Picture Perfect

A quirky painting sim for one.

About
Picture Perfect is a painting sim made in 4 days for the 2021 Scribble Jam by a team of 3.

I owned our game design and art.
Media
Figure out what's wrong with each painting—
Figure out what's wrong with each painting—
—and fix it!
—and fix it!
But if that's not your style—
But if that's not your style—
—just have fun painting!
—just have fun painting!
Process
Picture Perfect started as a microgame in a WarioWare-style game for the 2021 Scribble Jam.
Turns out, me and my friend ended up liking the microgame concept a whole lot more.
My teammates original microgame concept.
My teammates original microgame concept.
My mockup of a screenshot.
My mockup of a screenshot.
Gameplay turned out to be pretty easy to implement, so we immediately set to work creating paintings!
By the end of the jam we had a pretty solid pipeline: my friend made the concepts and I cleaned them up, adding puzzle elements where they fit.
A diagonal slice is pretty uninspired.
A diagonal slice is pretty uninspired.
Now it's like your carving it!
Now it's like your carving it!
It's a realistic pattern, but it's hard to mirror.
It's a realistic pattern, but it's hard to mirror.
One redesign later.
One redesign later.
Once a painting is finished it's rated. Depending on the painting, players can earn one of 3 different types of ribbons for their artistic endeavors.
For only the most, uh, "creative" artists.
For only the most, uh, "creative" artists.
Red ribbon, rad painting.
Red ribbon, rad painting.
Très magnifique!
Très magnifique!
But it wasn't always like that.
Picture Perfect originally featured a more traditional 3-star rating system. But between you and me, I feel like those kind of systems only reward perfection, that if a player doesn't earn the maximum number of stars, what's the point?
Congrats, you did it correctly!
Congrats, you did it correctly!
Feels like something's missing.
Feels like something's missing.
Of course, to some players, a big turd ribbon might as well be a 1-star rating. But that's exactly the point: only to some players! Other players might go out of their way to get a poo ribbon on every painting—​​​​​​​something a binary rating system doesn't support.
But more importantly, there's no humor in it!
The disappointment is palpable.
The disappointment is palpable.
You can play Picture Perfect on itch.io.
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