Nemeean_lion
2015-04-18, 02:57 AM
I am starting to wonder if the art upgrade was beneficial from a long term perspective. Sure, it looks nice, but we've noticed from the beginning that it had an effect on the frequency of the comic updates, and it has recently been confirmed by Rich in the "Has the forum gone too far" thread that the art plays a major role in slowing up the comic updates.
I know we're not supposed to make threads to talk about the update schedule specifically, but I'm trying to make the main subject of this thread the art upgrade's effects on the comic and the readers. From my point of view, this comic has already estabilished it's readership over the long years, and I'd say most, if not all the people reading keep coming back because of the story and it's execution. The quality of the art plays little to no role in hooking the readers, as the fact of the matter remains that this is after all a stick figure comic. Nothing will change this, and people who consider fancy graphics to be a major selling point will have already left the building long ago.
That being said, if adding a bunch of effects to make the comic look better is a piece of cake, then there's no reason not to add them. If however that takes up time and energy, I think that time and energy might be a bit wasted, because it almost certainly won't drive new people to come (because it's in the end still a stick figure comic) , but it might in the long run have the effect of driving people away because the updates become even slower. I think if there were to be a poll asking the current readers what they'd prefer: "a complete remake of the comic's graphics, with anime level effects" or "20% increase in comic update frequency" , at least 90% would choose the latter option.
This forum used to be brimming with threads, and now you can barely see threads created in the day you're watching.
What I'm saying is it's still not too late. Most people will probably not become judgemental if the details of the graphics were to be decreased in the middle of the graphics update. Toning down on some of the work heavy effects might be a good decision for both sides, and it probably won't even be noticed by the majority of actual readers.
What do you guys think?
I know we're not supposed to make threads to talk about the update schedule specifically, but I'm trying to make the main subject of this thread the art upgrade's effects on the comic and the readers. From my point of view, this comic has already estabilished it's readership over the long years, and I'd say most, if not all the people reading keep coming back because of the story and it's execution. The quality of the art plays little to no role in hooking the readers, as the fact of the matter remains that this is after all a stick figure comic. Nothing will change this, and people who consider fancy graphics to be a major selling point will have already left the building long ago.
That being said, if adding a bunch of effects to make the comic look better is a piece of cake, then there's no reason not to add them. If however that takes up time and energy, I think that time and energy might be a bit wasted, because it almost certainly won't drive new people to come (because it's in the end still a stick figure comic) , but it might in the long run have the effect of driving people away because the updates become even slower. I think if there were to be a poll asking the current readers what they'd prefer: "a complete remake of the comic's graphics, with anime level effects" or "20% increase in comic update frequency" , at least 90% would choose the latter option.
This forum used to be brimming with threads, and now you can barely see threads created in the day you're watching.
What I'm saying is it's still not too late. Most people will probably not become judgemental if the details of the graphics were to be decreased in the middle of the graphics update. Toning down on some of the work heavy effects might be a good decision for both sides, and it probably won't even be noticed by the majority of actual readers.
What do you guys think?