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Watching someone play this right now on a stream. Looks pretty fun, except for one thing: the art style.

I'm a humble artist, just for a bit of clarification. I've been watching various LPs of other surreal games in the past few days, and they all have one thing yours lacks, which is a cohesive art style. Specifically of the characters, npcs, bosses, etc.

For instance, everything in Hylics looks like it belongs in that game. Everything is made of clay, sure, but it all looks like it was designed by the same person. Wayne looks like he belongs in the world of Hylics. In Yume Nikki, everything may be disjointed and in separate worlds (and different art styles), but every character and object still has the feel of Yume Nikki. I.e. the shield-folk and the thing with the quivering jaw. Two different art styles, but they were drawn by the same person, and therefore have a united feeling to them. Does that make sense? When you design something (versus just grab a stock photo and call it a day), it gives the game another layer of why it's fun. It's a visual treat for the viewer.


I know you wrote that your game is "absurdist", which is fine and dandy, but it feels disjointed. Especially with the handgun sidekick. That was the biggest flaw, because it unfortunately was the best-looking character in the whole game, because it wasn't just a stock photo. It was designed. It looked cool as hell. Even the Sleeping Prince looked better than the stock photo people, because at least someone said, "Hey this'll look funnier/cooler/weirder with a collage face." The game would be a hell of a lot more fun if EVERYONE had collage faces. Or everyone looked like they were made up of cut-out bits of magazines. Right now it just feels like 7 different people threw in the thing they designed for the game and that was it. And it's not fair, considering how cool the environments are. The characters should pull their weight.

(+16)(-2)

lol, lmao

(+3)

nah this game looks cool and goofy, keep up the good work!

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??? Did I say something wrong? I'm just giving you constructive criticism.

(+2)

well art is subjective and I personally think it’s very fun, wacky, and reminds me of older websites from the 90s which Are kind of disjointed and weird like that. For me personally I think it works.👍

That's fine, but it'd be nice to hear what the author himself was thinking.

(1 edit) (+8)

Since you didn't take the hint from "lol, lmao" that I don't respect how you conducted your critique, I'll just be straight forward. 

You could've been a lot more polite, for starters. I think opening with "I'm a humble artist" and then spending the next two paragraphs deploying a condescending lecture about artistic cohesion comes across as inconsiderate, unnecessary and hypocritical. 

If it helps you, the reason the NPCs are stock images is because Nowhere, MI is a homage to Crypt Worlds, which has the same style for its characters. Nowhere is a collage-style game. The dissonance in its style reflects the chaotic nature of the town you're exploring. That's the point. You're welcome to dislike an artistic choice, but you aren't the authority on whether or not that choice was a valid one.

If you were expecting me to listen to you and agree on your stance, you should've been courteous and at bare minimum spoken as though we were equals. Remember that I didn't ask for your opinion, you provided one unprompted. When you spend 2 paragraphs telling me how well Hylics and Yume Nikki manage their aesthetics and how poorly I constructed mine, it comes across like you're really insecure and need something to punch down on. I hope going forward you'll be more polite when talking to your fellow artists.

Deleted 2 years ago
Deleted 2 years ago
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if you call yourself an artist, even a humble one, you clearly are not an artist. "artist" is something you earn as a privilege for other people to call you, not something you can be entitled to call yourself. if you do consider yourself an artist, I suggest it is time you grew up and got a job

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Reported for wrongness