~Polygon Counts~

21st April

It has become more and more important for me to keep to modern day games polygon counts for characters. I want to become a video game character designer, and things such as polygon counts, proportions, silhouettes and such are extremely important for me. So with that said, I want to do it properly, it is extremely important in the industry to adhear to things such as polygon counts within a game project. So there is no better time then now to start learning about it.

I found some interesting statistics online with regard to polygon counts on video game characters here and it really provided useful knowledge on what I should be aiming for with my polycount. It lists a few popular games, and the confirmed polys used the main characters. One of which is Gears of War in which they used the following poly counts for three of the characters :


Gears of War, Xbox 360, 2006
Wretch - 10,000 polygons with diffuse, specular and normal maps
Boomer - 11,000 polygons with diffuse, specular and normal maps
Marcus - 15,000 polygons with diffuse, specular and normal maps


Also they provided poly counts for some of Half-Life 2's characters, as a big fan of the Half Life games, and an even bigger fan of VALVe It was really interesting. Their poly counts are extremely low, considering their characters are visually stunning. I thought it was way more, it just shows the power of textures over high poly counts!:

Halflife 2, PC, 2004
Alyx Vance - 8323 polygons
Barney - 5922 polygons
Combine Soldier - 4682 polygons
Classic Headcrab - 1690 polygons
SMG - 2854 polygons (with arms)
Pistol - 2268 polygons (with arms)

With that said, here is a screen shot of my character Hals' polygon count.
I am quite happy with what I achieved with that, and the model of Hal can be viewed at; ~Transcription - Sir Henry Courtney2~

I feel that his polygon count is spot on, not only that but his proportions are too. Something I strive for is good proportions and topology. I think I am beginning to produce both. So any way, I best sleep!:)

2 comments:

tutorphil said...

am loving the 'all-new, improved jonny stewart' - self-initiated research, establishing own objectives, working independently - but within given parameters - by jove, I think he's got it... your growing confidences are a delight to witness, Jon - keep your design standards nice and high, don't cut the wrong sort of corners, and continue to enjoy yourself.

Jon Stewart said...

Thank you Phil:)
This is the stuff I have been waiting for, and I love it! Things like polygon limits are very interesting to me, and who wouldn't want to do independant research on something they love so much and grew up with? Video games for me have been what I have played for many hours of free time in my life. I love it :P

About Me

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I am a video game artist at Dovetail games, working on Train Simulator 2014, 2015 and an unannounced title. I also graduated from the CG Arts course at UCA in 2010 with a First Class. www.jonstewart.co.uk