[Developer] Do you really need fancy cute graphics?

October 30th, 2009 View Comments

Do you really need those fancy cute graphics for your game? Well to short answer to this is “No.”

Why? Because people who play games are normally school kids aged 13-17, and most of them dont play flash games at home (Its a true fact, They prefer console games), They play these game at work or school when they have limited time (breaks etc) They wont come to play a game thats so complex with a Play time of 1 hour and Amazing graphics that takes 10 mins to load up. They want to play something quick and instantly! And thats one reason why game(s) like “The Copter Game” are/is still popular. The graphics on those(that) game(s) isn’t amazingly hot! nor is it so bad. If you spend more time on the gameplay rather than the graphics itself, The chances are your game will attract more people. If you pay a artist to develop the graphics, You could probably create simple graphics yourself and save alot of cash. This doesn’t mean the graphics of a game mean absolutely nothing and it doesn’t mean all games with not so good graphics succeed. There are some games where good graphics may be vital. But having a good gameplay is always better.

Simple Examples: Copter Game (one of the oldest games, Yet addictive), Adrenaline Challenge (A popular game, Reaching over 215 Million Plays and still counting… The Stats )

This is just a opinion, I would love to see your thoughts/opinions. please comment below!

Thoughts from MochiMedia Forums: (Thread)

I think i’d have to go with gameplay. It doesn’t matter how good your graphics are if your gameplay sucks. However, you can have excellent gameplay and shitty graphics (ie: worlds hardest game) and have a wonderful game on your hands that will get lots of views. – erichamc

Graphics get the initial hook and in most cases gives a good first impression so they’re more likely to give the gameplay more of a chance, gameplay keeps them in for the long haul (gets the replays and people competing). Both can help people pass it on, if they were impressed by the graphics they may tell others about the cool artwork, if they were impressed by the gameplay they may tell others about the fun experience. – hybird

I think gameplay is important. Do you imply it is not needed to create a very deep game (gameplay-wise) to be succesfull? Or are you hinting at framerate issues that could make a game unplayable for some users, but shines like gold in the graphics department? It’s about what you define as ‘good gameplay’. To me, good gameplay can be simple. People will enjoy a simple one-off game more, instead of some deep game they actually must learn to master. Then again, I’m no scientist… – Inxentas

gameplay is the biggest worry and the hardest thing to do, even if you have good graphics they can look clumsy or out of place sometimes which can be really frustrating trying to guess the right course of action for your graphics set. -Iliescu

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About The Author: FlashJolt

Maintains FlashJolt as well as writes entries for FlashJolt Blog. Started working on FlashJolt around August 2009.

http://www.flashjolt.com/blog/67/what-makes-good-flash-games What makes a good flash games? « Flash Games Blogs – FlashJolt

[...] Whether you like a game or not is your taste. Some games gain alot of fans while the others lay buried with not alot of people noticing. But What really makes a good game that attracts gamers? In a old post i said Flash Games dont really need Cute Graphics to be good. [...]
http://www.adityagameprogrammer.com Aditya

Yes we need ” fancy cute graphics ” thats what separates the B’s from the wana B’s
why loose the great polish advantage of cute graphics when you have it.
its a diffrent matter if you dont have it or dont have ways to get it. then it’s just simply sour grapes. no one said cute graphics and good gameplay dont go well togeather . unless your game is something on the lines the groundbreaking shift or some sort of experimental game( contraption thing) .