Thanks. I am working on new portraits for the party members. I wasn't 100% satisfied with the originals, myself. I think it's because they are so flat in many cases -- especially compared to the NPCs. But I also don't want to make them too realistic looking. I'm aiming for around 40 different human portraits so that there is a variety to choose from.
I'l agree with the great David OReilly on saying that realism is probably not the most interesting thing [digital] art can do. Personally i find realistic digital art uncanny more often than not, though it has to do with animation.
I wonder with which source of inspiration you will go for such an ensemble cast? I'd probably crowdsource faces from people who themselves were inspirations, then maybe ask reddit and or lemmy and people here. Some devs occasionally take suggestions from their patrons. Curious Expedition 1 had it's first viral moment with Nikola Tesla pulverising hyenas with the death ray in the savannah, this is how Maschinen-Mensch decided to go with a prominent 19th century figures irregardless of how likely it was for them to even leave the house, let alone to embark on the expedition into the unknown.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/408510/Curious_Expedition_OST__Artbook/
Curious Expedition 1 vs Curious Expedition 2 is also an example of the drastic art style change rather than evoluation of it, which probably made sequel less successful. I find part 1 style clean, cozy, endearing and evocative. Not to say that 80s sungeon crawlers' or delightfully shitty and crudely animated mugshots from Hotline Miami wasn't evocative )
40 faces! Is art-making your fav part? I knew i would be trapped in just drawing or learning to code without clear direction which is why i went for playtesting ttrpgs right off the bat.
I hope devlog about schedule i've shared will help you to complete the project without burning out
Going back through some of the games that I'm using as inspiration, none of them are as flat shaded as the ones that I have right now. All are on the shaded side of things and the style ranges from cartoonish (Eye of the Beholder) to semi-realistic (Lands of Lore, Realms of Arkania). Arkania's portraits has some variance in them depending on the type of character illustrated. Some were more serious looking with a painterly style while others leaned more to the cartoon style probably because different artists were involved but all had depth.
I think the ideal spot is to walk the line of semi-realistic with just a hint of cartoon style to lighten the mood.
Yeah, I find the artwork less frustrating, more relaxing, than the programming but I'm better at the programming than the artwork. I tend to intersperse the two together so that I can use the artwork to relax and completing a piece gives me a feeling of accomplishment. The only problem I have with artwork is indecision because I'm still an amateur. lol.
I looked at Curious Expedition 1 & 2. It looks like they changed from pixel art to vector art. I'm not really a big fan of vector art unless it is done really well. I don't use vectors except with interface elements. When I draw character with vectors they always look like colouring book drawings so I tend to avoid it unless that's the look I'm going for.
When I settle on a portrait style, I'll release another dev log about it.
Eye of the Beholder's art instantly puts a smile on my face ) It looks like a game that knows it's a game
Lands of Lore looks fun and very carefully crafted and doesn't remind me of anything else.
Realms of Arkania though made me burst with laughter twice in less than a minute. It looks like early digital art made by artists who tried really hard (and it showed) mishmashed with indie games made and drawn by children here on itchio ) Thing one won't dare say about this game is that it looks boring or by any means predictable. It's cool to have a wild card as reference to remind self of wild possibilities.
Talking about wild possibilities and heavily retro-inspired pixel art look for a modern game i want to mention 2 special cases:
1
Infernax
which is mostly metroidwania but leans into more detailed art for the sotrytelling bits and when presenting player with interesting choices
2
Fit For a King
thing about this game most relevant to our conversation (and coolest to me) is the story told by it's steam comments
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1110380/Fit_For_a_King/
Some people roleplay even when commenting, others tell stories of their lives, playthoughs and relationships with other games and many — and this is the part that made me remember it, without even playing — opens up about this game subversing their expectations by giving them a novel experience inspired by things they loved in the past without delivering on the impossible promise of taking them back.
Historic love letter, continuation and novelty.
Homages and tributes are all legit and one can naturally progress from there too.
It's just i find these 2 cases so specifically interesting