Why do some developers not care of a game's graphics?

It seems that some developers care more for functionality than appearance. For example, World of Warcraft doesn't have "top notch" graphics, and neither does the Guild Wars series, yet they both have good function and entertainment. There are more games but as for now, I cannot think of them. How does this benefit designers and why do they do it?

World of Warcraft: http://pc.gamespy.com/dor/objects/16985/world-of-warcraft/images/world-of-warcraft-20080421030035232.html

Guild Wars: http://games.softpedia.com/progScreenshots/Guild-Wars-Game-Trailer-Screenshot-6253.html

Minecraft: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/338079/minecraft-update-12-lets-you-soar-to-new-heights/ EXPLAIN?

develop guild of wars warcraft graphics world minecraft

asked Apr 15 '12 at 12:24

Caelan
1.6k●317●336●364

edited Apr 15 '12 at 12:26

Good question - I'd like to know too.

(Apr 15 '12 at 13:00) RafalChmiel

Thanks for compliment.

(Apr 15 '12 at 13:03) Caelan

10 Answers:

oldest newest most voted

Graphics < Gameplay... ;-)

answered Apr 15 '12 at 14:50

JordanV
4.1k●62●82●124

Any clue as to how the public thinks in such a way?

(Apr 15 '12 at 16:01) Caelan

The public may say they want graphics but we all know that if the game 'sucks' it's a lack of game-play and people will stop playing it.

(Apr 15 '12 at 16:56) nitrocrime

"not care"

"Minecraft:"

MineCraft is a block game....

answered Apr 15 '12 at 13:47

Jackster1337
8.5k●177●213●300

I understand that, however, there are many texture packs and Notch, the creator, says that people may interpret the game however they want and there are lots of people that say it is good graphics and others say that they like realistic texture packs.

(Apr 15 '12 at 13:49) Caelan

For a game like WOW, they design it to run on slower systems since a top of the line gaming PC can run a older game but a low end system cant run a newer higher end game.

Since most people playing WOW are okay with the graphics it offers and continue to play it, the company has no motivation to increase the graphics (possibly making it so that some of their users will no longer be able to run the game without upgrading their desktop systems or worst, having to get a new laptop just to play WOW

MMO's always tend to be like this even when they are well maintained. Thay will start off with decently scalable settings and not much will be don graphic wise for the life of the product unless they do some hardware survey to figure out if they can invest in improving graphics without angering the community and loosing paying customers.

For minecraft, it seems the developer specifically wanted the game to look like that as the game engine is easily capable of more (since it uses many modern rendering techniques.

answered Apr 15 '12 at 14:14

Razor512
15.5k●34●80●242

Uhm on the Minecraft part I have to disagree with you, When I run a Need For Speed game I don't often hear my fan spinning like a mad man but with Minecraft that's just a matter of minutes.

The engine behind Minecraft isn't that good even though it is improving. Also the fact that they are using Java means that they can easily improve the speed by switching to a new code base (easier said then done)

"since it uses many modern rendering techniques" Uhm.. last time I check Minecraft was using OpenGL 1.2 max while 4.2 is already available for a few years.

(Apr 15 '12 at 17:06) nitrocrime

minecraft has a high CPU usage because it has a rather inefficient programming language built in, for example, there are trolling guides that will tell you things that you can build in a micrcraft server in order to crash it (requiring the admin to completely restart it.

That flar is alsp present in manyother games with rudementary programming languages available within the game, for example, did you know that programs similar to prime 95 can be ported over to second life :) and by running a prime 95 style script in a random object, you can lag a server to a point where an admin will have to contact linden labs and have one of their admins roll back the server from a backup because the simple act or starting the server or restarting it will cause the script to also run.

minecraft shares many of the flaws present in second life, and just like in SL, minecraft is starting to have it's own griefing communities.

when a mmo is created, it is designed for the averge computer at the time of release, and it does not tend to change much overtime.

(Second life is basically a MMO but it is pretty much dead now because they changed the programs requirements and thus the people on older hardware can no longer play it, (this then create a scnario with the user of "is thiis game worth $600+" because if a user can nolonger run the game, they will have to weigh the cost of a major upgrade to continue playing.

PS don't waste time with SL, it is an extreme example of a poorly made and poorly coded game. I tried it on a system which I built for someone a while back,

Core i7 2600k (overclocked to about 4.3GHz), 8GB RAM (overclocked), GTX 570 overclocked, 120GB SSD, 1TB 7200RPM hard drive.

Games like battlefield 3 ran smoothly maxed out, metro 2033 ran smoothly maxed out, crysis ran very smoothly maxed out, second life got 20-40FPS maxed out and had lag spikes.

(Apr 15 '12 at 18:11) Razor512

0	i think the Nintendo Wii and the forthcoming Wii U which by Nintendo's admission barely equals the 360 answers your question answered Apr 15 '12 at 14:15 mutley2209 761●110●126●133

I think 'bad' graphics can give the game a certain feel, rather than a look. I'm no developer though.

answered Apr 15 '12 at 14:20

phototypo
866●10●16●29

Depending on what kind of bad it could give the user a nostalgic/retro feeling with the game, though if graphics just won't fit with a game (like 512*512 texture packs for Minecraft) it's just takes that feeling away.

(Apr 15 '12 at 16:59) nitrocrime

0	All I can say is that without all of those noticeable pixels, Minecraft wouldn't be nearly as fun! answered Apr 15 '12 at 14:46 catchatyou 20.7k●89●165●383 And it wouldn't take any creativity at all. (Apr 15 '12 at 14:47) catchatyou

Playing games for their graphics is like watching porn for the story (I know we have young members on this community but this is the only resembles I can think of and I don't even watch porn), they are two different parts which rarely 100% co-exist with each other but can rarely be without each other (every played a text based game? Fun at times but nearly always damn ugly). Either better graphics and lack of game-play or great game-play but lack of graphics, I'd go for the second one without even thinking about it.

If you look back to the Pokemon games on the game-boy you will see horrible graphics compared to what we have right now and awesome game-play which we rarely see anymore, people are still playing those Pokemon games today! I am a game developer myself and within two weeks I will have a new game on the App-Store for the iPad. The initial graphics I used were horrible developer graphics, just circles and squares, and guess what?! people enjoyed playing it and were nearly buggin me about when it would get released!

Even though the version sent to Apple has quality graphics, they were never actually needed. It's the game-play that needs to be at it's best, not the graphics.

answered Apr 15 '12 at 16:55

nitrocrime
3.6k●62●77●125

I am trying to take up learning computer language. Any easy way to contact you for some sorts of advice?

(Apr 16 '12 at 21:42) Caelan

0	I don't know about you but I'd rather a great story with crappy graphics than twilight the video game with hd graphics answered Apr 15 '12 at 17:01 pjob797 2.6k●38●49●82

0	Some of the best movies ever made where filmed in black and white. Point is, it does not matter if you have a great story to tell. answered Apr 17 '12 at 10:13 trueb 14.9k●48●99●256

Generally, the main purpose of a game is the gameplay itself. The graphics do help and people do enjoy nice graphics but that whole "nice graphics" doesn't mean it has to be super realistic, it can just be colorful and artistic or good enough to fit with the game itself.

answered Apr 17 '12 at 21:46

nickjuly4
951●9●16●21

edited Apr 17 '12 at 21:49

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Asked: Apr 15 '12 at 12:24

Seen: 847 times

Last updated: Apr 17 '12 at 21:49

Why do some developers not care of a game's graphics?

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