The never ending trend of 2D indie games going after the pixel art look is getting tiring

[Legacy]

As long as the game is good, I don't mind. Shovel Knight, Celeste and Hyper Light Drifter are all great games that i've played. Of course, there are some that were't good as well.

I would like more of a diverse range of art at some point though.

 

[Edgar]

They really, really don't, and they consistently re-use assets.

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They really really do and asset re use is not a problem if the devs can hide it

 

[Speevy]

Let developers make what they want. If they're not producing what you want, don't buy it. There are always alternatives, especially in the PC indie space. I doubt they're making these types of games to piss you off. It's just what inspires them, or what's most economical.

 

[kittens]

I can't imagine ever getting sick of pixel art

 

[tiesto]

There was this trend a few years ago where characters would look like Atari characters - 1 pixel length arms and no faces... that style of indie game looked hideous. Or when indie games use modern-day 'smooth' rotation and lighting, or a contrast of different pixel sizes (the remake of Pier Solar for the latter). But the ones that ape 8 or 16 bit pixel art, some of them can look amazing. Owlboy, Cosmic Star Heroine, Iconoclasts, Shovel Knight... all look really great.

 

[CoolestSpot]

I'm saying it again; if you're game is not Night Trap FMV quality, and uses any computerized graphics, it's trash. I've never played one game that breaks this rule.

 

[scourge_of_tirany]

That's not how visual art works though. No technological advancement can speed up an animator's hands. You can improve the workflow and collaboration infrastructure, but the physical act of drawing and animating takes the same amount of time now that it did thousands of years ago. And the majority of the free world doesn't know how to animate. Which is why animators cost a pretty penny.

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Thats not true at all, and i haved worked years doing gfx for 16 bit games

 

[RedMercury]

I'm saying it again; if you're game is not Night Trap FMV quality, and uses any computerized graphics, it's trash. I've never played one game that breaks this rule.

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I don't understand your intention with this post. If it's mocking the OP, they never said the games were trash so it doesn't really land in that regard.

 

[PMS341]

They really really do and asset re use is not a problem if the devs can hide it

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Don't be daft. You could easily handpick 5 pixel-based games made in the last year alone and they would look vastly different and have more variety than any random CoD/Battlefield screenshot you grab in the past 4-5 years.

Also, the devs don't really hide shit for those games. They literally reuse the same models constantly.

 

[TaterTots]

I'm not a fan either. Got over it. When I look through Steam this stuff is everywhere.

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

I still like them. Stardew Valley, Owlboy, hell even Golf Story all look phenomenal to me. Clean, easy to understand, and not too busy. I'm also continually surprised how good an "HD" pixel art style can look.

2D indie games in general are just knocking it out of the park. I love the variety.

 

[Edgar]

Don't be daft. You could easily handpick 5 pixel-based games made in the last year alone and they would look vastly different and have more variety than any random CoD/Battlefield screenshot you grab in the past 4-5 years.

Also, the devs don't really hide shit for those games. They literally reuse the same models constantly.

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First of all you are on the assumption that I agree with OPs point in that indies look the same, even with in the pixel art area. They do not.
Secondly, if this looks the same

as this

then I think we are done having this conversation.

 

[Animal Liberation Ⓥ]

What do people think of this?

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Gorgeous!

 

[daegan]

considering that the best game of this decade is still Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP I'm going to disagree

 

[Asbsand]

This trend started mostly last gen. Indie games everywhere chasing that specific pixel art look. In the beginning it was refreshing. But then years after, I feel like every indie game, especially 2D platformers, have that kind of graphic style.

Everyone is talking about how good Celeste is, and truly, I believe it... but the graphics/visuals keeps getting me away from it because I am just extremely saturated in regards to those kind of visuals.

Why cant we get clean, more diverse looking 2D games?

