Mori_Yuki: I agree and don't like it either, so my post wasn't in defense of this developer or his game. Because at the end of the day he could still have done more with what he got. There are virtually hundreds of examples done right out there that it is hard to look past graphics in this case.
ReynardFox: Yeah I see the dev's response as an excuse more than anything, especially the way he worded it, he can clearly draw adequate 2D art, but is happy enough to be lazy and fall back on this low effort, cookiecutter, fake-retro art style. He's not working under a publisher with strict deadlines to meet, the cost is a scapegoat, I suspect he just doesn't want to put in the required time or effort.
True. Fixed distance camera and angle instead of close-up using over sized junks of pixel-art would have gone a long way. A looking glass to inspect a scene, or zoom in on interactive objects, to make the pixel hunt less tedious? He should at least be old enough to know what actual retro graphics, bitmap, pixels, etc. looked like to know what looks good.
Mori_Yuki: I agree and don't like it either, so my post wasn't in defense of this developer or his game. Because at the end of the day he could still have done more with what he got. There are virtually hundreds of examples done right out there that it is hard to look past graphics in this case.
Dogmaus: you know, I wouldn't go and say anything to someone who is making a free game looking like this on itch.io. But this game is on sale for a price, and has passed GOG curation. Do they realize the difference between this "pixel art" and Dead Cells, Blasphemous, Carrion...? Even Atari games looked better than this.
Do younger people believe that videogames ever looked like this when they call this style retro? I don't think this is retro, but modern in a bad way.
While it isn't free on GOG you can get it for free on itch.io. I had a look and found that you can pay any price you want starting at $2.00. You could also just say no thanks take me to the download. I tried it and found that these blown up pixel junks really don't look very good in a close-up indoor scene like the one at the very beginning. I played it for about 7 to 10 minutes enough to say no thank you and wipe it from my drive.
Beside the graphics there is one additional thing which would cause me not to buy it. Imagine the following: You are standing on the street and there is a waste bin some distance away from you and a body of a deceased cat lying on the ground. When clicking on either a dialogue is displayed and you got a new item in your inventory. The main character was just standing where he stood when he arrived at the scene. Normally you would expect that at least he walks up to the item you click on but doesn't.
Next imagine being inside the house and there is a closed door to a room with a prominent keyhole. I would think you would have to go look for a key or use the one you found on the body of the deceased. Or which magically popped up in your inventory more like. No, you can simply open up the door to the house, the door inside and enter the room.
Everything is blown up in size and looks accordingly. Now you are inside that room in the house and discover there is a picture hanging on the wall. And some other things you can click on are there as well. Clicking on the picture what it does is Waffles comments on it, finds that there is something, the picture moves to one side and stays in place, behind is a book he
takes it comments and you click on the next item.
If all I got to do is click on something and whatever there is discovered and moved to my inventory what's the point of me playing? This is closer to an interactive novel than a point&click adventure. In the former I expect to make some choices in a dialogue and whatever else happens does so automatically, while in the latter I want to discover things by myself, acting on a hint or visual cue, figure out what item should be combined with what other item to be used on something somewhere. To add insult to injury even the
riddles are a no brainer.
The only positive thing to say from this short experience is that at least you don't have to go on a pixel-hunt and that I like the dialogues. ;-)
