Side Effects of Improvement
Author: Astro Beef Studios,
published 5 months ago,
For the past month I've been dedicating a lot of work to the core mechanics of the game; refining the command system, giving more depth to the prediction system, implementing AI, removing errors, and more. I would love to dive into that code, but honestly I don't have the mental capacity or time to explain it all. Instead I'll talk about art, because I've been working on that too.
[h2]Crow[/h2]
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/44893654/0891b8b207132adeaeb3a8b789f05f3d23dcb078.png[/img]
I've been working on the last few offense units for the game and I'm really happy with the end results. I am a coder first and artist second, so to see my art improve has been very motivating. But it's disconcerting too. With each piece, my quality gets better.
[h2]The Knight[/h2]
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/44893654/a436820a8ab0336260326b5a2165e05ddc35383f.png[/img]
I am getting better because I am deliberating practicing my craft between each new art piece, and the process of making these new pieces gives my mind a lot of new tricks to think on. But as I improve, I look back on my old work. When I made the knight, I was proud but I also had the thought: "Oh no, this is so much better than everything else". I feel the need to go back and remake old assets. Looking at the differences between the Emperor and the Knight, it's clear to see that I've stepped up in my execution:
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/44893654/8a1319f16b5ff38405ffc57fd29faff6564967ef.png[/img]
Part of this is a style issue too. With the Emperor, I didn't even attempt to paint it or shade it. It is just pen work.
Usually when an artist improves, it's a positive change. But because all of this art is contributing to the same project, I can't help but compare and see the differences in qualities between all of the artworks and think "I need to either redo all of my old work, or simplify my new work."
Ultimately, I'm choosing to leave this worry aside. This is a modest game meant to humble myself. I am by nature a perfectionist, but with this project I am doing everything I can to step away from perfection and work towards something that is simple and adequate. I'm aware that the disparity in art quality may turn some customers away. As a perfectionist, that kills me. But I'm also hopefully that people will see my flawed work as something unique.
Here's my latest piece, a bug demon which I've named "Kaiju" as a nod to [b]Into the Breach[/b], a major inspiration for this game:
[h2]Kaiju[/h2]
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/44893654/ff015084f8282c68b872b0a8f8611309c4f95df9.png[/img]