How Visual Effects Have Impacted Industry Practices in Video Games:
Translating the Visual Language of Film and TV to Computer Games
This report will attempt to define, describe, and interpret the visual language of film and TV, and discover areas of film production which have been incorporated into the development of video games. By analysing several different aspects of the visual effects industry, including: developments in software engineering, accessibility of development tools and the learning curve of VFX production, pre-rendered cut-scenes against real-time rendering in gameplay and its effect on the engagement of audiences, and other notable points of VFX in the game’s industry.
Through analysing and contrasting several aspects of VFX production in combination with game development, this report will also attempt to discover which direction the industry is heading towards. With fully animated film production occurring in real-time rendering software such as Unreal Engine 5, with the engine’s implementation into Disney’s animated series, The Mandalorian (2019), the potential of video game development tools complimenting fully featured movie production is perhaps the next step into the future of blending film and video games into fully realized animated features and game production. With Epic Game’s promising increased use of Unreal Engine for the creation of animated short film and utilization in fully funded AAA projects, audiences can expect to see future titles which incorporate game development tools into production.
By looking under the surface of development schedules, the apparent effect of video gaming on the global market has been exponentially growing since the online gaming boom of the early 2000’s, and by 2023 the market value of video gaming triples that of the revenue made from box office movie production at 249 billion dollars (2023, Mordor Intelligence). The factors behind this valuation include: increased global access to video games, the impact of high-speed internet access worldwide on game sales, the impact of gaming as a ‘live service’ and the active deployment of software patches, as well as other selected aspects of the video gaming industry in market valuation.