I realize that David Baumgart probably doesn't have the time to rave about icons as much as he wants, but I felt we could have a discussion here about the art of Clockwork Empires. One of my favorite artistic touches about CE is the ability of a module to influence how a building looks. A small kitchen with couple of stone kitchens, for example, looks much different than a fully equipped Industrial Food Processing Center with the finest in Steam-Driven technology. A finely-built metalworks has all KINDS of huge, menacing furnaces and piping, making it look like the most interesting building in the colony. This makes thematic sense, of course, seeing as how a well-equipped metalworks produces plates, piping, and other needful things that make the Empire what it is. The ability to hand-craft your blueprints for the building is, I think, less appreciated than it could be. In Alephred's (Cog bless his soul) videos, he always has rectangular buildings. But your house could, for example, have a living space with all manner of decor with several 3x2 protrusions with individual rooms. What other Neat Art Things come to mind when you think of Clockwork Empires?
I do like to do this with the higher-class buildings. Like middle-class homes, my standard blueprint has a central lobby with two bedroom wings, demarcated by wall indentations. What I *really* want in interior walls/doors. But it's a fair approximation. I really do have a lot of time for the hand-drawn art in the game. I'm not sure I actually *like* all of it, in the sense that some of it is slightly 'off-kilter' and isn't quite pleasant to look at, most notably icons depicting faces. But I find this an aesthetic strength - it leaves me with a slight unsettled feeling which I think is perfect for the setting and themes of the game. Also, animations. Again, as games go it's not the most beutifully animated creation in the world. But the aesthetic is spot-on - I love the cute happy-dances the colonists do, while what is really quite a basic animation for eating conveys a sense of voracious hunger that I find - in a positive way - a little disturbing.
