Of good usage of busts.

[Lars Ulrika]

I would like to know when you guys usually display these? They sure make the game much more shiny but when should you display them on the field? Only for main characters? What about important npcs? Only for important conversations? Or any time a party member speaks even if it's just to say "hum...no...shut up" to a npc speaking about the weather (hence with no faceset whatseover)? 

 

[ShadowLurk]

I don't use busts, but if I do use it, I'll use it in a constant fashion. If a character always use busts in conversation, then even if it was just replying to an unimportant NPC, I'll display them.

 

[Kes]

I don't use busts because personally I find them very irritating; imo they intrude too much, covering up a significant portion of the map etc. etc..  However, playing games which use them, I think it's important to be consistent.  So, if you use a bust for a character sometimes, then it should be always.  It should be for all party members.  For NPCs, I'd stick to having very few - the main baddie is a clear contender for one, even if s/he only appears a few times.

 

[Zoltor]

I don't use busts because personally I find them very irritating; imo they intrude too much, covering up a significant portion of the map etc. etc..  However, playing games which use them, I think it's important to be consistent.  So, if you use a bust for a character sometimes, then it should be always.  It should be for all party members.  For NPCs, I'd stick to having very few - the main baddie is a clear contender for one, even if s/he only appears a few times.

That's not exactly true.

Consistancy is good yes, but that doesn't mean just because you use them, you need to always use them.

You can use them just for major story moments, hell you can make only bosses use them, ect.

 

[ShadowLurk]

You can use them just for major story moments, hell you can make only bosses use them, ect.

That is called consistent. What is not consistent is when all story moments use them except one, or when all bosses but one use them, for inexplicable reasons.

 

[Shaz]

I don't use busts, but I only use faces for anyone who is in, or has been in, the party. NPCs don't get them. NPCs who join your party don't get them until they've joined.

 

[Lars Ulrika]

Oh wow, I thought that this concept was more popular than that. Makes me wonder if I did well to order some. 

Oh well... in worst of case it still looks good in menus and some battle systems... 

 

[Probotector 200X]

In some "simpler" RPGs, your only view of the character is their little sprite, and their face. Now, if you have a larger bust portrait for a character, you can see a lot more of them, and more clearly too. It adds more "depth" and "detail" to their design, and I appreciate it a lot.

 

[Shaz]

Oh wow, I thought that this concept was more popular than that. Makes me wonder if I did well to order some.

I don't mind seeing busts. I just started out with faces, and don't want to spend the money or the time adjusting the system. I may do busts with the next game ... depends on several things.

 

[cabfe]

For my game, at first, I didn't feel good enough an artist to draw busts for all my characters so I've gone a mixed path: busts for important ones and classic facesets for the others.

Every tester reported this as inconsistency and they're right.

So I decided to grab my mouse firmly and start drawing my own art in addition to ressources I already had, so that I can make busts for everyone.

That's a tough job, especially when you can't draw, but I think busts will be more efficient than faces for my adventure game.

If the focus had been combats, busts may have been too much of a presence on screen.

But if your game is character-centered, you'd want to show them. After all, *they* are your story.

Next problem I had to solve was: should I make busts for everybody or only important characters?

I've chosen the hard path. Busts and names for all.

I know that players identify an important NPC when they get to see a faced and named one. So having all NPCs like that may be disturbing, but it's consistent with the vision I have for my main character.

For him, every one is an important living person. But I don't know the players reactions to it yet. Maybe it's a bad move, maybe not.

I should add that, independently of having faces or busts, make sure to have at least a handful different emotions to show.

I've seen games where a cheerful smiling girl basically said "the town is on fire, people are getting slaughtered!" and that just doesn't work at all.

 

[Lars Ulrika]

Well, I'm hiring an artist to do them. It will cost me quite an amount but when I see the first results it's clear I wouldn't be able to reach such a result. As I'm planning to 

make this commercial I thought that having some investment to get pro work was worth it. 

And yes, it's definetely character centered. 

About npcs I had the same politic than you and finally changed back to displaying only important character faces after getting some feedback heavily suggesting me to do so. I guess it depends too if you want to give "hints"to the player that this guy you're talking to might have a link with the storyline or not. 

 

[aozgolo]

Personally I'm a fan of how Shadow Madness (PS1) did it, where every single NPC in the entire game had a (laughably small) bust, Basically in addition the cool art addition of it, it also eliminated a segregation that players make in their head about the importance of an NPC, in most games that use them, only important characters have busts, making them instantly stand out from a crowd, but depending on the story you are telling, maybe you don't want that.

 

[Lars Ulrika]

I would love to do so but my bank account would drown faster than the titanic. 

Except if I do them myself. And that would be horrible. People running away screaming in terror, riots, world war 3 , THE END OF THE WORLD

 

[C-C-C-Cashmere (old)]

I tell you what else is a good usage of busts... wink wink nudge nudge.

But seriously though, busts can work just as well as faces.

 

[Lars Ulrika]

- Moving to a topic in commercial game discussions -

 

[Shaz]

I definitely like the style of the one in the screenshot over the chibi. You should post in the Commercial Discussion forum if you specifically want feedback from commercial developers.


Here are two things you could do ...


- crowdfunding to pay for the extra busts


- release the game using faces only, then use the income to replace faces with busts and release a (free) update - it will cost you extra to get both done, but at least you'd have the funding up front, and you could also get feedback from your players to see if they even WANT them

 

[Lars Ulrika]

Ok I will post this question in the commercial discussion then , thanks very much for the feedback!

 

[Stridah]

I love busts, and am having them commissioned for my game.  

I think there are two ways you can do this if you want consistency and something that flows well together.

1)All busts that includes characters & NPC's i think it kills immersion to have one charcter using a bust talking to someone who is just using a portrait.  This of course would be expensive so probably will only happen in successfully kickstarted campaigns or if the designer is an artist.

2) Use busts for cut scenes & just use the comic style text boxes for normal in game chatter.  So if you go talk to an npc, a text bubble will appear over your heads however when you go to a big story cut scene or boss fight, the busts will display.  

make sense? or am i rambling LOL

 

[Lars Ulrika]

I think it's the mix bust\portrait that makes this, better not use portrait at all and just busts for the main characters in such situation. And there are sooo many npcs in my game even ordering facesets to everyone would be a rentability suicide. 

This said, already made my choice with ordering the chibi busts . Thanks for your insight!

 

[Dalph]

Busts are good because they can catch the player's attention and give it to the characters more easily, and without them the player can get bored while looking at stationary sprites all the time. You should display them always and in every conversation (important or not) to not confuse the poor player.

I prefer adding them only for important characters (or at least very important NPCs), but at the end I like facesets too...I mean I like them equally, so I don't really care that much.

As long as someone knows how to use both the things well, there shouldn't be any problems.