Put a Face on It: The Aesthetics of Cute
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 17 окт 2024
- In this 2017 GDC session, Hexecutable's Jenny Jiao Hsia explains why cuteness as an aesthetic may be worth exploring for developers who want to push against current trends in game design.
GDC talks cover a range of developmental topics including game design, programming, audio, visual arts, business management, production, online games, and much more. We post a fresh GDC video every weekday. Subscribe to the channel to stay on top of regular updates, and check out GDC Vault for thousands of more in-depth talks from our archives.
Follow us on Twitter
/ official_gdc
Check out our Facebook page for GDC exclusives
/ gamedevelopersconference
Visit our site: ubm.io/2ctNvqZ
![[4K] Watch SpaceX Catch A Starship Rocket From Space!!! #IFT5](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pIKI7y3DTXk/mqdefault.jpg)
Yes! If there's room on the market for ultra gritty hardcore uber-edgy grim war shooters, ain't nobody going to tell me we can't have pastel hacking games.
TBH I still wait for my ultra gritty hardcore uber-edgy grim war shooter.
I hear Call of Duty announced *another* WWII title. Gotta be gritty!
Too much grit, it gets everywhere!
I think I might actually buy it now.
The few GDC speakers who choose to share themselves emotionally have really left a lasting impression on me.
I think the aesthetic of her game is adorable and I like the defense of 'cute'. However as an artist I feel like trying to make something cute by putting a face on it, is a pretty easy solution. It's a cheap trick to emotionally engage someone. This style is also overly used already. I think execution and attention to detail are also important to talk about to create full cute effect. For instance in the food game, the little jitter of each morsel in hot water is a suuuuuuuper cute touch (it personifies them, like if they are nervous), but it doesn't get a mention at all. In fact there's a lot of stuff that she does that is cute but doesn't get talked about. For an 'Aesthetics of Cute' talk, I would like to see the discussion go way further than 'put a face 'on it.
But one of the most interesting parts of the talk is how an aesthetic can totally change the way you are engaged with a game... but there's a million ways to do that and only one of them is to put face on it.
good points here
I think the same. I liked her art styles, but just that, I like it, isn't something crazy, unique, not overused nowdays, and feels quite cheap because, at least for me, putting faces never makes me connect with the "characters", most of the time it's just a help for know what my actions are doing but doesn't create a connection between me and the things. For me the charm and cuteness are more in the vivid animations and the small details those are there and doesn't oversaturate the designs but helps to remember them and making them more unique and memorable, not on easy connections like being lazy and having a silly face.
I love this concept. I love the idea of amplification through simplification. I love when cuteness is used with a purpose. And I love Aggretsuko.
+GDC I think this should be in the 'design talks playlist'
not really my sort of game, but I found the exploration of how much visual style affects the game fascinating. Another example of that is with Borderlands, during the development they switched from a realistic style to cell shading and it completely changed the feel of the game and helped give it its quirky aesthetic.
And even making the wacky characters feel more plausible.
Bit of uncanny valley, bit of anthropomorphising, the space for deception from under a cute facade... Yeah, yeah... very interesting! As is Aggresive Retsuko!
This is a great talk! I already saw it in the Vault and it is awesome! Recommended for everyone!
Great talk, i love stuff like this. Diaries of A Spaceport Janitor is a great example of cuteness concealing darker themes. Whoever's got more please share!
+
Hey, I remember her! I’ve played her games before, I’ve been waiting for Consume Me for a while
How to draw a circle: 10:10
Though I agree on basic ideas/questions of this topic, I think author is talking a lot from her personal perspective and mixing some stuff which will confuse some people on the long run and probably make them wander how their game didn't become a huge hit since they made it "cute" as supposed to.
For example most of the game art from this video is not cute for me, its just my personal opinion and what I like/prefer as cute.
Just making it have cartoony look or using some vivid or pastel color palette doesn't make your art/aesthetics/game instant cute.
Same goes for fun factor and how much humor is in game.
Like it or not, but that's a fact.
Somehow Jenny skipped on those parts:
- is something cute is a very personal opinion/feedback (but can be trendy)
- cartoon art style is not cute by default (but helps a lot)
- some game ideas are better/easier developed in cute manner (especially personal) and give you more play space
...
And again, I didn't say most of the games used in this video are stupid or boring, contrary, lots of them look really fun and have interesting mechanics.
But all of them are not cute, even she uses "weird" and "goofy" terms couple of times.
Yeah all of them are using similar art style, but its a dev`s choice, and working in indies myself for some time, mostly its because of lack of artist knowledge/time/money for more complex look.
Simplification doesn't make anything cute per se as we can see ourselves in that sample on minute 10:10.
Good examples of cute characters/aesthetics and their creation would be Disney style for example, or even any anime-ish where you use some rules like: big eyes, certain disproportion, clothing styles, specific animations and so on.
But just don't take it for granted and mix with any cartoon art style or fun/funny game mechanics please.
Whoa, thank you so much for the feedback! I really appreciate the time you took to write out these critiques. I agree with many of your points, and I am looking forward to incorporating them in how I articulate games and game design moving forward.
so you DO have a youtube channel!
Oh well, that's kinda harsh, I hope I didn't sound that bad. haha.
I meant what I said, and I think I gave some concrete examples.
And again its just my opinion, doesn't have to be the right one per se, but I wanted to express myself since I didn't see other people separate cute from cartoony.
Also one thing I forgot to mention is that you can always outsource it if you can not achieve some look you are after, so its not the end of the world if you can not make cute characters.
