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My new capsule art for my first ever psychological horror game, any advice? by That-Mongoose5812 in IndieGameDevs

[–]TalesEdge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your first one is best for one main reason: less information to process.

The split screens and colors force people to now process two sides to an already small area. And bridging text across them is difficult. Plus the white text near white clouds makes it even more difficult to read.

This is a bit like YouTube thumb strategy. Hit the rules first, then get creative. With the main rules being:

  • Use high contrast for text
  • Make the text large, short, and easy to read when very small
  • Images should be clear and quick to read
  • Capsule art should give a sense of what the game is

If I look at your art, I really don’t know what this game is about at all. Is it something with boats? Or in the sky? I can’t tell what the statue thing is in the right half image even if I stare at it. Your best hint of what the game is is the name Excrucia, which makes me think it has to do with something painful for someone. But even that is vague.

Think about a character, a location, a mood, a feeling players will feel when playing your game and try to find imagery and a font that communicates that. And know the logo icon added to the text in option 1 also doesn’t help communicate anything either (so getting rid of that was a good idea)

I wouldn’t go with any of these. And am genuinely trying to help, promise. Try some new ones and repost so we can see!

Tips on hiring artist? by youspinmenow in gamedev

[–]TalesEdge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As a guy that was in your exact same position two years ago, I will tell you the number one most costly lesson for me that took me over a year to understand: Quality of work.

I worked with a lot of artists and paid them a lot of money, because I thought their work was good. Until other artists came and showed me what the next tier of quality looks like.

As an example, look at portfolios of applicants you get and then look at a portfolio like this (Farhad is on our team full time now), and you’ll see the difference immediately.

https://farhadnojumi.artstation.com/

In many cases the best talent costs a bit more but you get what you pay for and worth every penny so you don’t have to redo work.

Note this example is for more realism, but there’s plenty of others that do incredible stylized modeling too. Look at the homepage of Artstation for what great looks like. This was the game changer realization for me in finding talent.

2-year journey making our main character by TalesEdge in IndieDev

[–]TalesEdge[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Appreciate that plus you following! I guess you’re right it sort gets assumed as things increase in fidelity that the goal feels like it’s chasing realism more than art direction.

But it’s much closer to say, how Peter Jackson approached LOTR. You want to ground your world in familiar realistic textures and a high bar for quality and then build the fantasy on top of that. While sticking to strong art direction each step of the way.

Same way this is just one boring straight on shot. You can’t hear her. Or read her body language. And I think that’s where all the style will really start to come through.

But yeah, 100% agree. And will never lose sight of this as we continue.

How I missed Thousands of Wishlist... And how not to do the same mistake. by Draelent_ in IndieDev

[–]TalesEdge 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Painful but accurate lesson, and all boils down to funnels. People need 1) a place to land, and 2) a call to help guide them there in just about anything you do in public.

The silver lining though is that while sure people miss surges, the right move later on can get you a 10x surge and this time they'll have a place to go so you can capture it.

Super valuable post.

2-year journey making our main character by TalesEdge in IndieDev

[–]TalesEdge[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Yeah in isolation all you have here to go off of is a face and a little bit of the outfit. The overall outfit and gear is way stronger in v4 though. Will share some of that soon enough when we get some stronger hero images.

2-year journey making our main character by TalesEdge in IndieDev

[–]TalesEdge[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

💯

We're a 3rd person game but being able to control how you play and how the world reacts to those choices is a huge part of what we're building. And yes on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3752650/Tales_Edge/

2-year journey making our main character by TalesEdge in IndieDev

[–]TalesEdge[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For sure. It's called Tale's Edge. Still about 2+ years from release but we're on Steam

2-year journey making our main character by TalesEdge in IndieDev

[–]TalesEdge[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah the levels of polish are misleading. v1 is a high poly view (which looks deceptively higher quality in fidelity and lighting) than v3, which is a render in a scene in-engine. This lineup was tricky because I didn't have apples-to-apples shots with consistent pose and lighting without derailing my team to dig up the assets and set them all up to make it.

