2D Perspective and Public Opinion

Recently I've been making a 2D adventure game in a custom engine. I'm fairly happy with the way the game is going and I plan have it for sale by the end of next year. However I have a major concern. The perspective I'm using is the same as the perspective in RPG Maker. This wouldn't be a big deal if so many people on Steam didn't immediately hate anything that looks like it came out of the engine. Yes there are RPG Maker games on Steam but they're mainly from developers with established fan bases. Does anyone think it would be wise to change perspective?

I think people can tell the difference between how the RM engines work and a custom/different one, just by small detail and style alone. If that's the perspective you want to work in, go for it.

If someone played the game they could tell it wasn't an RPG Maker game the moment it started due to the fact it can run in higher resolutions such as 1080p. However many people might just look at screenshots and write it off. Unless this doesn't look like an RPG Maker game.

I mean, it looks like it could be an rpg maker game. At this point though, I'd think that RpgMaker would be a ridiculous waste of energy for this type of game. I mean, huge tiles, huge charsets. It just wouldn't make sense to make it with rpg maker. Honestly though, I wouldn't assume rpg maker from that screen.

That is true... I might post the game in Greenlight concepts and see what responses I get. Thanks for your opinion.

ugh that car.

also that guy on the right has a flat front and a weird hunchy back.

Well it's still a work in progress so I'll look into improving them. What don't you like about the car exactly? Or do you just hate the entire thing?

Like are you going for a weird stylistic thing or do you just have no idea how to make a car from that perspective?
that car looks more like a drawing a first grader would make of a car than a real vehicle even if you are trying to stylize it.

here's one in a similar perspective as an example.

Is it really that off? Looking at it now I do see it isn't extremely realistic and I could make some adjustments in the hood. I should probably add lights as well but it seems fairly close.

that car would be half as wide as it is long if it were a 3d model.

I suppose it is a bit wide. I tried to take into account the width of the sprites and how they would fit into the seats.

Made some modifications as an example. all i'm saying is add a little more detail a little less width and it really changes it.

whoops forgot to add a door handle to the back door.

Wow that does look a lot better. I'll go and start improving mine then. I appreciate the help Strike.

the biggest change was making the tires and side of the car bigger. I also angled the front and back down a bit, most hoods and trunks slant down, some very slightly and some trunks are straight across but hoods almost always slope downward even on most trucks.


with the pickup in the driveway what I see as an issue is that if you were to turn the truck sideway the bed of the truck would be as long as the hood. and both are longer than the cab.

I kinda got distracted irl when I made my post, so I didn't exactly make it clear what I was trying to say.
Basically, it looks like it would be too much of a hassle to make in rpg maker, so I would assume that it's made with something else. Especially because it doesn't look grid based.
You probably understood what I meant, but just wanted to make it clear.

Also, yeah there are some issues with your art, but it has a nice atmosphere to it. Most people would be willing to ignore bad graphics if the gameplay is really fun or engaging, so don't stress too much about that (especially if that's not your strongest area).

most people are willing to ignore it if it's a free flash game, but something that's intended to be sold best be polished. None of the art has to be extremely complicated, especially when going for a simplistic look. but a sytlized object should look like it is stylized not drawn poorly.

The thing people hate about rpg maker games is the bland overused RTP. If everything is completely custom it shouldn't matter what you use to make it. Like strike said above, it's all about polish.

@Strike and Zexion: I definitely agree with Strike on this. Obviously everything won't be perfect especially since this is my first real attempt at pixel art from scratch. However if I'm going to sell this it should look pretty darn good. I knew there were some issues but I received fairly positive responses when I showed people the game's art. However it seems those people weren't entirely honest.
@Starfire: Ya I know people over using RTP is probably the largest issue but I still had my concerns with the perspective.

Obviously everything won't be perfect especially since this is my first real attempt at pixel art from scratch. However if I'm going to sell this it should look pretty darn good.

Detail is everything. If you want something to look good you have to be almost unnecessarily meticulous with how much detail you pour into it. The lawn is sticking out into the street in bits, there's no curb. You have to think like a film director in how everything is set up.

The road was supposed to be a paved country road. The lawn sticking out was suppose to be where asphalt was cracked off. This is also why there isn't a curb. However I definitely need to add more detail so people know the setting.

RPG Maker's perspective is that of many 2D RPGs. There's really nothing inherently RPG Maker-like about it.

I would agree if I was targeting anything but PC because it at least seems that a majority of games released with that perspective on PC are made with RPG Maker. So it may in some cases be safe to assume that the game was created with it.

Starfire makes a great point. If I see standard RTP tiles in an RPG Maker game, I skip right past it.

Animation in 2d pixel art I couldn't believe was possible. If you want to beat the games of the past your art needs to be stellar, dude. I appreciate your time in creating your own art. That's what attracted me to this post and your game.

I would agree if I was targeting anything but PC because it at least seems that a majority of games released with that perspective on PC are made with RPG Maker. So it may in some cases be safe to assume that the game was created with it.

Maybe you only feel that's the case because you're in an RPG Maker community? I've seen a decent number of independent games with this perspective, and most of them don't use RPG Maker.

You shouldn't even be worrying about this anyway. Make what you want.