Isometric 2D Art Appreciation Thread

[tuluse]

That's just milking customers. Look at valve they sell their new games for around $35.

 

[AgentBJ09]

True, but they also distribute only through Steam. And if the "30% take of digital sales on Steam" is to be believed, that's why they can sell that low without profit loss.

Still, for 2D art like this in these games, I have to wonder: The budgets these kinds of games were made on was likely smaller than they are now in the late 00's and early '10s. Maybe if the industry steps back to 2D and isometric like this for a while, maybe bad/low selling games wouldn't dent them so hard and they could recover some?

 

[Kem0sabe]

True, but they also distribute only through Steam. And if the "30% take of digital sales on Steam" is to be believed, that's why they can sell that low without profit loss.

Still, for 2D art like this in these games, I have to wonder: The budgets these kinds of games were made on was likely smaller than they are now in the late 00's and early '10s. Maybe if the industry steps back to 2D and isometric like this for a while, maybe bad/low selling games wouldn't dent them so hard and they could recover some?

Let´s see how PE and Shadowrun turn out sales wise. If they sell well enough i don´t see how other developer´s won´t look at the market and say "there´s money to be made with this 2d isometric crap".

I would be down to buying an episodic D&D isometric rpg, a new module every few months, akin to the excellent Walking dead game.

Imagine a group of studios working with the license and churning new modules at a steady pace. What´s not to like?

 

[Kem0sabe]

Not exactly a traditional rpg but still beautiful... and that damned narrator.

 

[BlitzKitchen]

That looks great.

 

[Hormalakh]

publishers don't care about small amounts of money (anything less than $10mil). That's chump change to them. They spend $20-30mil expecting to make huge returns on their games.

 

[AgentBJ09]

True, but they also distribute only through Steam. And if the "30% take of digital sales on Steam" is to be believed, that's why they can sell that low without profit loss.

Still, for 2D art like this in these games, I have to wonder: The budgets these kinds of games were made on was likely smaller than they are now in the late 00's and early '10s. Maybe if the industry steps back to 2D and isometric like this for a while, maybe bad/low selling games wouldn't dent them so hard and they could recover some?

Let´s see how PE and Shadowrun turn out sales wise. If they sell well enough i don´t see how other developer´s won´t look at the market and say "there´s money to be made with this 2d isometric crap".

I would be down to buying an episodic D&D isometric rpg, a new module every few months, akin to the excellent Walking dead game.

Imagine a group of studios working with the license and churning new modules at a steady pace. What´s not to like?

That's a great idea. Buy the main game and a set of modules, and you can buy more as mods and such as time goes on. Reminds me of the Rock Band DLC system now that I think about it.

 

[Wizfall]

Lots of beautiful screenshots here, would be nice to put the name of the games each comes from though.
When i was asking why so few isometric game was because, aside the fact i like that much better of course, some big sales come from these kind of games.
Even outside of cRPG, games like Starcraft 1/2 or diablo1/2/3 was huge hit.
Diablo 3 was a huge success too (in terms of sales don't start bitching plz).
Except maybe Planescape i don't remember a big AAA game in isometric view being a flop.
So why all these f...ing 3D games, especially cRPG (W2 not being made in isometric 2D was a big letdown for me)
.

 

[DraQ]

Game quality discussion aside, Inquisitor looks alright.

I like the gem gauges.

 

[Kaucukovnik]

Always loved 2D game art. Didn't understand why N64 grade graphics took over in the 90s.

Now I think I know at least part of the cause. It has a lot more to do with the creators than we think. Who are nowadays the only real artists on a team? The concept artists. Who pretty much end their work on anything before its real production begins. The modelers and animators just craft things on demand. The most influential people are those with interest centered on the technology. They probably didn't study colour and composition too much. They studied vertices, polygons and physics engines. You can expect such people to be more enthusiastic about next-gen shit, rather than artistic impact. 2D is dead from their "innovative" standpoint, there is nothing to invent there for them. And they use merely the ideas of said concept artists to build their own vision of awesome.
It always makes me sad seeing: "Looking for 3D game artist. Experience with 3DS/CAD required". Hell, a colorblind engineer is more fitting than...you know...an actual artist.

When there was a small team, often the same person would do half the art AND the drawing routines. He would write code for the art, not the other way around - at least in some cases.


Let's be honest. John Carmack never was a good game designer. He's a brilliant coder, but I have yet to see a single proof of his positive influence on gameplay or content. He built his nameas a "creator of games" with the old id team. The blind stumbling of id nowadays is a clear mark of that, I'd say.


And TV screens looked at from across the living room are definitely another reason why detailed 2D art is a no go.

 

[ghostdog]

Some giant Planescape:

Whoa, have you tried my UI ? I have never tested it with such a big res and I've always wondered how it looks. It should work fine though.

 

[laclongquan]

Curst is prolly better for this than the Morgue.

 

[Kirtai]

Watch out for a bug in the widescreen mod for Torment, it can crash at very high resolutions. Scient has a fix linked here

Also found at Spellhold.

 

[Brimruk]

Phantasmal, what games are your last three screenshots from? I'm guessing Commandos or something?

 

[zeitgeist]

Phantasmal, what games are your last three screenshots from? I'm guessing Commandos or something?

https://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/commandos-2-men-of-courage/screenshots

 

[Surf Solar]

Phantasmal, what games are your last three screenshots from? I'm guessing Commandos or something?

https://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/commandos-2-men-of-courage/screenshots

Awesome game, can't manage to make it run on Windows 7 though.

 

[Rahdulan]

What? No Desperados, Phantasmal? Damn shame later games decided to go with 3D.

 

[roshan]

That looks great.

What game is this from?

 

[Surf Solar]

That looks great.

What game is this from?

http://af.gog.com/gamecard/robin_hood?as=1649904300

 

[Kaucukovnik]

Complete areas of Albion (warning - HUGE):

Nakiridaani
Gratogel
Maini
Umajo
Dji Cantos

Test maps 1 2

 

[A user named cat]

Sorry, should've listed the games though they've been answered now. So yeah -- Robin Hood: Legend of Sherwood, Divine Divinity and Commandos 2. Those aren't my own screens obviously, haven't played or installed them in ages. Sick to death of DD (beat it 4 times) and Commandos 2 amount of hotkeys to memorize always put me off. Robin Hood was a decent "beat it once then forget it" type of game but it looked amazing.

 

[Zlaja]

 

[Commissar Draco]

When playing in 2D ''Iso'' mode I feel like I'm playing a game, 3D is either ugly, dated or too vulgar in its attempt to simulate reality... and all 3D games I liked look horribly dated just few years after being released no problem with 2D graphics unless they were done in very low res.

 

[potatojohn]

Well there's lots of stuff you can do in 3D that you can't do in 2D. Just look at Silent Storm's complex geometry, the destructible buildings, the pixel-perfect line of sight, etc.

 

[Jaceface]

Ah, i do so miss nicely done 2D art. Looking forward to see how PE holds up to the older art. Love the moody atmosphere in the screenies of what remains too.