Understanding art criticism.

I think it is important to state that discussions and criticisms around art style come from a place of desire for Stormgate to succeed. I want this game to succeed. I think everyone here does. While it is easier to discuss disappointment in personal terms, I think it is worth breaking down why so many people are disappointed by the art direction.

What FrostGiant are doing is hard. They have chosen a transparent, public development style. This comes from a place of faith in the community but it is also a marketing strategy for engagement, which is proving to have been a partial miscalculation. Asking for audience wants and desires is an admirable stance, but it does two things.

• First, it encourages design by committee.
• Second, it enfranchises the community to feel some ownership over the project.

These are important and interlinked considerations when understanding the audiences reaction.

So far as I can see, there seem to be three main stances that have emerged.

1. Meh, this is fine, I just care about gameplay.
2. This is fine, even good in parts, but it isn't finished.. LET THEM COOK.
3. I'm not angry, just disappointed.

There is a divide between the two last positions, especially from those who identify with point 2 against those who occupy point 3. These often get expressed through straw-man arguments. The design by committee aspect pits audience members against one another, because we feel as though we are competing with one another to be validated, and so we devalue each others opinions in order to feel more heard.

It is absolutely fine to like the way the game looks, and absolutely fine to dislike it. It comes back to enfranchisement - by making the audience feel that they have some input and therefor a voice in how the game would develop, Frostgiant have opened the dialogue up to personal disappointment. Using myself as an example, I was really thrilled at the start of the process, I could feel that my opinion (which of course I value) was being taken into consideration. Then, when having given my opinion, it was seemingly ignored and then acted against by decisions that ran counter to my opinions, that created a sense of a breaking of trust.

Frostgiant have done this with a whole community. There is no malice here, no harm. Frostgiant are really trying, and they are acting in good faith, but it does show why people are so disappointed, because it feels like they are acting in bad faith.

I see a lot of people saying that those who don't like the art style just want a repeat/remake/reimagining of SC2. I think this is a bad take.

What people really want, even if they express it through references to other games that had a strong visual identity, is for Stormgate to have it's own strong, individual aesthetic. It really doesn't matter whether this aesthetic is cartoony or pixary or grimdark or anything, it doesn't matter if it is bloody and visceral or full of furries, what matters is the individuality of having artistic vision and the internal fortitude to make their own weird game in their own voice.

That is what Stormgate lacks. It lacks character, personality, vision. This is why people like myself are disappointed. We don't want Frostgiant to make our game, we want them to make theirs. They do not seem to be doing this. At least, if they are, then that is truly worrying, because everything they have put out looks as though it were made to please a risk-averse corporate body.

I don't know how to tie this off. I hope that it is taken in the spirit it is written, as an expression of hope that the spirit of communication trumps personal positions. If you love the way the game looks, that's awesome! You're getting a game you'll be able to cherish. If like me you have misgivings, here's hoping that the Frostgiant team really are cooking in the background, and we will all have egg on our faces.

Cheerio.

Edit:

That second to last paragraph is out of place tonally - it was more of a statement and disparagement than I intended and has taken the focus away from the tone which I intended to be constructive. There is a lot more granular detail to my beliefs that I do not substantiate here so please take that statement with a pinch of salt.

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