The problem with the visual design

[Alfon]

This game may be amazing but it didn't entices me. I forgot about it crazy fast. The problem is how confusing the visuals are. Every time I am watching screenshots, I don't really understand what's on the picture. Every character, or enemy, seems to have a very convoluted visual design. And no faces. I know this sounds dumb but people in mrketing always say that faces are important to focus the attention of users and I never truly cared or believed it. Until now.

It's really hard to remember anything from this or to grasp the characters when almost no one has a face and when they have it, it's covered in stuff.

I am just talking about promotional material I have seen here and in some trailers. Maybe the game itself is different. But I don't think I'll ever know.

Having faces is not so important if your visual design is clear. I mean, Amaterasu, the white wolf in Okami, that's simple and clean visual design. It doesn't have a face (well, kinda) but it's a beautiful creature we can recognize. That makes a lot to attract people.

[calabacina]

I think it's because you're not playing it, the game starts with few units and fewer things to keep track of, as you play things get more complicated but I'd say it's progressive and when you get to that point you won't have any trouble understanding what's happening.

[Alfon]

Originally posted by calabacina:

I think it's because you're not playing it, the game starts with few units and fewer things to keep track of, as you play things get more complicated but I'd say it's progressive and when you get to that point you won't have any trouble understanding what's happening.

Yeah, I have been discussing this with a friend and we got to the point that we started watching some trailers together.

In movement, the game looks much better. The movement reflects what is what, kinda. But in static images, I still think that it really doesn't work. The design style they chose is great for their style of game, I personally like the general style.

But for marketing I think that those choices are problematic, it's a double edge. The bright colors are beautiful but combined with weird characters, weird clothes, weird masks, weird weapons, it makes hard to distinguish or remember what is what.

That's specially true for western people, because the traditional mythological themes from the east are intrinsic to the aesthetic of the game but for many of us, to that scale, it feels slightly alien.

A lot of people are wondering why the game failed. Without playing it, that's my reason. I am one of those players that really like those games but the visual design feels chaotic, it's hard to "connect" with the game enough to pay the price they are asking.

I'll probably get it when it's way cheaper.

[Ben]

Yeah, TLDR of your original post : "i don't like the game because it doesn't look like a copy pasta of my favourite games".

This game "failed" because :
- it's a new franchise
- it's a rather small game
- it's a niche genre
- most people don't even know this game exists due to poor commercial support
- it looks original and people (you included) just want the same sh*t over and over

With that being said. The game is awesome.
It reinvents the tower defense genre and I can clearly see this game slowly growing on people.
I wouldn't be surprised if a sequel is being announced in a few years.

[Alfon]

Originally posted by Ben:

Yeah, TLDR of your original post : "i don't like the game because it doesn't look like a copy pasta of my favourite games".

This game "failed" because :
- it's a new franchise
- it's a rather small game
- it's a niche genre
- most people don't even know this game exists due to poor commercial support
- it looks original and people (you included) just want the same sh*t over and over

With that being said. The game is awesome.
It reinvents the tower defense genre and I can clearly see this game slowly growing on people.
I wouldn't be surprised if a sequel is being announced in a few years.

- It's a new franchise: Not true, many new franchise have great success.
- It's a rather small game: Many of the most successful games in history have been terribly small, specially nowdays with so many great indie games. In fact, this one is quite big for indie games.
- It's a niche genre: Not true, it's an action adventure game, many of the most successful games in history and nowadays, are from the same "niche".
- It looks original therefore people don't want to try it: That's being passive aggressive, don't you think? You can be kind, I don't hate the game at all, I'll probably buy it eventually.

If you can't manage to read my comment because it's too long for you to be able to do it (tldr, right?) why answering at all? You are not gonna look more clever.

The people I have known who use the "tldr", that word, are usually the kind of people that would do best to take the time to read. Also show lack of social skills, or imply the understanding of a weak position.

I think this game had bad marketing, to be honest. That's the point of my comment. The trailer looks good but the screenshots do a bad service to the game. They made a lot of choices with good sense from an artistic point of view that really are problematic for the marketing.

Anyway. I doubt that you can read this comment and if you do, I bet that you won't be able to understand it (tldr guy) so I'll stop there. Have a nice day.

[Ben]

Originally posted by Alfon:

Originally posted by Ben:

Yeah, TLDR of your original post : "i don't like the game because it doesn't look like a copy pasta of my favourite games".

This game "failed" because :
- it's a new franchise
- it's a rather small game
- it's a niche genre
- most people don't even know this game exists due to poor commercial support
- it looks original and people (you included) just want the same sh*t over and over

With that being said. The game is awesome.
It reinvents the tower defense genre and I can clearly see this game slowly growing on people.
I wouldn't be surprised if a sequel is being announced in a few years.

- It's a new franchise: Not true, many new franchise have great success.
- It's a rather small game: Many of the most successful games in history have been terribly small, specially nowdays with so many great indie games. In fact, this one is quite big for indie games.
- It's a niche genre: Not true, it's an action adventure game, many of the most successful games in history and nowadays, are from the same "niche".
- It looks original therefore people don't want to try it: That's being passive aggressive, don't you think? You can be kind, I don't hate the game at all, I'll probably buy it eventually.

If you can't manage to read my comment because it's too long for you to be able to do it (tldr, right?) why answering at all? You are not gonna look more clever.

The people I have known who use the "tldr", that word, are usually the kind of people that would do best to take the time to read. Also show lack of social skills, or imply the understanding of a weak position.

I think this game had bad marketing, to be honest. That's the point of my comment. The trailer looks good but the screenshots do a bad service to the game. They made a lot of choices with good sense from an artistic point of view that really are problematic for the marketing.

Anyway. I doubt that you can read this comment and if you do, I bet that you won't be able to understand it (tldr guy) so I'll stop there. Have a nice day.

You too really sound passive agressive for someone who claims to be so clever and wise.

I may have summarized your post a bit too much, but what's the point of a tldr ? (which was kinda a joke btw) And.. I actually had to read your entire post to write it... So I'm not really sure what you're trying to say. lol

w/e, I don't care if you like the game or not. I just don't like when people can't get out of their habit and try somehting new.
All I can tell is that if you really think this is an action adventure game, you're really going to dislike it. It borrows a lot from tower defense games (from the stage selection screen to the core gameplay) and I think that's the main reason why the game didn't get more players.
Tower defense is a niche genre and is expected to be free or cheap. This game is 40 euros. Case solved.

[Carian traitor]

It's just psychedelic asf. You go through madness of colors of level and then it ends some crazy dance while you focus on center of screen (holding that flame thing in place). Somehow very meditative and relaxing.

[Zephyr Workshop]

The game looks incredible. There's a gallery where you can examine every model up close, and every character, monster, equipment, and item has insanely intricate detail. It's a true work of art.

Idk about you but I'm always dying for a game that shows me things I've never seen before, with this level of polish. There has never and will never be another game quite like this one, and that's rad

[Duplucky]

Originally posted by Alfon:

- It's a niche genre: Not true, it's an action adventure game, many of the most successful games in history and nowadays, are from the same "niche".

Not at all, it's a Tower Defense. I can understand the action side with the fact that we play a character who can directly attack enemies but it is certainly not an adventure game.

And yes, the game really has a very strong and unique visual personality. Psychedelic is the exact word and I really like it.

[Vertemouse]

Its because they're demons and not supermodels.