That ending is too good, man.
Art is really better when it's a little strange, distorted. For a game that I, at an earlier point in my life, dismissed on account of it's "weird for no reason" presentation, I find it very poignant that the game uses its absurd art and music to make a genuine case for media being willing to be ugly, unappealing and strange. It also helps that the visuals fucking rock, and totally appeal to my own tastes.
Considering the amount of games I've played in Unity, Unreal, RPG Maker, etc. that just flip completely passable but ultimately dull assets, I think it's a message that can be applied both to the indie scene, and mainstream gaming as a whole; with their safe, inoffensive visuals and Hans Zimmer adjacent music that does the job but doesn't linger in your memory in the slightest.
And I know that for many indie devs, default assets are the only viable way for them to get their works out in the open. Making your own sprites, music, backgrounds is a lot of work, and I'd never fault someone for just using rock3.png instead of hand-crafting your own boulder. But I think Space Funeral's main message isn't one of condemning such practices, but rather finding a way to inject your own personality into your work, and being unafraid of alienating some people in the process.
Art is really better when it's a little strange, distorted. For a game that I, at an earlier point in my life, dismissed on account of it's "weird for no reason" presentation, I find it very poignant that the game uses its absurd art and music to make a genuine case for media being willing to be ugly, unappealing and strange. It also helps that the visuals fucking rock, and totally appeal to my own tastes.
Considering the amount of games I've played in Unity, Unreal, RPG Maker, etc. that just flip completely passable but ultimately dull assets, I think it's a message that can be applied both to the indie scene, and mainstream gaming as a whole; with their safe, inoffensive visuals and Hans Zimmer adjacent music that does the job but doesn't linger in your memory in the slightest.
And I know that for many indie devs, default assets are the only viable way for them to get their works out in the open. Making your own sprites, music, backgrounds is a lot of work, and I'd never fault someone for just using rock3.png instead of hand-crafting your own boulder. But I think Space Funeral's main message isn't one of condemning such practices, but rather finding a way to inject your own personality into your work, and being unafraid of alienating some people in the process.