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Snake Pass, and how a bad home menu icon drags down my enjoyment of a game

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Chauzu

Member
I can't tell if this thread is one big joke or if people are serious about not playing/buying the game for this reason.

I wouldn't go as far as op but I am very unhappy about the logo change (which you can see in my post history lol...).

It's just awful, and is completely in a different style than any other Switch game, and the most horrible part is IT LOOKED PERFECT UNTIL IT GOT CHANGED.

I know this is first world problems but I could consider uninstalling the game just to not see the logo until I feel like playing the game again. It's so out of place.
 

Neiteio

Member
Now that I've seen the icons, the new icon is indeed rather poor compared to the original.

Doesn't ruin my enjoyment of the game but it sure looks super cheap and out of place.

Agree. I bought it during the sale and what I FIRST NOTICED when I bought it was how bad that icon was.

I was like "Isn't like, the title of the game supposed to be on the icon or something? Not just a big dumb face?"

Lo-and-behold I'm not the only one. I loathe that icon. Gimme the title! AHHH

for someone who normally dumps images for no reason(i say this while liking your pics), i find this thread highly disappointing.

edit: thats better. new icon looks meeeeeeh.

Looks you're launching an android/iphone app now.

It does look pretty cheap and lame.

The new icon screams to me "Smartphone game". It's got an appropriate level of detail to not look particularly cluttered on a smaller mobile screen.

Out of interest, are smartphone/pad ports of Snake Pass on the way? That might be relevant if so.

I 100% agree, I feel exactly the same way about this.

What were they thinking?

Haha it got a whole thread. Twitter is burning up about it as well.

Yes it's not fully rational but I really dislike it as well.

Cue a thread of people saying 'it's just an icon it doesn't matter'. Which is logically true but you can't change if you have a negative reaction to something that clashes that much, it triggers people's OCD.

The blue background does make the app appear "generic", since there's nothing about the blue background that's indicative of Snake Pass. Maybe they decided that there was no need for depth of field on a small icon and wanted to remove the background details.

While i'm not sure this needed such a long OP, and while i don't agree with the icon "dragging down my enjoyment of the game" i agree with the sentiment that i find the new icon significantly worse than the original.

It doesn't look like 'cover art' (which most other icons tend to look like) - the image doesn't even show the title of the game...
It doesn't tell me anything about the setting of the game
It looks like a player profile icon

Since (one of) the devs are (is) on neogaf, i'd love them to maybe offer some insight on the decisionmaking progress of what some consider a downgrade in how the game presents itself to the user.

Looks like a generic mobile game

I came in this thread expecting to go "ah gaffers being crazy as usual", then saw it was neiteio and got confused, then I saw the images and yeah. You're right neiteio. Haven't played snake pass in a while so the icon hasn't appeared for me, but now I dread looking at it.

I think I like the older icon better than the new just in general but yeah, seeing it next to a bunch of other Switch icons it definitely feels obnoxious. Definitely feels "smartphone" game, where they just have the big grinning CG face of something as the icon.

I mean, its kinda silly to complain about an icon, but on the other hand it really does look horrible compared to the old one and I hate it. Since we only have the old icon standalone, this is how it looks before/after on the menu itself.

That's a full on mobile app store icon right there, I can see where you're coming from.

Well, at least it's not some character yelling towards the side of the screen

Well, at least it doesn't look as bad as that hinted Cars 3 logo, ugh.

No, but really, the uninspired background, the unnecesary white frame, the lack of the logo, and the big head in front of the frame with a solid shadow on the flat frame and blue background. Ughhhhh.

It does look like an ad.

It's like it's designed for a way smaller screen or something, becaus eI'm seeing now the quoted version of the image and the level of detail is ok for that size.

I can in here expecting to see someone overreacting but no, I totally agree with you OP. That looks so much worse, especially compared to everything else. That would honestly bother me as well.

Why would they change it? It looks so plain now and sticks out from the other games.

I don't have any issue with either icon, to be honest, but I see how it stands out in a negative light when placed among the rest of the Switch's icons (especially the first-party games). I don't think I would speak ill of the game solely based on the icon, though. That is a bit of a stretch...

