I think everyone is a bit too obsessive over graphics. Like myself for example.

I think everyone is a bit too obsessive over graphics. Like myself for example.

Fix'd.

it is a prejudice we all carry

Could you please refrain yourself from taking your case as the general consensus, it varies from people to people.

Truly good gameplay or mechanics will trump shiny graphics all day of the week, well, as long as it's not a corridor shooter I guess. Also, it's not that hard to find half decent graphics free of charge (and even artists if the above condition is met) over the internet, at least in 2D.

The prejudice I am speaking of is judging a book by its cover. Not just graphics.

Not until now.

You moved your point from graphics in video games and why there's usually no replies in announcement to general philosophy without warning right here. It's quite a leap.

Have you ever judged something before really knowing about it?

Loaded question with only one valid answer.. I am knowledgeable enough in video games to know better than stopping at graphics. I am certainly not impervious to various forms of bias in subjects I know less. That's what you want me to say, right ? However, I tend to listen to people who know more about it than myself. New gamers hopefully do the same reading reviews.

How that invalidate my point that many gamers will overlook (or even don't care in general about) graphics and that your case isn't a generality, I don't know

To say "your game looks like a game I wouldn't pay money for" is not just a graphics prejudice, as is to say that a game that looks like it was done in Microsoft paint means that it will NOT sell. It is a prejudice, and a typical way people judge things (which I acknowledge I do myself, though also acknowledging that a game really can't be judged by its face alone).

Things can look like bad games but be good games, as people can look like they are mean, but they really aren't. It is a simile.

If I am given no other good incentive for trying a game, chances are I won't. There are bunches and bunches of games out there to be played.

So as "most" people avoid a person who "looks" like they are having a bad day, so do I tend to avoid games whose graphics "look" bad, unless given some other incentive to explore further.

All in all, it is motivation for me at least to provide some incentive for people to want to play my game. Perhaps it sparks the curiosity? Perhaps the selling point would be the narration (as with the game "Thomas was Alone")

And I did just find a very interesting one in the announcements section called "Loved" by Alexander Ocias.

The incentive?

"The overseeing voice talks as if it owns you, and defies your free will. if you follow its orders, you are praised, and the worldview becomes sharper and more detailed. if you don’t, you are chastised, and the world becomes more vague and difficult to navigate, but also more colourful and loud. it’s odd, and sort of eerie, but definitely interesting. take it as you will." -- Random Player

Mostly good points, I think. On graphics -- its not an issue of whiz-bang, latest photo-realistic thing, but more about having a consistent aesthetic that's appropriate for the story tone and gameplay, and then executing that to a high degree of polish. If you can do that, then you avoid looking disinterested and lazy about your own damn game -- it puts the pride you take in your game and puts it on the outside for all to see.

Not everyone can make great art, and not everyone can attract an artist during development. That's fine, disclaim your programmer art in early demos. But I admit for myself that its hard to give a game a serious look when its ripped and combined sprites from various games, or ripped sprites and combined with their own, generally-lower quality ones, or when its obvious that the game has had two or more artists who never spoke, or the graphics are flat and boring. Basically, be interesting and don't remind me how out of place things look.

Graphics don't stand in for quality, but they lend texture that enhances your world.

Sound design and execution go the same way.

Can someone tell me how to properly record gameplay video? Fraps and camtasia doesnt work for me, even if I dont notice lag during the recording, the video quality will either be laggy or terrible anyway.

There's also CamStudio, not very good but it can get the job done.

The quality depends on the codec you chose, or lack thereof. No (or very light) compression is recommended for quality, re-compress later on with something like virtualdub and the right codec.

And that lead to your second issue, your hard-disk may be too slow to keep up with the recorder. In some recorders (fraps does that iirc) you can reduce the number of frames per second it will record, that may help (30 or 25 is enough for video recording). And of course, no antivirus, defrag, or any 3rd party program that may interfere. Also no need to record the video in 1900 x something, reduce your resolution to something smaller (that fits in a youtube video).

Alternatively, if your CPU hit its limit (50% or 100% usage in your case), in that case the codec you used takes too much processing power, hence the lag.