Graphic Design Opinions?

Hey so I was hoping I could get your opinions on the design for this game. Basically it is for a college game design class and the lecture really does not like the odd perspective aspect. The game is suppose to have a dreamy style to it and the odd perspective is an artistic approach to this. The lecture really feels it ruins the game itself so I was hoping I could get some more opinions on whether or not you feel this ruins the game. Thanks!

 

Hmm, I have mixed feelings about it. It's not clear to me what's being represented — my initial impression is that the bird is flying up through the sky, which is reinforced by the clouds, but then contradicted by things like walls and trains, which don't make much sense. So maybe it's flying along the ground, but then why is it blue? It leaves me feeling confused.

I'm not clear on what you mean by "odd perspective" but I do think it might be helpful to pick a theme and go with it — make it clear where the game is taking place, and which way the camera is facing.

 

So, let me first grasp the concept of the game:

I am a seagull flying through the sky propelled by my own turds, and I have to destroy things by crapping on them but I can't destroy some things for no explained reason and if I smash into something, I am killed?

And next let me grasp the premise of your visual design:

So everything is drawn from the side view, but it's arranged as though it's from the top view and this is an "artistic choice" that you have made in order to get a "dream feel".

And your lecture is saying this is "ruining" the game...

If the purpose of the game's graphics are to convey where you are and what is happening, then yes you have failed to achieve that conveyance. Further, my interpretation of what I see (and my perspective tends to be a very commonplace one) is that it looks like a NES game glitch where some of the graphics are not showing and something else is going wrong, I feel like I need to blow the dust out of my cartridge and put the game back in. So, it doesn't look like you are doing it on purpose. Also, it affects the feel. Games are like cartoons, so if you saw a cartoon where all of the characters were drawn from the wrong perspective what would you think? You would think "this cartoon makes no sense." Well, that's what's happening with the way it is now.

Would it be so difficult to draw everything from a 3/4 view? That's the other thing, the only reason I can think of (again, top of my head... layman's perspective talking) upon looking at it is "this guy can only draw from the side" and the other thing I think of (again, layman's eyes) is "whoever made this is crazy."

So, there's my $1.56

 

I liked the music and it was rather relaxing. However, I did not like the response when you hit something with the seagull. The red blob, which I suppose was blood, was jarring and out of place. I was going along enjoying the music, relaxing, and then blood..ewww. Just doesn't seem to match.

I do think it is a good start though.

 

There is a fine line between an abstract dream world and what I would call 'sprite vomit', and I don't think you've quite found the sweetspot yet. I don't think its necessarily the what, its the how. Viewing a world through the eyes of a dreaming city bird, having random buildings and trains pop out in the middle of the sky - Its a cool concept that I think has potential. I can even get behind the poop mechanic as a means of flying and clearing a path. The music fits very well. As a designer, I can see what you were aiming for.

I guess my main issue is that the world doesn't feel like you intentionally designed it this way, but that the assets are aligned in that manner because that is the only perspective you had to work with, so you crammed a square peg into a round hole and tried to pass it off as abstract. Again, I'm not saying that this is what you did, but that is the vibe that I got.

Smaller feedback - the death animation is jarring. The noise, and the lag between the noise and the animation, just feels odd.

There are definitely placed you can go with this, its just not quite there yet.