I didn't know it was different before but I agree, always found it very jarring, I think it's just because it has zero text there so that took me by surprise.

I also hate the change. Not to the point of not playing Snake Pass, but I do dislike it.

Why would they even bother changing it?

As someone who once decided not to buy an Alan Parsons Project CD because of a typo in a song name (I finally caved in a few years later) and a Paul McCartney one due to the ugly remaster cover, I can relate and understand where OP is coming from. The new icon looks terrible, and definitely makes it seem like a cheap mobile game (don't own the game, so I have no idea how good it is).


Yes, I had forgotten about it. It's a great game, but the icon looks out of place. I'm also not a fan of that anime aesthetic. It's also annoying that it appears in the game list when the console is docked, since it can only be played with touch controls.

I'm with you tbh.

ew looks like a mobile app

fix pls


my man.

I saw it the other day and it turned me off too. Looks like a cheap iPhone game icon.

I see where the OP is coming from. I am very OCD over how I manage my digital collections. I even go through and assign specific covers in plex based on what looks best to me.

Ya the icon is ugly and I hope they change it back...not sure it would affect my enjoyment of the game though. But it definitely gives off the vibe of those mobile games where publishers like to put their logo on the corner of the icon, which just screams "soulless cash grab game" to me for some reason.

While we are on the subject, what bugs me even more is how the Shovel Knight icon and name now feels like a compilation and I wish they would change it back to something that just references Shovel Knight, they did this on all platforms. Again it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the game but it is an eyesore on the Switch UI, especially when the game icons are the most prominent item on the screen.

At the very least I wish they would throw the logo back in the icon. Every Switch icon has the games logo in it so it just irks me to see this one doesnt.

I'm more surprised that everyone got the new logo now with the newest patch while I had it since I bought it 7 days ago.
But yeah, it sticks out and is really bad.

I think the idea of something this superficial (as in, not even "in" the game itself) actually ruining the experience is an overreaction, but I 100% understand how presentation matters. Some aspects of games/development are challening in a way you can't expect perfection, but visual layout like this is simple enough (and was already "solved").

This would annoy me too.

I agree with you. In fact, I am super petty about this kind of things as well. I would totally avoid a game based purely on its icon. I just like when things mesh well together and this most certainly does not.

Some of y'all don't understand the feeling of turning on your Switch and gazing upon your beautiful collection of games, each with a beautiful icon. Sometimes it just makes you feel some type of way, y'know? Which is why that fucking Snake is a travesty. It is a reminder that games can be ugly.

Agreed, a bad menu icon can ruin the mood. It doens't stop us from playing the game but it does kind of hurt the ''image'' of the game, literally.

Usually only people who are sensitve to art have this complaint though.

Really does look like the app icon to a cheap iPhone game.

Downgradeton.

I mean, that's certainly "something" to stop playing a game for, but I do agree that it looks worse and out of place among all the other icons. Most look like game covers, this one looks like an avatar.

I absolutely agree. It's been dampening my enjoyment as well. Please bring back the icon for crying out loud.

It is a bad icon though, especially when laid with others.

Yikes!

Completely agree about the icon - it doesn't match at all.

Also what I've taken from this thread is that the black background looks quite nice - might change from the default white.

I agree that the old icon is better and that the new one is a bit out of place.

The original wasn't exactly hot either, but the border on the new one is killing me. It looks terrible next to all the others. I'll be uninstalling it as soon as I get my fill with the game.

deleted the game because of the icon

I do this alot on iOS as well, a bad icon change is usually a sign they are making the app worse in various ways as well

LMAO that's worse than I could've possibly imagined.

Did someone twitter the Devs already? Mabybe they can reverse it with the next update.

Yeah, I bought Snake Pass on sale and I'm honestly disappointed I'm stuck with such an ugly icon on my Switch home menu now. So I feel you.

I totally understand you, OP. In fact, I was thinking about buying the game on sale (today is the last day I think) and I am not doing it.

I hate this kind of thing. I can get that if it's a great game doesn't matter, but... It matters to me, at least.

110% with you on this one OP. Icon looks like shit and as a result I probably wont buy the game until it's fixed.

I'm the guy who wont pin apps to my smart phone screen if they don't fit in.

