Should we stick with 3D?
Hey everyone! This is kind of a copy and paste from a reddit Unity post I did but I'm trying to ask as many developers as possible to get the most input on the subject.
I'm currently a, "technical artist" ,(I put quotations because I do a lot more than just that haha) working on a 2.5 platformer game in a team of 7 people.
I asked my boss and he said it would be fine to link you to a video of the game that they had made a year ago before I joined.
The game is called Puppet Quest. You control a boy and use meditation to then control the puppet to solve puzzles and traverse through the level. We've made some big gameplay changes but the art would be similar if we kept it in 3D.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOqT0zAHVHM
We've been working on our game for almost 2 years and at the beginning of the summer our new producer made it clear to us that our current game was broken on the side of fundamentals, (bad character response, uninteresting gameplay, ). What we did have at the time was a nice looking 2.5 platformer that was playable and had lots of 3D assets. So, taking his warnings to heart we took our existing characters and animations and went back to prototyping gameplay mechanics to make our game fun and enjoyable to play. With that point in mind, we have until December to give our investors a beauty pass, (verticle slice). Our producer is suggesting we scrap our content, take our ideas/knowledge and make a 2D game in the few months we have left, with the size of team we have.
I'm very hesetant on this idea as I think that our game looked nice, our character models are already modeled/rigged, (the hardest part to characters IMO) and I feel if we switch mediums that we will be so lost (since we've worked in 3D for 2 years) that the game will crash and burn.
lastly i'm worried about investors that signed onto a 3D game and get a 2D game.
Our producer wants to switch to 2D so that we don't have to spent a lot of time modeling new assets based off our new gameplay.
Can anyone please give some personal experience into this to help bring some direction? Would making a 2D game really be soooo much easier as to scrap existing work and assets in order to get SOMETHING out the door? Much appreciated.
Team consists of
-Concept artist
-Technical Artist/3D artist
-Two engineers
-A level designer
-A mechanics designer
-producer
-CEO
-Texture artist
Should we stick with 3D? 43 votes
40 votes
3 votes
Replies
From the video this looks great for a vertical slice. Your CEO needs to manage the expectation of the investors and take a good look at a producer who is willing to throw out 2 years of work in favor of what would be a 3 month Death March to make anything remotely passable..
- Your team is 2 years into the project and you haven't completed a verticle slice beauty pass yet.
- Your producer wants to make a huge change in how the assets are made, and this change would not represent the game that you are being paid to make by investors.
Without knowing more about the project (in particular if most of the content is still to be made, or if a high percentage of content has already been made), it's hard to know the best course of action for the project.
Good luck. I hope it works out ok. It sounds quite challenging.
Find someone who is excellent at lighting and trust their judgement. Let them re-light everything because that is your biggest problem.
If they are also great at shaders and can fix your problems with layers and depth, then it's a bonus. If not, hire a person who can do those things.
You have a very solid foundation and there is lots of great stuff in your trailer. Find that person who can light it and you are going to have a great looking game.
P.S. - You also need some great particles and fx in your game but lighting must come first.
just tell him, Ori and the Blind Forrest took us 4 years to do. 1 year to figure out the look another 3 to actually produce it. 2d has its pros and cons, just the same way as 3d has its pros and cons. But at this time starting from scratch into uncharted territory sounds like a very, very bad idea.
Ironically a lot of 2D games use 3D renders as a basis for the 2D work to iterate and keep art consistent, King of Fighters was known for this as well as many other JRPGs (multiple xseed games come to mind) that use 3D renders directly as 2D sprites because they need many animations from different angles.
Will the outpour of positivity towards 3D our CEO feels more comfortable going on the path we've been doing so we can crank this beast out and have it play and look great in the time we have. It's a huge challenge for sure. Again I appreciate the feedback!
If you were just starting pre-production and had a 2 year cycle, with no firm commitment to 2D or 3D, there would be a solid argument for going 2D with a small team. However, at this point? No way.
Honestly the game is above average for Indie standards as far as aesthetic goes so don't go beating yourselves up over it. You guys seem close to a good product, it sounds like your producer might be a bit pushy? Obviously I am assuming and don't know him one bit though. good luck!
there aren't that many 3d 2.5d games really.. and I think they're beautiful.
the only thing I would say is pump up the detail on your main character.
he's a little blocky.
I'm sure you could keep the env as is and bump the character without too much trouble...