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Tags: Jeff Vogel; Queen's Wish: The Conqueror; Spiderweb Software
Jeff Vogel has always liked trolling for attention on his blog, particularly before the release of a new game. This year the game in question is Queen's Wish: The Conqueror, the first entry in a new series which was crowdfunded last year. A new IP will always require more promotion than a sequel or remake, and that's what Jeff delivered last month with the post entitled "Why All Of Our Games Look Like Crap", in which he attempted to explain why his games and Queen's Wish in particular haven't progressed (and indeed may have regressed) in terms of graphical fidelity and art direction. I doubt you'll find it persuasive, which may have been the point. It attracted enough hateclicks that he followed it up with another post called "I Am the Cheapest Bastard In Indie Games" five days later. We've already discussed these posts thoroughly on our forums, but now that the game is released, I'll post an excerpt here:
Jeff Vogel has always liked trolling for attention on his blog, particularly before the release of a new game. This year the game in question is Queen's Wish: The Conqueror, the first entry in a new series which was crowdfunded last year. A new IP will always require more promotion than a sequel or remake, and that's what Jeff delivered last month with the post entitled "Why All Of Our Games Look Like Crap", in which he attempted to explain why his games and Queen's Wish in particular haven't progressed (and indeed may have regressed) in terms of graphical fidelity and art direction. I doubt you'll find it persuasive, which may have been the point. It attracted enough hateclicks that he followed it up with another post called "I Am the Cheapest Bastard In Indie Games" five days later. We've already discussed these posts thoroughly on our forums, but now that the game is released, I'll post an excerpt here:
First, Let's Just Get One Thing Clear ...
I think my games look good, and they contain a lot of really good art.
All of the art in Queen's Wish was made by extremely talented freelancers doing really solid work to my specifications. I feel very lucky to be working with them. If you think my games look bad, any blame for that rests with me entirely.
Second, again, I think Queen’s Wish looks really nice and comfy. Maybe it's a generational thing. People who grew up with Nintendo and Sega really like pixel art. I grew up with Atari and Intellivision, and I am very used to having art that leaves a lot to the imagination.
My art is the sort of game art I grew up with, just with more modern color and detail, designed to give the feel of a tabletop Dungeons & Dragons game. That is my goal.
So when I say my games look like crap, I am maybe being a little clickbaity. Video games are art, art is hugely subjective, and there are lots of people who genuinely like how my games look. I certainly do.
What Is Wrong With Our Art?
If you think my art is fine and don't understand what the problem is, bless you. I'll tell you what some think is wrong, as best I understand it.
1. Queen's Wish has a very retro square-tile top-down view, reminiscent of old Ultima games, old Pokemon games, Spiderweb's first games, tabletop D&D, that sort of thing. For some, that old style is really unfamiliar and/or alienating.
2. Queen's Wish uses art made by a lot of different artists. That means that the style is not quite consistent. We've done our best to make it blend well, but it's a little off.
3. All the characters only look in diagonal directions. I made this choice because I once thought all the art would be hand-drawn, and I desperately needed to reduce the number of icons I needed. This was a mistake, and I'll probably try to fix it in Queen's Wish 2.
4. It's not in 3-D. Some people will only ever be happy with 3-D.
I'm sure there are lots of other problems. These are just the most common complaints. All these problems can be fixed. All they need is money. Lots of money.
You Gotta' Follow Your Muse
Game makers are artists. Artists are dependent on their inspirations. Sometimes your brain just wants to make a certain thing. If you aren't going to do what you want and believe in, why are you writing indie games?
I've been writing games with that angled isometric look for twenty years. Twenty! I just wanted to write something that looks different. I have to change things sometimes to stay interested and keep from burning out. Period.
So Jeff certainly has our attention, but I'm not sure that will translate to sales. From what I hear, Queen's Wish is a better-designed game than the Avadon trilogy in some respects, but it also features an extremely streamlined character system even by the standards of those games. If you do want to give it a look, the game is available on Steam and GOG now for $20 with a 10% launch discount until next week.I think my games look good, and they contain a lot of really good art.
All of the art in Queen's Wish was made by extremely talented freelancers doing really solid work to my specifications. I feel very lucky to be working with them. If you think my games look bad, any blame for that rests with me entirely.
Second, again, I think Queen’s Wish looks really nice and comfy. Maybe it's a generational thing. People who grew up with Nintendo and Sega really like pixel art. I grew up with Atari and Intellivision, and I am very used to having art that leaves a lot to the imagination.
My art is the sort of game art I grew up with, just with more modern color and detail, designed to give the feel of a tabletop Dungeons & Dragons game. That is my goal.
So when I say my games look like crap, I am maybe being a little clickbaity. Video games are art, art is hugely subjective, and there are lots of people who genuinely like how my games look. I certainly do.
What Is Wrong With Our Art?
If you think my art is fine and don't understand what the problem is, bless you. I'll tell you what some think is wrong, as best I understand it.
1. Queen's Wish has a very retro square-tile top-down view, reminiscent of old Ultima games, old Pokemon games, Spiderweb's first games, tabletop D&D, that sort of thing. For some, that old style is really unfamiliar and/or alienating.
2. Queen's Wish uses art made by a lot of different artists. That means that the style is not quite consistent. We've done our best to make it blend well, but it's a little off.
3. All the characters only look in diagonal directions. I made this choice because I once thought all the art would be hand-drawn, and I desperately needed to reduce the number of icons I needed. This was a mistake, and I'll probably try to fix it in Queen's Wish 2.
4. It's not in 3-D. Some people will only ever be happy with 3-D.
I'm sure there are lots of other problems. These are just the most common complaints. All these problems can be fixed. All they need is money. Lots of money.
You Gotta' Follow Your Muse
Game makers are artists. Artists are dependent on their inspirations. Sometimes your brain just wants to make a certain thing. If you aren't going to do what you want and believe in, why are you writing indie games?
I've been writing games with that angled isometric look for twenty years. Twenty! I just wanted to write something that looks different. I have to change things sometimes to stay interested and keep from burning out. Period.
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