It would take a lot of prodding to get me to play a game with such unprofessional graphics. What I’m saying is that if you want this game to be taken seriously at all, it needs better art. Maybe have more retro pixely stuff as an option, it might cut down the workload a bit for whatever artist you decide to hire.
Heh. Funny, I just sent a link to a friend going “ooh, I love the graphical style of this game.” I find it gives a very interesting tone to the game (although I’m not sure if the game itself matches that tone; I could easily see a game that doesn’t work with that artistic style)
Whether the tone/style works or not, the skill behind it isn’t up to professional standards. The title screen looks alright (except for the ui) but the backgrounds really aren’t that great. Though I don’t like the style either, it seems very generic.
This is an indie game created, for the most part, by amateurs. I am an amateur game designer, and the person who did the character art and animation is still in school. Funny enough, the person who did the backgrounds is probably the most “professional” out of the whole team. :)
I don’t know what the gameplay is like. I guess if this is just a game you’re making for funsies, sure, I guess I’d just gotten the impression that this game was supposed to do something. Also it doesn’t make a difference to me how “professional” the different people are, because I’m confident enough in this that saying they’re the most professional doesn’t sway me. I do some art, myself.
Oh, I wasn’t trying to sway you, just found it funny that the one thing you pointed out was, in my opinion, the most well done aspect of the game. Care to link to your portfolio? Would you be interested in working on a game at some point?
I’m curious about if everything is supposed to look like it’s glowing because I don’t think it’s working too well. Perhaps the artist could get some critique on it somewhere.
I also forgot Cave Story when mentioning retro-style games that look great. It conveys the atmosphere very well. I think pixel art might help with the somewhat muddy feel of the graphics imo. And as seen here there can be little character portraits that convey a lot and are probably faster to do than realism.
I don’t have a portfolio, but I could upload some things. Here are three somewhat recent images. I’m not a professional by any means and it shows (strong focus on portraits, first of all :P). Can’t in good conscience work on a game, I haven’t even tried drawing a background in ages.
I’d try to prove to you somehow that you’re overestimating the quality of the art but I’m not sure how.
My evaluation is mostly based on a web comic I read with a similar graphic style; a few people absolutely hated it, a few more people loved it, and most people were neutral. I suspect you fall in to that first category and are making the mistake of assuming everyone else thinks like you. It’s not the type of art I would expect to see in a big-name release, sure, but I think you’re over estimating how many Indie game purchasers would mind this art style.
On the other hand, I’ve never done art or video games professionally, so my confidence on all of this is low. If you’re right, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised. I just wanted to explain my thinking :)
I’m an indie game purchaser that minds the art style… I don’t see why I should have lower expectations for indie games.
Perhaps I’m being overly critical and other people aren’t bothered as much. Though it’s the skill behind the style that matters, though I don’t think the style feels very cohesive (I mean the setting, not the artist’s style).
I don’t see why I should have lower expectations for indie games.
An Indie game has a vastly smaller art budget. That means you’re going to get less art, lower quality art, or simpler art (i.e. old school 2D sprites instead of complex 3D models). For most Indie games, I see a mix of less and simpler, but I also very rarely see any sort of truly stunning high-quality artwork in Indie games.
Well obviously there’s less money, but that doesn’t mean they have to look worse. Limbo, Bit Trip Beat, Amnesia, Audiosurf, Bastion, Cave Story, Minecraft, Recettear, Terraria are all example of good-looking indie games. Most indie games I know look good. Good graphics means picking something and doing it well, and if you’re on a lower budget you pick something that takes less time to look good. Less is more.
Interesting choice of examples. I consider the graphics in Minecraft awful; it’s on par with Mario 64, which is 15 years old! (I actually consider Mario 64 to be significantly better, but that’s because Minecraft is heavily based on a block structure instead of more free form objects). I suppose it just illustrates that different people have different tastes :)
I argue that it does look good. Yes, the graphics aren’t modern, but it can look very scenic and create a sense of wonder. It could look bad if the grass was just bright green and flat-looking and everything else looked that bad too. I have a hard time imagining people even bothering to play it. Minecraft’s art does exactly what it’s supposed to do. Here’s an example of something very atmospheric created with minecraft blocks. Some might dislike the style anyhow but that’s a more arbitrary (though not invalid) preference not related to how well-done the minecraft graphics are.
You know, I’ll actually agree with your overall sentiment. Yes, graphics could be better. This would mean, as you suggested, that I would have to go 8-bit style (or other simplistic style), or make them higher quality, which unfortunately means the game would be more expensive. Personally, I am tired of all the 8-bit looking games, and they don’t create a serious atmosphere, which I absolutely needed for this game. Bottom line, though: I didn’t spend enough time thinking about how the background and character art will go together. There is a stylistic mismatch between them, and I feel it too.
There’s a huge variety of styles that are very effective without being time consuming, and are very under-utilized in games. Of course it does take some time and skill to make everything work together.
Regarding the current style (which of course you should stick to to finish the game, but might consider this in the future), I personally dislike the “inverted” color scheme—it is often (over)used to evoke a sense of shock, other-worldliness, or outright inversion (light world/dark world), but to many people it only evokes the thought that the artist simply used a single photoshop filter to try to make it look interesting.
If you look closely, though, it’s not a simple inversion, since the hue is preserved. It’s not something that can be done automatically, because white shouldn’t always translate to black.
Edit: there is actually a whole system of reasoning why the colors look the way they do, so it’s, again, not just a simple inversion. :)
It would take a lot of prodding to get me to play a game with such unprofessional graphics. What I’m saying is that if you want this game to be taken seriously at all, it needs better art. Maybe have more retro pixely stuff as an option, it might cut down the workload a bit for whatever artist you decide to hire.