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I've been avoiding indie-games like these like the plague for the longest time. They just come across as nostalgia pandering in the same way those Disney Star Wars movies do, and I find it inauthentic. that's snobbish considering I don't give it a chance but hey, I've barely complained about it publically yet, so it works for me. I just play what I find appealing which is not this kind of stuff and I think it's for the same reasons too besides what I already said, that it's too been-there-done-that at this point (only I've had that feeling for quite a while now).

I do like really impressive indie stuff like SOMA or A Hat In Time on the other hand.

 

[inpHilltr8r]

Man who never made a video game before, much less a 90+ Metacritic GOTY contender one, offers unsolicited advice on how easy it would be to improve visually.

More news at 11.

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That's a remarkably high bar for critics to reach.

 

[Deleted member 643]

Yes all indie sprite art is bad and regressive

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I bought Iconoclasts after seeing this gif. I've never heard of it before but after reading reviews it sounded like it was up my alley due to the story and the nice graphics.

 

[Fou-Lu]

That's a remarkably high bar for critics to reach.

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The point is that honest critique is one thing, but telling developers how easy it is to improve something when you have no experience in game development is disingenuous.

No one expects reviewers and critics to develop games to do their job, but they shouldn't try and tell developers how to do their job.

 

[jackal27]

Something I wanted to add:

You talk about indie games using pixel art as if most of these devs even have a choice? Pixel art can be a HUGE time saver and a way to make your game appeal to a lot of people, look great, animated well, and allow you to put more focus on other things.

I wish more games would do what Celeste did and use simplistic pixel art so they can focus on the real star of the show, the gameplay and level design.

Hand drawn visuals are incredibly difficult. 3D modeling is incredibly difficult. If pixel art allows developers to expand the scope of the game itself, I am 100% on board.

 

[Kimura]

You can make pixel art with the mosiac filter? What am I reading right now?! That is wrong on so many levels, just because the end result has a mosiac pixel like look doesn't make it pixel art. What? Why do you feel the need to downplay this style. As someone that has dedicated almost the last 5 years in learning pixel art I just feel horrible reading a statement like that. If you have no knowledge about pixel art then please don't say something like that. If you wish to learn more about this style then I will happily tell you more about it, just ask.

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I'm not downplaying anything. pointing out that making bigger pixels out of a rasterized program is not downplaying anything.

I call bullshit on you having dedicated 5 years of your life to "pixel art".


If you make the pixels large enough, you get the 8-16 bit pixel look. That's all I said.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Honestly I don't think that "some pixel art games look amazing" and "the trend to make most indie games in pixel art is getting a bit tiring" are two mutually exclusive statements.
In fact, both are true to some degree, as far as I'm concerned.

On a side note, I don't feel like Celeste is part of the first group, no matter how good it may play.
Personally I think that it's one of these games (like Nidhogg, but to a lesser extent) that push the "retro look" far too backward for my taste.

 

[Wikzo]

I don't think it's hard to find 2D indie games that look vastly different from each other, even when using common techniques such as pixel or vector art. Of course there are many indie games that look same-y, but the same can be said with AAA titles - the developers need to find a unique artstyle to distinguish themselves.

Here's a bunch of examples of recent indie games that do just that:

Spoiler: more images

 

[Yopis]

I'm saying it again; if you're game is not Night Trap FMV quality, and uses any computerized graphics, it's trash. I've never played one game that breaks this rule.

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Ground Zero Texas baby!

 

[Anno]

Every time I see a new .gif of Heart Forth Alicia I think it might be one of the top handful of best looking games.

 

[Alec]

I don't get this.

If a game has good gameplay/story, I'm all about it.

 

[Azoor]

One must understand that some indie games are made very small and inexperienced teams, they tend to have small budgets too. Pixel art CAN look uninspired and dull, but a good artist can make it stand out like Owlboy. Also, good looking pixel art takes time and some might not afford long development times. There are many factors that contribute to how a game looks.

