[ItsFirefly]

Oof! I'm the designer and art director myself. Please elaborate a bit as "colors and textures fighting each other" doesn't give me the slightest clue as to what you perceive as problematic. Can you post annotated screenshots so I can learn from this? Then I'll go and fire myself!

I've been playing the game in both the "Cartoon" and "3D" visual style for years and it's been a very pleasant and eye-pleasing experience for me. Please open your world a bit for me. Maybe share some of your design work for inspiration. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

[nnq]

Heh, sorry, I've been to harsh with the comment I guess... it's probably just me personally being "highly allergic" to this particular toony-style. I think it sort of falls in some "uncanny valley" of design, being neither stylized/abstract/low-poly-ish enough, nor realistic enough, nor fully-pixelated/blocky/minecrafty, but just in-between.

In general I like styles that either:

- just go all the way in the stylized direction, like Bad North [1], The Witness [2] or even Clash of Clans [3] (to be honest I also dislike CoC-style popular with mobile games nowadays, but at least it's consistent/harmonious in its candy-plasticky look)

- OR they actually try to do the realistic-style part, like the classic Age of Empires, or toony-ish-ralisticky like more modern Northgard [4]

- OR they fully embrace the blocky style like Minecraft, or the 8-bit/pixelated style of clearly retro-style games

"In between" styles just look... annoying, giving a "sand in your eye" mental sensation of the early 90s games that were too shallow and childish. It lacks some "higher harmony" thing that I can't describe any better. I get this "allergic" reaction also when I see this style in clothing or architecture or whatever.

Anyway, keep up the work if you and others enjoy it, don't be discouraged by people that just prefer smth else!

I'm just a bit sad bc I probably would've liked the game mechanics, but the style totally turns me off.

[1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/688420/Bad_North_Jotunn_E...

[2] https://store.steampowered.com/app/210970/The_Witness/

[3] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.supercell....

[4] https://store.steampowered.com/app/466560/Northgard/

[ItsFirefly]

Thanks for the elaboration, I get that the design just doesn't do it for you personally. Did you already see that the game's also available in a highly abstract "Cartoon" visual style featuring hand-drawn, 2D animated sprites à la Paper Mario 64? Here's the trailer in the "Cartoon" visual style:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7LK0s8LgmQ

Maybe this style appeals more to you?

[verytrivial]

Not the commentator, but I say "your game, your rules!"

That said, with the same level of detail I'm brought to mind of the original Xbox Fable game which in my humble opinion had really excellent art direction for its day -- a mixture of cartoon-y, arty, and moody but only only at times, not constantly gloomy like modern games. Consistent lighting and selective contrast in detail.

Actually, even the 360 remake was a step backwards! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gib34dN0zXI