The paragon of indie gaming -
www.spiderwebsoftware.com - or not? These games are all well respected around this community, and I mean why not? They're easy to get into, they offer acceptable stories with branching paths, and most of all they adhere to fantasy tenets, but without becoming overly obnoxious about it like the modern industry. And yet, I can't really stand a single one of these games. The first and foremost reason, though there are many others that spring from it, is that the in game art is plain terrible. The intro screens look good, yet the interface makes my poor eyes bleed, and the models all look cheap and rushed. I actually think the Exile games are better than any of the later, simply because the 2d sprite art leaves almost enough to the imagination that I don't have to deal overly much with whatever spiderweb calls style.
So where does that leave us? What makes good art and what makes bad art? I don't see Spiderweb's games as bad because the art is reminiscent of early 90s games, in fact I think there are games from then that succeeded in using low resolution art to a much better degree. Spiderweb's art, however, seeks to get away with poor style simply because it's low tech. Look at this link,
http://www.avernum.com/avernum4/images/SpecterTrial.jpg, if we ignore the interface there are the character models themselves. Not a single one seems to me as if any effort was put into it beyond the point "necessary" to look like a generic fantasy character. Sure the lizards are all green, they walk, they've got arms, hey it's a big lizard. The robed figure, well he must be a priest or a mage, I mean he's got a brown robe. Yet, for a game made in the last year, there is absolutely no detail or style. I couldn't actually think of a blander image of those figures if I tried. "Hey now, you're being unfair, a brown robe is brown, walking lizards should be big and green." Well of course they should, but where are his scales, where are the patterns in the robe, the weavings in an ancient tongue, or the patches and holes in this threadbare sack cloth he just found on a frozen beggar. "Well shit man, this guy isn't building the next gen graphics engine." Right well, does that excuse them from making their game believable?
There are some other things besides the graphics, and this pertains to a lot of indie mentality as a whole, that is the need to make it "accessible" to the kid who doesn't really play videogames, but might if his friend Sam has it b/c big his big brother Luke downloaded it last weekend and it's on the computer one day when they're hanging out after school. Stop lowering yourselves to the lowest common denominator. Just because you've got super friendly tutorials that tell everyone, "well actually you don't really need that stat until level 15, b/c you're just gunna be thumping rats until then", does not mean Sam's friend is going to give a damn about this game. You've actually stunted his growth with the game by holding his hand and showing him later content before it was even due. If someone is going to play your game, you might get a few bites with this quick addiction technique, but the only ones that are ever going to stick around are those their for what's really inside the game, not the glitter on the outside. Coddling people so they don't get frustrated has the same effect. Take the lack of penalties more and more in games these days. Everyone is subscribing to the idea that the more the player is shied away from pain or frustration, the more he's going to love my game. How is that even possible? The only reward we have as players is that we can overcome these in game obstacles in the face of their peril. We're already choosing a less perilous path by playing a game versus going outside into the real world. So why treat us like babies with lies about how your world never has any downsides? If I can't fall down in your game, then am I even standing?
I'm not trying to rag on spiderweb, it's only that what they are attempting to do is something that I think the indie market needs more than anything else. They're so close, they could have such a satisfying game, yet the shell they've carved out does not come to life. What they lack is a living breathing world, mostly because it doesn't even look like a living breathing world. If they were to improve their art, which they could probably do best by finding another more talented artist, they would have a highly refined game. It's got alot of flaws besides the art, but so do most games, and most of those subscribe to far worse tenets like abusing fantasy cliches.
*edit* Spacing is a good idea.
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