splendidostrich
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Art feedback: part two
🕑 Added 2020-10-23 11:38:21 +0000 UTCHi all!
I mentioned in my earlier post that I had 2 artists doing trial commissions for game-two. As your feedback was so helpful for the mercenary image, I've asked the other artist if I can share their ongoing work. This is a bit of a larger commission, so there are 4 images here (1 incomplete) with a couple more still ongoing.
Last time, I posted with the aim of narrowing down what wasn't working in the image. This time, I have no such reservations and I'm inclined to accept the completed Ailwin/Alvie images as they are here. Well, a few of them need to be converted to have a transparent bg, but that's the only change I've requested.
However, the commission is still ongoing, so there's scope to request tweaks if I agree with any suggestions for changes. Don't feel obliged to find problems if the images seem fine to you though!
By the way, the large size of these images is for future-proofing and to support players on giant monitors - in the game itself the whole image will fit on-screen. On a 1920x1080 screen that means they'll be shrunk to 1/4 this size in the game so it may be worth taking a look at the image when its sized to all fit on your screen at once.
I'll post the full character bio below, but to explain these images:
Ailwin.png - Standard character image for Ailwin. This is shown on the charcter screen (or will be, once that part of the UI is complete) and during quests if he's selected for a challenge.
Alvie.png - Standard character image, shown during quests and in the first stages of sex before clothes come off. Alvie is the gender-bent version of Ailwin.
sex_image.png - Character image shown during sex. This will be alongside various other adult images which are not complete enough atm to be posted.
pregnant.png - Pregnant character image for Alvie. This is incomplete, but I felt it was far enough along for you to look at. The pregnant image is shown after a quest for any characters who got knocked up, and shows them in their "everyday" clothes rather than whatever they wear while adventuring. For Alvie this isn't a huge difference, but it might be a big deal for armoured fighter types.
Bio and class information. This is intended to be shown in-game, by the way, so feel free to comment on my writing!
Minstrel class overview:
Travelling musicians and entertainers, minstrels are rarely rich but their fame far exceeds their wealth. Peasants throughout the realm await the visit of their favourite minstrels with bated breath and powerful lords compete to hire the most prestigious performers for their feasts and balls.
Nevertheless, some minstrels will move from their celebrated profession to the much-reviled ranks of the adventurers. Why? Sometimes for wealth or to escape from personal difficulties, but often to sate the spirit of adventure that led them to become minstrels in the first place.
Moreover, minstrels are given more leeway than most other adventurers when it comes to things like having a half-human child. Such a thing might cause an honest harlot to be shunned by his or her peers, but minstrels are expected to act somewhat outside social conventions and so dalliances with monsters are accepted as simple quirks and eccentricities.
Minstrels are poor fighters but their former profession grants them silver tongues that can charm the treasure from the pockets of many a grouchy creature. Popular among their companions, they can lift the party's spirits over a crackling campfire and so many captains of adventuring groups will seek to flatter a minstrel into their service.
Ailwin (Male Minstrel):
Background:
Ailwin was, for a time, one of the most popular minstrels in Damfrith's northern province of Pineleigh, feted by burghers and nobles, idolised by the peasantry.
Tall, charming, fit and extremely good-looking, he enjoyed his popularity to the full. Not one to look further ahead than the next moment, he revelled in a string of love-affairs with little thought to their consequences.
His blissful times would be cut short by just such a consequence. Caught in flagrante delicto with the daughter of the powerful Lord Hammarch, he found himself facing a terrible fate for a man like himself: marriage.
Instead, he chose to flee, paying criminals in the Capital to keep him hidden. Soon his purse ran empty and, still hunted by his would-be father-in-law's men and now badly in debt to brutish leg-breakers, he chose to join the adventurer's guild in search of discreet coin.
Alvie (Female Minstrel, the gender-bent version of Ailwin)
Background:
Ailwin had often mused over which of his instruments gave the most pleasure to women. A brush with transformative magic removed one such instrument from the minstrel's possession, rendering the question somewhat moot. Having swapped breeches for skirts and baritone for soprano, Ailwin now goes by the name of Alvie and will never again put a star-struck milkmaid at risk of a swollen belly.