I didn't say she is untalented, just "cute" is relative, and you should not use that term every time when you see cartoon styled game, or strive for it without some reason, etc.
I also think biggest thing, not only for Jenny but any game developer, is to finish your games and progress that way, step by step, and she is obviously good at it, I don't worry too much for her, she will find her place in game biz for sure.
Btw I would definitely not say Jenny is not cute, but I am weak on Asian girls.
Have some manners Peter Lustig, did you realise she just replied personally above these comments? You'd trigger anyone if you talked like that in their face. You're free to express that you disagree with a presenter but you don't need to take it so far as to attack them - which is what you're doing right there
so thought she would make a reference to Madoka Magica
3:29 What? There are _faces_ on the tiles in Threes?
I've been playing the game for years, and this is the first time I see them.
So they can't possibly be a factor in me very much agreeing that the game does have a cute aesthetic to it.
>the title
yeah i know. That's how it works.
Great talk and examples!
CLIPPY WAS NEVER IN THE WAY
really cool and informative
The more I watch this video the more I feel like she is making games just for Tumblr.
Also, is weird that she was talking about putting faces on everything but didn't talk about Banjo-Kazooie where almost everything has eyes, talks with silly sounds, and are charming in a lot of ways.
I'm going to have to say I disagree with a lot of the points presented. It seemed like a lot of the time, Hsia wasn't injecting "cute" aesthetics into the games she was working on because they would add to them, but instead because it's the only aesthetic she used and it's what she was used to. And then around the 24:00 mark she starts talking about feminism and how hard it is to be a woman - discussing games that aren't even close to the "cute" aesthetic seen in things like Gudetama or Bananya.
It's certainly possible that she was merely playing to her strengths personally. But if she had success with it, that is a lesson worth sharing nevertheless.
Yo Momma, I agree BUT, in one of the examples she talks about how the game looked boring when, done the right way, it could have been made more interesting without the cute aesthetic. Did adding the cuteness work to inject some personality into the game? Hell yeah, but it does seem like the reason she uses the cute aesthetic is because it's all she knows. I understand that it is what she's best at, but she lets that cloud her judgement on other games that she has or has not worked on.
So many games! Love stylized design and animation. 2D love.
I just picked up neko atsume and I'm having all these strange new feelings ...
Cute and helpful talk ^w^
35:49 that was so cute
I dig it!
I wanna go to a game jam because I've heard of them, but I'm also like a real noob ans scared to ask for help so I haven't seriously looked into it at all.
it's been 4 years but Inwant to say I believe in you!
I wish I could submit more likes
Oh shit she made beglitched :D *likes*
Even though the title makes it pretty clear, I was misled a bit. It was more about the style used rather than the representation of cute characters and elements. It was more about an artist in touch with their inner cuteness drawing things rather than portraying cute and adorable characters, regardless of the render (Hat in Time, anyone?). That Ute game... not cute, just childish drawings. If I may suggest a good watch on cuteness: "Why Are Things Cute?" by Vsauce ruclips.net/video/Z0zConOPZ8Y/видео.html
24:56 wut
Happy Tree Friends is more horrible than Hostel or Saw.
HAAH! Question-lady at the end advertising herself!
thumbed down cutenifying serves the wrong purposes too often to be harmless period.
Jenny is cute! CUTE!
I prefere character appeal to cutness.
Good 3D cartoon have appeal characters.
You can do appeal with cute, but just making thing cute is a cheap way of getting people saying ''Awwww'' by abusing the part of our brain that take care of babies.
Also, those things in the video looks more simplified than cute
Kios Adventure, thank me later.
Not really about the talk(it was great) but the examples of other works that use cuteness. It really sickens me how modern society obsess about sex.
im cute. but not really.
bit annoying, that shit.
Anyone who had a younger sibling is well familiar with cute creatures using their cuteness to manipulate others with not-so-nice motives. I've been interested in how 'cuteness' is treated by society for a really long time now. It was clear to me that Japan was very accepting of it, but the US (where I live) was not. I wondered if this was related to other social trends, things like violent crime, economic hardship, etc. I also always wondered if maybe the US would at some point come to accept cuteness as something everyone can appreciate. There seems to be strong (but weakening) emphasis on projecting a facade of strength and faux 'maturity' centered around not being able to appreciate cuteness outside of either being female or young.
No one can change a society by themselves, but everyone is responsible for what they do themselves. So me, a 38 year old guy, I defend cuteness and dismiss the ridiculous notions my 10 year old nephews manage to pick up about certain things being 'for girls' or 'for kids' for no other reason than they're cute. I want to live in a world with cute stuff. I'm a big fan of extremely disturbing art as well, but see no reason why they can not both co-exist perfectly fine.
Good god, I've never had body image issues, and I was aware that there were things like the pro-ana community (groups of people who encourage one another in anorexia in the most destructive of ways) but seeing the "motivational" images in this talk... wow.
Wat am I watchin?
These games are complete shit. Looks like they pulled them from Steam Greenlight.
9 minutes in. 9 minutes of my life gone. XD
It's called "simplified".
I smell politics.
Yeah, it went on quite a tangent.
What? Really? So someone creating a personal game about their struggle with dieting is now politics? Jeez is sympathy that difficult nowadays? everything is somehow an attack
Everything is politics. Everything.
i found all of your examples were not cute infact, most were disturbing and offputting. i could not really continue after the 20 min mark :/
2/10
sub-par talk