Over the last 40 years, titles with 2D art and animation have remained in favor with millions of players, and some have even gone on to become massive hits (e.g. While 3D titles continued to improve and rise, the same happened to 2D titles, though not so dynamically and exponentially. However, this is when something surprising happened. Such titles quickly became bestsellers, and people were soon predicting the end of two-dimensional games. Video games first became popular in the 1970s, and it took just over 10 years for the first popular 3D titles to appear. The medium fostered the development of new styles, and eventually, 3D. 2D game art assets truly came alive through the mechanics, cut scenes, and animation sequences. While the art has been used in board games and other forms of entertainment for over centuries, the relatively recent emergence of computer and video games allowed it to truly flourish and expand in new directions. Since the earliest cave drawings, people have been creating 2D art freely and in all parts of the world. Though 2D designs are quite flat in appearance, more characteristics and uniqueness can be added to such objects through color, line saturation, style, and creativity. However, if additional sides and depth are added to the triangle, it becomes a pyramid and a 3D shape. This is a 2D shape with three sides and nothing else. To put it into perspective, you can imagine a triangle on paper.

The two dimensions in this case are width and height, while depth/length is the additional dimension used in 3D objects. What is 2D Art?ĢD stands for 2-dimensional, and is generally associated with flat shapes and objects.

We will examine the current 2D game art styles and share some insights about the state of it today.

Before you scratch your head or roll your eyes, just hear us out. With this in mind, you might be surprised to learn that 2D art is alive and thriving in the game industry. With all of this buzz about the next big title sporting unmatched graphics and unprecedented realism, it is easy to get the impression that 2D games have gone the way of the dodo, and only 3D games are being made now. Major game releases always attract plenty of attention, and even speculation about a major upcoming console or PC game can clutter up your news feed with articles every week.

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