Alvie was not surprised to discover that she was beautiful: how could she be otherwise, given the gorgeousness of her male precursor? She is, however, surprised to find herself affected by new and unfamiliar urges towards the male sex. Her life as Ailwin has left her well-acquainted with how much a woman can enjoy an intimate encounter, but surely the brutish attentions of the wild's monstrous inhabitants could never compare with the peerless loving of her former male self.
Comments
Splendid Ostrich
Unity. That's one reason why things are going so slow, because I'm less familiar with it than Java. I'm hoping that using Unity will help me put together a better UI this time though.
Splendid Ostrich
Thanks! It does sound like I should re-commission them once this batch is complete
Nezu
What platform is this new game being developed in?
Diddle Bop
Having seen both of the other artist's works, I like these ones better for sure
Sentimental Penguin
I understand that, but I think my complaint about the two standard images is that they're not very sensual? When the way h-games are nowadays, even the non-h stuff already has some sexy in it, so that the transition to the naughty bits is smoother.
Splendid Ostrich
Cheers, I'll have a look at Seeds of Chaos. These aren't showing the entire sex display - the game composites 3 or 4 images at once during a sex scene so the full experience wouldn't just be seeing Alvie naked. Sadly I'm not in a position to show the whole lot at the moment.
Sentimental Penguin
I think that's part of what bothers me with this and the previous art - it falls into this no man's land between erotica and fantasy, and ends up with the worst of both worlds. This might just be personal taste kicking in, but a fantasy erotica game that has a great art direction is Seeds of Chaos. The artists there know when to emphasize the sexy, and when to focus on the fantasy aspects of the art. I'm not trashing the artist you got, I think it's more if you want me to not focus on details like that, you NEED to distract me with the sexy. Amp it up. Otherwise go hard in the other direction. But this is just me being a little nitpicky, having been harassed by multiple artist friends for feedback on their erotic fantasy art. :P
Splendid Ostrich
Thanks for your feedback - the artist will be pleased! The game's a long way off, I'm afraid. I have a ton of stuff to do in areas like th UI where progress is slow, and my time on it is limited because the Newlife releases take priority. As for the artist, I'll ask if they're fine with me passing on their contact details, and I suspect they will be. However, I'm inclined to monopolise their time for quite a while now - the first part of game two's development calls for about 300 images so there's no shortage of work for me to give them!
Splendid Ostrich
Thanks for your feedback! I'm fine with her clothing myself - there's strapless dresses with similar necklines, and neither erotica nor fantasy settings are traditionally concerned with full realism in clothing. I'm certain that the more armoured classes will end up with big departures from realism, given the requirement to make them look sexually appealing and the extreme un-sexiness of practical armour. I'll pass on your comments about Ailwin's crotch and see what the artist thinks, but I'm inclined to go for no change there too. I don't think just slapping a codpiece on the existing art would look good, and a full re-draw of his crotch area seems like too big an ask for something like that - the artist's paid by the piece, so reworks means more time spent for the same amount of pay. Still, it's good feedback to consider for future pieces where I can bring it up in the sketch stage.
Splendid Ostrich
Cheers. What would be your preferred art style for an adult game set in a fantasy world?
CT-Dragon88
Well these look much more refined than the previous picture. Enough so I’m tempted to ask whom you commission so I might contact them myself. Nothing strongly stands out to me. Also excited to see and play this other game.
Neptune
It feels like the artist is going for a sort of classic H-game/D&D handbook look that may not be in high demand anymore. I won't drone on with nitpicking, as it may be more of a personal art preference at this point, and it's certainly improved over the last one. It's functional for game purposes, just inconsistent and maybe a bit dated. Curious to see how everything develops.
Sentimental Penguin
My feedback on his male art: His crotch looks strangely smooth. One would think that a bard, especially one who's as seductive as his bio says, would either be wearing something that accentuates that area, provides more protection, or both. Female art: What is keeping that top on her breasts? There's no straps, and that material looks like cloth. The dress design bothers me.
