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Distinctive/Appropriate Art

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Tue, 05/16/2006 - 17:30
Jpwoo
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There is a discussion on the geek about Fantasy Flights art for their reprint of Princes of Florance.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/110579/page/1

The gist of it is that FF is using their regular stable of artists and the artwork looks a bit more "Modern Fantasy" than "Renisance."

The artwork does look a lot like other FF offerings like Citadels or Descent even. (And personally I don't think it fits the theme of the game very well.)

It does bring up some interesting questions though. Should each game have its own specific feel and look to it? For a game company is it better to develop a brand "Look"? Or is it better for a game designer to develop a brand look as well? Look at the success of Cheapass games which has a pretty strong design image.

I think an elegant example is Doris of Doris and Frank fame. Her art remains distinctive yet at the same time very fitting to the themes of the games she illustraits. I think in this resprect she is kind of the holy grail of art direction in a game artist.

In a world where name recognition is at least as important as quality I think this is worth talking about.

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Tue, 05/16/2006 - 19:11
#1
IngredientX
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Distinctive/Appropriate Art

[pointy-hatted academic voice]

As annoying, pedantic, and trifiling as correcting a detail of someone else's post can be, I just wanted to clarify something...

According to BoardGameNews, as of May 12...

Quote:
As previously reported, Dutch publisher Quined Games is going to be doing a new version of Die Fürsten von Florenz / Princes of Florence. We’ve learned that there will be a few other language version of the game. The game will be done in German by Pro Ludo, in French by Ystari and in Spanish by Excalibur. There’s no word on an English version as of yet.

I really like the use of "Fantasy Flight" as a verb, but I think it's important to note that the original poster used it for illustrative purposes. AFAICT, Fantasy Flight is not publishing the game. It doesn't really strike me as a FF-esque game in terms of gameplay anyway...

[/pointy-hatted academic voice]

Now that that's out of the way... I'm not crazy about the artwork, but only because I loved the "Da Vinci sketch" look of the original. The new artwork, aside from not really fitting the feel of the game, simply doesn't look as elegant.

I don't think it would turn me off from playing the game, though. A great game in print is better than a great game out of print.

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Tue, 05/16/2006 - 19:39
#2
NetWolf
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Distinctive/Appropriate Art

I'm not sure what the game is about, or what it's theme is, but the artwork is very remnicient of the Thief PC Game series.... Not that it's bad, but it certainly does 'darken' the mood and feel of the game.

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Tue, 05/16/2006 - 20:12
#3
Verseboy
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Distinctive/Appropriate Art

I think it's more important that the art fit the game, not the publisher or the designer. That thread invoked Citadels. That style of art is appropriate to Citadels and one of the many things I like about that game, though I could imagine Citadels being redrawn successfully.

I've never played Princes of Florence, but it certainly seems like a bad move to me. The new art is less evocative of the period and what I know of the game play.

Steve Bennett

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