Game Devs Grapple with Capsule Art
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 received my commissioned capsule artwork and I could not be happier with it. (Shoutout Felipe Poveda! https://www.deviantart.com/felipepoveda ) I've been wracking my brain, though, trying to decide which layout is better for the logo and the silhouettes. The game is turn-based tactical combat where…”
“A while ago I shared my game here, and a lot of you pointed out that the capsule looked AI-generated. 😅 So I listened. I worked with a freelance artist and had a completely new capsule hand-drawn for Ultimate Pet Shop Simulator . Honestly, I’m really happy with how it turned out, but I’d love to hear what you guys think. Better this time? 😅 submitted by /u/Vast-Aide [link] [comments]”
“I will not be accepting “Wizards” “Balls” or “Power” as answers. For real tho, I tried to arrange this one set of images into as many permutations as possible to fit the size and aspect ratio of the various capsules. Do you think they convey the right amount of information? Still waiting for steam to approve my account so no page yet but I’ll share more when I can. submitted by /u/Prudent-Ad-3246 [link] [comments]”
“I reframed the players and boss to make their roles more obvious. I also desaturated the shapes on the right side and faded the grayscale shapes into the background to act as texture. Does the new art give you a better idea of what the game is like? All feedback is appreciated. The first one is the new art. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3148360/Shape_Raid/ submitted by /u/JellySquidGames [link] [comments]”
“https://preview.redd.it/pgyfi2umaulh1.png?width=1437&format=png&auto=webp&s=3f1ab45d4977f79475e4f8024ba20568235f87b7 This thing is my game. Would you drop it because of the art? https://rocksonfly.itch.io/spinrpg submitted by /u/rock_br [link] [comments]”
“Hi all just looking for feedback on the latest capsule art. I really wanted to include elements of the game in the capsule but I'm wondering if the quality is at the point it can hold its own or even stand out when some hand drawn graphic seems to be the meta. Thanks submitted by /u/Floramatica [link] [comments]”
“Hi! I just got my Steam capsule made by an artist. I've spent so much time staring at it that I need fresh external eyes. Without knowing anything else, what genre do you think this game is? Does the layout feel too crowded? What do you think about the colors? submitted by /u/carndacier [link] [comments]”
“My own taste is minimalistic, that's why one of the versions I did has a lot more black BUT I do understand that for Steam maybe this doesn't fly... I like both, honestly. Feedback is very welcome. I'm NO artist whatsoever and being able to pull these 2 images feels pretty good to be honest, probably not that good compared to hiring someone but I think that (so far), I'm the best person in the world to tell how I'd like people to see my game. Thank you submitted by  ”
“Recently, I’ve been working on the character portraits for the “Commander” system in my Pinball Roguelite, Pinball Realm . I don’t really want to remember how many times I iterated on them because I wasn’t satisfied with my own work... but finally, they’re ready to meet you! These four commanders will appear during stages to give players tips, guidance, and give buffs to the matching class, so I put a lot of effort into their designs. Can you tell which class they will buff just by looking at th”
“I made one that has a good looking (i mean, compared to the second one) composition, but less information about the game. But also i've made one that tells about the game a bit, but, like, it's not juicy and clickable at all and wayyy generic. I would like to hear other opinions. Also my game won't just be a soccer game so the abstract context that first image has may kinda fit submitted by /u/AwiXan [link] [comments]”
“I’m working on a new capsule for my game and would love some feedback on how it’s looking so far. submitted by /u/JakeInReal [link] [comments]”
“Hi y'all. I'm hoping to get some input on a few options of capsule art I have drafted for my game Liar Liar. A little about the game first. It's a Jackbox-style game where everyone gets a story texted to their phone. Half the time it's a true story they entered at the start, the other half the time it's a complete fabrication from a big database of lies. Your friends interrogate you, then vote true/lie for points. Very silly, hearing embarrassing stories about each other. Doi”
“Hi, so I want to practice making capsule art for video games, you can give me the link of your game and I might try to make a capsule art I'm not a professional. And my artstyle is very cartoony, so if you don't like it and decide not to use it its ok, I just want to practice submitted by /u/cassetteowl [link] [comments]”
“Ive been told my capsule art is very busy and blends in with the steam background and other games so i tried to make it stand out a big more. Im just creating it in engine since im a programmer first not an artist but i think i think my tech art and shaders would be better than any 2D i could do(and dont really have a budget for an artist). The style is an important part of the game anyways and the colours should already be vivid enough hopefully. As you can see a few things i tried were making”
