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[Canned Turkey]

I always feel readability > visuals. Even if something looks good, if it gets in the way of what the viewer should be seeing, it's gotta go. I don't see why there is backgrounds in most games, as they almost always (composition wise) get in the way. but they're still there, and the people that put them there are probably smarter than me. Why do developers have a need/want for backgrounds?

[pen]

immersion, conveying of mood, testament of their skills, differentiating themselves from other games... Any number of reasons really.

[s-spooky g-g-ghosts]

Apparently they don't get in the way enough to be a real issue. Besides what do you mean they get in the way composition wise? Like I understand something is oversaturated in the background but in terms of composition I can't imagine what you could possibly mean.

[ink.inc]

readability isnt a problem if you've got competent artists

[Sik]

Unless your sight is rather bad (not bad enough that you couldn't play the game, but bad enough that any superfluous details could get in the way).

In case of doubt the best option may be to have backgrounds but to provide a setting to disable them.

[Schoq]

honestly you might as well ask why the thing you're controlling has to look like a little plumber, why not just have it be a rectangle so you can clearly see the hitbox

making a little dude run is more fun than sliding a box. running through a mushroom kingdom is more fun than running through a sterile void of coloured fields

[glintycreative]

honestly you might as well ask why the thing you're controlling has to look like a little plumber, why not just have it be a rectangle so you can clearly see the hitbox

making a little dude run is more fun than sliding a box. running through a mushroom kingdom is more fun than running through a sterile void of coloured fields

Yeah, I agree that there should be background for immersion. Sometimes games take the galaxy theme as an excuse for minimalistic background.

[standardcombo]

Its not just immersion of the story/world, if there are interesting things in the background, even if they distract you a little, they contribute to the overall subjective fun-factor. Additionally, someone not playing the game but instead watching (e.g someone else playing, a video or a demo) may be more inclined to like the game if it's aesthetically pleasing.

This reminds me of a video that explains how Michael Bay makes very simple shots seem huge by parallaxing multiple layers. He uses this technique a lot. It would be hard to explain 'why' this makes the scenes epic. I just accept that it does. The same goes for backgrounds in games. Backgrounds are a huge deal. They are doing something important to your brain even if you are not focused on them: