Snake Pass, and how a bad home menu icon drags down my enjoyment of a game
- Thread starter Neiteio
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Deleted member 59090
Unconfirmed Member
I think other games should follow Snake Pass and Sonic Mania. No reason to have the title display twice.
Waluigilicious
Member
The title is only displayed when you highlight the game.
Waluigilicious
Member
You're on fire lol.
old manatee
Banned
The original icon is horrible.
It's. A. Fucking. Logo. Are you guys insane? Do you get less enjoyment out of a physical game if the boxart is shit? Or out of a book if it has a plain cover?
I can understand why you might not like it but to say that you get less enjoyment from the game itself is absolutely absurd.
I can understand why you might not like it but to say that you get less enjoyment from the game itself is absolutely absurd.
Not really, when the title of each game is clearly displayed when you move the cursor over it.
Waluigilicious
Member
While most of us didn't say this,the OP did and even then you can argue that it can set the mood before you enter the game. As can a bad title screen, a bad opening cinematic, etc. It's all things you have to click through to start the game.
Waluigilicious
Member
And as time goes on, the number of games you have increases, but only one title is displayed at a time.
Robin64
Member
We're talking at a glance here, especially when the Switch changes to the mode where it shows lots of tiles.
And you should realise, none of us are angry about this, or offended, or anything like that. People coming in here going "YOU GUYS ARE INSANE" seem to be the angry ones, oddly.
It's just a little suggestion about how we think things could be nicer. Nothing more.
The à¹ÛBronx
Member
That isn't the comparison though. It would be the spine of a book in a bookshelf only having an icon to describe it by. That's cool and quirky for one book but as soon as others do it it starts to become a mess and undermines the entire design philosophy.
Why are you being so needlessly aggressive in your post when this thread is just a normal discussion about the impact of design in the space of a library for something.
thesonovabeach
Member
If we could have fun with a game with this disastrous cover :
You'll manage to get over an icon on a menu.
You'll manage to get over an icon on a menu.
Jo Shishido's Cheeks
Member
Stupid thing about Sonic is there were already multiple viable options:
...and they simply chose to go with the worst one possible.
Really off-putting tbh, still haven't bought the game yet.
...and they simply chose to go with the worst one possible.
Really off-putting tbh, still haven't bought the game yet.
I hadn't seen that Jackbox Party icon. This week releases the other 2 games, probably with similar images. lol
Retro Edge
Member
As collector, I've got more enjoyment when I found the rare "I am Setsuna" Asia physical edition that has the English cover as bonus with it.
And even as 13 year old boy, 15 years ago I hated the cheap "Platinum" versions of PS1 and PS2 games and didn't bought them until I found the normal version. So yes, I got and get less enjoyment out of a physical boxart.
And with books, if there are several cover, of course I want the best looking one and I always prefer hardcover.
So yes, of course you can get less enjoyment here too.
Waluigilicious
Member
What's cool about that one though is that you can see the names of all the games included! That's even better than simply having a logo saying Jackbox Party Pack 2 or 3. That one is a good one I feel.
me0wish
Member
I don't play Cod, never in my life have I bought a CoD game, and I know which is which. Other than that, tbh I think it looks great.
I agree.
Waluigilicious
Member
Sometimes you need to realise you're in the minority. Us users on GAF do not even represent the average gamer let alone casual gamer.
The à¹ÛBronx
Member
Not to mention just basic design accessibility considerations. It's funny that people speak as though design around these things is subjective and not grounded in principles. That's one of the primary distinctions between art and design in my opinion, design has a purpose and can be critically evaluated in that regard.
Toadthemushroom
Member
Aye. While it's evidently in the dev documentation (as seen on the last page) Nintendo doesn't seem to enforce it.
I think devs know that having an inconsistent icon approach makes their games stand out more. I think Sumo Digital changed Snake Pass' icon to highlight the fact the game received an update. Other developers probably didn't take the advice to heart (like Tomorrow Corporation who reused the Wii U/iOS icons for Little Inferno and Human Resource Machine). The TumbleSeed developers must have noticed it at the last minute because when the game released they issued a minor update that changed the icon from a character portrait to rich artwork + logo.
