Contraption Maker

Contraption Maker

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An honest question about aesthetics (to the devs)
Now I'm perfectly aware this game is in its alpha stages. However, I've been in more alphas than one (I'm currently not in this one but that's just due to a lack of funds), and my experience has generally been that developers add to their existing graphical style instead of actually changing it.

That's where my curiosity starts. I think this game is extremely ugly. In my opinion, it looks borderline amateurish, it does not look better than the old TIM games, and on top of that, it lacks their visual charm entirely. Are the current assets temporary or is this aesthetic style pretty much in line with the final product?

Disclaimer for the community: My opinion has been formed by videos of people playing this game and my opinion is just that: An opinion.
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A lot of parts, animations, and UI have temporary art, and more passes will be made to make sure all the parts share the same feeling of detail and such. The overall look and feel for the game is mainly set though. It is a look we put a lot of time an effort into, and we are proud of it.

I'm sorry if you don't like the look, but I guess we can't please everyone. What specifically do you find ugly and amateurish about it?
I guess, his complain is about the game looking like most casual ones - cartoonish and bold. It's not definitely a bad thing, but also not the best solution. For example, most indie games have their unique, recognizable look and style as well as gameplay. CM has a somewhat uniqeu gameplay for these days. But if I saw screenshots of Contraption Maker without knowing what it is, I'd think "yet another casual thing, where you put objects on pre-defined places - no creativity, no guess-and-try". It could remind me of TIM, but in a nostalgic way, not like "Oh man, they're doing a new one!".

My another thought is about the style being incomplete. What I see in CM is a mix of vector-drawn backgrounds and objects and 3D-like animated and drawn things. Like it was all done by many various artists - it all differs on style too much and doesn't make sense for my brain, so I always ditract myself on these little things. I'm a hobbyist artist myself, but I can see that kind of things. In overall the game's style does not look complete and some things better be changed or replaced totally. I personally don't like the 3D-like things (like Tim, cat, boxes, mixer, etc.). Those make that casual-like feel and don't really fit at all.

But that's just my opinion. As far as I know, devs will allow creating and sharing our own skins via Steam Workshop, that could help.

P.S. I don't mean no offense to those who were working on the game's graphics - they did a good job. I just don't like how all those things and details fit together.
My main complaint about the graphical style is things feel less distinct. For instance, in TIM, the mouse wheel was a distinct box, and it would line up with alls and such easily. In this style, it doesn't seem like a solid box, even if the underlying hitbox is. I feel like this is an issue for a game like this. It should be clear how things will interact and align.
I like the graphics. They have a nice crisp look. Kind of like what I'd expect an HD version of TIM to look like.

The cat is cute, the mouse is cute, Tim is cute when he's falling to his doom, hell even the cheese is cute.

Which isn't to say I think it's perfect. There are sometimes "lining up" or hit-box annoyances like dacarpen says, watching the fish in the fishbowl is a little dizzying with all the constant turning,
On my side i was hoping for a more similar graphic to The Incredible Machine. Less cartoon. as the cartoon look is reminding me Crazy Machines Element, which i don't particully like the graphics.



But if animation aren't at their final state, i hardly care about the cartoon style, it's perfectly fine and i understand it cannot look identical to TiM due to legal reasons.




TBH, it's more because of the nostalgic side that make me dislike a bit the cartoon style.



But who know?
Someone could make the graphics to look identical to TiM without the devs doing it.

It have Steam workshop after all




I'm more worried about the interface, just look like the menu template of some Steamwork games such http://store.steampowered.com/app/209060/


The tiny icons on a big resolution even in 1080P is WAYYY too painful. The play stop and other buttons is an example of what i call tiny and not friendly at all. I'd like a more bulky interface. But otherwise the graphics itself are fine. Just the interface that completly suck, i just hope the GUI is just temporary while you add parts and modify the game engine before working on the GUI.
Zuletzt bearbeitet von Ꝙ Ghosthunter Ꝙ; 25. Nov. 2013 um 15:00
Custom interface settings for size and style would be awesome!
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Geschrieben am: 14. Nov. 2013 um 20:27
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