Snake Pass is case study of how an innocuous change like this icon, that has absolutely no impact on the product itself, can still have a significant impact on the perceived user experience.

I'd be interested in seeing if there's any impact seen in the sales.

Personally, I also found the new icon egregious when I first saw it after the previous patch, I much prefer the old one (title motif helps to identify game at a glance, plus the new blue color scheme feels artificial compared to the old jungle background).

I agree OP, they need to fix it ASAP. I totally get what you mean, it looks like a cheap mobile game now..

The new icon is gross and it has no green in it which is definitely a step back. Hopefully they revert!

The old icon was way better. I can't say it would affect my enjoyment of the actual game though, it just kinda ruins the aesthetic of the home menu.

I just don't understand why they'd think the new icon was better in any way.

I really like Noodle too.

I laughed when I saw the thread title but they have a point.

The problem is that all the other images are actual box art. They're the covers you would see on a retail shelf, so you have your digital library full of conventional looking box art and then you have something which is clearly not box art. You would never walk into a store and see a game with that on the cover, not least because it doesn't even display the title. It looks cheap and unfinished in comparison.

I think that's the crux of it. It's just jarring.

The new icon looks like it was designed for a much smaller screen, like the kind of icon you'd see for a mobile app. I concur that it looks ugly on the Switch home menu, OP.

I'm so with you here OP. I would never expect something as petty as this to affect me, but it really does. It looks terrible and next to other icons it stands out even more.

I've stopped playing to shift the icon right.

Old icon is much, much better. Perhaps just tweet the devs? In fact, i think one of them is on Gaf?

It's just awful, and is completely in a different style than any other Switch game, and the most horrible part is IT LOOKED PERFECT UNTIL IT GOT CHANGED.

I know this is first world problems but I could consider uninstalling the game just to not see the logo until I feel like playing the game again. It's so out of place.

No kidding. Lmao.

DD-Eb4sVoAIXSAM.jpg


Which game has the most distracting and ugly icon? Snake Pass. AUGH.

Damn, this really puts it into perspective. That looks awful compared to every other game icon.

I have to admit I'm not a fan of the original either, but the new one is atrocious. I remember looking up the game when it went on sale and thinking "Uuh... Why would anyone without prior knowledge of this game ever be interested in it? Look at that thing lmao". Really, really bad.

Change it back! The new one is so blah.

It looks too mobile to me... I don't like it either, but it doesn't detract from my enjoyment of it.

It's not a deal-breaker, but it's a definite and inexplicable downgrade.

I'm with you OP. There are a lot of ugly icons out there, even for good games, and something that is constantly just sitting there whenever you turn on your system should be addressed.

That's a very ugly logo. Also it breaks the rest of the icons that seem to show a wider shot with the stylized title on it.

I agree that the new icon looks really poor compared to the original.

I want to know why they're so adamant about keeping the new icon.

Man, the pic with all the other icons sure makes it stick like a sore thumb. I don't own a Switch or Snake Pass yet (though I'm almost certainly getting both at some point), but I just contacted them at Info@Sumo-Digital.com about this thread. Hopefully they'll do something about it.

Very timely that this thread popped up. Was showing friends Arms last night, and on the home menu everyone commented on Snake Pass' awful mobile game-esque icon. It's pretty bad. Wasn't anything spectacular before, but at least it fit in with the rest.

This is a silly thread...but I totally agree OP. I had the same reaction when I saw the icon for the first time.

Yep, got it last week on sale and seeing it next to Zelda and Mario Kart made me groan a bit. Not sure why they would change it from the original.

Has someone mentioned that it looks like an iPhone/Android app icon? Because it does, and it does kind of cheapen it. It doesn't look like a full game anymore and now it looks like a free-to-start microtransaction game.

The white border and drop shadow definitely make it look like that. It's terrible.

Designers intentionally design icons to both stand out and tempt you to click them — it seems weird to me that people would be that shocked when a poorly-executed design has the opposite effect on some users. The issue here is that it stands out too much to the point of being visually obnoxious. It's impossible to ignore how much it stands out, and I find myself unintentionally focused on it every time I open my Switch. It's a negative user experience.