You seem way angrier about this than anyone posting in here
Same as you, but not everyone would have the ingrained knowledge like we do, and even with it, it shouldn't take that to recognise what game is which, which is the point and to me they're not iconic enough for me to instantly see what it is.
Thinking about it too, to be fair, there are quite a lot of PS4 icons have cases like these. No Mans Sky being one, though weirdly is a case I would instantly recognise. Until Dawn being another, though I suppose in PS4's defense, there is big text showing the title when you highlight it, while it's switch's case, it's small and the icon takes up the most space, so should should more info.
me0wish
Member
That much is true, I wish Nintendo would allow us to choose between different versions of icons.
Looking at the games I have, MK8, wonderboy, Zelda etc, they'd all look better with out a title. Even the old Snake Pass icon would look better with out the title, reminds me of how 3DS/Wii U handles icons. Now that I think about it, the Wii channels were the best.
Papo Swing
Member
The Switch must be very good if this is the kind of complaint being brought up.
I myself don't care one way or the other, but I feel it is stupid that the icon might affect enjoyment of a game.
I myself don't care one way or the other, but I feel it is stupid that the icon might affect enjoyment of a game.
If you wanna do the old Sonic games should they ever come to Switch, this is what they look like on my sons Kindle
Waluigilicious
Member
It is good yes
but this is a complaint or rather a suggestion to the individual developers of these games.The à¹ÛBronx
Member
Honestly, there's probably a lot of design considerations that you'd be surprised are conscious thoughts and decisions. Changing the colour of a registration button from blue to green can result in a 60% increase in sign-ups, the image you show next to a checkout process can massively sway people abandoning the basket. Minor things have incredible influence on something, even if it's not felt by the average user.
This is more about accessibility and being fit-for-purpose in the context of a library, but these minor things are important in most areas of design, and people shouldn't be mocked for discussing them.
Don't think it's fair to match the title as the same thought of every replier, not sure the OP is overexaggerating or not either, but at least to me, of course the icon doesn't affect enjoyment of a game, might affect your overall feelings towards a game at the most, but I would think thats it.
Just a quite good discussion about being able to distinguish what a game is based on its icon really, even though it seemed the main part was that the icon square appears smaller next to other icons, which I still agree with and its now a minor annoyance to me now I see it, but feels the other line of discussion is more interesting.
Just a quite good discussion about being able to distinguish what a game is based on its icon really, even though it seemed the main part was that the icon square appears smaller next to other icons, which I still agree with and its now a minor annoyance to me now I see it, but feels the other line of discussion is more interesting.
It's not even the logo really. It's just the logoless icons have really boring/bad composition. Face on a background... wow...
Take Snake Pass as an example. Remove the logo from the old icon and it's still a better icon than the current one. It also represents the game better, with a snake in a lush jungle environment vs a blue void of nothing.
To give De Mambo some credit, it's at least trying to capture the style of the game.
Sonic can get away with it, though the images posted above fill out the space of the square better. If you're going to have Sonic's floating head, at least place it on a TV monitor box. The examples posted above, however, are better looking - especially the one with all three characters on it.
The Human Resource Machine and especially Little Inferno are really blah. They tell you nothing of the game and are just dull looking.
This isn't the Wii U with its small icons. You have these great big canvases to work with. Use it!
Take Snake Pass as an example. Remove the logo from the old icon and it's still a better icon than the current one. It also represents the game better, with a snake in a lush jungle environment vs a blue void of nothing.
To give De Mambo some credit, it's at least trying to capture the style of the game.
Sonic can get away with it, though the images posted above fill out the space of the square better. If you're going to have Sonic's floating head, at least place it on a TV monitor box. The examples posted above, however, are better looking - especially the one with all three characters on it.
The Human Resource Machine and especially Little Inferno are really blah. They tell you nothing of the game and are just dull looking.
This isn't the Wii U with its small icons. You have these great big canvases to work with. Use it!
