One of the most challenging things in making a modern PC game is nailing the lighting.  Light is all powerful when it comes to deciding how a game will look.

In most games, the camera is fixed. In some games, the camera lets you zoom in and out…a little bit…but not rotating.  It’s not a technical restriction as much as an artistic restriction. The more fixed the camera, the more optimization you can do on the presentation of the game.

War of Magic v1.19b.

Photoshop filter 1

Photoshop filter 2

Photoshop filter 3

Now, in these cases, I’m not really changing the lighting, I’m just applying a Photoshop filter in a way that simulates how the existing light source might change the look. 

In Fallen Enchantress, the lighting system is going to be redone which means that visually, it’ll look very different from War of Magic (i.e. there will be no question about what game you’re looking at from a screenshot).

But it is amazing how different something can look – with the same graphics – just by changing the light sources.

If you are familiar with examples, feel free to post them in the comments section.