How important are custom graphics?

[FranklinX 37]

Many game development programs like the RPG Maker provide graphics along with the package. People often criticize developers for only using RTP graphics, and I have faced this criticism from my peers. I do respect it. Custom graphics make your game standout as a true original title. Seeing the same RTP graphics in many games takes away your game's image. What will players remember from it? Joe, Mike, and Tim have Ralph's RTP graphics in three different games. How are these characters special? Can they be special if they look the same? The answer is no. A character needs his or her own image for players to quickly recognize the character. We all know who Super Mario is without someone needing to explain who he is to us. 

[Polraudio 122]

For a free hobby game like what is mostly made with rpg make its fine. But for a game that is going to sell copies you need to have  custom graphics otherwise people are just going to look at the game and say meh its like every rpg maker game ever without even giving it a go.

If your game is free then dont worry about graphics and just enjoy making the game you wanted to make.

If your game is commercial then yes you will need custom graphics or at least edit the RTP so much that it doesnt really feel like every other game out there.

 

When i look to play an rpg maker game i first look at the graphics. If theres custom graphics and it matched then i know the player put alot of time into it and the game will most likely be a good play. If the game has the RTP graphics i look at it a little more to see if they actually put effort into it. most of the time i look at games that use RTP and say meh(even with my own games).

 

In the end if you are serious about game development and want to make something for people to remember stay away from RTP graphics(enviroment is fine but at least make a few edits). If you are not really serious about game development and just do it as a hobby then feel free to use whatever makes you happy.

[Kitsuki 17]

After this I'll come off as a hypocrite because I use a lot of RTP in my game lmao. But I put some effort into it, so I'll say what I think makes RTP acceptable and what doesn't.

 

Custom graphics are necessary for a commericial game--not necessary in a personal project, but highly desired. This comes from my slight fear of all-RTP games after trying out a bunch of thrown-together 5 min. games from various RPG Maker websites. Yes, I am aware some of these people are beginners, but some of them could definitely check the grammar/spelling and try to make the game work, maybe run it through a playtest before posting it. (I sound like an ass but this is my opinion and I'm rolling with it.)

 

But all-RTP graphics, especially if poorly mapped, makes me think "this person isn't trying". Yes, this can be compensated with story and mapping, and I would respect and probably play a noncommercial project that produces an RTP game with the other features included. I understand that not everyone can sprite or hire a spriter, but the other features should be easily accessible with some practice.

 

But for commercial, you don't see To the Moon using the limited RTP. Plus, use of custom sprites and graphics get me thinking "this is a world of its own. This is not someone who jumps into RPG Maker and tries to crank a dozen 'games' out a day. This is someone who cares to craft their world and make it unique and individual." Even if you just combine a few tilesets and change the tint on some, that spells effort to me. Even a small edit shows me that the maker tried.

 

To me it's more effort/wisely-invested passion than resources that makes something "acceptable". Not by game standards (a lot of effort could still produce a not-so-good game), but by my own standards. I would be happy to play games that don't have custom graphics, 100% gorgeous mapping, and an amazing-unique-omfg so great, 10/10 story. Although this may be partially because I never leave my house and I don't have a life. :P

Edited July 31, 2015 by Kitsuki

[Ardaceus 21]

RTP graphics are fine in some ways.

 

I wouldn't use the RTP hero sprites unless if he/she went through some reskin or edit. If you want to use the monster, spiritual, animal, or civilian graphics, I would accept that because they can be annoying to make yourself if you have lots in your game. And for villain sprites, don't even, make your own villain(s). There are many ways to make sprites yourself, and they aren't hard to make.

 

For the RTP music, some are alright, with some modification. Like changing the pitch/speed. I would rather use music from a website that allows free use of their music or bought off of steam for use in a game. Music is pretty rad if you can make it yourself somehow, like using fruityloops to make it. It would add some great uniqueness to your game. I hope to get fruityloops in the future.

 

Finally, the scenery of a game I'll pass. Go ahead and use the RTP graphics, but I'll make one suggestion that goes for using anything. It doesn't matter what graphic you are using for your game, just make the scene interesting and have it serve it's purpose effectively. You can spend 1000$ on a scene and just pull off a flop where you can clip through everything, the player doesn't know where to go, there is too much space between things, the ground is plain, and yeah... Just as long as you put in effort into your scenes, any graphic is acceptable.

 

Battlers are also quite fine, because there aren't enough battlers that come with the RTP, so you'll need more.

 

And for everything else, you can change or add as much as you want, just try to have it match your game and set up a perfect atmosphere. So that is what I got on this matter. Ardi out.

[Kitsuki 17]

You can spend 1000$ on a scene and just pull off a flop where you can clip through everything, the player doesn't know where to go, there is too much space between things, the ground is plain, and yeah...

That's got to be the worst developer ever, theoretical or not. P: So bad, I'll give my respects to this imaginary dev.

 

About music, I agree totally. I wouldn't use RTP music as it is too much... Maybe a few tracks. But I'd like it even more if the dev modifies it, even add a little reverb or something to show you at least opened the song in Audacity.

 

Again, it all boils down to effort for me.

 

I used to hate RTP music, but then I downloaded some free tracks off of GDU. I didn't realise until I compared it with the RTP track names that they were modified, enhanced versions. But they were still pretty dope. :/