Game Devs Grapple with Capsule Art
39 posts across 4 communities in the last 30 days; 56% from r/IndieDev.
“A couple months ago we posted several Steam capsule concepts here and asked which one you would actually click. Your feedback helped us a lot. We ended up developing the open-gate direction further — and yes, we kept the cat :) But while working on the capsule, we realized the…”
“I just updated my Steam capsule and was SO happy with the result! I felt like the composition and the text reads MUCH better. Until my gf told me it looks... like something else... For context, I'm making an incremental sandbox game about breeding & sacrificing frogs. You…”
“I drew my icon in photoshop but I don't know if I can make it much better except to remove the outlines. The problem is my game is 3D and the icon is 2D and I'm clearly not the best artist out there... Is this fine? Or should I use my 3D game models instead of drawing the icon?…”
Multiple posts discuss the challenges of creating effective capsule art for games, particularly in conveying the game's genre and appeal. Developers are seeking feedback on different designs and considering revisions to improve clarity.
SOURCES (60)
“I felt that our old (Glowing door) capsule art was pretty vague and boring, so today I painted a new one that I think represents better what the game actually is🌸 ( NO AI was used for any of them ) submitted by /u/FuzzyMelox [link]…”
“I made a new capsule illustration for Witch & Dragon: Hope of Elements ahead of Steam Next Fest, and I'd love to hear your thoughts! This time, I wanted to set the scene in the sky, which is the homeland of the dragon in our game's story. I also wanted to put more emphasis on our two main characters — Elise, the witch, and Pipi, her little dragon companion — while giving the artwork a stronger sense of magic and adventure. I'm hoping this version makes the characters and the fant”
“We love it! €700 for all the iterations, the logo design and the PSD file separated in layers so we can compose all the steam variations is great! The artist's name is Hobblin and she's great! We would recommend her any day! You can check our bingo inspired roguelike: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5089770/BINGONE/ submitted by /u/BingoneGame [link] [comments]”
“Hey! I just updated my game's capsules on Steam and need some feedback! They were both made by me and did not use AI to generate anything under any circumstances. If you managed to see the game's page, I need to mention that the game is not finished yet and is totally different from what is shown on the game's page. Dungeon Trader's page Thank you! submitted by /u/Lawzitinho [link] [comments]”
“The old ones felt a bit empty and you could barely read the name on the small one. Made the logo bigger and added one of the inspection ships you run into in-game. Wanted to show a bit more of the game itself. The ship model is by Quaternius. The ship and planet use the game's current textures and lighting, so it does match how the game looks right now. https://quaternius.com/packs/ultimatespaceships.html Old on the left, new on the right. Which would you click? Anything you'd keep from”
“Getting visibility on Steam has definitely been a struggle in the lead up to (and after) launching our first indie game. Our first piece of capsule art was more CoOp-centric as we had recently added the feature and were excited to show it off. I found that we lost the expressions of the characters in the image which was mostly dominated by the bright weapon FX. The organic click through was still trickling in but waaaaay below what we needed to get any meaningful wishlists. On my second go I tri”
“TL;DR: Paid someone to redesign my game's capsule art, but I'm honestly considering using the thumbnail I made for my demo trailer instead. Want some opinions on them. I've been wanting to update the Steam capsule art for my game, Ball Busters . Originally, my thumbnail artist worked on a new version, and while I liked the character illustrations, neither of us was really feeling the background or overall layout. Unfortunately, he had to deal with a family emergency, so I hired someo”
“It’s finally Wednesday—capsule comparison day! (Though I don’t think this really counts as a “which one is better?” post.) Over the past six months, as I’ve kept working on my game, I’ve also kept finding things I wasn’t happy with in the capsule art and going back to change them. This image shows every version I’ve used on Steam so far. I’m not a professional artist, so this is just what I’ve learned along the way. One thing I’ve started to realize is that making a piece feel finished isn’t abo”
“Way too early in development to be doing any of this but I’ve had the image in my head for a while and needed to try and get on paper (pixels). It’s still a WIP and will definitely change as I keep working on the game but it was fun to do and I got to chat through the thought process and game concept on stream with a few lurkers while I did it Happy with the first draft but there isn’t enough contrast (WAY to dark atm) and I want to push it more towards a cartoony style with more solid colours a”
