Should your Game Art be UNIQUE?

This video covers whether making unique 2D game art is always the best choice...

[NonsensicalD]

I Originally had other videos planned, but my last two videos ended up being more controversial than I expected (well, I guess I expected criticism from the pixel art video). So I felt I needed to talk about an implicit premise in most of my videos. I tend to never assume "the ability to do something" as a good argument for doing it, I think almost everything should be evaluated on a scale of Time vs quality (you might agree or disagree, but you should be aware of where I am coming from).

With that said, I am obviously aware that the example I showed in the video isn't that unique, it actually kind of looks exactly like my art (which is kind of my point). But I wanted to show that if I wanted to avoid the label "hk clone", this is about as unique as I could make it without completely ruining the ROI, if I made it more unique it would look worse and take longer time, and at that point living with the label would be better.

Similarly, I think unless you are a really good artist, or naturally draw very different, trying to shoe-horn uniqueness by learning to draw a new way, seems like something that would generally be a bad time investment. And in that sense I think making things slightly different is as of now (when hand drawn is still less saturated then pixel art) still easier. But nonetheless, uniqueness isn't everything. Thanks for watching, feel free to argue with me down below :)

[dmnoodle]

You probably don't wanna hear this, but i actually honestly prefer the artstyle at 5:54 over the one at 5:55. The former has some gris vibes to it, which is one of the most beautiful games ever. The latter on the other hand does indeed go more of that HK route, which i'm seeing more and more. Now that's not a bad thing for me, similar art is fine, but most hk fans aren't as forgiving and will unfairly write off your game based on perceived copying of the style. Deviator is a game i've seen appear at the last steam next fest and it was blasted by toxic hk fans for looking 'too similar' as if the HK lineart style is that unique. I'd argue that the uniqueness of that game is more due to the character designs rather than the art itself

[befrey]

I absolutely love the watercolor level with the dog, you should go that way. It looks 💯 better. Def the difference of me playing or not playing the game.

[typhereus]

Love the aesthetics + technicals of these videos

[edge]

To me, atmosphere, mood, ambience, and tone always trumps art style or aesthetic choices. Unless you learn to specifically copy another artist's design (like in the case of source-accurate fan art), all art is unique due the artists personal experiences in life (including other games). Making comparisons to other artwork shouldn't be treated negatively at all unless it's out-right plagiarism. Art is just as much apart of storytelling as everything else - even music - and some things just fit perspective. If true to oneself, art will always be unique.

[arthurjyem]

I really enjoyed your video, and watched some parts several times. You are giving so many references and comparisons, and it helps me a lot to wrap my mind around what I’m looking for when I draw my tiles. Instead of a solution, you gave me tools to think better. Thank you

[ChrisSmith-bbdq]

I think this video is really helpful. I'm working on a top-down zelda-like and there's part of me that wants to do pixel art, and I did some in a test and it looks pretty decent, but after this video I thought about how long it took me to get the pixels just right for the auto-tiling system, and the ROI is pretty bad.

Realistically, I don't need to adhere to any technical limitations, so I don't NEED to re-use a lot of assets over and over again. Though it was a useful learning experience. And maybe the route I'll take is using the auto-tiling assets I made as a basis for individually hand-drawn assets.

I'm still on the fence, but I think any content like this video is really useful, because it makes creators reconsider their their preconceived notions for doing something in a particular way.
I was doing pixel art because A Link to the Past is in pixel art.

[GlorySnowstar]

From a results standpoint I'd say yes, since a unique artstyle allows your setting to stand out.
But far more importantly, it depends on what you wanna do. If you like a very common style and wanna do that, go for it!

[suicune]

Since I just started drawing, I'm still trying to find a style. I really like watercolor so I'm playing with that at the moment. My current project is a little virtual pet game so I think watercolor will work for that. I'll have to decide with my future projects if watercolor is still appropriate.

[MayaW]

I'd love to see a video about designing 2d art for a day/night cycle or variable light source locations. I'm having a really hard time conceptualizing coloring my assets because of this.

[MayaW]

Another video other concept I'm interested in is level designing platforming areas that you return to simular to Night in the Woods to allow for continued exploration and discovery.

[JuhoSprite]

This guy right here, always got them Philosophical devlogs💪💪💪

[TheGroundskeeper]

Always helpful. I’d love to work with you, as the backend guy. I’m a 40 year old math teacher and know my people. You’re my people. I love how seriously you take this

[saulnores]

Your analysis is great. Take the case of Medal winners 24. Its art is completly unique, but the game isn't yet popular in the wishlists trends.

[aleksdeveloper]

1:20 omg I love this kind of art, not the other one

[ArtArtisian]

Really enjoyed the professional discussion, and breakdown of what makes your art match hollow Knight. Ty!

[Skeffles]

Great video. I don't think your game looks massively like hollowknight but it's just a close comparison that some people make because they want to compare it to something familiar. I bet hollowknight went through a similar process when it was new.

[Shadowthevampire]

I alredy think your digital art is unique I keep seeing your videos and thinking "wow how did he make that, it's so unique, this is going to be so nice to play when it releases, such atmosphere, wow is that scene made up of that many layers cool! "

Im glad you chose the style for your game that you did
It would be cool to se a new game that you made with your traditional art tools at somep point tho. But I like your digital art better when it comes to games so smooth.

[Soul]

I have a question as I'm rlly struggling with art. I stopped my game bc of it, and bc without it, the programming ideas and everything, even though there are working, doesnt seem to give any concrete result to motivate myself. Or it looks bad, or its infinitly long to do. I can't find a style, I'm just copying art from other well known games at this point, and it just putted me away from game development. How do you motivate yourself to do it? Regularity and precise times in a day to do it? Bc its fun? Bc ur good at it? It will be a shame that I stop my lil journey into game dev just bc of it

[Lemonboy]

I have played hollow knight and it doesn't look the same to me. When it was pointed out I was able to see the similarities but still it doesn't look like hk to me. The controversy reminds me of when people see a white haired character in black and think it looks like some anime character they saw once just because of a couple things that look the same. Familiar does not mean the same neither does similar. I think the lack of ability to see the originality is in short in their minds. Those type sound like the type to not actually consume much art outside of that specific media or if they do it's still very limited.