Graphics vs Gameplay - Which one is more important in 2D Gam

Hello guys, like the tile says, I want to know wich one is more important for a 2d Game, cause i'm working in beautiful looking job BUT i'm getting bored with the sprites limitations and decided to ask the community.

Okay, let me show more than talk, here is a picture of the first game I mentioned before:

The graphics are awesome but the problems are:

• It doesn't allow jumps;
• It doesn't allow weapon/armour changes...

Now let me show the other option:

The graphics are about to old but the advantages are:

• Allow Jump;
• Allow more Skills;
• Allow weapon/armour changes;
• Have much more variaty of tiles/background/objetcs..

So, what do you think?

Which one I should choose?

1st thing judging a game (<10 sec.) is always the presentation (look (art/sound) + feel (interface)) but if the gameplay is boring you loose the player as fast you attract him.

So: both is important

If you stripped away all the art and reduced everything to squares, circles and triangles, would the game be fun to play?

Mechanics should be the starting point. They are the essence of the medium. And then build art, good art, on top of them.

I doubt there is a single game in existence that was built around its art and is fun to play.

This an odd one.

Much like the answer to true beauty, the answer a lot of people will think is right is that it comes from the inside - it's the gameplay.

Except it kind of isn't. Working in 2D, especially on mobile devices, imposes a limit on what you can and can not do with gameplay; there's only so good you can make interaction on 2 axes. Past a certain point the amount of work needed for a perceivable gain simply isn't worth it in most cases.

Art has far weaker diminishing return, and as 2D games, again especially in the case of mobile development, are inherently simple in regards to mechanics, it becomes incredibly important in differentiation, as many games are similar mechanically.

From my experience the market is cosmetics driven, it's all well in saying "but gamelay is truly important", but once you're at the baseline of mechanical quality, art becomes the most important.

... Well that was depressing

The awnser I could give is: the game is the most important, that implies that you should not have to choose between good gameplay or good graphics, do some part of one to be inspired for the other.Graphics, sound, and gameplay should be blending together to feel right.

Guys, let me explain better the situation: Since I'm not a game designer I can't create more animations/objets, etc, THEN I'm limited to the sprites I currently have. That's why I'm asking you for help! Understood now?

If you're limited to the resources you have, game play will become the dominant part of your game to the players. There're also some games that have little to no stunning arts but they're fun to play though.

I agree with game-play being more critical, but that also unfortunately means your game needs to have something of a draw card in that department; something unique and fun that'll make people want to jump in regardless of the graphical quality, because it seems these days that, depending on your target audience, most people think graphics are the main importance in a game, .

I believe you'd get a better gameplay experience with the second. And therefore I think you should go with the second. Will it mean less people download it? Maybe... But the ones that do are going to play it longer.

alan349, I think it i impossible for us to give you a real comparison of which is better because we really can't compare unless you can provide the two games for everyone to compare. Nice graphics can make a good game better, but it can't save a poor game. Good game play makes the game fun, but if the graphics aren't visually pleasing, players might not be attracted to try it out for the first time. An honest opinion can only be given once we can compare the two next to each other.

Personally, I would work on game mechanics and functions. If you feel it has the potential, you can always add graphics later on. Adding game mechanics later on is much much more difficult.

alan349, I think it i impossible for us to give you a real comparison of which is better because we really can't compare unless you can provide the two games for everyone to compare. Nice graphics can make a good game better, but it can't save a poor game. Good game play makes the game fun, but if the graphics aren't visually pleasing, players might not be attracted to try it out for the first time. An honest opinion can only be given once we can compare the two next to each other.

Personally, I would work on game mechanics and functions. If you feel it has the potential, you can always add graphics later on. Adding game mechanics later on is much much more difficult.

If oyu want to, try comparing this one ( https://www.scirra.com/arcade/addicting-action-games/17390/heavens-fate-v075-new-spawn-method ) to this one ( https://www.scirra.com/arcade/addicting-action-games/11540/my-rpg-v40 )

EDIT: I don't know what happens but the scirra arcade seems to be not working right now...

Obs: The second one isn't exactly like the game i'm planning to do but the gameplay is somewhat similar ok?

The graphics are about to old but the advantages are:

- Allow Jump;

- Allow more Skills;

- Allow weapon/armour changes;

- Have much more variaty of tiles/background/objetcs..

So, what do you think?

Which one I should choose?

Hooray, MapleStory! I used to use sprites from MapleStory to make a game with gameplay mechanics similar to MapleStory.

Considering I'm aware of the amount of sprites that the game has, and considering there are websites dedicated to providing sprites and audio from this game, and even generating character spritesheets (PerionCorner, BannedStory) I'd pick this style rather than the 1st image.

>

>

> The graphics are about to old but the advantages are:

> - Allow Jump;

> - Allow more Skills;

> - Allow weapon/armour changes;

> - Have much more variaty of tiles/background/objetcs..

>

> So, what do you think?

> Which one I should choose?

>

Hooray, MapleStory! I used to use sprites from MapleStory to make a game with gameplay mechanics similar to MapleStory.

Considering I'm aware of the amount of sprites that the game has, and considering there are websites dedicated to providing sprites and audio from this game, and even generating character spritesheets (PerionCorner, BannedStory) I'd pick this style rather than the 1st image.

Yay! Finally someone understood me! And if you are a anime fan, check out the character I think you'll figure out who he is

I personally prefer the 2nd one, https://www.scirra.com/arcade/addicting ... my-rpg-v40 the graphics imo are nicer (but that could be personal preference). However the movement mechanic is already there!

alan349 Ahh I don't watch a lot of anime sadly

It's awesome you are going to use those sprites. I spent a lot of years making a MapleStory-style game using the sprites, but eventually gave up on the project. Here's a

of a development video if you're interested (annotations work better if you view in fullscreen ). It seems like you know what you are doing in terms of programming, but if you ever have any MapleStory-specific questions on how to implement something similar to how Maple does it, feel free to PM me!