“Looking for advice from those who have updated their Steam Page, Socials, and did a brand update on their game with new capsule art and/or trailer. I've had some positive graphical and gameplay developments so wanted to see what people did and learned from updating their capsule art and trailer. - Did you hide your previous trailers from your socials and steam page? - Remove old content that showed old graphics / gameplay footage? - Resubmit your trailers to different press channels? Thank y”
“I had to add in some cool way to show that this game is a roguelike deckbuilder about bowling where the balls are actually the cards. Hopefully this change gets the message across! Let me know if something is still missing!!! submitted by /u/bn1515 [link] [comments]”
“A while ago I shared Stick Wars: The Laneborn here, and one of the biggest points of criticism was the capsule artwork. I read all the feedback, including the harsher comments, and honestly, there were some good points in there. So instead of simply defending the original artwork, I decided to take the criticism seriously and try something different. I commissioned an artist to create a new main capsule for the game, and I'm really happy with the result. One thing I especially appreciated fr”
“The game is a Virtual Pet + Monster Tamer where you raise, train and battle. The idea behind the first capsule is to showcase a variety of designs. The second has fewer but larger examples. In the thirds, I tried to showcase the fact they battle and evolve (not sure if it's clear) but I'm afraid it's less readable and more confusing. What do you think? submitted by /u/Skaro1 [link] [comments]”
“Dear all, I am here cause I need feedback on capsule image as well as steam descriptions. I feel like they need to improve but not sure how. Sorry for the attached image, I am just on phone right now. submitted by /u/HobbyistMoon [link] [comments]”
“Over the past six months, as I've kept working on my game, I've also kept noticing things I wasn't happy with in the capsule art and going back to change them. This image shows every version I've used on Steam so far. I'm not a professional artist, so this is just what I've learned along the way. One thing I've started to realize is that making a piece feel finished isn't about piling on more details. It's more about making everything feel cohesive and consist”
“First of all, I want to thank everyone in the community for supporting and sharing my previous post. I noticed that the developer has recently updated the capsule art for Loot Frog. They changed the star-shaped outline of the cape and the color/style of the flame effects—which were the most pointed-out elements in the previous discussion. However, as the original creator, I still feel unresolved about this update. While the cape and flame colors have been altered, the core underlying composi”
“My buddy and I were not happy with the capsule artwork that we had when our page went live, and we started looking for alternatives. We looked at a bunch of portfolios of some great artists, and were in talks with the one we hoped to work with, but realized that our timelines wouldn't line up like we'd hoped. I'd been in architecture for several years back in college, and got burnt out on anything to do with drawing, but when talking with my partner he's suggested we try to make”
“For context: the core gameplay loop consists of drones in ball-like cages flying through hoop goals while crashing into each other to defend them. Both capsules were rendered in Blender using actual in-game assets. We feel the new capsule does a much better job capturing the essence and energy of the gameplay. There's always room for improvement, so we’d love to hear your feedback! No GenAI was used in the creation of any art in the game or Steam assets like the capsule or logo. GenAI coding”
“By looking at the capsule: - What genre would you assume this game is? I’m curious whether the capsule communicates the kind of game I’m actually making, or if the visual style gives a completely different impression. 😄 Thanks in advance for any feedback! I really appreciate it. submitted by /u/toastyandre [link] [comments]”
“I put together five different cover layouts and want to test how they read with zero context. Which slide makes you immediately get the underlying concept of the game, and what do you think the main loop is just from looking at it? submitted by /u/LatentFactorDev [link] [comments]”
“This is the first art stuff i am sharing from 100000. No steam page or anything yet. Still would love to hear your feedback if you think its readable! submitted by /u/Hanesto [link] [comments]”
“Hey all, My steam page is getting excellent CTR numbers from my capsule art (which is bonkers, because I just made this as a placeholder until I could get a real one from my artist wife). However, my wishlist conversation is ABYSSMAL. I'm working on a lot more content, and I'm going to update my trailer and page, so I was wondering if ya'll could please give me some helpful pointers. I've been watching things on trailers, and I've been reading HTMYG, so I know some of the bas”