I would be super upset if I paid for this game and had to look at that icon everytime I booted up the system. It looks like an icon for a F2P iPhone game meant to attract kids, except due to it being on the Switch it is stretched to be HUGE.

What a terrible decision.

I've got to agree. Obviously it's not a big issue but that icon is really bad. Should be mandatory for them to include the name of the game on it.

A tragedy. The new icon is definitely a big downgrade.

I'm hopeful Sumo Digital will see the feedback and decide to change the icon back to what it was before. Nice to see at least one gaming news outlet picked up on it.

The icon was perfectly fine before, but then they changed it for no apparent reason. The new icon is not like box art that you put on a shelf and forget; it's art you have to look at every time you boot up your home menu to play this game (or any other game).

Here's hoping for a change. In the meantime, I continue to play the game, but now I have to consciously ignore an ugly front-end.

At the very least, an option to change it would be nice. :)
 

DJ88

Member
I can understand not liking the new icon, I definitely prefer the old one as well, but not wanting to play the game because of it makes no sense to me. I'm still seeing Spider-Man Homecoming despite the awful posters and will still play games that have shitty box art.

Agreed.

This really is the dumbest thing I've ever seen someone let affect their enjoyment of a game.
 
I'm hopeful Sumo Digital will see the feedback and decide to change the icon back to what it was before. Nice to see at least one gaming news outlet picked up on it.

The icon was perfectly fine before, but then they changed it for new apparent reason. The new icon is not like box art that you put on a shelf and forget; it's art you have to look at every time you boot up your home menu to play this game (or any other game).

At the very least, an option would be nice. In the meantime, I continue to play the game, but now I have to consciously ignore an ugly front-end while doing so.

At the very least, an option to change it would be nice. :)
You should make an online petition...
 

Fliesen

Member
I understand being disappointed, but having it impact my desire to play the game is baffling. If it were an album cover change I might hate the new cover, but it would never impact my desire to listen to the music.

i agree with you 100%. I was merely responding to someone basically saying "lol its just an icon, who cares"
 

Neiteio

Member
You should make an online petition...
This thread on a highly visible forum serves the same purpose. So far there are a ton of people either saying they hate the change, or they're not affected by aesthetics in the first place. So a lot of people who are against, and a lot who are neutral. Hopefully Sumo will conclude, "Well, might as well change it back for those who care."
 

Neiteio

Member
Nah, there's special people out there (or in here) who would let this affect their enjoyment of the game.
I mean, some people don't like looking at an ugly picture every time they turn on their Switch, especially when the picture was perfectly good before they patched it.

This isn't a hard concept to grasp. We're just pointing out it's a change for the worse, it's ugly to look at, so we'd like to change it back.
 

jstripes

Banned
I mean, some people don't like looking at an ugly picture every time they turn on their Switch, especially when the picture was perfectly good before they patched it.

This isn't a hard concept to grasp. We're just pointing out it's a change for the worse, it's ugly to look at, so we'd like to change it back.

That's a fine opinion, yes it is an ugly icon, but letting it ruin your enjoyment of a game is something else.
 
This thread on a highly visible forum serves the same purpose. So far there are a ton of people either saying they hate the change, or they're not affected by aesthetics in the first place. So a lot of people who are against, and a lot who are neutral. Hopefully Sumo will conclude, "Well, might as well change it back for those who care."
They already said they aren't changing it back though.
 

Neiteio

Member
I have an interest though, to express how petty I think the complaint is.
I guess even the greatest thread artists run out of inspiration every now and then.
Ha, well, you can feel it's petty, but I'm just being honest that I want the old icon back. I really liked the old icon and it made the "arcade" that is my Switch home screen look so much better.

I appreciate the compliment in your second sentence, though. No hard feelings. :)

They already said they aren't changing it back though.
They said they're "probably" not changing it. I suspect that if enough people speak their mind on the issue, they may reconsider. All it would take on their end is to re-upload the old icon with the next patch.
 

Neiteio

Member
Something else I really liked about the old icon is it felt more like the box art of a Rare game with its green tones and scenery.

Dem vibes! And to think it's in limbo now on a server somewhere...
 
This reminds me of the icon for Injustice on Wii U:

hqdefault.jpg


It looked super generic.

