[Help] Prettier graphics

I don't know how much I can agree with that last part. My searches are turning up just as many results for the original game as the commercial release, and while the commercial release definitely had art direction I don't know how much you could say that for the prototype.

 

Under what context? If I search for the game, all the results I get are specifically for the commercial release. I'm pretty sure Mike Bithell has even talked about how most of the play the original version got came well after the commercial release.

Looking more into it, the Kongregate version has about 175,000 plays while the commercial release on Steam is estimated to have at least 500,000 sales. Given that the game ended up ported to just about everything and lead to him being able to found a game studio with multiple releases, maybe the methodology here is being used incorrectly.

edit:



Note that most of the results for the first image are generally about the upcoming release, not the original Flash game.

one last edit:

 

Yes, I have no doubt that most of the plays came after it went commercial, but my point was more what justified it being turned into a commercial game was the popularity of the original game with it's very basic visuals. I know he said he used the commercial release to learn Unity but I don't believe he'd have remade it if it wasn't already successful in its own way.

 

Sometimes things like this happen because the developer sees potential in the idea more than anything else. Pretty often even. I don't think it's fair to discount that.

 

Thomas Was Alone might be a game that any good Unity developper can do in a short ammount of time.. BUT, polishing the game... That is a different story ! I'm really bad at understanding art and polishing a game (that's why I created this post in the first place), and I would never be capable doing that without any help. The trick is in the details ! The responsive camera movement, the crumbling world, etc...

Creating games gave me a new way to look at them and a new respect to developers. Creating games is hard. Creating beautiful games that give an awesome experience and feel responsive is even harder !

 

That's a really great and commendable attitude to have! I too think polishing a game is what makes the difference.

 

What the hell is wrong with you man! We want to see you post pictures of YOUR game! So we can suitably poke fun of you, on what is a completely subjective opinion. Also I'm looking at you too @Ryiah

Where is the eye candy these days on these forums?

 

I think this is a great conversation! Clearly, the person who made Thomas went to art school or at least had an interest in art. Yes, it's just blocks, but the compositions remind me of Motherwell:





To some people, Motherwell's work is just smeared paint, and not sophisticated at all. To me, I can appreciate that the compositions are amazing and even though I know how to smear paint, there's no way I could create a comparable piece.

When I looked the Thomas images, I wasn't so impressed by the tiny details, but granted those add to the piece. But like Motherwell's work there is an amazing contrast of scale, things being balanced but off-balance at the same time. Also, the lack of color forces the artist to be even more creative with the shapes. The tiny drips of paint and scratches in these paintings are comparable to the tiny details @Murgilod mentions. They seem almost unimportant, but maybe they are.

I think the OP can learn some basic techniques to improve the look, without having to go all AAA on us. Just looking at art and discussing what makes things work is a good place to start.