Lemma Soft Forums

Players, what do you think?
If the story and character synopses sounded interesting, would you play a VN with this type of art?

The 3D poser-style models over real photograph backgrounds kind of wierds me out, so I wouldn't personally play a VN that used this style, no.

I'd prefer almost any kind of stylized 2D art over that.

Probably not.

It's not that the poser-style is a terrible turn off. But this isn't the best use of that style. The models seem kind of generic, compared to what I've seen elsewhere. The clothes seem overly simple - the wrinkles seem unnatural - almost like the clothes are being painted on, instead of separately modeled. Ditto for the girl's face - it looks painted, like on a figurine.

One of the big advantages of poser art - I think - is that once you set up a scene, it's pretty cheap to move the camera around it. Once you have a scene, you can do close-ups and reverse-angles easily. (Compare this to 2d, where a reverse angle costs the same amount as the original shot.) Using a photo background like this - rather than props - means you're pretty much stuck to one camera angle. (In this case, it's a rather boring one, too.)

I hate to say this, and realize this is completely subjective, but it feels like the artist didn't put in as much effort as other poser artists I've seen. So that would tend to make me less likely to play the resulting game.

Edit: That's probably not fair - since in poser, it's possible to trade money for effort. Compare this model with the one used above. (Swimsuit-NSFW, with links to NSFW images a click away.)

Yeah, it feels like it lacks texture. I've seen 3D that I've liked, but it's generally very detailed (but I think it takes a lot of time to do it that way). I hate to admit it, but I'd probably avoid something that looked like that...

I used to make my early games with Poser but I have to say that I really don't like 3d - real time 3d is ok since gives you other advantages (immersivity, animation in particular). If you google around is easy to find "perfect" renders of poser models like this one:

but they require insane amount of work to get the lighting correct (and you still have the problem of the background matching it).
But (personally of course) I still find that beautiful image... like a plastic woman I find much more sexy hand-drawn images like those (from various artist of my games):

I'll be frank.
No. The 3d looks cheap and plastic-y,.the lighting doesn't help
It also sticks out a lot on the photo background. especially because the photo is low quality and pixel-y while the renders are smooth. the clothes don't look natural. it just looks really weird. Uncanny Valley

It's not that people don't LIKE 3d art in games. I love the art in Final Fantasy. Assasins Creed, Portal etc. and to be fair, you aren't Square Enix, Or Valve, or Ubisoft, so you don't have their fancy software. but it's certainly not impossible to have fantastic models. C:

Yeah, I like the 3D stuff Square Enix puts out. I liked watching Advent Children a lot!

Short answer: No.
Longer answer: While I am a fan of 3d art in general, I don't think it works very well in VNs, since the main advantage is that it is easy to move around and VNs are generally quite static. Of course, I could get around that if it weren't for the fact that most of the people using them simply fiddle with poser for a few minutes because it is the easiest/laziest option. Related to that, is the fact that the poses often end up looking quite strange, and this is no exception. The woman looks really really weird, and I can't tell whether it's the model itself or the pose she's in. The textures on the models seem quite minimalistic as well, which clashes with the photographic background. So basically, I have to say that if I saw a VN with this art, I likely wouln't play it.

Not to sound like a parrot repeating what everyone else is saying, but I'm going to have to say no as well. 3D Models work for almost any type of game, but visual novels is one type of game where using 3D Models does NOT work.

This is pretty much the same response as the ones you got on VNDB.

Beliar wrote:I would be able to forgive the previous two to some degree and give a higher rating, but these games sport some of the ugliest art since David Duchowny sat his bare buttocks on a paint layered sheet of paper. Seriously, drop that fugly 3D engine you are using. I understand that it's easier to make 3D models with special tools than draw 2d art, but your models are painful to look at.

While I don't like the examples that you posted, I agree with everyone else....
e.g. the 3-D models used in final fantasy etc. ... And I also think it's important that the environment actually matches the style.

I think it would look awesome in a visual novel, especially if the sprites could be somewhat animated... (blinking and such)..
Imagine seeing the wind blow through the hair of some character you're talking to lol. I think it would really up the immersion...

