How much does the art style matter in a fan game to you?

[IronGOBLIN]

For games that are based on an existing property, how important is the art style to you? Does it matter if the game's art matches, or at least doesn't conflict with, the style of the source material?

As an example, Something Unlimited's art matches the DCUA's style rather well. With a few exceptions (main one I can think of atm is Killer Frost) every character that has had an appearance in the DCAU matches up with the art in the game while characters from other series are drawn specifically in the DCAU style.

Games like Amity Park though go for something that has some obvious resemblance to the style from its source material, though in this game's case the biggest difference is that female characters' bodies are more detailed and sexualized. It seems like this style is mostly hit or miss with people. Either you're good with it or not.

And then games like Hero Sex Academia go for a completely different style altogether. Whether or not the style is actually good or not will vary from person to person, but it seems like this option is usually not nearly as favored as the others.

So how important is the game's art style to you? When it comes to a fan parody game, would you prefer an art style matching the source material? And if so, how accurate does it have to be? If not, then would you play it as long as the art style isn't bad? EDIT: To be clear, this isn't about whether or not you'd play a game with bad art.

 

[moskis22]

The srt style is the most important part of an ero game, if you don't like it, probably you won't even try to play it, and maybe you would love it if you had tried it

 

[Jofur]

It definitely has to look a fair amount like the original art. If I can barely recognize the characters I might as well be playing another game. I do think it's a good idea to add details however. It is a porn game and visuals is a pretty important part, and if the source material is super simplistic it won't make for very interesting art or erotic scenes.

For example, I don't know a huge amount about DC art, but from what I've seen the character looks more or less the same when it comes to facial and body structure and nails their overall visual representation, but they have a lot more shading and details that something like a TV-show would never be able to do.

If the game uses characters from different franchises I definitely prefer a more unified style rather than each character looking completely different from each other. That art style whiplash is too much for me(granted I prefer my parodies to stick to the source material fairly closely and mixing franchises is a big no-no).

One of my main pet-peeves with parody games is that they often go overboard giving characters bigger breasts or hourglass figures and mess up their body from the source material. Don't get me wrong I like a sexy body as much as the next guy, but a petite character should stay a petite character. A flat girl should remain flat. That's part of their charm. I'm here because I want to see the characters from the source material getting it on, not just super models with a glued on faces of the characters.

 

[Hagatagar]

I prefer all characters to look exactly like the original.
This includes the art style as well as the physique of the characters. If characters needs to be aged (Rule 7), their physical appearance should be consistent with other characters in the new age group (no sudden bombshells).

Obviously, this means different art styles will be present if characters originate from different franchises. I personally have no problem with that. Look at Super Smash Bros it works there too.

One of my main pet-peeves with parody games is that they often go overboard giving characters bigger breasts or hourglass figures and mess up their body from the source material. Don't get me wrong I like a sexy body as much as the next guy, but a petite character should stay a petite character. A flat girl should remain flat. That's part of their charm. I'm here because I want to see the characters from the source material getting it on, not just super models with a glued on faces of the characters.

This.

 

[Nograce]

For those type of games art style is crucial in my opinion. Closer the better.

 

[Carrera]

I prefer it to match within reason. I don't expect perfection, but if you've got powergirl on the stage then I expect it to look like her and not someone's hot take of the day.

 

[Mad Jack475]

it has to be fairly recognizable. You need to stoke nostalgia while also giving it a unique twist of your own style. The balance is an uneasy.

 

[sexypeanut]

For parody games, I rather have its art be as close as possible to the original material... but some leeway must be given to their devs because:
1. the artists aren't the same between the show and the game
2. not all art is easy to replicate/animate
3. some art styles aren't really appropriate for porn games

Thus, I'm ok with having a bit of difference or even a new art style - as long as I can recognize the characters. For example, I'd never really get into a Gravity Falls parody porn game that used EXACTLY the same art style. It's simply not 'horny-ful' enough. Everyone looks too cutsy and kidsy, so to speak. There's a comic called Bawdy Falls that changes the art and makes it way more palatable to porn stuff - but the characters are still recognizable.

Regarding OP's examples:
- Something Unlimited is one of the closest art styles with the source that I've seen here. However, the original art style was already a given that porn would be made with it - it was a question of when, not if.
- Amity Park is undergoing an art style change and not everyone enjoyed the new art (especially in the case of Jazz). I was in that board in the beginning, but now I even enjoy the new take with characters/in-game pictures that still hold some of the original art style (Desiree's new scenes, Sam's pic). It remains to be seen if such a bet by the dev team will be successful. Personally, the original source art isn't that sexy to begin with (hence the sexier bodies the parody artist gave them).
- Hero Sex Academia takes a completely different route and some of the characters don't even look like their counterparts (mostly Phoenix and Scarlet Witch) - but they're hella cute, so I give it a pass. Also, some characters from MHA anime look much better in the game than in the original source (like Froppy). As Jofur pointed out, games that have characters from many franchises work better if they use a specific art style instead of mixing from their sources (it sounds really un-immersive when a character looks like art style A and another looks like art style B). Camp Pinewood 2 also does the same as Hero Sex Academia.