Heh. Funny, I just sent a link to a friend going “ooh, I love the graphical style of this game.” I find it gives a very interesting tone to the game (although I’m not sure if the game itself matches that tone; I could easily see a game that doesn’t work with that artistic style)
Whether the tone/style works or not, the skill behind it isn’t up to professional standards. The title screen looks alright (except for the ui) but the backgrounds really aren’t that great. Though I don’t like the style either, it seems very generic.
This is an indie game created, for the most part, by amateurs. I am an amateur game designer, and the person who did the character art and animation is still in school. Funny enough, the person who did the backgrounds is probably the most “professional” out of the whole team. :)
I don’t know what the gameplay is like. I guess if this is just a game you’re making for funsies, sure, I guess I’d just gotten the impression that this game was supposed to do something. Also it doesn’t make a difference to me how “professional” the different people are, because I’m confident enough in this that saying they’re the most professional doesn’t sway me. I do some art, myself.
Oh, I wasn’t trying to sway you, just found it funny that the one thing you pointed out was, in my opinion, the most well done aspect of the game. Care to link to your portfolio? Would you be interested in working on a game at some point?
I’m curious about if everything is supposed to look like it’s glowing because I don’t think it’s working too well. Perhaps the artist could get some critique on it somewhere.
I also forgot Cave Story when mentioning retro-style games that look great. It conveys the atmosphere very well. I think pixel art might help with the somewhat muddy feel of the graphics imo. And as seen here there can be little character portraits that convey a lot and are probably faster to do than realism.
I don’t have a portfolio, but I could upload some things. Here are three somewhat recent images. I’m not a professional by any means and it shows (strong focus on portraits, first of all :P). Can’t in good conscience work on a game, I haven’t even tried drawing a background in ages.
I’d try to prove to you somehow that you’re overestimating the quality of the art but I’m not sure how.
My evaluation is mostly based on a web comic I read with a similar graphic style; a few people absolutely hated it, a few more people loved it, and most people were neutral. I suspect you fall in to that first category and are making the mistake of assuming everyone else thinks like you. It’s not the type of art I would expect to see in a big-name release, sure, but I think you’re over estimating how many Indie game purchasers would mind this art style.
On the other hand, I’ve never done art or video games professionally, so my confidence on all of this is low. If you’re right, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised. I just wanted to explain my thinking :)
I’m an indie game purchaser that minds the art style… I don’t see why I should have lower expectations for indie games. Perhaps I’m being overly critical and other people aren’t bothered as much. Though it’s the skill behind the style that matters, though I don’t think the style feels very cohesive (I mean the setting, not the artist’s style).
An Indie game has a vastly smaller art budget. That means you’re going to get less art, lower quality art, or simpler art (i.e. old school 2D sprites instead of complex 3D models). For most Indie games, I see a mix of less and simpler, but I also very rarely see any sort of truly stunning high-quality artwork in Indie games.
Well obviously there’s less money, but that doesn’t mean they have to look worse. Limbo, Bit Trip Beat, Amnesia, Audiosurf, Bastion, Cave Story, Minecraft, Recettear, Terraria are all example of good-looking indie games. Most indie games I know look good. Good graphics means picking something and doing it well, and if you’re on a lower budget you pick something that takes less time to look good. Less is more.
Interesting choice of examples. I consider the graphics in Minecraft awful; it’s on par with Mario 64, which is 15 years old! (I actually consider Mario 64 to be significantly better, but that’s because Minecraft is heavily based on a block structure instead of more free form objects). I suppose it just illustrates that different people have different tastes :)
I argue that it does look good. Yes, the graphics aren’t modern, but it can look very scenic and create a sense of wonder. It could look bad if the grass was just bright green and flat-looking and everything else looked that bad too. I have a hard time imagining people even bothering to play it. Minecraft’s art does exactly what it’s supposed to do. Here’s an example of something very atmospheric created with minecraft blocks. Some might dislike the style anyhow but that’s a more arbitrary (though not invalid) preference not related to how well-done the minecraft graphics are.
Personally, I thought the screenshots looked very nice...
Maybe people do think it looks nice. I can’t say how discerning most people are.
You know, I’ll actually agree with your overall sentiment. Yes, graphics could be better. This would mean, as you suggested, that I would have to go 8-bit style (or other simplistic style), or make them higher quality, which unfortunately means the game would be more expensive. Personally, I am tired of all the 8-bit looking games, and they don’t create a serious atmosphere, which I absolutely needed for this game. Bottom line, though: I didn’t spend enough time thinking about how the background and character art will go together. There is a stylistic mismatch between them, and I feel it too.
Ever played Every Day the Same Dream or One Chance?
Played both, liked both. Every time I load One Chance, I see the guy sitting alone on a bench, dead, while it’s quietly snowing around him.
If this is to show that simplistic styles can be used to create a serious atmosphere, then consider my statement revoked. :)
There’s a huge variety of styles that are very effective without being time consuming, and are very under-utilized in games. Of course it does take some time and skill to make everything work together.
Regarding the current style (which of course you should stick to to finish the game, but might consider this in the future), I personally dislike the “inverted” color scheme—it is often (over)used to evoke a sense of shock, other-worldliness, or outright inversion (light world/dark world), but to many people it only evokes the thought that the artist simply used a single photoshop filter to try to make it look interesting.
If you look closely, though, it’s not a simple inversion, since the hue is preserved. It’s not something that can be done automatically, because white shouldn’t always translate to black.
Edit: there is actually a whole system of reasoning why the colors look the way they do, so it’s, again, not just a simple inversion. :)