 

[jackal27]

I don't think it's hard to find 2D indie games that look vastly different from each other, even when using common techniques such as pixel or vector art. Of course there are many indie games that look same-y, but the same can be said with AAA titles - the developers need to find a unique artstyle to distinguish themselves.

Here's a bunch of examples of recent indie games that do just that:

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Man... Video games are cool. That's all I think when I see a series of screenshots like this.

 

[MattWilsonCSS]

Thats not true at all, and i haved worked years doing gfx for 16 bit games

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What in specific, because I'm talking about hand-drawn animation and not sprite animation, and if you've found a way to draw and animate faster that isn't just rushing, being sloppy and ignoring clean-up, please share, as I always am looking to improve my craft.

 

[scaffa]

I'm not downplaying anything. pointing out that making bigger pixels out of a rasterized program is not downplaying anything.

I call bullshit on you having dedicated 5 years of your life to "pixel art".

If you make the pixels large enough, you get the 8-16 bit pixel look. That's all I said.

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Why would I lie about something like that? In 2013 I started making making games and at the end of 2013 I developed a prototype that I felt passionate about. Since then I have been working on making my first game and I use pixel art as a style. Before I started doing this my background was in art but I mainly was drawing illustrations and such. So again I had no knowledge about pixel art.

Especially in the first two years I worked between 30 to 40 hours extra besides my other full time job, to the point that I certainly wasnt the most social person ever and there was little to no room for other things. Over the years I have learned a ton of new aspects concering pixel art which made me having to redo alot if not all the assets and even now I'm doing graphical work. For example the focus of last year was the create/redo all the tilesets for different areas. During the week I wake up around 5:30 so im able to do some work before I leave for my other job. And on a saturday for example I try to watch a show in the morning and afterwards its back to work again.
Of course not every minute is spend on pixel art and also on other parts of the game, I work alone so I kinda have to. But a huge part of the last 5 years has been spend on learning and improving my skills in pixel art and animation.

The project was supposed to be done in 2015 or so but im still looking at atleast another year or 2 before i'm done. So please don't call the 5 years bullshit, it is not polite. If you have any questions about pixel art, game development and what it actually takes to design and produce pixel art then please let me know, send a pm or something. I don't know everything but I don't mind sharing what I know so far.

And that is actually not the thing you said, you were talking about a filter in photoshop called mosaic and I have never encountered a pixel artist that uses that filter to create pixel art.

 

[Deleted member 18407]

It's strange to me to see the word "retro" thrown about in this thread in relation to pixel art so much. I don't really view much of the modern "pixel games" or whatever you want to call them as retro throwbacks. They're not using the art in the same way as back in the day and doesn't really feel the same way. The "pixel game" just seems like another modern style of game to me.

Something like The Count Lucanor may be pixelated and have an overhead view similar to some older games, but in practice, the art style doesn't look ANYTHING like games from the 80s or 90s, let alone the number of colors on the screen nor how the actual colors look. Then past the aesthetics of it all, usually the gameplay doesn't feel "old" either. Inspired by the retro games, sure, but there's a clear modern design to it all.

 

[pixelation]

What i really dislike is the fact that (most of them) don't even look like 8 bit or 16 bit games... they simply look... weird, like they came from some undescribed alternate reality limbo.

 

[Kimura]

Why would I lie about something like that? In 2013 I started making making games and at the end of 2013 I developed a prototype that I felt passionate about. Since then I have been working on making my first game and I use pixel art as a style. Before I started doing this my background was in art but I mainly was drawing illustrations and such. So again I had no knowledge about pixel art.

Especially in the first two years I worked between 30 to 40 hours extra besides my other full time job, to the point that I certainly wasnt the most social person ever and there was little to no room for other things. Over the years I have learned a ton of new aspects concering pixel art which made me having to redo alot if not all the assets and even now I'm doing graphical work. For example the focus of last year was the create/redo all the tilesets for different areas. During the week I wake up around 5:30 so im able to do some work before I leave for my other job. And on a saturday for example I try to watch a show in the morning and afterwards its back to work again.
Of course not every minute is spend on pixel art and also on other parts of the game, I work alone so I kinda have to. But a huge part of the last 5 years has been spend on learning and improving my skills in pixel art and animation.

