I’ve been living under a rock called “graphic design”. It’s left me out-of-the-loop gamewise, and I’ve got a whole shitload of catching up to do. Remember all those games you played, beat, agreed with everybody on the internet that it was the best game ever, then went out and voted for Al Gore because it was like ten god damn years ago? I’m just getting to those now. I see this as an advantage though.
For the occasion of Halloween, I recreated most of the signs from the demo onto 8.5″ x 11″ paper so you can print and hang them around for a cool type of decoration! I’d love to see a house that was set up like a failed quarantine area in the game. I think it’d be the coolest thing ever. With a little fake blood on some stuff, a bunch of signs, a floodlight, and a few sawhorses, I think you could pull off something awesome.
Foreword: I’m writing this article at the behest of Kevin. I almost didn’t do it because it’s sort of topical/news-ish, but enough time has past that nobody gives a shit/remembers. However, it’s pictures with dirty words over them, and that’s what the internet seems to really want out of me, so here we go!
I haven’t figured out what to call this type of post yet, but I’ve had a lot of ideas for them lately. The premise is that most of the moments people remember from great games aren’t nearly as powerful as some of the more subtle moments that get overlooked in the same game. This time around, we’re talking about my favorite game, Final Fantasy 6.
Final Fantasy VII may have some of the most iconic character designs of the entire role playing genre. Their larger than life personas were groundbreaking for the time, ushering in a newfound appreciation for anime style character design among Western youth.
Okay, that’s what people like to tell you. Friends have explained to me over and over that Final Fantasy VII includes some of the most well designed character archetypes in any RPG, and that it’s gamer blasphemy to say otherwise. But have you ever really sat down, taken these characters out of context and examined them? Have you ever thought to yourself, “What the fuck is the deal with this douchebag’s hair?”
People claim that these characters were the work of masterful artists skilled in anime character design. I, on the other hand, think a daydreaming seven year old with a twenty-four pack of Crayolas could have done just as great of a job.
Here’s how I think the design drafting at Square would have gone if they had hired a grade schooler over their professional design staff:
