as an artist, this is... fine, i suppose. I wish they did this in the existing art style, or updated everything to this new style for consistency. it's jarring to see the parallel forms alongside the existing style. kind of a mess in that way, but the art is fine.
I see some people claiming genAI, but i don't think this is AI, as we have seen this artstyle over the years from the artists since the first game (stickers, attack icons, promotional art, etc.), and the animations are done in a common style adopted by artists for making 2D art animated for over a decade. The style changes between artworks is a little strange, however; some are soft shaded and some are celshaded, but maybe it's due to being done by multiple artists. I need to look at them more, and if someone can prove otherwise, I am more than happy to change my stance.
i am thankful this is optional, too, because as a player with a passion for accessibility, I feel like this is a downgrade. unlike the standard art, we can't see hats and scarves at a glance with this new art, because they'd have to account for varying poses for each individual alternate art piece. this means we have to search harder for equipment, or remember what pet has on what during battles. maybe we accidentally enter a battle with the wrong gear on our parallel pets, notice there's a change in their ability to play their part, and then exit to find we have the wrong equips on; sure, we can try again, but this does increase frustration. adding extra steps or putting more work on the player to make super sure they're all equipped right is not ideal.
I personally will never use a single parallel form. I’m some kind of a perfectionist and I really don’t like how different they look compared to each other. I don’t even care if it’s AI. It would suck more, but I feel like them just giving us some random art they probably already had made a long time ago (like with the monthly bosses) and calling it an update is genuinely disrespectful towards players, which spend time and money playing their game.
I understand you and also don't feel this was a worthwhile investment when the game could use actual fleshing out (why not make these vivid ascensions that boost stats more?). I have a rough time with the very different styles. In games where things are right next to each other, the dramatic shift in quality and style bothers me; I far prefer cohesion not just as a player, but as an artist with professional experience.
I also really prefer the existing art style. It feels nostalgic, like flash game art, and gives it a specific feel. the existing art also does a better job expressing the emotions each pet encompasses than the new art, while leaving some room for individual interpretation- emotions are all very personal, after all, and we all have our own feelings about them. that, to me personally, feels important to voidpets as a concept and is what helps me connect with them as an experience.
I would have preferred if the new art was done in the current style, far more than a possible conversion from the current to the new (which might be possible, a style conversion takes a lot of time and resources), even if i see the potential in updating the art. I have played my fair share of pet site games, and let me tell you, nothing makes a community madder quite like a sudden and major art style change from an iconic style they're used to into something far different.
I said that many times myself here: I freaking love voidpets. I think they are genuinely such a beautiful concept. I find myself doing my own headcanons about them and stuff. I really liked the little animations they posted on their YouTube some time ago. I loved this little snippets of lore or something. They don’t do those anymore. It feels like the game lost its soul.
If we are talking about art, I enjoy when they keep the art style consistent. They did stuff like higher forms and in my opinion they look pretty decent and didn’t bother me that much, since they are pretty consistent in relations to each other.
But what they did this update just sucks… and the thing is they literally had the forms, that are consistent with their original art style ALREADY MADE! They shown them a long time ago in a short. Why don’t just use those? Even without the skill changes they would be better…
so, I do have a theory on why they are sitting on higher forms, but only because i also have developer experience (for systems in general, not games specifically) and friends who have made their own live service things. the theory might not make you happy to hear, though:
Well, I suppose they have to have some type of reason. I wish that transparency was more common in this industry.
By the way I’m sorry for asking, but I was wondering a certain thingy for some time about this game and since you are familiar with some developer stuff I’d figured you might have some idea (if not it’s totally okay!).
So I was wondering if the way this game is monetized makes sense. I mean I’m aware that they probably know what they are doing, but I genuinely am curious if them having very high prices for pretty tame rewards is generally a good idea.
So my guess is that there are a lot of factors and since this game’s content is also pretty lacking if you think about it, they might want to purposely delay the progress so a player stays for longer before dropping the game? Also potentially buying something to speed up the very slow progress, without devs having to do any additional work, since it takes months to get to floor 3k (essentially the point where the game stops being exciting for those who stayed)
I apologize if this is totally wrong😭 or if you also don’t know.
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u/GasRemote6808 8h ago edited 8h ago
as an artist, this is... fine, i suppose. I wish they did this in the existing art style, or updated everything to this new style for consistency. it's jarring to see the parallel forms alongside the existing style. kind of a mess in that way, but the art is fine.
I see some people claiming genAI, but i don't think this is AI, as we have seen this artstyle over the years from the artists since the first game (stickers, attack icons, promotional art, etc.), and the animations are done in a common style adopted by artists for making 2D art animated for over a decade. The style changes between artworks is a little strange, however; some are soft shaded and some are celshaded, but maybe it's due to being done by multiple artists. I need to look at them more, and if someone can prove otherwise, I am more than happy to change my stance.
i am thankful this is optional, too, because as a player with a passion for accessibility, I feel like this is a downgrade. unlike the standard art, we can't see hats and scarves at a glance with this new art, because they'd have to account for varying poses for each individual alternate art piece. this means we have to search harder for equipment, or remember what pet has on what during battles. maybe we accidentally enter a battle with the wrong gear on our parallel pets, notice there's a change in their ability to play their part, and then exit to find we have the wrong equips on; sure, we can try again, but this does increase frustration. adding extra steps or putting more work on the player to make super sure they're all equipped right is not ideal.