More support of that: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/indefenseofeyecandy/

@Ryan: True, they’re not ownable. But as we’ve seen, that hardly matters in the Flash world…

I think scale is important here. OK, I agree, a big company trying to build a media empire would want their IP locked down as much as possible. But an indie?

@TFernando: Hmm, good point. Fans would recognise them, but most people would not see them as part of a brand.

But what is brand strength?
Pixar has an extremely strong brand, but they keep making new IP.
Pixar has a license to print money, because their brand is creating awesome animated films.

Given the success of the Wii (in no small part due to Wii Sports),
and the success of the Wii Balance Board,
Nintendo should focus more on their new Wii brand “we make amazing innovative games”
rather than their older failing Gamecube brand “let’s put Mario in something”.
I don’t think Nintendo’s take on Little Big Planet Multiplayer
“New Super Mario Brothers Wii” gets anywhere near the excitement of Sackboy.
Their “license to print money” is doing the opposite.
I believe “Super Mario Galaxy” and “New Super Mario Brothers Wii”
would sell more and become legendary if they eliminated Nintendo’s thoughtless licensing.

While they didn’t sell extremely well,
“Dead Space” and “Mirror’s Edge” have strengthened EA’s brand.
Both are somewhat legendary
and people are starting to think of EA as a maker of great games
(rather than iterating franchises to death).
I believe “Dead Space 2″ and “Mirror’s Edge 2″ are going to sell extremely well as a result.
THAT’S branding.

Any idea why they keep calling Mario “Super Mario”?
Has there ever been a non-super Mario. Is he crippled?

Now I just have to figure out how to work, ‘Your IP-fu is lacking.’ into polite conversation….
-TF
(I haven’t read Scott Pilgrim, but I’ll check that one out. Sorry for the thread drift :)

2 Thoughts:

1. Even with black & white stick men, your style shines through.
Your Braid ladder has excellent strokes, and the Braid enemy has a great expression.

2. Super Mario Galaxy was hurt by branding.
It’s tired characters and overused motif instantly ensured there would be nothing memorable about the game
beyond new mechanics and evolved production value.
In fact, those might be the only things keeping the Mario corpse alive.
Galaxy deserved new characters that served the mechanics/world.

There’s a reason Pixar refrained from putting Woody or Mickey Mouse in Up.
Whoever kept Mario out of Wii Sports is a hero.

Have you read Scott Pilgrim? The artist goes for a quasi-animé style that’ll remind you of the cel-shaded Legend of Zelda games. i had the same problem with that: i had a hard time telling one character from another.

xkcd has a few brand-y things going for it: the speech font, the name, the format, the subject matter … but all in all, as IP, i think it’s weak. It may have a huge following, but its IP-fu is lacking. i feel the same way about those comic strips that use public domain dinosaur clip-art and stuff like that.

- Ryan

You deserve full credit for planting anti-stickman sentiment in my mind! If anyone wants to hear Iain’s original viewpoint, instead of my second-hand and crass take on it, here’s our post with a link to the podcast:

http://www.untoldentertainment.com/blog/2009/11/02/shooting-our-mouths-off-a-flash-game-design-podcast/

I read xkcd too, and I feel like the stick characters are really just there to get the humour across, so it’s not so much of a problem when they don’t all look unique.

I suspect that part of the popularity of that strip is ease with which its readers are able to project themselves onto the un-named and un-detailed protagonist, and it only works because the entire strip is basically stick-man level art– with more detailed art the stick-man would stick out.. Duplicating that effect in flash would be one heck of an artistic achievement.

-TF

*- Of course, that makes it hard to distinguish the un-named recurring stickman from the un-named, un-detailed extras who occasionally appear.

**- I don’t think amateur/hobbyist/student stickman games are trying to achieve this effect. Just noting that the effect might be possible in this sector of art?

Moustaches in games — 2010′s hot new trend?

However, I have to say, I like stick figures when handled well… (i.e. by Terkoiz)
I’ll have to think of a way to make them unique other than giving them pants. Hmm. Braids? Wait, no I did that already. Kind of wasted it though.

Best. Moustache. EVER.