The Purpose of Lighting
So why is Lighting something anyone would care about?
Or maybe a better question would be "Why is lighting so important?"
Can't you just place a great big light in the middle of a scene? If everybody can see where they're going, then what's the big deal?
There are a few reasons lighting can make a big difference, and one of them is to help create a world that is visually interesting enough that the player might want to spend some time there.
First off, lighting makes things feel more real.
When I say "real", note that I'm not just talking about photo realism. I'm talking about making the environment feel more complete or grounded, even if you're using more figurative, stylized or non-realistic styles. Even the "cel shading" look uses lighting.
Above Image: On the left, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, on the right, Borderlands 2. Even "non-photo-realistic" games need lighting!
And while lighting is used even for games that are going for a more stylized look, it really comes into play for the many games that are going for realism.
Secondly, lighting is used to create mood. This is as important (or maybe even more so) than bringing realism to the look of the project. When you think of terms like "Cheerful" or "Ominous" or "Post-Apocalyptic" or "Terrifying" there's a very good chance that lighting played an important part in conveying that look, and in turn, the mood or feeling evoked from a given area, or even the entire game.
Happy, bright lighting.
Maybe not so happy.
And thirdly, lighting is used to lead the player through areas or levels in a game that may be too visually confusing without some lighting cues or "path lighting". It's a fairly common practice if you have a focus group and players have reached areas where they didn't quite know where to go next, or didn't spot something that would have helped, to light that object or path and make it more obvious.
You have probably followed lighting cues in a game and not even been aware of it. Lighting cues help direct, and are much more subtle than giant red arrows that say "Go here next!"
So lighting makes a huge difference, not only from aesthetics, but to help the flow of the game.
And somebody has to do all that lighting. That somebody is the Lighting Artist.