“After months, I finally decided to pause game dev and focus on redrawing the capsules for my upcoming game. Please, be patient, as I'm not much of a digital artist. While I do like them, I removed the incandescent cracks in the road, because I thought the image already had too much to look at. I temporarily copy-pasted and mirrored one agent instead of drawing another one. :S It's cheap, but I promise I will draw an appropriate one soon. What do you think? submitted by /u/Coo”
“Our small team is finally locking in the key art for our local co-op game. Our artist captured her whole process on ProCreate. This will be used for our Steam capsule and main marketing materials, the goal was to instantly convey the vibe of the game. Does the final illustration make you curious about the game? The artist's Instagram is : iampauw_ For those who would be interested, here is the game's Steam page : https://store.steampowered.com/app/4678570/ChickHen_Show?snr=1_7_15__13 ”
“I've decided to make a little stop on shinosagi (my game) to make a pet game for a pet jam on itchio. My question is, what style do you prefer? Digital drawn (like the gif here) or pixelated? Just to know what attracts more players these days. submitted by /u/SirdotR [link] [comments]”
“Have worked on the capsule since getting some feedback previously. Posting this on Wednesday when capsule posts are allowed in hopes of getting new feedback! Hoping the idea of the game comes across a little more clearly as I'm getting ready to move on from the playtest to the demo! Thanks submitted by /u/Calm-Promotion8358 [link] [comments]”
“We were very happy with how we worked with the artist and with the result, but we received some negative feedback (such as “Before clicking on the trailer, the capsule made me think the game was cheap”). I actually noticed that maybe the capsule doesn’t really catch the eye, especially if it’s small and surrounded by other things. What do you think? Should we start over from scratch? Or do we just need to make a few tweaks? Are we just overreacting to some negative feedback? submitted by &”
“I'm making a multiplayer social deduction game set in a comedy club. Players hide in a crowd of NPCs and try to heckle the performer off stage without getting caught. This is a mockup of the capsule art layout (not the final art style). I want the capsule to show a rowdy crowd with real players hiding among the NPCs, blending in but still heckling. General feedback is welcome but I have two specific questions: Too many crowd members? I worry the capsule feels too chaotic with this many chara”
“Hi everyone, as the title says, I was quite disappointed with the quality of the work. I am not an artist myself, but with the help of my friends and BiteMe Games community, I think we managed to upgrade it to the point where I am happy with it. What are your thoughts, yay or nay? submitted by /u/Optrexx [link] [comments]”
“Its been a while since ive posted this, but the time has come (again) - let me judge your capsules. Will gladly give free feedback and paintovers - also, ask me anything about it! For context, this is some of my current work as part of a studio specialized in capsules: https://www.artstation.com/ape_magic/albums/14859882 submitted by /u/ggtfim [link] [comments]”
“Hey everyone, I'm an indie developer and I’ve been working on a new capsule image for our upcoming game. Before we finalize it, I want to get the community's perspective. Brutally candid feedback is welcome. Specifically, I'm hoping to learn: 1. What works well, and what do you like about it? (composition, colors, character, vibe, etc.) 2. What doesn't work, and what do you dislike? (confusing elements, ugly parts, off-putting aesthetics, stands out in a bad way?) Your thoughts,”
“Right now im working on the demo of my game, and in the middle of development i changed my artstyle (from pixel art to flash style) and now im redoing the whole steam page. And i almost finished up the steam page aside from the steam capsule art. I got this capsule art from a fellow dev and now im questioning if i should do it in my artstyle or a different one (and witch one will even suit the game)? Also the steam page is still a bit rough, ill probably change it up later down the development:”
“The actual palette of my game art is the first one but I worry that it's too desaturated to stand out as a capsule Also if the answer is that you like neither, can let me know submitted by /u/hellofloss1 [link] [comments]”
“Hey fellow devs. We’re working on PAO PAO , which is actually a cozy seaside life sim where you manage a restaurant, farm, fish, and explore with friends. However, we realized our original capsule art had a flat orange background and character posing that made people think it was strictly a frantic, level-based arcade party game. We were likely attracting the wrong audience and hurting our CTR. We recently designed a new capsule to properly highlight the environment, the fishing mechanics, and t”
