Busts or faces, what's your preference?

[SockPuppet]

I'm curious to see how people would like to see characters presented during dialogue. Busts certainly require more effort, but in my opinion it helps to see a bigger picture of the character. What does everyone think about this? Do you like busts? Do you like faces? Or do you simply not care either way?

 

[Omnimental]

For bit conversation just faces is fine, for more important conversations (cutscenes) I prefer busts.  Of course, more importantly I think having a faceset with a full range of emotions for each actor is essential.  It helps convey their emotion, and really opens your dialog options.  "I'm fine" can mean so much more with different facial expressions.

 

[SockPuppet]

For bit conversation just faces is fine, for more important conversations (cutscenes) I prefer busts.  Of course, more importantly I think having a faceset with a full range of emotions for each actor is essential.  It helps convey their emotion, and really opens your dialog options.  "I'm fine" can mean so much more with different facial expressions.

Oh, I was going on the assumption that the busts would also use a range of emotions. Using faces for side dialogue and busts for cutscenes is a nice dynamic but you have to have the art assets for both of them then :/

 

[Lorenze]

Honestly, I don't care either way. If anything, I'm totally fine (even leaning toward it more, actually) with no faces/busts at all.

In a way, it can make the player intercept the dialogue differently and make assumptions for themselves.

The only potential problem I see with this is that players might be confused exactly who is speaking, but that's just me.

 

[Omnimental]

Oh, I was going on the assumption that the busts would also use a range of emotions. Using faces for side dialogue and busts for cutscenes is a nice dynamic but you have to have the art assets for both of them then :/

Yeah, when I say face sets I'm just referring to having multiple images with a different emotion on each one, not specifically referring to faces over busts.  And it's really easy to get head assets when you've already got the busts, you just crop a duplicate to zoom in on the face in Photoshop/GIMP/whathaveyou.  Personally I think just faces are fine for the majority of the game, although it would be nice to have either busts or full body images somewhere in the game, if just to show what the characters look like.  Having a full or bust shot for the actor on their status screen is an awesome way to show off what they look like without crowding the screen.  I'm personally always charmed when the game has full screen art to depict important scenes, ala Star Stealing Prince.

A nice rule of thumb I generally run with is if the game focuses on what people say, use busts.  If it focuses on what they do, use faces.  Busts obscure the in game graphics, which can take away from the impact of the character's physical actions that occur while talking.  On the other hand, they completely pull the focus onto the characters in question, so it's really just a case of design aesthetics.  If things happen while people talk, use faces.  If not, use busts.

That's just my two cents though.

 

[hian]

I prefer faces. With the low resolution on RPG maker, the busts take up far too much space, and drowns out the rest of the scene.

Unless you're making a visual novel, I see no reason to use busts.

 

[Clord]

I prefer busts with range of emotions.


It defines how characters looks so well and potentially helps player to get attached to them in some deeper level as opposed to faces. For example Mahou is pretty goth thanks to having a bust.

 

[cabfe]

I use both in my game.

Faces most of the time (easier to create also) and busts for the important characters.

But my game is more of an action/adventure than a RPG. It may not work for a hard-core RPG to mix both.

 

[Archeia]

I use busts because I found it visually appealing. That and since there's not much poses and I hate looking at characters who are just standing still while they're talking, the busts help detract from that and convey their emotion well. Resolution can be changed anyway.

 

[Dalph]

Obviously faces, as much as I love busts they take too much space on the screen, I mostly use sprites with emotions and a single face (like FFVI).

 

[Milennin]

They're both fine, but I prefer faces. Busts just take up a ton of space on the screen.

 

[hian]

I use busts because I found it visually appealing. That and since there's not much poses and I hate looking at characters who are just standing still while they're talking, the busts help detract from that and convey their emotion well. Resolution can be changed anyway.

The degree with which you can change resolution is quite limited, and if you were to downsize the busts you'd loose a lot of detail.

Not saying busts are bad or anything. Just saying that there is little to do about the size issue, so if you don't like the way busts fill the screen, there is little left in terms of choice.

If I could have a functional bust about the size of the face graphics that didn't end up looking like something out of pixel-hell pre 1990, I'd probably go for it.

 

[amerk]

I've played them both ways, and I'm fine with both. When it comes to development, I'm more inclined to stay with facesets, although the last couple projects I've just went the old fashioned way of leaving them off entirely and just using a name to determine who is speaking.

The main issue I have with busts is that they can cover up the action more so than facesets, so using them you'd need to be more mindful of what it's covering up.

 

[Chaneque]

For bit conversation just faces is fine, for more important conversations (cutscenes) I prefer busts.  

Basically the way I feel about it, really. 

 

[Napoleon]

I never expected the votes to be this equally divided. I prefer busts in most games but it depends a bit on the style.

 

[Kes]

For me the deciding factor is the way that busts cover so much of the screen.  If I've gone to all the trouble to make the map as good as possible or if it's a cut scene in which things are happening, it all seems such a waste if it's then covered up by busts.  In addition, all the busts which I have seen (and okay, there will be many that I haven't seen, so perhaps I'm wrong) have basically the same body shape and size, irrespective of age, class, armour etc.  Rather than making the characters look more individual, they end up emphasising how similar they look.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Faces, because they are

: easier to fit into the default windows

: easier to make (since VXA has a generator by default 

 

[PixelLuchi]

I prefer busts. More visually appealing, as long as it isn't too big that I can't see what's going on on the map. They do create a nice cinema-style feel if used properly.

 

[kerbonklin]

I side with busts for all the reasons people already mentioned, lol.

However since i'm using custom generated sprites, faces lack emotions and busts are non-existent, so I use neither! It's all about the balloon emote icons and "name-next-to-text-box-for-who's-speaking" for me.

 

[SLEEP]

Busts, as long as they show a variety of emotion through movement. No copy paste the body and just change the face garbage. If the only part of the character that's going to change as they emote is the face, stick to face shots.