Stop That Hero an rts game with a difference

Thanks for the comments, everyone. Regarding the artwork, it's less neglect and more a lack of funds and talent. As Troy mentioned, I did have an artist, but aside from creating the concept art (seen at http://stopthathero.gbgames.com/development-blog, she ended up swamped at her day job. By the end, I ran out of savings and couldn't afford to find someone else.

I used to have the opinion that game play matters way more than graphics. Otherwise, go watch a movie, like Final Fantasy VII, right (zing!)? But in the last few years, I've realized that aesthetics are a huge part of game design. I realize that the lack of animation and professional quality art hurts this game, but that's partly why it isn't v1.0 yet.

I've gotten some good feedback from playtesters, and so I decided to offer a pre-order (initially $5) and then offer it for sale as an alpha (initially $7.50). It's very clearly not finished, but since people were enjoying it, I thought I could at least offer it for sale during development so people can try it earlier.

Now that there's a free demo, available since the Sound Update was released (now $8.50), it allows you to get a taste of what the game is and see if it is something you'd enjoy before buying. As I update the game, including adding animations (coming in the next update), new minions and heroes, and game play modes, I expect to increase the price, so people who ordered earlier are getting the full game for less as well as supporting development.

Based on the comments here, I definitely need to step up my search for an artist. Adding animations already multiplies existing art needs, and I'm not going to be able to keep up by myself.

Animations will help a lot but yes my personal opinion is that it needs slightly better artwork. I wouldn't say it was neglect like other people would as I myself can't even draw a decent stickman!

Also like i do for Troy i can give you access to be able to post your own news here if interested send me a PM.

I would say before you raise the price again, you probably need to address the art. That might sound harsh, and I don't mean it to, but it's the reality of the current game market. It was different a few years ago when $20 was the standard price of a casual/indie game. But nowadays, when you start approaching $10+ for a game, people expect it to look good. Especially since there are so many games available now around the $5 price point that look good.

On the other hand, if you've got decent art and the game isn't finished, I think people find it easier to pre-order. I think when people buy an unfinished game, they want to have some assurance that the quality of the final product is going to be good. The earlier you can start using professional art in the game, the faster you'll alleviate that concern.

Quoting: "GBGames, post: 5595, member: 248"I used to have the opinion that game play matters way more than graphics. Otherwise, go watch a movie, like Final Fantasy VII, right (zing!)? But in the last few years, I've realized that aesthetics are a huge part of game design. I realize that the lack of animation and professional quality art hurts this game, but that's partly why it isn't v1.0 yet.

I'd say that aesthetics are more a part of professional polish than a critical aspect of game design - important for a successful game, but still something superficial (which isn't to say that visual design doesn't often give inspiration for game design).

Some suggestions to aid you in your hunt for a more rounded aesthetic:

* If you're comfortable with open licencing, consider [URL='http://opengameart.org/']Open Game Art[/URL] as a place to commission or source stuff. There are potentially really interesting opportunities to engage with a community of artists, and open licencing can help encourage modding.
* For a couple of projects that I've been working on, I've chosen to go with 3D models rendered down to 2D sprites. There's a little more up-front work in modeling, lighting and render times, but it pays off in that animation becomes a lot less effort.
* Aim for visual consistency (this can be tricky if you end up going with Open Game Art stuff or have different artists working on the project for short periods). Right now, your assets seem a little incongruent.
* Troy's advice is good :)

Thanks, Troy and Cheeseness! I appreciate the tips.

I did find Open Game Art when I wrote an article about how indie game developers could find quality art for their prototypes. I haven't searched too seriously through it, though, but maybe it is time for me to revisit it.

I haven't learned 3D modeling, but ever since reading Programming Linux Games by John Hall many years ago, I liked the idea of taking a 3D model and being able to render 2D sprites from multiple angles automatically.

Visual inconsistency is one issue brought up early in development, so what you're seeing is an improvement but definitely still my programmer art. You can see an early in-development video here: View video on youtube.com As you can see, the grass was a bit more neon, and everything between the characters and the background were drawn with no attention paid to consistency. But even that was a huge improvement over this even-earlier version: View video on youtube.com

Quoting: "GBGames, post: 5603, member: 248"I haven't learned 3D modeling, but ever since reading Programming Linux Games by John Hall many years ago, I liked the idea of taking a 3D model and being able to render 2D sprites from multiple angles automatically.

I first started doing this for FLAT, and it was essential in getting the number of assets ready within our 7 day development schedule. It's also made me reconsider my approach to a few other projects I'm working on.

Thanks for sharing the development videos. It's interesting to see how things have evolved :)

Quoting: "GBGames, post: 5603, member: 248"I haven't learned 3D modeling, but ever since reading Programming Linux Games by John Hall many years ago, I liked the idea of taking a 3D model and being able to render 2D sprites from multiple angles automatically.

Ah, a true Linux gaming aficionado then. ;)

Quoting: "Hamish, post: 5606, member: 6"Ah, a true Linux gaming aficionado then. ;)

I still have the Quake 3 Arena tin, and Railroad Tycoon II, Heretic II, and Myth II: Soulblighter are all in my collection as well. I miss Loki.