The project was supposed to be done in 2015 or so but im still looking at atleast another year or 2 before i'm done. So please don't call the 5 years bullshit, it is not polite. If you have any questions about pixel art, game development and what it actually takes to design and produce pixel art then please let me know, send a pm or something. I don't know everything but I don't mind sharing what I know so far.

And that is actually not the thing you said, you were talking about a filter in photoshop called mosaic and I have never encountered a pixel artist that uses that filter to create pixel art.

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I didn't say it was the only way, I said it was a day to do it. It's way I've done it. And it seems very elitistic to me to shit on people who don't do it accordance to what you think is the right way.

 

[Speevy]

What i really dislike is the fact that (most of them) don't even look like 8 bit or 16 bit games... they simply look... weird, like they came from some undescribed alternate reality limbo.

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Like the visual manifestation of how old games made us feel rather than how they actually looked?

 

[pixelation]

Like the visual manifestation of how old games made us feel rather than how they actually looked?

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No not even that... not personally speaking i mean, i'd be okey if they looked like 8/16/32 bit games... but i don't like it when i can't imagine what console would've played them back in the day... i am weird like that.

 

[PsionBolt]

Like the visual manifestation of how old games made us feel rather than how they actually looked?

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I won't say that this is never a thing, but it definitely doesn't describe the great majority of non-retro pixel art games I've played. They don't feel anything at all like actual retro games. Especially when they feel a need to apply lighting / shaders over the pixel art, or use massive amounts of screen shake, or mix in particle effects... There are a bunch of things, but rather than list them all, I'll just say that nearly all pixel-art-indies I've played have a ton of clearly modern touches.

 

[scaffa]

I didn't say it was the only way, I said it was a day to do it. It's way I've done it. And it seems very elitistic to me to shit on people who don't do it accordance to what you think is the right way.

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To me it seemed like a quick comment like heh it's easy, there is a filter for it. Apologies I took your comment wrong and in a different context. Im not trying to shit on people, already replied a few times and stated that I wouldnt mind answering some questions about pixel art.

You are aware that you actually called something I said bullshit? And that you totally ignore my reply to that?

 

[Burrman]

I can't say im sick of it since I actually love most of them. But I wouldn't mind seeing some more modern takes on smaller games. Strider for example is an awesome looking game with probably the best controls I've played in s long time. Sure it's a bigger budget game then most indies but I would like to see some smaller games like that.

I also find strider really underrated around here. Nobody talks about it anymore. I think it's in my top 10 games this gen. Its feels really good mixing up abilities and combat. I only wished it had more varied environments.

 

[Kimura]

To me it seemed like a quick comment like heh it's easy, there is a filter for it. Apologies I took your comment wrong and in a different context. Im not trying to shit on people, already replied a few times and stated that I wouldnt mind answering some questions about pixel art.

You are aware that you actually called something I said bullshit? And that you totally ignore my reply to that?

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Ok, no worries.


It's not that ignore your story- I just prefer not to go deeper into it, as we're taking the discussion off topic, you know?:)

 

[More_Badass]

What i really dislike is the fact that (most of them) don't even look like 8 bit or 16 bit games... they simply look... weird, like they came from some undescribed alternate reality limbo.

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They aren't trying to look like 8 bit or 16 bit games. It's just modern pixel art. No different than a director shooting on film instead of digital today. It's just a tool now, rather than a limitation. Why should modern devs be chained to 20-30 year old limitations?

 

[Vadara]

They aren't trying to look like 8 bit or 16 bit games. It's just modern pixel art. No different than a director shooting on film instead of digital today. It's just a tool now, rather than a limitation. Why should modern devs be chained to 20-30 year old limitations?

