AlrecenkI made a #devlog retrospective about what I think went wrong with the development and release of #PortalFoxesTD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-lLNU3EUzc
YouTube
Dave?@Alrecenk I find that when people (usually not devs) argue 'gameplay over graphics', they're usually meaning strong gameplay and "weaker" graphics that have a strong aesthetic/style.
If you ask them what games do gameplay over graphics best, you'll sometimes get very frustrating answers like "Breath of the Wild" or "Dark Souls".
So while I get the argument, its one that I don't like to use because its somewhat misdirected.
player_03@justdaveisfine @Alrecenk Wow, yeah, those are not good examples. Here are some of my answers to that same question: Baba is You, Slay the Spire, Shotgun King, VVVVVV, N++, Patrick's Parabox. But even then, it's not like any of those have bad art.
Which relates to Alrecenk's point about discoverability. I built my Steam library through Humble Bundles and individual recommendations, and as a result it's hard to find examples of "bad" graphics. Games that don't look nice are less likely to have been recommended to me, even if I might have liked them regardless.
I do play games with "bad" graphics, but most of these are either game jam games (which would get more art if completed), idle games that I'm embarrassed to admit liking, or super niche.
@Alrecenk I would absolutely have tried it out if it didn't require VR. I tried to give feedback/support anyway, but there's not much I can do without actually playing it.
OTOH, I know from the era of Flash games that I don't really enjoy tower defenses that ask you to build your own maze. (Off the top of my head: Desktop TD, Whiteboard TD, and a pirate-themed one I can't recall the name of.) So even if I could play it, I might not have been the target audience.
@player_03 Yeah, that sentiment was my most common response to requests to playtest: "I don't know if I'll like it, but I'll try it, oh wait, I can't". Many of the people who do have VR only have a Quest without a PC, and they couldn't try it either.