So, in your opinion, what is the best way, (use technical terms :P) to make a game look good, kinda like AAA standard graphically in unity?
No i’m not being noobish, we all have our own styles, just wondering what your techinques are. Screenshots if possible please!
good model + good texture based on photo + good shader + shadow + SSAO + DOF + HDR = AAAA game
Consistent design - textures, lighting, models, ectect
No noticeable pixels - tf2 uses low res textures yet this is hard to notice due to their design.
Smooth shapes - no polygon shading, or things that let you know where polygons are (excluding things that do need this)
Smooth shadows - try not to use very low res shadows
- Realistic Character Animation, Facial Animation, Lip Syncing, Physics, Soft Bodies(Cloth)
- Robust Control Method, Camera Movement, Vehicle Handling
- Realistic AI
- Realistic Environments, Effects, Sounds, etc.
- Shaders, Skin, Hair/Fur, Car Paint, etc
- all the Crazy sh!t that R&D have been working on!
Stylised visuals need similar amount of detail even if you’re not going for pure realism.
Be or have a good artist.
No laundry list of technical features will make up for it.
^This
Image effects are a big deal towards making it AAA, aswell has really detail textures, shadows ofcoarse, and smooth realistic animations.
I would also say using particle FX
If you want to make a AAA game, hire a professional team of highly skilled artists. 'nuff said.
textures and lighting and half decent models.
Time to add some humor to this topic.
The easiest way to make your game look like AAA quality is to be one of them giant game publishers, because then no one cares about the game content; EA, Activision etc… (haha you caught me there, I don’t know any more lol.) 
to make a game look good, theres nothing like good artists with excellent sense of aeshtetics, an excellent artist will make anything look good even in the most limiting technical scenarios.
excellent artists make art, thats why they are called like that hehehe
Lighting and a good use of colors. Paint with broad strokes first before you worry about details normalmaps and such. If a screenshot looks good in a small thumbnail you are on a good way.
Avoiding repetitive patterns. After that making the environment feel dynamic and alive. Pulsating lights, atmospheric effects and such. Anything to avoid the sterile dead look. Our eyes constantly move about when we experience our surroundings so when anything gets completely still its feels unnatural to us. And sound is important. With good use of sound the brain can compensate for a lack of visuals by filling in the “gaps” by itself.
Here is an example of an environment I did on a day off. It is super super simple with crap textures, horrible models and no fancy effects whatsoever so it is miles from anything AAA. But you conceal some of that with an environment that is “alive”
Wow, I actually see what you’re saying. The environmental effects, the visor and the way the character moves, it draws you in and your mind overlaps the poor terrain resolution with it’s own image of a desolate wasteland. Essentially you’re creating a better environment simply on feeling.
I’ve seen this with the original Gothic game. Even now, going back to the 10 year old graphics, after playing it for a bit I forget them and am drawn into the rich world that the game provides.
That’s it, make your game in total darkness so nobody can see anything. One can’t question the quality of what can’t be seen.
Seriously though, global illumination and shadows are the key to realistic lighting. But obviously good lighting won’t make poorly modeled items look good.
If you’re not very artistic then consider taking the stylized approach.
good artists make the most of what is given and use 10% time for 90% quality
I remember one article saying the ideal team is 2 to 3 persons so I’m looking for a like-minded artist myself
Baking AO into everything, trying to keep a consistant look and feel about the game and using/making photo-sourced textures