![]() ![]() At this point in my life my tastes had yet to be influenced by the internet-all of my purchases were made based on physical gaming magazine reviews, vibes, and my appreciation of elements and aesthetics. I first played the eponymous Ico in 2005, only a few years after its initial North American release. Games and Bereavement, Sabine Harrer, 2018 In contrast to this, the rocky insides of the cave in the now are trenched in a greyish mist, making the organically-shaped level structures difficult to read." Image via VICE Media Group Castle in the Mist "The weather has been bright and clear, allowing an unconstrained look at the promised land in the distance a land seemingly bare of obstacles and therefore preferred to the castle's unpredictable mysteries. ![]() Modern gaming has largely done away with fog effects, and while this bit of texture may seem arbitrary it evokes the same response as the warmth of a vinyl record. Like too many elements of horror in the last decade and a half, monsters and scares have been pushed into the light. Infamously, Silent Hill's HD Collection cut down on the natural fog effects to disastrous results-it seems that players would prefer to be kept in the dark. Silent Hill's fogging effect was more than a rendering tool, it was a means of feeding fear directly into the psyche of the player.Īs music and sound effects ramped up the sense of disquiet, Team Silent could make creatures step naturally through the mist with no need of loading screen separation. Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 used distance fog to celebratory effect, giving players the sense that they'd entered into an alternate reality whether or not they were in the game's otherworld. While the townscape of Silent Hill is not particularly large in the title game or any of its sequels, the fog effect led itself to a natural look and feel in the games that's beloved to this day. The atmospheric technique of distance fog is famously used in Silent Hill-not just the first game, but throughout the entire series. Interview with Keiichiro Toyama, PSM #19, March 1999 Image via YouTube. As a result, even though the feel may be similar, I think that we created quite a different game." One of the priorities was to make the most of using the real time polygons. We thought that it would be difficult to best our competition by using only pre-renders. "The fog, which was THE visual effect, the darkness, and camera that runs across the town were all of the things that couldn't have been done in pre-rendered environments. While the effect was popular on more "realistic" games for the Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation, it did not solely exist as a crutch effect for obscuring detail distance fog became a staple of auteurs and creatives that wanted to purposely keep things hidden until just the right time. Distance fog allowed rendered features to fade in naturally, reducing polygon count and making it easier for developers to create interesting environments without spending a lot of time on lighting. ![]() Fog gradients can do everything from negate the complexity of rendering shadows to simulate light scattering, and in an era of lesser processing power, fog could mask loading times in grand environments. In the PlayStation 2 era, many games used "distance fog" to mask distance, cover graphical limitations, and add a sense of scale to increase claustrophobic elements. For the games of yesteryear, fog effects not only amped-up expectations, but they made the impossible possible. Such is the case with video games gaming's most infamous fog effects and misty vistas are an incredible combination of technical artistry and blanketing limitations. Our own perceived draw distance creates incredible effect, though it is easy enough to limit: a copse of trees, a sudden hill, or an overcast day can greatly alter the space of our visual intake. There's much that we humans take in by our 3 mile view-it is, in essence, both the benefit and limit of our feeble worlds. On a perfectly flat surface, with a clear day and no obstruction, the average person can see at a distance of about 3 miles. ![]() I have always wondered what lies just beyond my sight. ![]()
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