Contextual Studies

One of our projects for this term is to write an essay on the subject of space and representation. To get ourselves started on this project, we were asked to research a low pixel character, a high poly character, a silent or basic sound environment and a fully emmersive 2d environment and then give a presentation on what we found out. Our group decided to look at Snake as a low pixel and a high poly character, the classic Tetrid, and Doom as a fully emersive game environment


Low Pixel Character


              

Links evolution

HD charcter
Snake



Mario - Low Pixel vs High Poly
 
For the most part, Mario looks the way he does today because of 1981's immature graphics technology.
Hat
To avoid the difficulty of having Mario's hair move realistically, Miyamoto gave Mario a hat. Also, in Game Over, Miyamoto admits, "I cannot come up with hairstyles so good."
Moustache
Miyamoto gave Mario a moustache and oversized nose to make Mario's nose more noticeable.
Overalls
Mario's overalls make his arms and arm movements more visible. Mario started out with a blue shirt and red overalls outfit in Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr., but the color scheme was switched to a red shirt and blue overalls when Mario Bros. hit the arcades. When Super Mario Bros. came out for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Mario had his original red overalls, but a brownish shirt. In Super Mario Bros. 2, Mario went back to his second color scheme—red shirt, blue overalls—and has not changed since.

Low

High emmersive

Bibliography
http://www.themushroomkingdom.net/mario_history.shtml