“New keyart is the bottom one. Follow up from this post asking for folks thoughts: https://www.reddit.com/r/gamemarketing/comments/1w0ksou/which_keyart_stands_out_to_you_the_most/ We changed the art just ahead of a small steam festival - Prismatic Indie Showcase. We've been in 4 before this, but the most comparable is the Brilliant indie showcase. Lets compare numbers: Brilliant indie: 7,063 impressions - clickthrough rate of 2.04% Prismatic indie: 6,538 impressions - clickthrough rate of 1.8”
“I know my steampage isnt the best, but I'm too deep in and I want to know an outsiders prespective on what could make a better art capsule. submitted by /u/Nachete255 [link] [comments]”
“Of course I provided ton of materials so it was not just this one sketch. But I found it funny when comparing two images like that. I am very much satisfied with this art. However... Would you click on this game? What do you think the game is about? Please, let me know!! submitted by /u/Ondresh [link] [comments]”
“I hired an artist to make the capsule art for my game and paid $590 for it. To be fair, I don't think the art is bad at all. The characters and environment are actually pretty good. I just really wasn't happy with the final mood of it, and especially the logo. It just didn't feel like my game. I did try to explain what I wanted during the sketch phase and asked for changes, but that stage went by pretty quickly and we moved into the environment/render pretty fast. Most of the bigger”
“I'm really curious if it's working or if I should just hire an artist to do a more traditional capsule art. submitted by /u/AxlLight [link] [comments]”
“Hey guys, I wrote a devlog about my experience trying to make my game's cover art as pixel art. There didn't seem to be much advice or information about this online other than whether players like or expect pixel art capsules, so I thought I'd write up my experiences. You can read the devlog over on Itch , Steam , or IndieDB . I'm definitely not a pro when it comes to pixel art, so I appreciate discussion from real pixel artists :) Cheers! JuhrJuhr submitted by /u/Juh”
“My first one was a quick 15 min pasting of in game assets. The current one is my first attempt at a more detailed pixel art capsule as normally I do not draw sprites much bigger than 64x64 normally so a lot of this was new. I'm sure there's a lot that needs to be changed so hoping some fresh eyes can help put it into words. The game is a twin stick/shmup is that conveyed from the new art? If it looks blurry cause of reddit here is an imgur link submitted by /u/zUcCc_ [link] &”
“The Cup - Free browser card game, every card a real North American animal. The art shipped as emoji placeholders and I'm replacing them with commissioned paintings one card at a time, out of pocket. Top row is what shipped, bottom row is what those three are now. Two artists so far, ChioArt and Prayoga. The commentary in the game is a generated voice, disclosed on the store page. The art is painted by people and paid for. Offline demo next month, Steam multiplayer integration in November: ht”
“I've been working on a new game that we're planning to release on Steam, and we recently finished a new capsule design. The idea was to clearly show the main character while also giving a glimpse of the enemies you'll encounter in the game. Here is the Steam Page Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3403690/Gumball_Hero/ I'd love to hear what you think? Any honest feedback is appreciated 🙏 submitted by /u/HeadCoinGuy [link] [comments]”
“Hello! We just recently updated our capsule art and would love to hear your opinion. https://store.steampowered.com/app/4196970/Asumi_Little_Ones/ Overall we wanted to increase the size of the logo and include the photography gameplay part of the loop in the capsule art somehow, which is now the polaroid white frame around the characters. submitted by /u/amdre-com-ss [link] [comments]”
“I'm getting ready to release the game I made at a game jam, so I'm reworking the art. I want to keep the retro feel, but make it cleaner and give each area its own look. What do you think? submitted by /u/Hairy_Jackfruit1157 [link] [comments]”
“On capsule art / Steam page art… I will need to outsource it since I have the artistic ability of a blind duck drawing with its feet. I’m curious a few things. Where do you find reliable artists? Any personal recommendations from your experience? What do people typically charge? I’m sure it varies, but what rough range am I looking at? submitted by /u/DukeOfGlizzy [link] [comments]”
“Where do people get feedback on capsules? Can I post it here? I also don't want to break all the rules of the subreddit I posted on destroymygame and no feedback:( submitted by /u/yoursolace [link] [comments]”
“Thanks man! Yeah, solving it as a whole board was the only way to stop the card slots from fighting over the same artworks.”
“Hey everyone, I'm a solo dev building PCDeck (turns your phone into a zero-latency PC trackpad & gamepad over local Wi-Fi). We're choosing between two icon styles for the upcoming store release: • Option A: 3D textured cyber-mouse with glowing neon spine • Option B: Minimal vector geometry with clean contours Which one would you tap on an app store, and why? Honest feedback welcome! submitted by /u/Old_Boysenberry_4008 [link] [comments]”