Grammar of visual communication in videogame: Analysis and comparison of languages between the present and past

Abstract

The theme of this contribution is the world of video games, with particular focus on modern narrative video games whose communicational mode is based on mainly visual forms. In other words, the complexity of these games also regards the ideation of graphical expedients used for communicational purposes in the dynamics of the game. With respect to this field, the studies therefore focus on the theme of visual communication in modern graphical video games, with the goal of investigating different expressive forms. This was addressed on two planes. First, analyses and comparisons were proposed and made among different examples of video games, pausing on some elements of the language and visual grammar. Second, an attempt was made to understand if and how some of the expedients used in this field are really communicational artifices and representational principles used historically in classical and contemporary art, always with a precise intention, that is, to convey a message.