[tom_mellior]

> default unreal 4 templates, art from asset packs

I don't understand this criticism. Using existing asset packs seems sensible to me. It's a tiny team that seems to have more software engineering than graphic design experience. Focusing on the game itself first and using placeholder assets allows them to make progress for now. It can be made pretty later, when there is an actual game. If it were the other way around, people would be criticizing them for focusing on looks first instead of writing game code.

All that said, the rest of the criticism appears damning.

[duskwuff]

Using content from a wide variety of asset packs is a problem because it means the resulting game will be visually and thematically incoherent. You can see a lot of this already in their demo videos -- there's visible conflicts between their realistic and cartoony content, detailed vs. lo-fi, shiny vs. gritty, fantasy vs. science fiction... this all makes for a real hodgepodge of content in the game, and it's going to be difficult for them to resolve in the future in a game that's meant to rely heavily on user-generated content.

[tom_mellior]

If it's going to be a hodgepodge anyway due to user-generated content, wouldn't that be another argument for not trying too hard to develop their own integrated visual theme?

(Not that I think that "user-generated" content will work well. If any of it is owned, or merely claimed to be owned, by litigious copyright holders, that's a good way to get YouTube to ban gameplay videos. There goes your free advertising. I wonder how Second Life deals with this.)

[duskwuff]

> If it's going to be a hodgepodge anyway due to user-generated content, wouldn't that be another argument for not trying too hard to develop their own integrated visual theme?

A lot of that depends on what kind of UGC they actually allow. I'm not certain whether they intend to allow users to upload their own content, or if UGC actually just means "build structures in game out of built-in assets". I suspect it's actually the latter.

> I wonder how Second Life deals with this.

In large part, through technical barriers. Second Life historically used a lot of rather idiosyncratic formats for its 3D models (like "sculpted prims" -- in short, XYZ coordinates stored in a texture), making it effectively impossible to import models which weren't created for SL. They did eventually allow users to upload meshes, but that capability is still gated behind some special permissions to prevent abuse.

[tom_mellior]

> I'm not certain whether they intend to allow users to upload their own content, or if UGC actually just means "build structures in game out of built-in assets". I suspect it's actually the latter.

The Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/playdreamworld/dreamwor...) says (emphasis mine, also highlighted in the article): "Creator centric crafting economy : Using simple tools and guided by quick tutorials, you can learn how to create your own 3D models for items that you and others might need or want in your builds and adventures. Imbue them with useful function like lighting, extra damage, low weight, knockback, and a plethora of exciting magical properties! Not artistically inclined? Import 3D models from anywhere online, and DreamWorld will help you turn them into exactly what you were looking for."

We'll see how much of this actually ships.

Thanks for the Second Life information.

[sangnoir]

> I don't understand this criticism. Using existing asset packs seems sensible to me

Code reuse is fine, but when 90% of your game is from various art pack, it's kinda like a software project thats 90% copy-pasted from StackOverflow. Sure, reusing 3rd party code is fine, but at some point, they've cross the line into "Do they even know what they are doing?"