About

Graphics Are The First Thing Finished In A Video Game refers to a series of memes where video game developers, gamers and industry professionals refute the idea that graphics are the first thing finished during a game's development cycle by posting images of what early versions of their finished video games look like, highlighting the differences between the early and final builds. The trend began on Twitter in September 2022 after the GTA VI leaks inspired criticism from some over the game's graphics, despite it being unfinished.

Origin

On September 19th, 2022, now-private Twitter user @Design4Mind317 commented on a GTA 6 leak complaining about the way the graphics look, writing, "If you knew how game development goes, you'd know that visuals are one of the first things done. This game is 4 years into planning & development. What you see is almost exactly what you will get. The next year is mission coding and debugging. All backend stuff. It does look ass" (shown below).^[1]

On September 20th, Twitter^[2] user and game journalist Cian Maher posted, "'Graphics are the first thing finished in a video game' Here's a Thunderjaw from an early build of Horizon: Zero Dawn," refuting the idea that graphics are the first thing done in a video game, garnering over 56,000 likes and 4,600 retweets in a day (shown below).

Spread

The meme spread across Twitter over the following devs as further game devs, journalists and gamers shared early graphics from finished games. On September 20th, 2022, the Twitter^[3] account for Cult of the Lamb participated in the trend with a video of the game's early graphical style, garnering over 51,000 likes in a day (shown below).

"Graphics are the first thing finished in a video game" Here's what early versions of Cult of the Lamb looked like pic.twitter.com/F5EyEH6M9r

— Cult of the Lamb 🙏🐑👑 OUT NOW (@cultofthelamb) September 20, 2022

On the same day, Twitter^[4] user @bacon_sanwich participated in the trend with early gameplay footage of Control, garnering over 42,000 likes and 4,600 retweets in a day. They also uploaded a full video of the early graphics to YouTube,^[5] garnering over 25,000 views in a day (shown below). That day, a thread was started on ResetEra about the meme.

Since graphics are the first thing finished in a video game, and CONTROL won multiple awards for excellence in graphics, here is footage from the beginning of development :)

On September 21st, Twitter^[6] user @KChoteau posted early graphical footage of Plague Tale: Requiem as part of the meme, garnering over 1,000 likes in under five hours (shown below).

"Graphics are the first thing finished in a video game" Here, A Plague Tale: Requiem in one of its first build vs the upcoming release: pic.twitter.com/Ft4fUjjIoX

— Kevin Choteau (@KChoteau) September 21, 2022

That day, Twitter^[7] user @dhabiheng, a Valve Software artist, shared an early screenshot of Lion from Dota2, garnering over 400 likes in a day. The post was shared to /r/DotA2^[8] the next day, garnering over 500 upvotes in under 24 hours (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References