Flux World is Still Recruiting Background/Sprite Artists

[Meistari F]

Fluxmaster are now looking for a new background artist and sprite artist.  I'm no longer working in his team. I'm too busy in my other jobs.  I wish fluxmaster and his new team a good luck with his game.

[fluxmaster]

I am still recruiting one or more background/sprite artists for my game, as Fribbi is no longer on the team.  All team members will be paid based on a percentage of sales.

I would also like the opinion of some of those who have tried the beta version and/or posted on this thread before.  I have basically two possibilities here.  I can recruit artists to provide better backgrounds and sprites, or I can release the game with its current backgrounds and sprites.  Some posters here have said that they prefer my current backgrounds and sprites.  Since there is a lot of symbolism to the game, and enhanced backgrounds and sprites will be able to bring out that symbolism better by adding subtle hints that do not appear in my graphics, I would perfer to recruit some artists who could do that for me.  Howerver, I do believe that the game is playable with its current graphics.  So we have

Choice 1:  Finish testing the game, do the remaining bug fixes, and release the game as shareware with the current graphics.  Ask for monetary contributions from those who have liked the game.

Choice 2:  Recruit one or more artists (and possibly a composer), improve the graphics, and then offer the game for sale for around $20 or so.

Choice 2 will add at least another year to the development cycle.  Note that if I cannot recruit any new artists, I will be limited to choice 1.

Could I have some opinions from those who have posted here before and/or have tried the game (or even from those who have done neither) as to whether you would prefer choice 1 or choice 2.  Thank you.

[miguel]

Hi fluxmaster,
I downloaded the game and played it for a while and I think that the concept is interesting.
As to answer your question, you should go for Choice 1. Get it all fixed and see what happens. You can always go back to the game and improve on the art.
The part on Choice 1 about asking money should not be a big thing (IMO), most games here are free and I believe it's the way they should stay.
Again, it's easy to see that your game has potential and originality and I wish you the best.
I'll spend more time on the game and try to beat it. Report later.

[Dualnames]

It's actually a bad thing to start a game and swap it to commercial when it's ready.. for many reasons.

[Peder 🚀]

Do something in between:

choice 1<->2: Keep the game as shareware, try and get someone to polish the art a bit, fix all bugs and release it. Ask for monetary contributions from those who have liked the game.

There is many people out there willing to help on a game for free if the idea and such is good enough!
And if you got well written documents to show.

Maybe post a post in the recruitment thread with a link to your game documents!


Peder.

[egamer]

Personally I prefer option 2.

As someone who has played through the game with the original graphics, I can say that playing the game felt like trying to solve a puzzle where I was never really sure why I was doing it.  Don't get me wrong--the game was very interesting to play.  I think I have figured out some of the symbolism--at least Fluxmaster tells me I have.  But there were a lot of times where I figured out by trial and error what to do without really understanding why I did it.  If better graphics could make the game more understandable, then the game would be a lot more enjoyable to play.

The game definitely is playable the way it is now.  But in its current form, it's more of a puzzle to solve than a story to experience.  So option 1 is definitely okay, but option 2 is better.

[fluxmaster]

After much deliberation, I have decided to go with choice number 1½.  I shall fix the remaining bugs and offer the game as shareware. However, new artists are still welcome to apply. If and when a commercial release with enanced graphics is available, those who have paid for the shareware version will be able to apply the amount that they have paid to the cost of the commercial version.

Maybe post a post in the recruitment thread with a link to your game documents!

Where can I find the recruitment thread?

EDIT:  Although I intend to fix all the logic errors before releasing the game, I will be unable to make changes to the original graphics because the original graphics were drawn at low resolution, and I have converted the game to high resolution.  In particular, there are two bugs that must remain unfixed:

1.  The Lumberjack changes color slightly after he has cut down a tree.  You may, if you wish, think of that as being due to prespiration.

2.  Twice in the second half of the game, one of the barracks shifts by one pixel while under construction.

For a more detailed discussion of this issue, see the following thread:

http://fluxwarrior.bplaced.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3=9

EDIT:  Actually, I just discovered this morning that AGS has an option to import a sprite at the original resolution, so I was able to correct the problem of the barracks shifting by one pixel.  I think that I will leave the color of the Lumberjack as is, as it gives the effect of prespiration, and it would be a lot of trouble to fix it.

[cat]

Where can I find the recruitment thread?

Here: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=30347.0

[fluxmaster]

Thanks, I missed that.  I was looking for a recruiting category.  I hope it is okay to post in both places.