Manage some of history’s most famous artists in ‘Painters Guild’

Some people have an incredible amount of artistic talent. Their vision, skill, and ability to craft masterpieces without much effort have been envied and acclaimed throughout history. Unfortunately, I do not fall into that category, and most of my artistic talent manifests as crudely-drawn stick figures and chicken scratches. I’ve  caught myself daydreaming about the prospect of being a world-famous painter, and what life must have been like for talented artists in the past. Thanks to a new indie release from Lucas Molina, I can interact with a stable of famous Renaissance artists and lead them to super stardom. Painters Guild gives you the opportunity to micromanage a small paint shop in historic Renaissance Italy, eventually growing it into an empire of creativity, filled with an array of prominent painters.

Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, Jan van Eyck, Michelangelo, Masaccio, and Caravaggio are just a few of the artists you’ll come across from this time period, and you’ll have the task of helping them rise from a promising apprentice to a master painter. At this point, many of you may be nervously gauging whether or not you have the necessary skill with a brush to exceed in this release. You’ll be happy to know that there is no actual painting on your part. Painters Guild is a management simulator, giving you a front-row seat to all the action, and handing you the keys to the virtual shop.

Gameplay is incredibly simplistic, but can be hard to master. Art-hungry customers will bound quickly towards your shop from off-screen, large exclamation marks adorning their heads. If you click on an individual with an exclamation mark, they will toss you a blank canvas that you can then place anywhere there is room in your shop. From there you can drag a painter to the canvas and they will automatically start painting a random masterpiece. A green progress bar shows how long it will take a particular painter to finish the creation. You can even drag two painters to the same artwork, which will significantly speed up the completion time. But too much time painting will exhaust your painter and may cause them to fall asleep at the canvas, halting progression. To avoid this, you’ll need to regularly drag tired painters to chairs and sofas, allowing them to rest and regain their creative strength.

This seems easy enough, but the more successful your shop is the harder it will be to keep up with a steadily-increasing influx of customers. If you wait too long to take an order from a customer, or take too long to finish their request, they will angrily storm off. While this doesn’t exactly harm your overall reputation, it will do a number on your shop funds. Each “month” you will be required to put forth a certain amount of florins to maintain the shop’s upkeep. If you fail to reach your monetary goal, you’ll have to take out a loan from the bank. This loan will have to be completely paid off before you can start making profit again. Money is used for a variety of reasons, like hiring more painters, building a larger shop, and purchasing helpful furniture. Taking a loan from the bank and falling into debt can really hinder your ability to progress and grow your business. Life lesson?

You’ll have the opportunity to open up shop in one of three locations; Rome, Venice, and Florence. Each locale has its own unique charms, and offers a peaceful backdrop with subtle animations, meant not to distract you, but immerse you. From a graphical standpoint, Painters Guild features very simplistic retro-inspired visuals. All the characters, items, and backdrops are pixelated, and while one would think this may take away from the overall feeling, it actually manages to create a very whimsical experience. It meshes the elements of fine artistry and serious historical development with the playfulness of retro gaming. The marriage is rather well done, and I give the developer a ton of credit for all the artwork that went into the creation of this release.

Painters Guild is a fantastic addition to the world of management simulation games, and offers up a sizable amount of gameplay at a low price point. You can grab this release right now on Steam for $9.99. If you’re interested in getting more information about Painters Guild, be sure to check out the dedicated website here. You can also find a short playable demo to get a feel for the game at the following web address.