Graphics

[4verse]

Very nice game. But I don't like the graphics.
@dev: I would pay for a more colorful, "modern" tileset (like Link to the past, Chrono Trigger, FF6 etc)!
Pretty plz.

[Wolfie_]

This game very much falls into the "graphics ain't everything" category, and considering it's a two-person dev team (as I understand it?), working on a free game, would think their freely-given time is going to be directed towards crafting the game and story.

[Muse Snooze]

Originally posted by 4verse:

Very nice game. But I don't like the graphics.
@dev: I would pay for a more colorful, "modern" tileset (like Link to the past, Chrono Trigger, FF6 etc)!
Pretty plz.

no.

nnnnno. Go play ADOM deluxe.

No.

[4verse]

Originally posted by Wolfie_:

This game very much falls into the "graphics ain't everything" category, and considering it's a two-person dev team (as I understand it?), working on a free game, would think their freely-given time is going to be directed towards crafting the game and story.

i understand that. and i would not dare to ask for better graphics for free. therefore - as i said - i would happily pay for it. and i dont mean like 1 euro or so. i mean an appropriate price

[Whiskers]

I disagree with your graphics opinion, I like it. Together with the music, it sets the a tranquil atmosphere that isn't like much other games. In fact, if the game had a "modern style" tileset, I would have not tried the game and just ignored it.

[wedge]

Respect the artistic vision of the author.

The game's aesthetics is a homage to the games that inspired it, such as Ultima V.

[Horrorscope CC97]

It's deliberately the way it is, there are tons of RPG Maker games with more colors.

[Dana Lexa]

Personally, I love the aesthetics of the game. I enjoy lo-fi graphics like this in general (and I think the art in this game is great - not just because it's lo-fi but it's a great execution of it, they do a great job setting the atmosphere and communicating just enough to let you fill in the blanks yourself), the way the colour palette changes based on location, or based on moon phases outside, is a fantastic way to change the mood.

[daggaz]

I dont mind the graphics at all (and it would be a nostalgia-theme crime to change them come ON), but the pallet is horrendous. I know there is a reason for it. But it is a tough pill to swallow.
8-bit had more colors than that.

[Compi]

Originally posted by daggaz:

I dont mind the graphics at all (and it would be a nostalgia-theme crime to change them come ON), but the pallet is horrendous. I know there is a reason for it. But it is a tough pill to swallow.
8-bit had more colors than that.

It's a homage to the CGA palette

[SquareDildo]

It's intentionally stylized, and it even has old TV noise effects and interlacing.

[Allwynd]

I agree with the OP that the graphics are a turn off. Not because they are ugly, but because they make it hard to understand what's what.

For me HoMM3 is the game with the best 2D graphics where everything looks just perfect:

https://i.ibb.co/K5MHbL0/image.png

I understand the artistic direction the developer of the game was aiming for, but when you are intentionally trying to make something functionally inferior, it's illogical and ridiculous. I've seen games made with ultra pixelated style, sometimes where pixels don't follow the pixel logic and can turn diagonally, like Realm of the Mad God and a few more, which just breaks the immersion.

Or games with pixels so oversized you can't tell a dragon from a ship.

There were a recent game called Nox Archaist, which is so "oLD sCHoOl" that they made it on an Apple 2 computer and it runs through an emulation layer on Windows (and other OSes) and it runs awfully bad. Now if the developer would have pulled his head out of his behind before starting to work on the game and actually wrote the game on a modern language that would have made a massive difference.

There is another game called Return of the Obra Dinn, which also uses some heavily artistic style that makes the game look horrible for no reason and also difficult to see things.

Recently, there has been a resurgence of 3D games (mostly horror) that look very pixelated and on top of that have a filter with CRT, blur and grain, like an old VHS tape. It's horrible and stupid.

These are the kind of decisions that simply make no sense. It should be possible to disable these things. I really wanted to like this game, tried my best to give it a chance, but the game has horrible UX issues - you have to read a 1000 page manual and go to a 6 semester course to learn how the game works, because everything is monochromatic (or whatever it's called) duochromatic? and it's hard to tell apart what's what. Even with old games from 1980 (way before I was born), game developers were smart and were thinking around the technical limitations to create well made games and ones that are easy enough for players to get into.


Why is HoMM3 and AoE2 still played 24 years later? Because they have the perfect gameplay/graphics combination. This game? It will be forgotten in a few months, it's a shame the developer decided to went on such a path and sentence his game to obscurity through bad decisions.

[CtenosaurOaxacana]

The CGA graphics are intentionally rendered to deliver maximum nostalgia for those who played such games in the late 80s / early 90s, like the dev. It also reminds a bit of gameboy color.

Originally posted by LAMBDA471☦:

For me HoMM3 is the game with the best 2D graphics where everything looks just perfect:

https://i.ibb.co/K5MHbL0/image.png

Actually, I find this to be a little too dense with detail. Harder to keep track of what's what. I'm sure playing the game would make it different, but I can't help but find hyper-detail in overhead turn-based games to be rather unnecessary.
It looks lovely, but looking lovely isn't always the most useful design choice for a game.

[Rosethorns]

Originally posted by LAMBDA471☦:

I agree with the OP that the graphics are a turn off. Not because they are ugly, but because they make it hard to understand what's what.

For me HoMM3 is the game with the best 2D graphics where everything looks just perfect:

https://i.ibb.co/K5MHbL0/image.png

I understand the artistic direction the developer of the game was aiming for, but when you are intentionally trying to make something functionally inferior, it's illogical and ridiculous. I've seen games made with ultra pixelated style, sometimes where pixels don't follow the pixel logic and can turn diagonally, like Realm of the Mad God and a few more, which just breaks the immersion............

This is the perfect example of a subjective opinion delivered as fact. Take note.

[風]

Hey, there are a lot of games out there you can play.

[Allwynd]

Originally posted by CtenosaurOaxacana:

Actually, I find this to be a little too dense with detail. Harder to keep track of what's what. I'm sure playing the game would make it different, but I can't help but find hyper-detail in overhead turn-based games to be rather unnecessary.
It looks lovely, but looking lovely isn't always the most useful design choice for a game.

It depends on what game period was your first. My first exposure to PC games was in 1998 so these games ring true to me. I can appreciate the ones from before, even tried to play some, but I always end up enjoying it more when someone else playing them and commenting on the happenings.

I also had a counterfeit NES console that looked like 2nd generation Genesis around that time 1998-2005 before I got my first PC (was going to internet cafes at the time with the other kids, because nobody had a PC save for the richest kids), so NES games are also very dear to me, but these CGA graphics are foreign to me and I can't find appeal in them.

Originally posted by Rosethorns:

This is the perfect example of a subjective opinion delivered as fact. Take note.

That's your subjective opinion and you are entitled to it.