You can also add Severed to that list.
pinkurocket
Member
I'm actually really bothered by this.
It's definitely an issue in the sense that it creates an inconsistency in a UI that's designed so neatly and minimalistic. The grid view on Steam has a similar way of presenting games and they all have the logo on it. Is it because these designers relate a square icon to an app icon? It just doesn't work.
It's definitely an issue in the sense that it creates an inconsistency in a UI that's designed so neatly and minimalistic. The grid view on Steam has a similar way of presenting games and they all have the logo on it. Is it because these designers relate a square icon to an app icon? It just doesn't work.
patrickthehedgehog
Member
As we move to digital games vs physical boxes I'd like these fairly large Switch icons to look as nice as some of the boxart. I like looking at my little digital game collection.
I wonder what triggered devs to suddenly switch to more generic icons and in the case of Snake Pass update it post release....
I wonder what triggered devs to suddenly switch to more generic icons and in the case of Snake Pass update it post release....
Thank you for this list. Much appreciated.
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
This whole thing is nitpicking but on the other hand Sonic and Snake Pass's icons are just represent bad graphic design all over the board. Unless you're icon is really small there's no reason to just waste space and have just a bobble head. It's not only vague but uninteresting. More designers should look at the thumnails on Netflix or what Nintendo has actually suggested because it gives the audience a clear idea of what their getting into along with having some actual consistency.
//ARCANUM
Member
I posted this in the Night Trap thread, but this getting bumped reminded me again of it.
The game shows this awesome art in the PSN store:
And THIS is what you get as the game's icon on your PS4:
lol. seriously.
Also, I immediately thought of this Snake Pass thread/icon debacle when I saw the Sonic icon yesterday. FWIW, I think the Sonic icon sucks too and think it should be required to have the game name in the icon. ¯\_(ツ
_/¯
The game shows this awesome art in the PSN store:
And THIS is what you get as the game's icon on your PS4:
lol. seriously.
Also, I immediately thought of this Snake Pass thread/icon debacle when I saw the Sonic icon yesterday. FWIW, I think the Sonic icon sucks too and think it should be required to have the game name in the icon. ¯\_(ツ
_/¯Looks like a chemical element from periodic table. lol
Waluigilicious
Member
I posted this in the Night Trap thread, but this getting bumped reminded me again of it.
The game shows this awesome art in the PSN store:
And THIS is what you get as the game's icon on your PS4:
lol. seriously.
Also, I immediately thought of this Snake Pass thread/icon debacle when I saw the Sonic icon yesterday. FWIW, I think the Sonic icon sucks too and think it should be required to have the game name in the icon. ¯_(ツ
That's just bad. Why don't they just use the art they already had? This is such a weird design choice.
//ARCANUM
Member
This is what the dev told me: https://twitter.com/screamingvill/status/897653157148360708
@screamingvill said:
I don't know about you, but that NT25 doesn't look like any 80s / 90s horror films i've ever seen, and I've seen a lot.
You shouldn't have to hover over menu items to know what they are.
xochipiltontli
Member
Yeah I have to say that I was pretty annoyed by the home screen icon for Mania as well. Every other game on my home screen follows the same basic layout i.e. Dense art with the title screen displayed. The icon for Sonic Mania might as well be the icon for any other Sonic game, there's nothing that would suggest at an first glance that it's Sonic Mania instead of Sonic 1 or Sonic 2 or Sonic 3, which might not be a problem now, but may be later. It's also just bad form when the Switch dev design guidelines really suggest not doing this.
-shadow-
Member
Mihael Mello Keehl
Banned
I posted this in the Night Trap thread, but this getting bumped reminded me again of it.
The game shows this awesome art in the PSN store:
And THIS is what you get as the game's icon on your PS4:
lol. seriously.
Also, I immediately thought of this Snake Pass thread/icon debacle when I saw the Sonic icon yesterday. FWIW, I think the Sonic icon sucks too and think it should be required to have the game name in the icon. ¯\_(ツ
The actual icon reminds me of a SMT game or something
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