“Ok, with that human face part I’ve gone from relaxed to petrified (I guess you could say I’m like ‘a deer in headlights!’!!).”
“Sweet fucking Christ, that’s terrifying. That’s going to be chasing in my nightmares tonight.”
“That has to be one of the freakiest, sickest, scariest things I’ve ever seen. That’s like Omaha Beach, Iwo Jima, Alien, F.E.A.R., a botched surgery and evil evil evil Bambi all rolled together.”
“OH GOD THE WEBPAGE! DO NOT PRESS THE LINK
If you think that picture is terrifying, their main pages background will make you shit yourself.”
Recent thread on Penny Arcade Forums
And here we were thinking our new fawn character looked so cute.
It’s not the first time that we have heard people respond like this. The human face on the deer in The Endless Forest sometimes freaks certain people out. Granted, most of those people would not be interested in playing the game. But this thread on Penny Arcade happens to be about non-competitive games.
Anyway, if you can see what might be so immensely unsettling about our Endless Forest characters, please let us know. We just think they’re cute imaginary creatures…
See Lina Kusaite’s portfolio for more concept sketches of the fawn.
I love the Silent Hill mock-up!
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showpost.php?p=2297656&postcount=35
Brilliant mockup! If they’d see the Abiogenesis bit with the ruins, they’re Photoshop effort would be redundant.
I’m guessing these people haven’t seen Princess Mononoke.
Brilliant mockup! If they’d see the Abiogenesis bit with the ruins, their Photoshop effort would be redundant.
I’m guessing these people haven’t seen Princess Mononoke.
(Forgive me if this post duped. I couldn’t leave a grammatical error like that alone.)
I’m guessing these people haven’t seen Princess Mononoke.
or Frida :p
But back to the topic, there’s a zone where Cute neighbours Creep. Like the Blythe dolls. Many people find them creepy too.
I guess it’s up to you to see the Cute in it 😉
all i can think is that the commentors must’ve been in a cave for the last 30 years if they think a deer with a human face is the creepiest thing they’ve ever seen?
YES! Frida!
I thought the deer god in Mononoke was kind of creepy too.
The Uncanny Valley concept explains the reaction pretty well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
The faces are a little too close to human.
Pfft, there’s a much better article about the uncanny valley right here. It digresses into theories on writing fiction after a while, but a lot more entertaining than Wikipedia. Talented authors for the win! =)
Anyway…I think the whole concept of animals and humans merging just puts people off. As does the Uncanny Valley, of course.
Although that close-up of the fawn’s face IS sort of scary.
This scene might help explain the “freakiest, scariest” response.
Except furries maybe :p
That is indeed a freaky “dog”, caller#6. But its face is ugly and it does something nasty. But I guess that’s a detail…?
The context is very different. But if you just see a picture, you don’t know the context, of course…
Some people I know get freaked out by furries as well. =P
The fawn character concept art looks all right, but the game image you show in the post does look pretty unsettling. The whiteness of the face makes it seem separate from the body in a way that is different from the concept art. Also, the proportion and alignment of the eyes compared to the nose and mouth is very strange compared to that in the concept art. And the vacant, angry, smiling, crazed expression of the image you showed is not comparable to the sensitive, understandable feeling expressed in the concept art.
It’s hard to find good modelers…
We thought this was pretty good, though. And not all the concept art is for the fawn. Most of it is for an even younger version of the deer character.
I didn’t mean to suggest that the deer image is ugly, but it does twang the same nerve in me, if only lightly. Maybe it’s a difference of degree rather than kind, or maybe the deer simply reminds me of the dog, which scared the hell out of me when I was ten.
But to call the fawn the freakiest thing you ever saw just means you never saw Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
I suppose many things are scary if expectations are not met. Perhaps they stay so if you lack a certain kind of imagination.
It may be more unsettling if the unexpected bit is smaller and thus more ‘hidden’. A centaur may be more easily accepted: it’s also weird, but you see /how/ it is weird more immediately.
I thought the EF deer were a bit freaky at first but got used to them quickly.
In any case, I think the art and models are very good. It’s not because some people can’t get their heads around something that is strange to them, that it isn’t beautiful.
I always thought that extreme close-ups of the Fawns looked a bit odd. Axcho’s comment on the face seeming separate from the body (at least in that picture) is dead on. Plus the eyes seem to be staring off in opposite directions, which is a bit unsettling.
Otherwise, they are cute!
So you DO Live. xDD I haven’t seen updates or patches for TEF for a loooowngg time, so I sadly figured the game was down. o_o Luckily it’s not.
So you DO Live. xDD I haven’t seen updates or patches for TEF for a loooowngg time, so I sadly figured the game was down. o_o Luckily it’s not. Phew!
What buttheads! D8 I just so happen to think the fawns are downright adorable! I take it the people who said that were drunk. I seem to think everything in the game is amazing. :] I can’t thank you enough for making it.
My favorite animal being a deer and my love for the olden times really makes me addicted. Can’t wait for more, haha!
The main reason for this is that the project so far has relied solely on arts funding. And we don’t always get what we ask for.
But in the mean time we have been extremely busy behind the scenes nonetheless. We’ve been alpha-testing Phase Three for a while now and a public beta is on its way.
I’ve seen so many people making threads like this in gaming forums. This one makes me laugh 😀 These are people who play for graphics, and would normally not settle for such a peaceful game. It appeals more to those who are looking for something specific…
They are SO adorable!! xx
:O Okay, I admit both the deer and the fawns scared the crap out of me when I first started playing. And the picture up there of the fawn -is- a bit creepy, but personally I think they’re cute! 😀 Michael and Auriea (Did I spell it right? XD) have done a great job on this, and they don’t need people complaining now. If people don’t like the faces, then they don’t have to look at them. Anyway, in the game the faces aren’t really seen as clear, and they look cute 😀 Also there are different masks and stuff, so…=] I know this topic is probably abandoned by now, but ah well. Michael, Auriea – You guys rock!! 😀 EF is wonderful!! *hugsss* (XD)