Whether youre flying
across the world
in microsoft flight simulator,
swinging across man hattan roof tops
in marvels
spider-man,
or exploring the open-world
of red dead redemption 2,
one thing these games have in common
is their stunning
graphics.
Its hard to believe
how much video game
graphics have evolved
throughout the years,
especially when we consider
that
the extremely limited visuals
were from just 50 years ago.
So how did we get to
the ultra realistic graphics
and
expansive worlds
we see in games today?
This is the evolution of
video game graphics!
Lets go back to the early 1950s,
when
the first video games appeared.
The earliest known interactive game
was the cathode-ray amusement device in 1947.
Yeah, this
doesnt really
look like a game but
rather a boring program
you had to use in high school…
In 1950, the first true game
was released;
a tic-tac-toe game called bertie the brain.
The following year the first
gaming computer was made,
the nimrod.
The main focus wasnt entertainment,
but rather to prove computers could carry out
very complex practical problems.
It wasnt
until 1958
that the first game simply for
entertainment purposes was built.
The game was tennis for two,
and it became an
instant sensation
with hundreds of visitors waiting in line
to play the game during its debut.
The tennis game was
one of
the earliest games
to feature moving graphics.
Another worthy mention
during the early days of
video game development
is the
1962 video game space war!
This game was developed by steve russel
and some other people at mit
on a pdp-1 mini computer.
In
the game, two players fight each other
to try to destroy each others spaceship.
Not only was it very popular,
but it is
also considered
one of the most important games
in early video game history.
It inspired many other games,
such as computer
space
and space invaders.
Fun fact
did you know that the original space war!
Is still playable at the computer history
museum?
Not only is it the original game
it is also still playable on the pdp-1 computer.
Up until the 1970s,
computers
were still very expensive,
and only a few people could afford them.
For instance, the pdp-1 cost about $120,000,
or over $1
million today when adjusted for inflation!
Because of this,
only a lucky few were able to play games.
However, the video
game industry
transitioned into a new era
with the introduction of the first
commercial arcade video game,
computer space,
in 1971.
The developers, nolan bushnell
and ted dabney,
created large cabinets on which
people could play the game.
The two
developers founded atari
and launched the famous
pong video game in 1972.
Pong became the first
commercially successful
video game,
and it helped to establish
the video game industry.
At the same time, the first
home console was developed,
the
magnavox odyssey.
During this era, many
other consoles were created,
including the atari 2600,
which we extensively feature
in the evolution of atari.
Many new and very simple games
were developed for this console,
including combat.
But then, the
golden age
of arcade games began
with the release of space invaders in 1978.
Video game graphics significantly improved
from the basic lines, dots, and blocks
commonly found in most games before that period.
Fun fact
space invaders was a huge
commercial success.
The game had a net profit of $450 million,
which is equivalent to over
1.3 billion dollars today!
Making it one of the most successful games of all time.
Almost at the same time, rgb color graphics
were becoming more
popular,
allowing for animated multi-color sprites.
In 1979, galaxian was released
and became one of the first games
to
feature rgb color graphics.
Unlike most video games before that time
with static backgrounds,
galaxian also had a scrolling
effect.
Another significant development
in video game graphics during this period
was the introduction of vector
graphics.
Popular games used these vector graphics,
including asteroids,
a space-themed shooter released in 1979
and star wars
released a few years later
and was praised for being one of the
greatest video games at the time.
At the end of the golden
age of arcade games,
colored graphics had become the norm
in almost every video game.
Games like the popular 1980 pac-man
would not have been the same
without these important colorful graphics.
Fun fact
japanese video game designer
tohru iwatani
wanted to
invent a game that would
revolutionize the video game market.
While out with friends,
he ordered a pizza.
Due to
the lack of appetite,
he only cut off a slice.
Suddenly the designer thought
of the pizza as a game character.
In his
imagination, it looked like a
creature that needed to eat,
and that is how pac-man was born.
