After basically 120 days (the manga version was relased towards 20-22 June) the PSCD Steam units are triplicated! So while I admit I was uncertain if was really worth it (spending again money to redo existing CGs) now I can say that it was DEFINITELY worth it.

And also that I'll never, absolutely never, do again a game with "realistic art"

Time to make another card game! You know you want to.

Yes I know, but I'm not starting a new game until I finish at least a few of the various ones in the works since years (PS2, Loren2, UL)...

Time to make another card game! You know you want to.

Oh you know he will, no matter what he says about his queue of games he has.

Yes I know, but I'm not starting a new game until I finish at least a few of the various ones in the works since years (PS2, Loren2, UL)...

Oh we know you are a sadist and more and likely have another super secret project going on in the background that you are holding quite close to your chest just waiting for the right moment to drop the bombshell on us! We know you like to tease us that way XD

Well wait a moment, now that I think about it, Undead Lily should be similar to a card game. I mean, using PSCD system but with some tweaks. I'm waiting for Anima to add "a few new features (tm)" and then I'll also resume the work on that game

And in the Halloween Steam sale, PSCD is my 4th best selling game, used to be one of the last! This seems appropriate:

https://i.imgur.com/YBB5w8P.png" style="max-width:100%">

I don't think it was the "realistic" style was the problem per se, but the original artist had some weaknesses (no artist is perfect) that people noticed and couldn't get over. I can't speak for everybody else, but for me, the facial expressions were hit or miss.



As for the artist who did manga version, the early art for Undead Lily looked rather rough, but the artist has grown since then.



Either way, I'm glad you got a return on your investment.

Perhaps it's simply more difficult to do good looking art that is not manga, but even when I tried with Vera Blanc I got bad results (though for that game maybe it was also the writing/characters/story the problem).

With stylized art in general, some bending of the rules is expected, so people tend to be a little more lenient. As you lean closer to realism, people will more easily notice your mistakes. Realism is often a good indicator of an artist's technical skills. Good manga artists can also draw solid realism. The problem is the really good artists are probably already busy and/or will demand more compensation for their work.

Yes, also it's very different to draw a standard pin-up image/pose, and standard facial expression, versus a love CG with very uncommon poses. It requires a lot of anatomy skills to do it right.

Honestly I worked with a lot of artists, but probably the only ones which I can say have a very solid understanding of human anatomy are Loren's artist (obviously, he was the TOP), Rebecca (just wait to see some CG of Love Bites), Helen (UL/PSCD manga) and PS2 artist maybe.

And so, I checked again after the "novelty effect" has faded: stats from 22 June 2017 to today, compared to previous periods (Steam lets you compare the current timeframe vs the past) and it has settled down to a nice +104%. Not 300% like before (I knew that was probably due to the launch, sale, etc), but still, it sold twice compared to before the manga version was added. Clickthrough from home are 7.69% vs 0.69% of before. The "search results" it's lower but I realized that's not a good comparison since there are MUCH more games now, so the results are more and obviously the clickthrough is way lower.

Overall it was still a good move

I actually prefer the old more realistic art style compared to the new one, but I still wanted to say thank you for adding the option to change it and for giving us the rest of the cards and the free battle mode.

Thank you for buying the game in any case (sorry a bit late lol).

I also checked stats again and this year so far, PSCD is my 4th best selling game! So it definitely was a great move to change the art, more players checked it out, the overall review score is now at 80%. Amazing how such a decision changed things completely.

When it was out I thought was a failure and now is one of my best performing games of recent years! LOL



p.s. for Franka: YES I WANT TO MAKE A NEW CARD GAME BUT - I need to finish the RPGs too

p.s. for Franka: YES I WANT TO MAKE A NEW CARD GAME BUT - I need to finish the RPGs too

But you can release 4 card games in the time it takes to release one RPG...

Not if all have the same cast and story of PSCD though

Maybe I should try doing one without plot or maybe without a huge plot and cast for once lol

Still pining for Undead Lily: The Card Game.

Yep I'll definitely do that for that game, since clearly the gameplay wasn't a problem for PSCD

https://78.media.tumblr.com/e13d80454a83cf824f6620b74b4f24a3/tumblr_pe5yvc00xD1qhts2bo1_1280.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

checked the traffic stats and differently from what I thought, after the initial boost due to the update, the traffic was much lower than before! As expected - you get most traffic on release month, and in general exposure on Steam went down the toilet after the big "discovery update" + open the gates! flood of last Summer.

Yet, despite much lower traffic the game made +11% revenues vs the previous period. Gah, now I can't keep thinking how it could have done if I released the game with manga art from day 1... /HEADDESK