Dude!  You rock!

I went to school for electronics and I made an animation that played through my oscilloscope for a class.  That was just shifting data around, this is the next level and beyond.   

Most people won't get it but this is super cool.  I wish I had time to hook it up to my oscilloscope (it's analog!).

Acrylics dry quickly so you won't have time to fiddle with details.  You can add slow-drying medium but it will still dry relatively quickly.

Oil paint is more suited to details because it takes a long time to dry.  That gives you time to fiddle with it and get details as accurate as you want.  Trade off is each layers can take weeks or months to dry, maybe a week if you use a siccative.  Oil also allows you to make smooth gradients.

Most artists who can make something look "good" take five years or more to hone their skills.  You can't expect to bang out a few models and get a pleasing result.

The same thing applies to artists learning how to program.  It takes time to learn a new skill.  Be patient and realistic in your goals.

I think critter needs a tail or something.  Some secondary action on his thrusts would really sell it.

So for a developer, the way forward is pretty cloudy: Do a game focused on the consumer, and its likely to be lost in the midst of 1000 others doing the exact same. Do a progressive game targeted toward journalists and their ilk, and risk the possibility that nobody else cares. Sure its rough, but then why shouldn't it be? At least with crowdfunding you can pre-test interest and be paid while you make your box office failure! 

There's also people like Jeff Vogel and Jake Birkett who make solid games for niche audiences.  I look to them for inspiration more than I do AAA or III developers.

Wow swap out electrician for robotics and child education and we could be the same person o_0

I have two kids so I work in child education every damn day of my life.   

Jobs I've had:
Dishwasher
Gas Station Attendant
Truck Unloading (graveyard shift)
Construction temp labor
Electronics Technologist (elevator controllers, mostly)
AV Tech and Repair
Games Tech Artist (lighting, fx, environments, rigging, pipeline, etc. for ten years)
Electrician (became journeyman last year)
Back to being a games tech artist five months ago

I've graduated from tech school, trade school and film school.

Games is a great job if you work with and for the right people.  Easier said than done sometimes.  You will have lots of ups and downs if you are doing it right. 

Having a second career is very helpful.  You can take a break whenever you are feeling burned out.

For every shitty game made in Unity there are at least one hundred half-assed attempts at making an engine.  

If you hide the enemies dice rolls and give each character a pool of mana/energy that can be used on each attack/defend/move, you could allow the player to use some strategy but add an element of chance.

You could also give each monster three dice and show the player one of the dice rolls but hide the other two.  Gives some info but not all the info.

Monsters and player could also bluff if you couldn't see their dice.  A monster would put all/most of their energy into an attack (visual cues to player to let them know what is going to happen) and player has to either call the bluff (fight back) or defend (throw his dice away and limit monster damage).

Games of complete information (ex. chess) are generally less fun than games of limited information (ex. poker).

Lots of ways to do it:
- skinned mesh, animate two or three chain bones
- morph targets
- do a sim in whatever 3d package you are using and bake it
- cloth sim in unity

Two things: I love it and It's faster to create content.

It's really not fast to draw each pixel by hand.  Skeletal 2D is much faster.  Consider it if you want to finish your game faster.

Why did you choose pixel art vs. another style?

has anyone used unreal? is it as easy as unity? Cause the basic games look damn better.

They are both equally easy to use.  Unreal has some features that only 0.1% of game developers would use.

When you see a high quality demo, realize that it's the artists and programmers who made that demo shine.  Spend more money on people and you will get a nicer demo.

If you name a movie I will tell you if it's Good or Bad

Triumph of the Will?

Actually I'd like to talk about this hidden indie gem. It's called FEZ. I'm not sure if you guys have heard of it because it's pretty obscure, but it's a genius little creation with quirky gameplay mechanics, a sublime art-style (in case you guys aren't aware, this is another term for "graphics") and a heart-warming story that features a compelling narrative that overcomes genre tropes to deliver a truly captivating experience.

If you guys like the game you should really help support the dev^-eloper. I'm not sure if you knew this or not, but the dev^-eloper who created this gem is actually just 1 guy! It's hard to believe I know, but it's true. It actually took him 12 years of making the game out of his garage to finish, all while juggling the jobs of a sex-slave and grill cook to pay his bills!

I hope you guys check out this dev^-eloper's work, because what he's doing is really pushing the boundaries of the medium.

https://twitter.com/PHIL_FlSH/status/567083145422729216

fuck this industry, fuck you and fuck everything it represents
2:08 PM - 15 Feb 2015

Now THAT is indie!

yeah we'll try to do this (for the particles it will be hard , probably due to the software we use XD )

Fix or change your software if you don't have decent particles.  Particles are one of the easiest ways to show connection and reaction between two objects which is a big part of what you are trying to achieve.

Snappier animation on the character (hold pose, fast swing)
The sword is metal and the size of his body and he swings it like it weighs five pounds
Show vibration throughout his whole body when sword hits rocks
More particles
Particles are moving way too slow
Rocks should fly, not dribble to ground
Particles from rocks should bounce off character
Particle dust puffs too, look at some classic kung-fu movies every punch has a dust puff

and of course...

screen shake

The key to impact is contrast.  Slow -> fast, dark -> light, quiet -> loud, etc.  Exponential not linear.

How does this feel to you? I need to re-do the perspective on the bomb.

The saturated orange is burning my retina.

Perspective is inconsistent.

Linework is inconsistent.  You are freehanding some things and using line tools for others.

Rendering is inconsistent.  Some objects are flat, some have shading and the shading is inconsistent too.

Thing in the middle is...what is it?

Color palette is weird.

outside

Seriously, do that.

Fishing in December for steelhead is an incredibly fun and challenging game.

Like, people have said to me "The art isn't /bad/ it just doesn't wow you". I dunno what I can do to fix the problem, maybe some shader stuff?

You need art direction and an art bible.  What you have right now is totally random.

You currently have random colours, mismatched detail levels, incorrect perspective, random lighting, brush strokes that change for each asset and floating chain links.

Throw everything away.  Define your art direction/production design.  Then, start making stuff that matches the art direction.