Some thoughts from someone who has shipped a couple AAA Titles as a Marketing Lead:
Identifying a successful model from another product and building on it is good. Captivity is the obvious inspiration here, and you probably couldn't have picked a better basis - Perveloper did an incredible job with creating a project that did a lot with very little in terms of assets. Plus, with the basic nature of the visual components, the user's imagination does a lot in terms of filling in the details.
Currently, Cave Party's assets are making promises they aren't keeping - though, given that it's version 0.005 and it's being compared to a feature-complete Captivity at version 1.05, that's completely understandable. However, there ARE some pitfalls that the art direction has already fallen into that I would recommend addressing as soon as possible:
The character sprites are almost identical in construction, but the emphasis is on "almost". Several key joints are out of place, which can make certain animations look rough. For example, Captivity gives the player a visible shoulder joint, but Cave Party does not:
Additionally, Cave Party's Men tend to have what I call "Ham Arm" - their arm proportions are way too long in the bicep, causing a really nasty break during animation. They also tend to suffer from Barrel Chest and, well, whatever's going on with their pants:
For a project like this, these issues need to be addressed immediately - sparse assets can absolutely be carried by good animation, but they need to be constructed properly first. Which, speaking of:
Captivity is considered to be masterclass because there's so much effort put into the animations - the movements, the expressions, the grunts and noises. This is even reflected in something as simple as the walking and run animations; in Captivity, you step to a halt after running for any distance. But of course, running details aren't what the majority of players are here for:
Every animation that Captivity has oozes with personality and style: eyes roll and glance and stare, mouths grimace or hang open in silent screams and moans, hands grab and push and hold. Despite only being a series of pixelated puzzle pieces rotating along set variables, the player and the enemies feel
ALIVE and the multi-stage animations feel weighty and full of consequence. Cave Party has basic elements in place, but it's missing that panache and the polish that Captivity's animations have.
Again, I understand that Cave Party is in its very early stages, but that just means that now is the best time to start thinking about these things. An excellent example of this is another project that also happens to be in its very early stages:
Lost Case: Monster Girl Takeover. It's been in development for two years and it's barely got anything to it, but people haven't lost the hype because the assets and animation are
phenomenal. Their focus on art direction is effectively the pornographic version of the CostCo Hot Dog Combo - a
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that generates interest and transforms spectators into customers.
If you actually want people to subscribe to your Patreon or otherwise financially support you,
now is the time to prove that you can put out quality content that they care about. If you want people to play a game that's clearly in progress, you need to dangle an extremely tasty carrot at the end of the stick instead of an I.O.U. You need to show that you're doing more than just copying Captivity's style - you need to equal it or surpass it.
Fix up the sprites, put a
lot more effort into the animations, and you'll see dividends immediately. I promise you.