What was weird is that it wasn't the icon shown on the spine of the game.

hIpqoII_d.jpg


If you can't see it clearly it's just Joker's face from the box art.

injusticegodsamongusmain-1349895506.jpg


This was the first time and only time that I know of where the spine icon did not match the icon on the system.

I'm not a fan of just taking Joker's face but I prefer it to the symbol we got.

The symbol comes from the game/universe.

4963443-injustice1.jpg
 

2+2=5

The Amiga Brotherhood
No kidding. Lmao.

DD-Eb4sVoAIXSAM.jpg


Which game has the most distracting and ugly icon? Snake Pass. AUGH.

I dislike it like everyone else here but in this screen in particular is really clear why that kind of icon is so popular, it's clear and it really pops, the others need more time to realize what you are looking at(think of non-gamers who don't know those games how much time they need to decipher some of those icons, like isaac or thumper for example)
 

Neiteio

Member
I dislike it like everyone else here but in this screen in particular is really clear why that kind of icon is so popular, it's clear and it really pops, the others need more time to realize what you are looking at(think of non-gamers who don't know those games how much time they need to decipher some of those icons, like isaac or thumper for example)
On the other hand, those other icons actually have the name of the game on it. You have to highlight Snake Pass to see its name in the scrollbar ticker. The other icons just tell you on the icon itself.
 

Opa-Pa

Member
I have to admit I'm not a fan of the original either, but the new one is atrocious. I remember looking up the game when it went on sale and thinking "Uuh... Why would anyone without prior knowledge of this game ever be interested in it? Look at that thing lmao". Really, really bad.
 

zoukka

Member
Damn, this really puts it into perspective. That looks awful compared to every other game icon.

It's actually a great icon. Most of the other blend into each other while Snake pops out immediately. This is exactly what the devs want for the home screen and especially for the store. Same exact thing as when designing physical covers to pop out from the selection inside a game store or app icons on app store/google play.

Now the fact that it annoys some people because it differs from the style of other icons on their home screens doesn't mean it's a bad icon, just that they like their icons in some other style. Unless Nintendo enforces strict rules for the icons, this issue will only get "worse" over time.
 

Neiteio

Member
It's actually a great icon. Most of the other blend into each other while Snake pops out immediately. This is exactly what the devs want for the home screen and especially for the store.
They actually have the original icon on the store. You only see this new icon after you've already bought the game.
 
I have to admit I'm not a fan of the original either, but the new one is atrocious. I remember looking up the game when it went on sale and thinking "Uuh... Why would anyone without prior knowledge of this game ever be interested in it? Look at that thing lmao". Really, really bad.
This doesn't make sense.
 

brad-t

Member
People complain about bad cover art all the time, so I am not sure why people find complaining about the always-visible digital equivalent so unreasonable. It's not a deal-breaker, but it's a definite and inexplicable downgrade.
 

Neiteio

Member
People complain about bad cover art all the time, so I am not sure why people find complaining about the always-visible digital equivalent so unreasonable. It's not a deal-breaker, but it's a definite and inexplicable downgrade.
Exactly. It's even worse than bad cover art, since with a game case you only look at while opening it, and then it's back on the shelf where you can't see anything but the spine.

With a home menu icon, you have to look at it every time you use your system, when playing it or any other game. It's always there.

It wouldn't be so bad if we hadn't already had something better, but the fact that we had a better icon and now it's changed is what makes it so disappointing.
 

Neiteio

Member
I'm curious, does Steam have any icons without the titles in it? I wonder if Valve has any guidelines in that respect.
 

zoukka

Member
They actually have the original icon on the store. You only see this new icon after you've already bought the game.

I cannot know which icon is their personal favourite, but the things I said about popping out from competition is universally true to any developer.

Obviously the home screen icon is less important since the game is already bought once it shows up there and it's cool that they will change it, shows that they are keen at reading fan feedback.
 

Neiteio

Member
Zoukka, I think that tweet saying they'll change it was a fake. I don't see anything about them changing it on their Twitter... Not yet.

But hopefully they listen to feedback and want to improve their product.
 

ghibli99

Member
It looks too mobile to me... I don't like it either, but it doesn't detract from my enjoyment of it. If that Sumo tweet is real, that's great that they're listening. :)
 
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