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Haha I love how 90% of the comments are from just exactly the same people who he wrote this blog post for, and they still make the same points again :D I have

by jdance 7y ago

Haha I love how 90% of the comments are from just exactly the same people who he wrote this blog post for, and they still make the same points again :D I have an indie game myself (Skyturns on G Play) and if you are not an artist, making good art is simply really hard. Someone says ”this menu is ugly”, and the cognitive load of making it meet their expectations is massive. I even have graphically skilled people critiquing my game, paying them, but then coming back with more ugly menus. A real skilled professional art director is hard to find, recruit and motivate. On a small scale its a ton of freedom to just let your game be somewhat ugly and just focus on what you yourself is great at. For all the 1000 opinions I’ve heard about my games menus, not one of these people have produced something better. That 1001st person who actually knows drawing, colors and UX is the professional art director, which is possible to find, but the energy required to find him/her and pay is also something that can go somewhere else!

aardshark 7y ago
> if you are not an artist, making good art is simply really hard And if you are not a programmer, making a good game is really hard. But you can learn. If you are willing to put in the effort to develop your own sense of the aesthetic, even a small amount of time can result in huge improvements. You don't need an "art director" and neither does this guy. If you think your menus are ugly, find some menus that you don't think are ugly and ask yourself what it is about them that makes them not ugly. When you can answer that question with certainty and apply the answer to your own menus, that's a first step towards improvement. PS: I spent 10 minutes on your game. It's fun.
- jdance 7y ago
  Hey, believe me I'm working on it, those menus I have are like 10 iterations in! And I'm looking for art help too. Just saying its a cognitive load, both the learning, iteration, , finding people and paying them. I could instead say "fcuk it" and focus ONLY on the things I'm good at, it's an option that I can understand. Happy to hear you tried and liked the game! Lots of things in the pipeline

by jdance 7y ago

aardshark 7y ago

> if you are not an artist, making good art is simply really hard And if you are not a programmer, making a good game is really hard. But you can learn. If you are willing to put in the effort to develop your own sense of the aesthetic, even a small amount of time can result in huge improvements. You don't need an "art director" and neither does this guy. If you think your menus are ugly, find some menus that you don't think are ugly and ask yourself what it is about them that makes them not ugly. When you can answer that question with certainty and apply the answer to your own menus, that's a first step towards improvement. PS: I spent 10 minutes on your game. It's fun.

jdance 7y ago
Hey, believe me I'm working on it, those menus I have are like 10 iterations in! And I'm looking for art help too. Just saying its a cognitive load, both the learning, iteration, , finding people and paying them. I could instead say "fcuk it" and focus ONLY on the things I'm good at, it's an option that I can understand. Happy to hear you tried and liked the game! Lots of things in the pipeline