Web Art Style - Pros and Cons

[gorboth]

I'd like to create a space for people to voice their various impressions of the web artwork we've unveiled. In the Keeper's Korner, I had to delete a few posts which were of the "negative energy" variety. In retrospect, I wish I had simply moved these posts rather than deleting them, and I've apologized to the people who were upset with me for this.

I recognize the importance of giving people a place to voice opinions, and it is not my intention to stifle that. One thing to remember, though, is that sharing a negative opinion is a choice you can make. Sometimes it can have a good outcome, and sometimes it really doesn't accomplish much for any good at all. With our web artist, I do think we should be careful with how much we "run our mouths" with negative feedback. That being said, I value feedback and don't mind hearing opinions that can help guide future efforts for our visual branding. Keep in mind, though, that the current drawings are set in stone. They are not going to change, and most people seem to be delighted with the results.

Let me share a bit of my own rationale for the style we have chosen to go with. I believe Genesis has a unique appeal to those people who are of the generation that "grew up" with Dungeons and Dragons. D&D was, in its early years, illustrated by people like Denis Loubet, our artist. The drawings were fine-line work most often in black and white, and had a particular type of "feel" to them that I believe we have captured with our web top-banner. This "feel" is actually quite cheerful, positive, and joyful. Even the evil creatures that were drawn for early D&D manuals often had a sense of "fun" to them. It is only in more modern times that roleplaying games have emerged with more of the self-serious, depressive, gloomy, etc. type of imagery. Some people like that stuff ... but I don't feel it characterizes the core of what Genesis offers. We offer community, adventure, and old-school fun. Sure, you can be evil and gloomy if you like, but it isn't the primary energy of the place for new players. Adventure, excitement, exploration, fun ... this is what we offer to new players, and I feel our top-banner design captures this wonderfully.

As I've stated, we will not be "changing course" with our visual brand. I realize there are some of you who do not find what we have chosen appealing, or characteristic of the Genesis you experience. My hope is that the majority of you do feel enthusiastic about our artist, and the feedback I have gotten so far suggests this is indeed the case. One thing I do think we can do, however, is commission him to create a top-banner that shows the "evil" side of Genesis, with not-so-happy faces displayed doing all sorts of scowling, grimacing, and tooth gnashing as they plot the downfall of all peace-loving do-gooders. We could then allow people to choose either the "evil" or "good" banner as a preference when they visit the website. This, of course, is just an idea, but perhaps it would address the concern I have heard from some of you that the banner feels too "happy." (somehow I think "happy" is okay for promotional purposes! )

So ... here is a thread in which to voice your opinion. I do suggest that you consider what you post, though. Just posting a bunch of sour grapes isn't really going to accomplish much ... as if it ever did.

Thanks everyone!
G.

[Makfly]

I haven't posted anything about it before, because I didn't want to rain on the parade.
But since you're asking for opinions, I'll share mine.

Personally, I don't like the style.
I also do not think that Genesis primarily appeal to people who grew up with D&D - The game should try and appeal to potential players of all age groups, not just us over 30/40.

I would have liked to see some more creative art, that looked more like...

• Made with ink & quill on old faded parchment
• Something that heavily incorporated words into the art
• A style that more resembled Tolkien or Alan Lee perhaps
• Basically an art style that made you think of text and ancient illustrated works, art that creatively interwove the fact that it's a(n ancient) text game, with the images that leads your mind to think of the prime realms of the game*

The current banner has nothing that leads you to think the Genesis game is a game of text, but could lead you think that it's as outdated as the style of art.
Which is a shame, since Genesis still have something unique to offer, that is not obsolete or outdated yet.

But as with all things art, it's a matter of taste.
Also having people agree on what Genesis looks like graphically is probably going to be impossible, as everyone have made different images in their head over the course of playing, I certainly realise that.

Anyways, you wanted opinions - That was mine.


*Without infringing on copy-rights.

[Arcon]

First I will post the banner:



I had post deleted by someone trigger-happy. [that was me - sorry! (Gorboth)] But what I said was that I liked the style, it is different compare to other online games and that is good, it will stand out. What I don't really feel is good is this banner in specific. If we took away the text from it would you ever think of Genesis when you saw it? I don't feel that it screams exciting adventure and I think our main banner should. The main banner will be the image that any visitor will associate with Genesis.
I believe that the banner need to transmit a message of exciting adventure, conflict and epic heros and villians.


edit: I like the idea of auto changing banner, but we can have the evil and creepy banner during the "night" time and the goodie happy-happy-joy-joy banner during "day" time.
And it would be very cool if we also could make the general feeling of the webpage a bit more dark and gloomy during the evil night time and more light and happy during the happy day time. So the banner and the webpage change together depending of the time of the day.

[Amberlee]

That banner makes it look like we're a bunch of tree hugging hippies.
All of us, not just the select few who are :p

I dont really feel it represents Genesis at all.

Maybe a "good vs evil" theme would be more representative.

[Sharn]

The see with the ship is in the central part of the banner. We do have some sailing, but...
I would say, we need more grind on the banner
I like the one with the alien look (the one on the right) - I would like to be that race in genesis, har!

I like the style, but would like to see more hack and slash and some evil, too.

[Laurel]

For a game that's majorly focused on fighting and supposedly promotes PvP the banner is about some flower-power smiling yuppies on THC ...
I mostly agree with Makfly by the way.

[Celephias]

Some great thoughts here. For me, I'm looking at it from the outside in. The banner is intended for people who nothing about Genesis AFAIK. The kind of questions to ask ourselves are:

- Would this entice someone to give us a look (invoking some curiosity)?
- Is it the right kind of person (e.g. someone who would like the game)?
- Are we showing what the game is about (e.g. avoiding the misperception of what Gen is)?

As a counter case, if we had some super snappy 3d modern looking art, we most likely wouldn't attract someone who would be interested in a text-based game, or someone who would stick around for more than 5 minutes.

Maybe this is pretty easy to do though if we just reflect on ourselves? What do we like about the game? What would attract someone like us? After all, we're the ones who keep playing