Chubbins may not be ready for Wii U quite as soon as we'd hoped. Efforts to get the word out about the game have resulted in feedback that has us baffled. Most of said feedback relates to the game's visuals.

When you break it down, Chubbins is about moving left and right from block to block to traverse levels. That's the bare-bones objective. The platforming gets incredibly tricky at times, but at its core it's a very simple game with a very simple goal. So just what should such a game look like? To us it seems a simple game should have simple visual needs, especially when the player's concentration might be thrown off by unecessary distractions.

We went for a semi-psychadelic visual style for the benefit of the "back story" and took it from there. I may not be one of the greats, and I'm admittedly still learning as I go when it comes to 3D, but I've worked enough years as a professional artist that I'd like to think I know a thing or two about art and design. Simple though it was, we made sure to give each world it's own unique mood with vivid colors, background structures, and even unique shapes for each world's blocks. Not everyone was a fan of what we came up with, but most people seemed to appreciate what we were aiming for. Review sites gave such commentary as "the visuals are cartoony and happy" and "The graphics of the game are excellent." Platform restrictions rarely hindered what we wanted to do with the visuals, so there wasn't much we wanted to change for Wii U save for the odd tweak. We felt and still feel that the visuals suit what the game is aiming to be.

And yet, a disconcerting wave of criticism has rolled over the web from people who seem to think the game is downright hideous. While some still say things like "a lively art style" and "Looks fun and cute," the majority hit hard with varying degrees of ouch, including "generic," "kinda crappy," "gross," "ugly as sin," and my personal favorite, "I sure hope they get an artist for the Wii U version."

We are, as the title states, perplexed. I've chatted before with other devs and am thoroughly convinced that people are far more critical of 3D games than they are of 2D. Where ugly 2D pixel work is praised as charming, simple but smooth 3D work is slammed for not being state of the art. Maybe that figures into it, or maybe people don't like the arrival of iOS games in the console market, or maybe we simply attracted a harsh crowd? Or maybe Chubbins really does look that bad?

Like any developer, we'd love to see Chubbins reach and be enjoyed by as many players as possible. If it takes a graphic overhaul for others to see what makes it fun, then we must consider it. But for all the disdain, there's no suggestions out there on what we should be doing differently. Setting aside the fact that we're just two guys working on a non-existant budget, what expectations do people have for a block hopping game? What is it that Chubbins is apparently failing so hard to visually achieve? As we ask ourselves these questions over and over, the answers elude us. Perhaps we have too many years of NES-N64 gaming in our blood.

TL;DR

We are legitimately curious to hear some more in-depth criticism about the game's visuals. If it looks bad to you, please comment and tell us what looks bad about it. The characters, the modeling, the overall style? And if you like the visuals just as they are, we certainly wouldn't mind hearing from you, either. Thanks.