“Potential capsule art + game names comparisons. Hi there! I'm working on a first person game about building and climbing a tower out of trash. The main gameplay loop has the player pickup trash that washes up near their house, add on to the tower, then take and post a photo "online" (in-universe) from the top of the tower to unlock more tools and stuff. I'm getting to the point where I'm ready to start marketing (including setting up my steam page) and showing off the game,”
“I managed to squeeze three into one card. Can you spot them all? What do you think, does it stray too far from the "game"? Link to my game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3479370/Deck__Defense/ submitted by /u/Sino4Games [link] [comments]”
“Old (screenshot of the main menu) New (hand drawn with title on clipboard) New (hand drawn with larger title at top of image) I've seen how helpful feedback is in this sub and would love to hear your thoughts; brutal or kind. Steam page is coming soon: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4789360/Imma_Potato/ submitted by /u/Russell1st [link] [comments]”
“A/B test for Wonderdeck key art. Which one would catch your attention more on Steam — A or B? And if you can, I’d love to know why. submitted by /u/Equivalent_Good899 [link] [comments]”
“A/B test for Wonderdeck key art. Which one would catch your attention more on Steam — A or B? And if you can, I’d love to know why. submitted by /u/Equivalent_Good899 [link] [comments]”
“I wanted to share a game artwork from the 55-card Tarot-themed deck I recently designed for Flick Games UK. Since each suit carries its own distinct vibe, I wanted to showcase how the tarot elements and character details were incorporated specifically into the Club suit. submitted by /u/Bucketlisters_Sujin [link] [comments]”
“My cousin is a professional artist (does mostly graphic design stuff), and so I thought I'd ask if he was interested. However, he had never heard of Steam and said the last game he played was Smash Bros on GameCube. I decided to commission him anyway 😂 Be brutally honest! I'm prepared to pay an actual capsule artist to redo it. The game is a twin-stick shooter roguelike set in a Terraria-like world. submitted by /u/Mysterious-Sky6588 [link] [comments]”
“Looking for feedback on these 2 capsule art options! All feedback welcome, in particular wondering if the first is an improvement on the second and/or if there's more work to be done Here's a link to the Steam page if you want the context of the whole game: Coming Forth by Day Steam submitted by /u/QuickSliceGames [link] [comments]”
“Hello fellow indie gamers, I'm one of the devs of Dice of Kalma and we are soon bringing a new supporter pack for our Steam version. We have prepared two capsule arts. Which one is better? https://store.steampowered.com/app/3885520/Dice_of_Kalma/ submitted by /u/mistermaximan [link] [comments]”
“Early look of my game was different from what capsule art shows. So I tried to bring it as much as to whats shown in the capsule by changing the lightning and colors. If you can spend a minute to have a look and share what do you think about the current look , its a lot for me. submitted by /u/Late_Ask8481 [link] [comments]”
“Two capsule versions for Scratcher Simulator, a roguelike engine-builder where you scratch lottery tickets, build charm synergies, and try to outrun the math. Image shows both at full size and at small capsule size (231x87), because that's how most people will see it in search results and the Discovery Queue. Not asking which one is prettier. Asking which one you'd click while scrolling past 30 other capsules. Vote A or B, and if one of them reads as a completely different genre at a gla”
“I started the artwork for my first game today. I created my own color pallet with a yt tutorial in Aseprite and created these guys. They are not final yet. If you have any tips, let me know. It's so much fun to work on this, I could do this all day long. Cheers Patrick submitted by /u/SpellsanityGames [link] [comments]”
“The cards on the board represent the Heroes (main focus of the game). Each Hero has a Role so apart from the role icon, I wanted to give some extra fluff. So, the question is: do you find the colored glow too distracting, or? I tried to make it smooth. Let me know what you think. submitted by /u/sofoskir [link] [comments]”
“After some hesitation, I changed the key art of my game on Steam; the older one was simpler but less catchy in a way? Here is the game if you are curious : https://store.steampowered.com/app/4655600/The_bird_of_the_North/ submitted by /u/_Cirlu_ [link] [comments]”
“I updated my capsule art. Top is the old and bottom is the new, what do you think? https://store.steampowered.com/app/3612890/Obsidian_Throne/ submitted by /u/NullPointer5682 [link] [comments]”
“Trying to create a more 90s vibe and put the cover more in sync with the actual game play, we decided to create a new cover art, although I love the first one as well. Do you think it was a good idea? submitted by /u/RetroReactor [link] [comments]”
“I'm working on a new key visual for my game, so I put together four concepts to figure out which direction feels the strongest before spending more time on a polished version. The game is Revive! Onsen Town! (currently in playtest, if anyone's interested) . It's a cozy life sim set in the Japanese countryside . You can play as a girl spending her summer vacation in town, or as the Mayor, who's trying to revitalize the village. Meet a cast of unique locals, enjoy peaceful music an”
“these will be used and modified in some way to be used as capsule for my game. which one works the best, or should I make changes?. Also in general what do you think of the character? submitted by /u/ThePapercutParadox [link] [comments]”
