Ok so like "modern AAA" level design is sort of approaching photography/collage with tools like nanite, quixel mega scans, and just environment scanning in general.
But in the indie scene we are seeing more of a return to the old ways and literally showing the brushwork. More impressionism over realism.
And when art moves into new media (art to animation) we see certain simplifications/style adjustments for efficiency. Indie art styles are about that efficiency. 1/2
Anime/manga has become a more or less cohesive style used across many series/genres. You could argue that bruce timm and tartakovsky do something similar, coming out of comic books. They have similarities and are also efficient.
In games there is also the Blizzard artstyle tm that has percolated into games like Valorant (or even ToR) and Mobas
Ps1 graphics is kinda similar for indies.
I feel like japan also has styles like this to, but it's harder for me to pin down.
A good question is how well do these art styles do in sales and on what platforms?
What styles are actually the most efficient to develop with? Where can showing brushwork be ok?
Are any styles particularly poorly suited for particular kinds or tones of games?
Is this an incredibly basic/boring realization?
There is this weird thing that I don't like about this thinking. Like at some level I'm trying to 'spend less' on artists and potentially get more art assets out of them.
But it could be positive, and potentially let them be a little more auteur. If there was one environment artist for a single (or sequence) of levels they could express more of themselves without having to conform as much to other artists.
The same goes for Level Designers, Writers, and maybe other disciplines.
Tommy Hanusa