Quest Mode is happening either way, it just might take a little longer...or a lot longer. However, we really believe in it. Personally, I'm really excited for it.
I'm sorry you're not into Auro's art, but I just popped in to clear something up.
At no point do I laud my own work as all that great. I can't speak to how good I am. I do my best, and that's all I can do. Full disclosure, the only reason I included it at all was to plug it. We're a small, new company and need all the help we can get.
I also think it's a little strange to hear that I spend no time on my art's issues when the whole article is basically saying the entire art direction was a big mistake.
I'm not a graphic designer, yet I had to make every art asset in the game. I have to wear many hats, and I wear some better than others. I'm always learning, always pushing, always questioning, always trying to improve. Pretty much every example I gave of pixel art is insanely better than I am. That doesn't bother me. There will always be someone better, and there will always be someone worse. Besides, even if my work was the most ghastly thing you've ever seen, it wouldn't make my arguments any more or less valid. If you think my positions are incorrect, I don't see how that has to do with how much or how little I discuss my own work. That said, I'll be the first to fuss and fuss and fuss over the flaws and shortcomings in my work. I'm my own worst enemy. Does it make you feel better to hear that?
Author/artist here! Thank you so much for bringing it back around. And it's important to point out that I am in no way proposing that we "dumb down" or "pander." I think we should always be pushing as hard as we can and producing ambitious, excellent work as much as we can. We should sacrifice money and time to see it through and really add something of value and enrichment to the world! I just think we should do that in a language people already speak. That's a lower level than all these finer points, fun as they are to discuss ;). Thanks for reading!
I couldn't name 10 Animes. I'm not weeaboo by any metric. I will say that I think Japanese art tends to be finer, but not always. I think our culture grapples with being macho, or gritty or realistic. I think it rubs against "the rule of good."
Anyway, whether or not something is old is immaterial. Pixar is making some of my favorite animation period, and they keep getting better. AND they're American.
By all means, dismantle my argument. I would be happy to discuss. I don't think ad hominem is the best place to start.
Artist/author here! To be clear, when I said her body is like a whip cracking, it's because a kung fu artist doing that kind of movement in real life would look like a whip cracking. When I said arms don't work that way, I mean that his anatomy is literally deformed to the point of not even looking human.
I am not using a double standard. Though, even if both figures were deformed beyond what is absolutely realistic, there could still be well-executed and poorly-executed iterations.