The theory: It's great. Now that you have a finished game, there's nothing stopping you from looking for improvements - in theory the game is done and a potential better artist KNOWS it gets finished. His work will not be in vain.
Reality: Who knows? I for one tend to have a "case closed" approach. It would be fairly easy to up Kaori's graphics for instance. It's not because I'm lazy, but... it costs time.
I think everyone can agree that the renai.us games (and more or less fan-game in general) could in many cases look better. I myself like to always bring this up - finishing a game is the goal - but it doesn't have to stop there - you can refine an re-edit it until you are happy. The reality is that it's rarely being done.
BL mentioned some games, I'd say Amatire could be re-edited, also at least Kaori from my side... how do you see it? Perhaps it's true and many more people would play the games if we would re-edit them.
Other questions: Would it be an attractive offer to just post on other forums "looking for artists"? In theory yes, but who knows. Or how much time and effort would you be willing to give to such a project? It's not easy to find artists, to get them to draw, OTOH they would already know what to draw, so in theory you can just sit back and relax - wait for the pictures and if they don't come it's too bad for the artist, but yiou don't lose your game anymore.
Perhaps artists could be encouraged somehow to make their own vision of a game that is to be re-edited. Take Amatire - there's huge space for creative artistic vision - and you're already working with a certainty of a finished (if small) game.
This also extends to game music - silent games could get music, maybe there could be a list of silent games and musicians could compose soundtracks? For instance on a "pimp my game" site - the site would list games and describe (show) their elements - artists who think they can "do better" or fill some of the blanks could see it - and somehow get motivated to participate. The "artists wanted" announcements don't seem to work all too well.
Perhaps even "blank" games could be made - no graphics, but script and engine. Would that be motivating for an artist?
I know, random thoughts. I just thought I'd open a discussion, the art has become a prominent issue these days so perhaps some ideas will be able to help.
