There’s some debate as to what was the first true 3D game. Some would award the title to 1980’s Battlezone, which used wireframe vector graphics to render 3D tanks — though the tanks themselves could only move in two dimensions. Others might give this title to 1996’s Quake, arguably the first game that featured levels composed of rooms on top of rooms, truly giving the player the possibility to move through a 3D space. There are as many candidates as there are definitions of true 3D, and so the discussion continues.
How times have changed.
Today, games increasingly incorporate vast, complex 3D worlds. Players can move through cityscapes, or even across entire planets, with as much fluidity as in the real, physical world. Environments are immersive and breathtaking. Games are appreciated not only for their playability or compelling mechanics, but also for their sheer beauty.
And the characters within these games are deeper and more credible than ever, too. A great deal of effort goes into writing characters with plausible motivation and development. But just as in real life, a huge amount of detail is also conveyed by a character’s appearance: their facial expression; the style and cut of their clothes; the smoothness or ruggedness of their skin; whether their clothing is crisp and immaculate, or ragged and worn. The characters in today’s games are as detailed and beautiful as the world they inhabit.
The assembly of these visual elements makes for 3D games that are emotive, almost cinematic experiences. Today’s games are not yet quite as detailed as the real world — but they aren’t so far away.
This modern level of visual detail and complexity in 3D games is largely the result of the skill and commitment of the visual artists working in the sector today. But another vital component to the visual quality of games today is the ever-evolving sophistication of the software tools that are used to create these games.
This is where Adobe comes in.
