In an attempt to bring a fresh and often neglected perspective to the discussion of whether games are art, I take a look at artistic conventions as used in games.
I am writing this 3-part series of articles not to convince anyone that games are art, but rather to make readers aware of how developers use certain tricks and design elements to improve the appeal of their games - in the same way artists do in paintings or other forms of graphical art.

Artistic imagery can be dissected into 6 aspects: Line, color, form, light, space and composition. Part 1 covered Line & Color, now it's time to take a look at Form & Light.



FORM
After alot of research I eventually ended up picking De Blob as a game that makes good use of form. Why it was a tough choice, shall be explained right after educating you about this particular design element.

Forms can be found everywhere in an art piece. They are formed by using different colors, lines or materials.
A form can look exactly like a real object (realistic), or it can be more beautiful than the actual object (idealised).
It can also be manipulated (deformed) and/or simplified (stylized). When a form is hardly recognisable as such, we call it abstract.

Just like colors, there are certain contrasts that can be achieved with forms. Geometric-organic, flat-spatial and clear-vague just to name a few.
One can also seek to balance an image by letting certain forms reoccur in it. We call this form-rhyme, as you're using forms that correspond to eachother, much like poetry.



De Blob, as stated, was a difficult choice to make. There are not many abstract games, in comparison to art pieces. Form contrasts are not used as much as the other design elements are. None the less, there are alot of clever ways in which forms are implemented - mainly in puzzle games. Tetris uses blocks that fit into eachother, for example. But it's not as if the squares every block exists of in that game immediately make you think of Warhol, despite their recurrences.

I don't know how to feel about De Blob.
When I look at screenshots or videos of the game, I see a round, organic jelly-creature hopping about in a world full of geometric, static buildings. An excellent implementation of a geometric-organic contrast. Yet the concept art of this game shows a everything-is-round festival world in which in turn completely contrasts with the actual game.
A lead designer must have stepped up and told his underlings all buildings should be square. That's what I'd like to think anyway.



LIGHT
Shadow of the Colossus is an extraordinary game for so many reasons, the excellent use of light being only one of them. It blends together so many different artistic conventions, and also contains an artistic undertone/message. The biggest achievement here, is how Team ICO managed to mix these elements so flawlessly. There isn't one particular thing about the game that stands out, it is one solid consistent experience.
Let's hear some more about this light thing, first.

You can divide this category into natural and artificial light. Natural light comes from the sun, while artificial light can come from anything ranging from a lamp to a candle.
When exposed to light, objects will cast a shadow. This shadow helps us to understand where exactly the object is placed. The shadow that falls on the object itself this adds dimensionality too. Thanks to this self-shadow you can, for example, tell if an object is round and what structure it has. Sometimes this shadow can even create silhouettes.



Frankly it was only last month I bought and finished Shadow of the Colossus. There are certain aspects of the game I still need to explore upon further. For example: What do the beacons of light that reach towards the sky indicate, and what do they mean, symbolically? You can invest alot of thought into decyphering the design choices in this game.
There is a voice coming from the heavens, accompanied by rays of light, that tells you which creatures to slay. You raise your sword and follow the light it casts to find these creatures. In the same way you find the weak spots of these creatures.

But even when you are not interested in the symbolism this game has to offer, the game benefits of light in many more ways. On the graphical side of things, part of why this game looks so breathtaking is how, in the large and open meadows, the ground seamlessly meets the sky in an enlighted horizon. Gameplay wise, you can only use the beacon of your sword if you are standing in the sunlight, which means you have to avoid standing in the creature's shadow (there's potential symbolism there once more)

-

I genuinely hope I am inspiring anyone who is reading these articles.
We really shouldn't be wondering whether games are art, because ultimately it doesn't matter if we can file it under the "art" box or not. What we should be talking about, is how games can learn and benefit from these artistic conventions, so that videogames as a medium can evolve.