All else being equal if a game has better art will it get more sales? Or more expanded art like If there walking animations it 8 directions instead of four fora 2d rpg will help with sales ? Discuss please.
better game art equals more game sales?
It's certainly not guaranteed, but, consider that the first thing potential customers often see of a game is a screen shot, a gif on Twitter, etc. If that interests them there's a good chance the next thing they'll see when they look it up is the trailer.
Better (or at least more interesting) art will make it more likely that promotional materials will catch attention.
Visuals can't guarantee sales, but there are objective ways to improve the "look" of a game. "Good art" is subjective and takes lots of practice to produce. Good design and cinematography are important, too, but have rules that can be studied and applied by anyone. I linked to Mike Bithell's (Thomas Was Alone) Twitter thread telling non-artists that good design steps up the appeal of any game, even if its graphics are just colored squares. I also included two links from a Codename: Kids Next Door storyboard artist's guide on cinematography to help produce interesting, thoughtful visual storytelling.
In games, you're not passively looking at a static image; you're interacting with dynamic scenes composed of static and animated elements, potentially from different angles and with a GUI. Even if an artist is skilled in reproducing beautiful stand-alone faces, grass, and graphic patterns, his game will be disgraceful if the elements are inconsistent, the overall compositions are awkward, the color direction is not unified, and the menus are clumsily organized. However, a game with okay art but great design, consistency, color direction, typography, and cinematography will probably feel pretty good.
When actually playing the game (instead of watching trailers and let's plays), the visuals and UX are vital for reading and responding to tons of data. Good art isn't much of a selling point if you can't tell which character you're controlling, what is interact-able and what is scenery, who's friend or foe, whether a button is disabled or clickable, and the text is hard-to-see. Design solves those problems, too.
http://warburtonlabs.blogspot.com/2014/01/knd-storyboards-201-part-1.html
http://warburtonlabs.blogspot.com/2014/01/knd-storyboarding-201-part-deux.html
Not in all cases sometimes a game can be forgiven for having a crappy art style if the story is entertaining and interesting.
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