The golden age of arcade games
came quickly to an end
with the video game crash of 1983.
Revenues of the video game industry
peaked at around $3.2
billion,
then fell massively to around
$100 million by 1985,
which is a drop of almost 97%!
The crash was attributed to
several factors,
one of the most important ones
was the poor quality of game titles
that were released.
However, one of the
games
that was still very successful despite the crash
was nintendos donkey kong.
The game was praised for its graphics,
animations, and characters,
which gave the game some what of a story.
The nintendo entertainment system, or nes,
was
incredibly important in
reviving the video game industry.
Game graphics quickly became more appealing
during the mid and
late 1980s
as sprite technology continued to improve.
This can be seen in games that
were released during this period,
including super mario bros
the legend of zelda
final fantasy
and street fighter.
At the end of the 1980s,
2d graphics had
improved significantly,
and game developers started
experimenting with 3d graphics.
Cd-rom was also introduced as storage,
allowing developers to store more data.
Although the early attempts of creating
3d graphics resulted in an imitation
known
as pseudo-3d or 2.5d graphics,
most of the games released during
this period were more colorful
and had satisfying
gameplay.
One of these games was street fighter ii, released in 1991.
One of the methods used by developers
to achieve
pseudo-3d graphics
known as parallax scrolling.
This technique is used to
create a sense of depth
by making the different
layers of the background
move independently of
each other at different speeds.
Images far away in the background
move much
slower than
images in the foreground.
I often use this technique in my animations
to give them a more 3d feel.
Examples of
popular games with 2.5d graphics
include the sims
diablo
and, of course,
sonic the hedgehog.
Fun fact
sonic could have had a
very different name.
Originally, the suggested name was
mr. Need lemouse.
Starting from the mid-1990s,
most video games
transitioned
fully into using 3d graphics.
In 1992, virtua racing was released,
and it is considered one of the first
video
games to use 3d graphics.
Another worthy mention
during these early days of 3d graphics
is the 1993 doom.
This game instantly
popularized
the first-person shooter genre,
and it was also one of the first
to feature multiplayer capabilities.
The 3d
revolution was fueled
by intense competition among
video game companies
to create more powerful consoles.
With the
introduction of the play station in 1994,
countless 3d games were introduced,
including gran turismo,
which was incredibly
difficult to develop.
Game designer kazunori yamauchi said quote,
all the hard work resulted in
ground-breaking graphics
and
one of the greatest
racing games ever released.
In 2001, grand theft auto iii was released.
With its impressive 3d graphics,
it set a new benchmark for open-world games.
Another significant game was half-life 2.
It had very advanced physics,
animation,
sound, ai, and graphics for its time.
During the early 21st-century,
we continued to see an unprecedented
surge in
technology,
which led to games with expansive worlds
and graphics more realistic than ever before.
Gears of war was released
during this period.
Ign called it
in 2007, halo 3 was released,
utilizing a proprietary in-house graphics engine,
allowing for
graphic technologies
such as high dynamic range,
global lighting, and motion blurring.
In 2011, skyrim had significant
visuals for
its time due to the creation engine,
which allowed for a draw distance
that renders further than
any previous
elder scroll game.
Dynamic lighting allowed shadows to be
created by any object in the large
open-world fantasy game.
Crysis 3
was launched in 2013,
and one of the major goals while
developing the game was to
push graphics.
The ceo of crytek said
quote,
while pcs are generally known for
having the highest graphics,
the play station 4 and xbox one, released in 2013,
were a
major step forward for
game graphics on consoles,
allowing for a new generation of games
with much better graphics.
One of
the games for these consoles was
the witcher 3, released in 2015.
It is considered one of the
greatest games of all time
due
to its huge open world,
plot, and graphics.
Another game with impressive graphics
that was released in the same year
for
both consoles was star wars battlefront.
Another worthy mention is horizon zero dawn,
which was released in 2017.
