To make a game is not something you can simply hop on and do, unfortunately. It takes months (sometimes even years) of planning, writing scenarios, proofreading, making conceptual art, background art, character art, interface, coding a game loop with fun and engaging game-play mechanics...
This is what we have done for Witch Trainer: Silver, our monthly plans are public and we are open about it, we also were, and are open about art we plan adding in the next upcoming update 1.38 release. We mentioned multiple times we had struggled with finding an artist(s) willing to work with us despite our extensive art style requirements, specific image layering and our limited budget.
I understand you may have concerns about the direction the mod is headed and its future, but asking us to abandon the project because we are finally able to add our own art into the game is disheartening to say the least. We listened when majority of you said the animated art-style we have proposed half a year ago was not fitting for the game, we parted ways with the artist and started looking for another one. After half a year of searching for the holy grail, we have found two new talented artists willing to work with us and accepting all of our requirements.
We decided to show you a preview of the new CG scene because we were (still are) excited and because we wanted to show that your money does not go to waste. Maybe it was a mistake on our part to show an unfinished piece of art, I cannot be certain, but I believe being open and reaching out to our community is most important, I joined the team after one of the developers reached out to me after all.
Akabur's art-style is unique, his line-work is crude, shades and shapes are rough, one could even say unrefined. None of what I said about his style is a bad thing, it is only a simplification of how I would try to describe his art-style in one sentence. Akabur does not follow any common drawing techniques or styles, he makes the rules himself and only a handful of people can replicate his art with success, and they are not easily reachable. The fact that Akabur's style is constantly evolving does not make the task any easier. Sadly, we might never be able to reach the heights of art-style you are expecting of us to provide, but we are trying to make up for it in other aspects of the game.
We have put tremendous amount of work to make this game, a game we would enjoy and play ourselves, a game about an eccentric, sarcastic time-traveler stuck in an unfamiliar world full of magic, lots of sex and (even if cringey at times) humour. I think we did pretty well at least in two beforementioned aspects. The game currently has three times more content compared to original game including; five additional characters (not counting side characters that have been added in the meantime), at least a hundred new events, 60 thousand new dialogue lines and even a mini game in the form of a card game. We have many, many more ideas how to make the game better and we plan to deliver, but for that we need artists.
Some of you might say that what makes the Witch Trainer a good game is art other might say it is thanks to the character design. For me, personally, what makes Witch Trainer a good game is its humour, world creation and a bizarre story, everything else is just a an addition that makes the game even more pleasant.
I understand that some of you might dislike the new art and be critical about it. We are thankful for your constructive critique, we read every single comment in this thread and our discord, and discussed the upcoming changes and adjustments to the art, which you will see in the future. The current CG images that are in the game for Hermione (except for the ball ending) were not in the original game, they were made by one of us years ago by simply editing one of the old Akabur's images from another game. Fortunately we can do better than that with the help of our new artists.
I know I cannot convince all of you to like the new art but at least give us a chance, that is all I ask. Maybe, just maybe, by the end of the day, you might start enjoying the new art and the content that has been made thanks to it. If not, there will always be an option to make the new CG scenes optional, allowing you to watch the animated chibi scenes as in the original game.
Thank you for all your feedback. You will hear from us soon.
