is a certain scene within a club partway through and the lighting used there, I just couldn't believe my eyes.)

Spoiler: FH Renders

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Had to include a few more renders of this one to really drive home my point.

I have a few more I'd like to list, but this is already pretty long. So I'll stop here for now.

I just caught up on City of Broken Dreamers last night. Lots to love there, but what really popped was the animated toe-to-head character reveals -- a great example of doing something in a game to make it more than just a image browser. Of course, the fact that story is both original and great doesn't hurt.

I *love* Henissart's understanding of values and, as you say, his use of DOF. My only gripe at all in Estate Dominate is bracelets floating around wrists. It's a pretty common problem. I keep meaning to look if there's a way to sim them into place, but of course it's pretty easy to just manually tweak them after posing.

I hadn't heard of Halfway House or False Hero, so thanks for those. About to look for downloads. That bus image from FH is stunning.

 

[Deleted member 609064]

It's Honey Select, but I think an honorable mention should go to Lykanz's project "The Inn"

He's got some really nice renders in there.

 

[jamdan]

Im suprised no one has mentioned Come Inside yet.

Spoiler

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Other games with good renders, that haven't been mentioned.

Being A Dik

Spoiler

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No idea what the dev uses, but I really like Offcuts style too.

Spoiler

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Areas Of Gray

Spoiler

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[Deleted member 609064]

"Strange Nights" also has a nice art style.

 

[Sirrah]

"Strange Nights" also has a nice art style.

Yup, it does a good job of capturing the original LIS games. I'd actually started roughing out an idea for a Life is Strange adaptation, since the models are available, but I was (as usual) too slow...

 

[Deleted member 609064]

Yup, it does a good job of capturing the original LIS games. I'd actually started roughing out an idea for a Life is Strange adaptation, since the models are available, but I was (as usual) too slow...

Do your own adaptation. It's a tribute to existing IP. There is no limit to the number of stories that can be spun from that world.

 

[Knox_xx]

to me it is Reincarnotica , too bad its abandoned

 

[Vengel]

Most of the light setup in all the beloved games here is just taken from somewhere ... and even after that ... no amount of lights and reflection, lens flares, refractions, shadows and all that DOF (apparently its a big deal in DAZ buhahaha) jazz can fix the wax doll figures that ruin the whole thing by simply being there looking out of place. One thing that I don't get here is ... only children really like fake smooth dolly skin characters (well ... maybe pedos too but humanity outlawed those) ... how the hell is this so in demand in those games !?

 

[Enyo_]

- False Hero (Currently my biggest inspiration when creating my own renders. Everything from his lighting to how he composes his scenes, it's all orgasmic. There is a certain scene within a club partway through and the lighting used there, I just couldn't believe my eyes.)

Spoiler: FH Renders

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Had to include a few more renders of this one to really drive home my point.

I have a few more I'd like to list, but this is already pretty long. So I'll stop here for now.

Thank you for your words. I appreciate it.

About a year ago, I was doing stuff like this. -_- So it's always about trying to be better and pushing forward.
I looked at your old art and I believe you're doing great in that regard.

 

[recreation]

No idea what the dev uses, but I really like Offcuts style too.

IIrc he uses blender.

 

[Deleted member 444674]

Thank you for your words. I appreciate it.

About a year ago, I was doing stuff like this. -_- So it's always about trying to be better and pushing forward.
I looked at your old art and I believe you're doing great in that regard.

Thank you. I've been studying your art for a while now. I love how vibrant it's become. Lighting I think is most 3d artists Achilles Heel here, but you've certainly conquered it. A year later and I'm still just sort of winging it when it comes to lighting -_- I'm loving the game too. Can't wait for more. Not many games will see me falling in love with each and every female character, but your game did that for me.

 

[Carpe Stultus]

Recreation and OneManVN do some nice stuff too.

Spoiler: Bad Memories; Recreation

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Spoiler: The Shrink; OneManVN

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