Terrible Magical Artist by Colorvade

[raw]
made by Colorvade for LD26 (COMPO)
Terrible Magical Artist is an Artist-Simulator where you can attempt to construct a beautiful scene out of the randomly chosen assets at your disposal. Many die trying, only the truly talented ever make anything decent.

A commentary on modern art.


(not really)

Ratings

Coolness 58% 3
Overall 3.09 644
Audio 2.77 512
Fun 3.03 512
Graphics 3.76 160
Humor 3.24 125
Innovation 3.21 484
Mood 3.04 440
Theme 3.63 458

Feedback

Crowbeak
29. Apr 2013 · 03:23 UTC
This is a nice little toy. :D I enjoyed it enough to screenshot my masterpiece(?). http://www.flickr.com/photos/crowbeak/8690626023/in/photostream

That said, having the mouse anchored on the center of the images made it difficult to place smaller items precisely. And with 20 objects, I felt like it could easily get a little cluttered. Took me a while to realize there was a trash can, which is okay I think since it's easy to restart. I don't feel like I would know that minimalism was the theme just from playing this, though.
StuStutheBloo
29. Apr 2013 · 03:39 UTC
Solid! I turned the moon into a face.
daniel
29. Apr 2013 · 03:42 UTC
Very pretty game! Also I am a truly a terrible magical artist, game is right! :P
lulzfish_4
29. Apr 2013 · 03:43 UTC
Be advised that "Web" in this case means the Flash plugin.

Other than that, it's pretty cool. The sound track is relaxing, and I enjoyed making a scene. Doesn't quite fit minimalism, as you're encouraged to keep putting things on the canvas.

I would play a version with animations or something more involved.
McDonaldsWizard
29. Apr 2013 · 03:47 UTC
I wouldn't have gotten minimalism from it just from playing it. Maybe I could say that a terrible artist just picks random crap and makes art from it?
You can make some goofy stuff with the pieces though, which is kind of entertaining.
harleylaurie
29. Apr 2013 · 03:50 UTC
Fun little game, wish I could have more than 20 pieces though :(
gokuhd
29. Apr 2013 · 04:13 UTC
This is my "masterpiece" http://goo.gl/ZbEJd xD. I really didn't have a clue about what I was doing but it was fun.
🎤 Colorvade
29. Apr 2013 · 04:18 UTC
Thanks to everyone for taking the time play, rate, and share!

I intended for the minimalism to come from a mechanical side with the player having limited resources on their palette, but I can't dispute your opinion if things feel overly complex.
Tozy
29. Apr 2013 · 07:30 UTC
In my opinion... as a game I don't get this... It might be some kind of statement about art, but I wouldn't call it "game".

What you have there is a toy, and a toy can be easily turned into a game: just add some goals. For instance: different object combinations or ways to arrange objects unlock achievements (like a recipe check list).
Greg Power
29. Apr 2013 · 08:11 UTC
If it needs explicit goals to be a game, leave it as a toy. It's brilliant as it is.

A candle was lit in memory of the fossilised beast, curled around a rock. Nearby a leaf settled by an upturned pumpkin.
rujo
29. Apr 2013 · 09:33 UTC
not really a game but very funny and fits quite good the theme
Cory Martin
29. Apr 2013 · 10:18 UTC
This is so much fun to play around with.
🎤 Colorvade
29. Apr 2013 · 14:46 UTC
Tozy, I appreciate your opinion and people can see this as whatever they like, but I think to 'gamify' a subjective experience would do little more than arbitrarily hook the player into wasting more time. If the player's getting bored, I don't want them to try and addict them, I want them to stop playing.

Thanks again to everyone for playing.
🎤 Colorvade
29. Apr 2013 · 14:47 UTC
Also I hate not being able to edit all these typos I'm making.
bigbazwa
29. Apr 2013 · 16:49 UTC
I had fun making a terrible work of art. :)
sparkleswirl
29. Apr 2013 · 19:33 UTC
Found this on the Stencyl forums. Loved it! My art is so terrible and magical.
brxtr
29. Apr 2013 · 20:02 UTC
Interesting idea. It would have been cool if some objects interacted with each other, or automatically moved somehow (e.g. the cog could rotate), but I suppose that wouldn't have been as minimalistic.
evelyn-jolli
30. Apr 2013 · 04:17 UTC
kool gam
Tozy
30. Apr 2013 · 04:57 UTC
Colorvade, that's ok too. A toy is not a bad thing.
I hadn't thought that (quoting you :P) "...the goal of the game is just to make something not terrible, as opposed to something beautiful, hah."
Interesting approach ^^
kbm0
30. Apr 2013 · 15:14 UTC
Loved it! Super simple concept, yet very well done, I liked playing around with it! Good job!
multitude
30. Apr 2013 · 23:44 UTC
COOL - that was very different from the other games. i enjoyed playing this
MrShoestore
01. May 2013 · 00:06 UTC
The execution for this was solid. had a nice vibe. The objects interact would be cool as brxtr posted
JohnnySix
02. May 2013 · 21:18 UTC
A canvas snapshot saved as a png would've been a cool addition so you could forever keep your masterpieces with a button push haha. The sea sounds were soothing too.
Ryusui
04. May 2013 · 02:21 UTC
A clever little toy (hello, fellow Stencyl user!), well worth expanding into an actual game. I'd love to see objects react to one another, or to other stimuli - like Grow or Little Inferno.
ZYXer
04. May 2013 · 02:25 UTC
Awesome game. It's nice to be creative for once in a LD game :D
lotusgame
06. May 2013 · 17:41 UTC
Cute toy :) I liked to have to choose in a little list of objects rather than the complete list, that's give you a reason to be so terrible :p