King's Story emulates Tilt-Shift Lens Photography

Take a look at some examples of Tilt-Shift Lens Photography:



Yes, the above images are of real environments and not shots of miniature models. The effect is quite startling and was pioneered by Olivo Barbieri; an Italian artist and photographer.

Now take a look of some recently released screens of the upcoming game King's Story:



Depth-of-field blurring is commonly used in 1st and 3rd person perspective games to provide the environments with a sense of scale and realism. It seems King's Story developers: Cing Inc./Town Factory, have deliberately used the depth-of-field-effect in an overhead viewpoint to try and emulate the miniaturizing effect of tilt-shift lenses, keeping only a small portion of the scene in complete focus. To me the effect is quite charming and compliments the game's art style very well.

Games as art?