It has a
gorgeous and colorful open world
filled with robotic creatures.
The machines and world were
inspired by bbc documentaries,
which allowed for these amazing visuals.
The game won multiple awards, including
best graphics by igns best of 2017
awards.
Fun fact
before creating horizon zero dawn,
guerilla games had only created
the killzone franchise.
The studio wanted
to create an entirely different game.
So, instead of a linear first-person shooter
in a dark dystopian world,
they created an
action role-playing game
with a colorful and beautiful open world.
In 2018, multiple games were released
that set a new
benchmark for video game graphics.
First, there was god of war;
the franchise stepped it up by developing a
gorgeous action-
adventure game.
Only a few months later,
marvels spider-man was launched,
allowing spider-man to swing
through beautiful new
york city.
And there was, of course,
red dead redemption 2,
which not only has phenomenal visuals
but also has many mind-
blowing little details,
such as arthurs facial hair,
which grows in real-time.
Game engines are incredibly important
for the
evolution of video game graphics.
In 2020, epic games revealed unreal engine 5,
which supports the next-generation
play station 5
and xbox series x and s.
One of the major features of
unreal engine 5 is nanite,
an engine that allows for
high-detailed
photographic source materials
to be imported into games.
To significantly improve the lighting,
lumen was
created.
It has dynamic lighting,
and it allows light to bounce off other objects
to create more realistic and beautiful
scenes.
Unreal engine 5 allows for an
unprecedented level of detail
with an impressive draw distance.
In 2020, microsoft
flight simulator was released.
Lets just take a moment to appreciate
how magnificent the game looks.
This game is massive!
In fact, it simulates the entire earth
using textures and data from bing maps.
Microsoft partnered with black shark. Ai,
who
used the ground-breaking
technology of microsoft azure
and artificial intelligence to analyze map data
and generate photo
realistic 3d models of objects.
The game also has realistic physics
and real-world weather data.
This really is the future
of gaming.
In 2020, cyberpunk 2077 was released,
and it was one of the most
anticipated games of all time.
While the open
world of night city looks gorgeous,
the game had a disastrous launch as a
result of the bugs and performance issues.
It even
led to sony removing the game
from the play station store.
None the less, the game was praised for its visual quality,
story,
atmosphere of the world, and
cyberpunk setting.
Fun fact
players and fans create mods to modify games.
These mods can make
games incredibly realistic.
Lets look at some amazing examples of modded games,
such as cyberpunk
sky rim ,
grand theft auto
v ,
the legend of zelda: , breath of the wild
and red dead redemption 2.
In 2021, forza horizon 5 was launched.
For anyone
who loves racing games,
this truly is a dream come true.
The scale of the game is significantly
larger than its
predecessors.
Developers utilized photo grammetry data
to make the environment look
as close as possible to real-life
mexico.
In late 2021 unreal engine 5 released a demo
for the play station 5 and xbox series x and s.
The matrix awakens:
an
unreal engine 5 experience is a
boundary-pushing technical demo.
It has a dense, open-world city environment,
made out of
billions of polygons
resulting in some of the
most impressive graphics ive ever seen!
Although the demo is not a game,
it
offers a vision for
what the future of interactive content could be
with incredibly rich and complex environments
and
photo real cinematic spectacles.
And finally, a game that
has yet to be released
while making this article
is the sequel to
horizon zero dawn,
called horizon forbidden west.
The game will be larger than its predecessor
and will feature underwater
exploration.
It takes advantage of the play station 5s
increased processing power,
custom ssd,
3d special audio,
enhanced
lighting,
reduced loading times,
and improved visual effects.
These next-generation graphics look
absolutely phenomenal.
It is
truly unbelievable
how much video game graphics
have improved over the years.
The graphics we have today
are exactly what my
12-year-old self
dreamed gaming would be in the future.
Ive no doubt game graphics will continue to evolve,
and i cant
wait to see what the future of gaming will bring us.