The graphics update is dead. Long live the graphics update.
When we announced the graphics update, people reacted strongly. And mostly not in favor of the proposed changes. And although we still need to draw in more people, we were swayed by your arguments. But also we realized that we needed to invest too much time and effort in making the style work to your satisfaction.
So we decided to take a new approach, one that stays much closer to the current look.
Here's our new design:
- We gave the hero a different eye, a body, and shoulders. This should make him more humanoid. No longer do you have to wonder what you actually are.
- The hero and other humanoids have a height and parallax effects. We also lowered the focal point of the camera slightly to emphasize this.
- We desaturated the color palettes of the environment, although certain colors associated with the level themes remain saturated.
- Magic and effects like fire and gasses retain their full saturation, making them pop out better.
- Levels are going to darker, but at the same time we'll be making more use of dynamic and colored light sources.
All in all we hope that in this way we can stay true to the original design, but also make the screenshots look better, and create store assets that are going to be more effective in bringing people in.
You can see the results in motion in the rough video below:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=779484428
In the end we do hope to be able to use visuals like the one below to sell the game
As always, let us know what you think!. We wouldn't be asking for feedback if we aren't prepared to listen!