New game art/style

I like the style personally. There's really no bad style of graphics in games, as long as you keep it consistent. The tower in the back sticks out like a sore thumb, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but only use this for important locations in the game.

The lighthearted attitude towards violence in games really disgusts me now.

Yeah... me too... *takes down avatar*
Violence has a good place in games. Males are instinctively hunters (look at how a 3 year old is obsessed with guns yet doesn't understand life/death yet) and in this day and age the only place males can follow this instinct is in video games (and in some sports but sports are usually more of a competition thing). This explains why most girls hate games, because they don't like violence.

Thanks for the opinion. I think I'll see if shading the tower black makes it look a little bit less out of place.

Violence as play at a young age is OK; childhood probably wouldn't have been as fun without it. But if someone learned about homicide and war and all the awful things that happen in the world and still used it as a basis for fun, I think it demonstrates a lack of thought on their part about violence.

This doesn't mean that violence shouldn't be discussed in games at all (in my current project the hero kills three other characters), but violence should (generally) be shown for what it actually is.

Heck, I don't know where to draw the line. Its harmless enough, and I'm already thinking of instances in which its ok to portray violence as it isn't (namely comedy and satire). Its just good to throw these ideas around.

This doesn't mean that violence shouldn't be discussed in games at all (in my current project the hero kills three other characters), but violence should (generally) be shown for what it actually is.

Which I completely agree. There's never been a time where only good came out of violence, because in the end violence was the means. Actually, the only games without violence are puzzle games.

Lately I haven't been making any game whatsoever because I'm preoccupied with so many other things.

No kidding, this weekend's been the only free time I've had since school started.