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How much is artwork important in a game?

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larienna
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Joined: 07/28/2008

My biggest problem that currently prevent me from trying to publish a game ( whatver the method ) is the fact that I am not an artist. I can't draw or use a 3D modeling software to make intellegible artwork.

This does not mean that I cannot do any art. I can use some graphic drawing software, but besides shapes, textures, text and logo, I cannot do anything else.

So I am asking my self, does artwork is really important in a game. For example, if I have a card showing the stats of a dragon, do I really need to set a picture of the dragon on the cards.

If I take some examples of published games, "Hackers" except for the cover of the box, does not have any artwork on the cards. In a game called "D-Day", they used an X in a square to represent infantry unit, and an elipse in a square to represent a panzer unit.

So maybe making artwork less games ( Excluding textures, logos, shapes and text ) won't scare the customer away. What do you think? Should I really try to get an artist or should I try to do things by myself.

Just to give you an idea of what I can do with graphic software, here is 2 wallpapers I have made. They have been made mostly with "the gimp". Everything has been done with shapes and textures. I also have "gentex" which is a random texture generator that works great for me.

http://ariel.bdeb.qc.ca/~ericp/spellcraft.jpg
http://ariel.bdeb.qc.ca/~ericp/codex.jpg

The first image is a theme structure, which look like magic, that I have refined and the 2nd image is the symbol of the codex in Ultima IV and above. Hope you like them.

This is probably at most the best I can do, and as you can see, it could fit really well as box cover.

OutsideLime
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Joined: 12/31/1969
How much is artwork important in a game?

I think art is indeed important... but then I'm an artist, so I would.... The art of a game can set the whole tone of the game... a picture speaks a thousand words, it's true. This does not mean that the art has to be complicated, or even very good... just appropriate. The stark simplicity of basic shapes used to represent military units is visually powerful when they're arranged into groups.. (I would use a parallelogram instead of an ellipse to represent a Panzer tank, but that's just me....)

Do you need to have a picture of a dragon on a dragon card? Well no, but then people will envision the dragon they want to. If the dragon in your mind's eye has shiny silver scales, a bright red mane, six claw-tipped and venom-dripping legs, breathes purple gas, flies on wings ragged with arrow-punctures, and lives in the belly of a volcano glowing with magma, and you want the players to KNOW all that, then you've either got to tell them or show them. Which is more difficult? Which is more effective? Will your cards all sort of blend together without distinctive artwork, and become confusing, or worse, boring, or even worse, confusing? (wink) And what if your monster isn't a standard like a "dragon"? What if you made it up? What does the Voracious Ooblion look like? If your descriptions are accurate and communicate what needs to be communicated, then you can do just fine without fancy art...

That being said.....

Does good art make up for bad gameplay? No. Not once. Not ever. Not in the history of gaming. I have played many beautiful games that were clunkers... but I didn't play them more than once.

The game is the cake, the art is the icing.....

~Josh

By the way, you are a fine graphic artist.

jwalduck
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Joined: 09/06/2011
How much is artwork important in a game?

Symbols and artwork can make things much easier to recognise from across the table.

I can remember reading a story of Richard Garfield developing the Vampire card game. The first time they printed prototypes of the cards to playtest they only had text on them and everyone had great difficulty following the game. In the next round they simply put a random and unique piece of clip art on each card. It really helped the playtest though there was a quote something along the lines of "... now whenever anyone mentions the Archon of Denver I can still see him as a cute, cartoon kitten."

I guess the point is any symbol that is recognisable from a distance will help players "map the territory of the game", allow they to see the whole of the game, rather then take it in a peice at a time.

Appropriate artwork (as opposed to random clipart) can also add to the mood and theme of the game.

dete
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Joined: 12/31/1969
How much is artwork important in a game?

wow, yeah definitely can be a box cover! to me your an artist :)

I feel your pain, I realize how you want to cut as much art as possible.

However as you seemed to notice even a symbol or just giving
a unique shape to the token can help major.

in Chinese Chess
for example the pieces are NOT sculpted like European Chess.
Just written on pieces...
The equivalent is like K for King, R for Rook, P for Pawn,
and that's it. If you ever played European Chess with
pieces like this, you do feel down graded, however the
Chinese language, those characters, are symbols.
So to someone that can read it, it's like the picture of a crown
you see for a King for the flat European Chess pieces.
so I recommend to you symbols, even triangle squares and circles.

as for box covers and advertizement, just view all the web sites
visited on here, after you visit 10, your gonna want to just skim
through, and after like another 10, you just want to see pictures!

dete
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Joined: 12/31/1969
How much is artwork important in a game?

BYTW

if you check my webpage, most of the art there I made by
using the standard paint software, and mostly using squares.
By that I mean, like a video game sprite you know?
Those characters you see in like the old monochrone
game boy games, that's how I did it, they are made up of squares.
At the time I didn't have a scanner and to draw with the mouse.....
cuts your skill down to a tenth! Very frustrated, but then I
remembered those video games. crappy software, crappy tools,
crappy art, still I'm VERY glad I did it.

Johan
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Joined: 10/05/2008
How much is artwork important in a game?

I see artwork as all symbols, pictures and miniatures, presented in a game. The artwork is a big part of the design (Design is how the artwork together with the text is presented).
Artwork in a game is nearly always present in some way (OK if you only add text to your cards and nothing else there are no artwork, just design).
Not having artwork to your game is like if you go to a movie and there is no film, just someone that describes the movie for you with a monotone voice.

Artwork is something that will bring your game to live. It does not have to be good, just be in style.

Examples:

Kill dr Lucky is a good example where there are a cheep product that want to tell the world that is a cheep product. It works.