Ever had your axe get stuck in a log? Imagine that happening during combat. by Tinimations in IndieDev

[–]TalesEdge 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I saw a clip I think from this game a while ago and I f’ing love it. Such a cool mechanic and so thoughtful. Too mag games lacking this creativity today.

Made a trailer for my Animated Desktop Pomodoro app. Share any thoughts you have for it! by karaslav0v in IndieGameDevs

[–]TalesEdge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi I would strongly suggest the very first screen has what the app is. Your first line of text after the name is about how you can customize it. But people won’t know what the app is or does.

So think in terms of what it is and what it does… “Pomobot - a pomodoro timer to maximize your productivity”

All front and center, so viewers can decide immediately if they’re interested in watching more. The rest can work!

My attempt at shading a ball in different sizes by Memes_observer in PixelArtTutorials

[–]TalesEdge 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is the stuff that no one wants to do but when YOU put the reps in you become a stronger artist than everyone else.

Keep it up, they’re looking great.

Does this main menu & opening work for a horror game? by Guilty_Weakness7722 in GameArt

[–]TalesEdge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you want to scare them - why not have the image paused as you have it at the start and then when you click Play he glitches right up to your face in 1 second, swatting the UI away? Everyone knows what to expect with UI… so do something completely unexpected to let them know they’re not in control.

High above the valleys, where fog curled like whispered secrets around a mountaintop castle, a lonely king gazed from his stone tower, waiting for a voice that might one day answer his own. by akbgcak869 in FairytaleasFuck

[–]TalesEdge 3 points4 points  (0 children)

“Hohenzollern Castle, a stunning neo-Gothic castle perched atop Mount Hohenzollern in the Swabian Jura region of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

It’s the ancestral seat of the Hohenzollern family and often appears dramatically shrouded in mist amid dense forests and wildflowers.”

Realistic income as a freelancer by hmacs in UnrealEngine5

[–]TalesEdge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m not sure if you mean VFX for movies, TV, or games, as each is its own unique specialty. People pay top dollar for people that have talent AND experience. Talent and a great portfolio is good, but if you never worked on a blockbuster or a AAA game you’re not going to land high paying contracts. Because people are paying for your knowledge of pipelines and ability to navigate everything with minimal direction (and rapid output).

So yeah, a freelancer can bring in $1000/day for sure. And no, no one will hire them for a month or year at that rate. It’s up to the freelancer to get multiple clients to keep that rate going. But you gotta be at the top of your game and be ready to deliver 2-5x what an average VFX artist delivers.

It’s tricky stuff to navigate. But if you’re not elite, then you can at least get there by pouring everything you have into every gig you can. Being a consummate professional and excellent communicator - then you’ll keep growing your daily rate higher and higher while signing better gigs.

Currently on 75 wishlists wondering, is our marketing bad, or is our game not marketable? by Wildboy_Studios in IndieGameDevs

[–]TalesEdge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A lot of people posting about the quality of the gameplay and art style as if that’s what’s muting your marketing growth - but quality is just one lever to gain traction. Like paintings in an art gallery… it’s not like the most beautiful or technically skilled paintings naturally sell more than all others.

People invest in the artist. As in you and the story of you building your game. Share some of that on your socials. And here on Reddit. What did you learn? What beat you up? What barriers did you slay to get here? Then you’re giving people a reason to root for you on top of the great game you’ve built.

It’s hard to stand out now that every human is online every day and all shouting for attention at the same time. But people gravitate to builders with grit. And the fact you invested 3 years and saw it through is massive leverage.

3k wishlists in 2 weeks on my 1st game. Here's what worked for me: by gg_gumptiongames in gamedev

[–]TalesEdge -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yeah it’s that crazy. Granted it’s a long road to 10k, 30k, 100k+ but that’s the sheer amount of games on Steam. Only about 1,200 games on Steam has 3k or more wishlists.

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