A suitable for work version of the ToME4 background image

[Prime]

It's not that the picture is offensive (or distractingly attractive); I just don't think it's a good image to represent the game. At first glance, it makes the game look more like clichéd wish-fulfillment fantasy than something with intellectual and artistic merit. It's a bit like using a scantily clad picture of Arwen as the cover of Lord of the Rings.

[bricks]

The farportal image would definitely be more appropriate. It'd also be snazzy if more and more game art was pushed into a rotation as you progressed.

[Grey]

The farportal image would definitely be more appropriate. It'd also be snazzy if more and more game art was pushed into a rotation as you progressed.

Now *that* would be cool!

[Hunter]

What I'm not fine with is pointless giant boobs on the front cover of a tactical roguelike. I'm also not fine with whiny guys pretending it's no big deal when other people are saying "it's a big deal". Just because you're not offended doesn't mean others have no right to be.

[/quote]

You had your opinion. It was treated as such. Others offered their opinion. You call it whining. Now...let's see if we can delineate exactly where one person veers tragically off course in this discussion and starts whining. It should be apparent pretty quickly.

[micah]

What I'm not fine with is pointless giant boobs

Agreed, I'm not a fan of pointless giant boobs either. I much prefer DFC, for the whole holding you closer to her heart thing.

Notice how few female players there are around?

I can say with some confidence that this has nothing to do with giant boobs. I've been around enough to know that there's a female audience for hetero male targeted material. It might not sell as many tickets as a splash screen of a couple guys with exposed collar bones caressing each other, with accompanying textual narrative. Still, if you're not pulling any in, there are probably other factors at play. Or it might just be that the women playing don't go around screaming their gender?

If Baldur's Gate had a front cover of a buxom red-head with a tiny waist it would be suitably slated in the main gaming press.

Actually, that reminded me of the intro to Darklands. Anyway, if Baldur's Gate did that, no one would have batted an eye. Sex appeal is very common in video games. At first I thought the article on Evony was some sort of Everquest parody, considering its box cover. If you think people would raise pitchforks over scantily clad women in video game covers, you might want to take your head out of the sand, because like I said, it's very common, and the examples of even console games that do it are too many to list.

Not everyone is a young adult male nerd disassociated from everyday sensibilities by the yowling, drooling maws of the internet's darkest depths.

Characterizing any opposing view point with ad hominems? Nice argument.

Personally, I can understand that the image might not be the best representative of the game. However, in my experience, your co-workers are more likely to laugh at you for the cheesy medieval fantasy imagery than get upset over big boobs.

[Frumple]

Can we just kinda' preemptively not go down this conversation path? Please? It's a forum trope we could really do without.

[Hunter]

Can we just kinda' preemptively not go down this conversation path? Please? It's a forum trope we could really do without.

Certainly. The entire name-calling bit shouldn't have started in the first place and doesn't need to be continued.

[Grey]

Not everyone is a young adult male nerd disassociated from everyday sensibilities by the yowling, drooling maws of the internet's darkest depths.

Characterizing any opposing view point with ad hominems? Nice argument.

I was a. joking and b. referring to myself ;) Obviously I was lacking in winky and smiley faces to make either of those clear!

[micah]

Ah, sorry, missed it. Guess I took it a little too seriously...

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

The farportal image would definitely be more appropriate. It'd also be snazzy if more and more game art was pushed into a rotation as you progressed.

Now *that* would be cool!

^THIS. Perhaps even hold some sort of artistic contest, as players can contribute there own fanart (tastefully done, of course.) for there favorite in game moments? Make them tie to the events in the game, so that you never spoil the moment by seeing splash art in advance (which would be the definite catching factor. Not sure how easy that would be to code), but still grab a few generics to add to a normal rotation when you don't have anything yet. Could be loading issues with other modules though. Perhaps display splash screens only from the last module you play, (if they have there own), rather then just the normal Maj'Eyal ones?

[Dwindlehop]

Except I don't want the adult content to be turned off. I like the orc broodmothers and their lore, and I think the nudity in the Melinda quest is perfectly appropriate. I just think the splash screen is a bit... well, someone made the comparison to Evony earlier, and I think that's pretty apt.

I agree 100%. The game and cut-scene art is tastefully adult. The splash screen art is cute but cartoony.

[mrrstark]

I usually try to race through the title screen so that my wife doesn't see it. I find it embarrassing, especially since it is so far removed from the gameplay, feel, and point of the game.

[BobDinosaur]

Stupid noob here, who did the splash screen art and is there more art available? Curious to see more scribbles of the assorted NPCs.

[bricks]

I think the artist for the majority of the art is Shockbolt. He's got a gift for depicting top-down graphics, check out his Kickstarter.

[Wayward]

I really don't like the fan art on every loading screen. I grimace a little bit every time I see those awkwardly proportioned fantasy-novel tits. I feel extremely uncomfortable playing ToME with anybody else in the room. I think it makes the game look so much worse. I am not trying to argue that it is unequivocally awful and should be burned; just, I don't like it and I don't want to have to look at it.

I have gotten a great deal of enjoyment and entertainment out of this game since I first picked it up around v0.40 but honestly the loading screens made me stop loading it up. Now I see a new and more awkward tits on another image. I will seriously drop a $20 donation if someone can tell me how to/devise a method to replace those loading images with something like a black screen. Or if the main build gets some kind of 'disable loading screen art' option. It is like a pinch of sea salt in an otherwise cool and refreshing beverage.