In The Hellgame, the designers took a lot of pictures and mixed them together (that’s mainly because of the lack of drawing skill). It is not pretty, but in this game its works.

Munchkin (I know that he is famous) has an art design that works in this case. This art would not work in for example Magic or Runebound.

// Johan

Nestalawe
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Joined: 08/07/2008
How much is artwork important in a game?

p.s. -

Quote:
In a game called "D-Day", they used an X in a square to represent infantry unit, and an elipse in a square to represent a panzer unit.

These are actual Military symbols and can be found in most Military Wargames or Simulations such as D-Day. So they aren't just Random symbols someone made up for the game!

onew0rd
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Joined: 12/31/1969
How much is artwork important in a game?

I would say artwork is one of the most important elements in selling a game if someone has not heard of it. First of all, it lends professionalism. If the box looks like my daughter drew the cover (and she's a great artist dammit! - for a 6 year old) then it probably will turn people off right there and they wouldn't give it a second chance. Now, if the cover is a beautifully painted piece with lots of details and looks interesting, I will probably at least flip over the box and look at the back. For a game people know about, art is also very important - it helps people envision the theme. If the cover painting, board, cards, pieces, etc have a nice feel this will add to the enjoyment of the game. IF the cover is a dumb loooking knight with malproportioned limbs holding a sword straight up in the air with a dumb look on his face colored in colored pencils with no background, the game will not only look ridiculous, it will make me not want to play it. Furthermore, if I knew about it and knew it was a solid to good game but the pieces were cardboard paper with the same bad art and not many colors, I would probably never pay for it. If the same game had a knight painted by an artist with a cloudy lightning covered sky and a slain dragon underfoot and a damsel at his side, hell, I want to know more about this game. If I had played the same game and it had solid chunky bits, a beautiful colorful board, I would probably go out and buy it. The most important point is that your art matches the theme of the game. If you make an elegant abstract game with black and white cards with Xs, Os, etc on them, a board with Xs and Os all in black and white only and the box is pure black with a big X and a big O in white in the middle, congratulations, you made a game without needing an artist. But if you have a complex Space Opera game or a trading game set in the Ancient Middle East, you will not be able to get away with bad art.

For the record - you don't have to be Picasso to make good art for a game. Look at Munchkin. It fits the theme with not very special art which actually adds to the silliness and coolness of the game. Look at Puerto Rico. The board is not the best art, none of the pieces have art on them, the box is OK but not great, yet none of it gets in the way of enjoying the game and it adds just enough to the theme.

CIDIC
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Joined: 12/31/1969
How much is artwork important in a game?

I'll help you with art if you want, email me at trent_conspiracy.yahoo.com or talk to me on aim: CIDIC 991

larienna
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Joined: 07/28/2008
How much is artwork important in a game?

I don't want to make a zero art game and I don't want to hinder the game play due to the lack of art. I can easily do icons, maps, tiles, but I can't draw people, creatures OR object like potions and swords.

I have tried to do some acryllic painting at home. I think I could paint object like a potion or a sword but painting people is out of the question. I also have some trouble painting some landscape. I have a problem with the perspective and the fact that the objects ( trees, grass ) are too small to be painted so I must create the illusion of trees and grass with brush strokes of different colors. This is why I am better at painting an object since it is much bigger.

Is there a tool in a paint program or a paint program itself that gives the same feeling than doing acrylic painting but on a computer instead?

Finally, I don't want the artwork to be done by somebody else. If I intend to sell the game online, well it won't sell at a very high price so paying somebody or giving a share of the price is almost unthinkable. If I can make a playable game without drawn artwork, then I'll try to make it myself.

phpbbadmin
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Joined: 04/23/2013
How much is artwork important in a game?

Larienna wrote:
I don't want to make a zero art game and I don't want to hinder the game play due to the lack of art. I can easily do icons, maps, tiles, but I can't draw people, creatures OR object like potions and swords.

I have tried to do some acryllic painting at home. I think I could paint object like a potion or a sword but painting people is out of the question. I also have some trouble painting some landscape. I have a problem with the perspective and the fact that the objects ( trees, grass ) are too small to be painted so I must create the illusion of trees and grass with brush strokes of different colors. This is why I am better at painting an object since it is much bigger.

Is there a tool in a paint program or a paint program itself that gives the same feeling than doing acrylic painting but on a computer instead?

Finally, I don't want the artwork to be done by somebody else. If I intend to sell the game online, well it won't sell at a very high price so paying somebody or giving a share of the price is almost unthinkable. If I can make a playable game without drawn artwork, then I'll try to make it myself.

Have you tried clip art? Especially from Microsoft?

http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/default.aspx?lc=en-us&cag=1

Lot's of great clip art, and vector based too which is easily manipulated with your preferred vector software package.

Also if you like to paint, try ArtRage. Works great to emulate painting, easy to use, and also great with a graphics tablet...

http://www.ambientdesign.com/artrage.html

Good luck with your artwork!

Anonymous
How much is artwork important in a game?

Artwork is extremely important.

Great art can make a mediocre game something special.

A great game without art is just a mediocre game.

Remember, you don't have to be technically skilled to be a great artist. A lot of artists aren't very good at drawing or painting, but they develop a simple, distinctive style that works for them. Originality/appropriateness is far more important than being able to draw like a camera.

Another thing you might think about doing is seeing if there are any local artists - such as students at an art college - that might be willing to do some work just to have their stuff seen. There are a lot of amateur artists out there that aren't in it for the money - you just got to find them.

Fortunately, God gave me the gift of drawing. Art is never a problem for me - I'm just lacking in the money and the ideas department. :lol:

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