“As a bonus - we got rid of that stock Unity robot model and our artist spent over a week modelling just those android arms we've got there in the new capsule. submitted by /u/Calm-Valuable-950 [link] [comments]”
“I just updated my Steam Capsule (1st image is the new one). Was that an upgrade? What could I improve? submitted by /u/Pure-Map-6717 [link] [comments]”
Hey all! We're putting together the Steam capsule art for our dark fantasy bullet heaven game, Devoidant . We’d love your thoughts on the composition! Feel free to roast or critique the…
“Hey everyone! I’ve just updated the main capsule image of my game and wanted to get some feedback from the community. I hired a professional artist to redesign it, and I’m curious what you think. Does the new capsule art make you interested in checking out the game? I’m also preparing the demo, which should be available in around 2 weeks. If the game looks interesting, adding it to your wishlist would really help a solo indie developer. Thanks for taking a look! ❤️ Panic Pub — a chaotic pub mana”
“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 automate physics-based factories to feed them into this hole, which was was supposed to be "scary and fleshy". Well... I can't unsee it now. My eyes hurt. If you ever try making something look "organi”
“I thought I'd share my experience with commissing an illustration for my game's capsule art on a limited budget. I will say, I'm no expert and I don't recommend this for everyone, as I do have some experience with graphic design, but I feel the response has been better than having a screenshot or AI image. I know AI usage is controversial and I have mixed feelings about it myself. It seems most gamers view it as low effort / low quality. When deciding where to spend their limited”
“A few weeks ago, I shared our Steam capsule to get some feedback. The responses were incredibly helpful and made us realize it wasn’t doing a good job of communicating what makes our game unique. To be completely transparent, the original capsule was made by our own team. We’re a small indie studio, and at the time we simply didn’t have the budget to hire a professional illustrator. After reading all your comments, we decided to invest in a complete redesign and worked with a professional artist”
“Two logo styles provided. Looking for feedback on which reads better on Steam. Any other feedback on the general style, overcrowded-ness, readability, eye-catching-ness, etc. would be much appreciated. submitted by /u/DeckBeasts1 [link] [comments]”
“Hi there! We're finalizing our capsule for our steam page, we needed to show more about the genre in how the capsule feels, so we gave it a more actiony vibe, showing off our characters. Now we are looking for feedback to make it as awesome and as clickable as possible. Any thoughts? submitted by /u/Puzzleheaded_Fly3579 [link] [comments]”
“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? https://preview.redd.it/m0xfp4au8chh1.png?width=1593&format=png&auto=webp&s=e5489e7e96cfdf4262989f9bc3d81f5be988bb8e submitted by /u/Garena_kleee [link] [comments]”
“Title says it all - looking for very honest feedback. Had this commissioned a while ago and it came back less than perfect. After some fighting with the artist, I've since had them fix it, make some changes, and provide proof that it's not AI. Though I like the design and it lays out the game's content quite well, I'm still not entirely convinced it isn't AI. On first look, does this seem like AI? Any feedback is more than welcome. A note on the fingers - the creature on the”
“Hey everyone, A little while ago I posted my Steam capsule here asking for honest feedback, and you all gave me a lot of great advice. I took your feedback, scrapped the old design completely, and created a new version for my folk horror game, Woodbound . Also, regarding the AI voice acting discussion from my last post, I took your advice there as well. I've decided that I won't be using any AI in Woodbound —the game and this Steam capsule will be 100% AI-free . How does this new capsule”
“Hey everyone, I’m a solo indie developer and I’d love some honest feedback on my Steam capsule. The first image is the new version and the second image is the old one(made by me) A few questions: • Which version do you prefer and why? • Does the new capsule look professional enough ? • Does it clearly communicate the game ideea? • Would you click on it if you saw it on the store? • Does any part of it look AI generated? The artwork was commissioned from an artist, while the logo is made by mysel”
“hello guys. i am J. i have been working as a freelancer for indie games and the commission market and really like to make illustrations for card games and key art specially . i share each step of the process with the client for mods and approvement so dont worry about that. you can check my process in my portfolio here : artstation.com/joaotardy submitted by /u/notfoundnick111 [link] [comments]”
“Our capsule art was accused of looking like AI, so we went in a completely different direction. Would love to hear what you think about the new one (on the right). Any feedback is welcome as we could really use some fresh perspective. The game is a horror narrative sim where you work as a medieval gatekeeper. Edit: Looking at comments, perhaps I should have worded this better xD It's not AI. Neither of them are. The issue with first one is that one of the references that I sent to artist was”