Mark Cooke’s G-Mixer

I’ve already discussed how much I like Wipeout’s graphic design and now the developers behind Wipeout HD have done an awesome job with the 3D design and technology for the recently released Wipeout HD. Not only does it look great, they’ve included a feature in the game that allows you to take “photos” of your favorite moments using many camera options such as simulated motion blur (see above).

Graphic design wise my favorite mode by far is called “zone”. It’s a gameplay mode that has been around in the Wipeout series for a while. The player’s ship gets faster and faster over time until it takes too much damage and eventually explodes. The player is scored based on how long they can survive.

The design aesthetic in the past for the zone mode was a sort of clean room filled with neon. It was definitely unique and visually pleasing. The new design for zone mode is even better though:

The colors and gradients of the world change as the player reaches new zones (i.e. faster speeds). I love how the entire look of the game is changed so drastically from a futuristic metropolis to an ultra-stylized world of gradients and silhouettes using the exact same level geometry. There aren’t many games that look like the screenshot above and it is refreshing to see Wipeout HD taking a new direction.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 3rd, 2008 at 11:26 pm and is filed under art, game development, technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.