A time and a place

2D vs 3D.  The age-old argument.

Of course, being an anime fan, I have a preference for 2D, at least for character designs and animated films.  But sometimes you just have to pick the mode that is best (or cheapest) at the particular task.


Even within 2D there are what I term "levels of elitism".  Genuine pixel-art graphics is spectacular but is really expensive since it takes a lot of skill.  Most people would opt for painted, and so would I.  With today's powerful hardware, there is really no need to design against hardware limitations.  The only limitations today are budget or skill.

For isometric animations, rather than animating by hand (or with Flash) in 8 directions ad infinitum, it's simply more practical to build a single 3D model, animate once, then use a camera rotation script to establish all angles for the prerendered frames.  I'm also finding it more practical to make man-made or boxy prop objects in 3D, while still keeping the organic look of the scene through handpainted trees.

Now that's just 2D vs 3D in terms of prerendering.  In the end the game is still 2D.  Now about fully 3D games?

My opinion -- use only when the gameplay really needs it, meaning that the gameplay requires 3D.  If you just have 2D gameplay I don't really see much of a point aside from prettier graphics from bloom effects.  I won't argue with other developers, but that's my preference.  Believe me when I say I'm only making a 3D game because the gameplay idea can only be explored through a fully 3D environment.  Otherwise in most cases... such as story or turn-based menu games --  2D is the best.