But, I think it would probably take YEARS to make something like that and have it be pretty.

Though, now that I think of it, you could probably achieve results like that by doing digital painting? I mean it's not 3D but it looks a bit more realistic than your staple cartoons.

(am I making sense at all???)

I wouldn't say 3d models wouldn't work in a VN. i'd certainly try a VN with 3D sprites if they were really nice, high quality models.
the problem with 3D is it's a bit harder to pull off,

It has nothing to do with whether the models are moving. :<

Some friends and I often discuss our dislike for 3D model webcomics for many of the reasons above.
What conclusion we came to is that 3D models like the example always seem "better" in motion. Having the models stuck in a pose always seems wrong, even if it is very, very, very well done. There's just something about 3D stills that doesn't hold up.

You'll also run into the uncomfortable class of 2D UI elements with the 3D models. the clash just throws everything off.

ON the plus side, thanks for being bold enough to try it out. NEVER regret experimenting. It's just that getting 3D to work takes JUST as much work if not more than creating 2D elements.
Good luck!

PyTom wrote:Probably not.

It's not that the poser-style is a terrible turn off. But this isn't the best use of that style. The models seem kind of generic, compared to what I've seen elsewhere. The clothes seem overly simple - the wrinkles seem unnatural - almost like the clothes are being painted on, instead of separately modeled. Ditto for the girl's face - it looks painted, like on a figurine.

One of the big advantages of poser art - I think - is that once you set up a scene, it's pretty cheap to move the camera around it. Once you have a scene, you can do close-ups and reverse-angles easily. (Compare this to 2d, where a reverse angle costs the same amount as the original shot.) Using a photo background like this - rather than props - means you're pretty much stuck to one camera angle. (In this case, it's a rather boring one, too.)

I hate to say this, and realize this is completely subjective, but it feels like the artist didn't put in as much effort as other poser artists I've seen. So that would tend to make me less likely to play the resulting game.

Edit: That's probably not fair - since in poser, it's possible to trade money for effort. Compare this model with the one used above. (Swimsuit-NSFW, with links to NSFW images a click away.)

I'd agree with a lot of what Renpytom said but also add that the photograph doesn't match at all - the Poser models have an awful lot of shading/contrast and because of the way in which the human brain interprets the third dimension from 2D photographs, it's extremely offputting. It looks like the characters are both going in and out of the screen at the same time. It's bizarre.

That said, using 2D backgrounds isn't an *entirely* bad idea for 3D VNs if you have enough different angles. I think Monkey Island 4 did this and it worked out pretty well, and of course games like Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, etc. If you match things up right, it can look fine. In actuality, having the camera rotate or zoom too much looks ridiculous. It's one of the things that was hammered into us in 3Dsmax classes - the way most people have cameras move through the renders they're showing off is incredibly unnatural, like it's on a small, flat rollercoaster or something. Being limited to images that have a set angle and resolution can stop people making that mistake and help people appreciate a "rigid" looking scene. Though you can try panoramas too - that could be interesting.

What might be more interesting is if somebody made a VN using Plasticine models like the ones made for the Mother/Earthbound series, or custom action figures. That would be a cool gimmick. I'd like to see an action figure VN actually. I've tried doing action figure comics before though and it ended up being a pain having to kneel down, etc., but if you photographed then and the backgrounds separately, making sure both use relatively neutral lighting and touching up where required, and keeping characters in the foreground so you don't nothing the lighting as much, it could work.

I would play a game like that, i love the realistic 3D designs, the unknown female's shoes stand out the most in the snapshot you provided. The game would stand out from the others, if it was in 3D, and would still be classed as a visual novel, as long as the images were all 3D. I cant understand why, people dislike other styles of visual novels, i personally am open to all different types of games.

Starshine wrote:I would play a game like that, i love the realistic 3D designs, the unknown female's shoes stand out the most in the snapshot you provided. The game would stand out from the others, if it was in 3D, and would still be classed as a visual novel, as long as the images were all 3D. I cant understand why, people dislike other styles of visual novels, i personally am open to all different types of games.

Hunh? If you're serious, send me a PM and I'll send you a link to that visual novel.
Very respectfully,
fleet