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Because intentionally adhering to limitations can look amazing?

Sonic Mania was designed to run on effectively a Sega Saturn (including emulatng the way 2D hardware works in its engine) and it looks incredible.

 

[reirom]

Indies are better than modern aaa games

 

[pixelation]

Because intentionally adhering to limitations can look amazing?

Sonic Mania was designed to run on effectively a Sega Saturn (including emulatng the way 2D hardware works in its engine) and it looks incredible.

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Man that song will never EVER get old... gives me all the warm fuzzy feels.

 

[qq more]

Because intentionally adhering to limitations can look amazing?

Sonic Mania was designed to run on effectively a Sega Saturn (including emulatng the way 2D hardware works in its engine) and it looks incredible.

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Pixel art games can *still* look amazing, limitations or not.

Don't get me wrong though, I'd love to see an indie game that actually replicates technical limitations of the Game Boy, NES, SNES or even the Genesis. Almost every "Gameboy" looking game or mock up I've seen breaks the 3 color rule for objects :( (but they can still look great). I'd love to find indie games that replicates such things authentically. Regardless, I don't think it's absolutely required to stick with limitations to look good.

Not every game is trying to be Sonic Mania.

 

[More_Badass]

Because intentionally adhering to limitations can look amazing?

Sonic Mania was designed to run on effectively a Sega Saturn (including emulatng the way 2D hardware works in its engine) and it looks incredible.

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The whole point is that they aren't trying to emulate that look or work within those limitations. It isn't retro. It isn't trying to be nostalgic. It's pixel art with 2017 tech. Not pixel art trying to be like Sega/SNES/etc graphics.

Some do. Most aren't. For most, it's just a tool to use.

 

[oni-link]

I can see where you are coming from OP, but I love pixel art so it's not something I'm mad about

 

[Corporal]

I love me my pixels. Nothing beats the crisp style of a good pixel art game, and I feel like artists are always at their best when they have to work around limitations, artificial and self-imposed as they may be in this particular case.

I kinda get burned out on low palette and super low resolution games that go for NES and below graphics - rarely even close to the 2600 chunky style - but once in a while that's pretty nice as well. Nothing I'd want to play too often, but still nice. Best look for me, personally, is probably around (PC) ModeX/SNES so maybe around 320x240-ish with maybe 256 distinct colours to the palette. If the artist(s) really stick to those limits and properly hide the 3D underpinnings of most modern engines (and use proper pixel fonts etc), the result is quite gorgeous. I'll never grow tired of that. It's also probably near the upper limit of what your average small scale Indie project can manage without siphoning off too many resources from vital parts of the game. That "Mid-def" pixel stuff takes a whole lot of skill, and far more importantly loads of experience and a certain instinct.

I mean, bad pixel art is bad, that much should be obvious, but damn if I ever grow tired on cutting myself on the chunky limited-colour goodness of good pixel art in games.

 

[qq more]

Ironically, as someone who typically makes pixel art with details on par with the 16bit era... I find proper 8-bit art 20x harder to do, especially when you wanna go with its technical limitations. Making a cool mock up with the limitations of 4 palettes for tiles and 4 palettes for objects requires a lot of skill and smart usage of colors. I've struggled for weeks making such art, but it all worked out!


Also I find some posts calling Celeste "8bit" kinda weird. That game is anything but 8bit. The main character sprite would not work on the NES, like, at all. It's just a simple style, it's not trying to be "8bit".

 

[More_Badass]

Why do people want pixel graphics to stay within their SNES/etc limitations (ie the criticisms of not being what retro games looked like or the notion of using modern techniques) but don't have the same response for polygonal graphics? Like no one's complaining that Uncharted 4 uses millions of polygons and modern tech to create its graphics. But when devs use modern techniques for pixel graphics and do stuff that old tech could never do, they get criticized.

And I can't recall people complaining about a game like Dusk because it looks retro; if anything people really like that it looks like classic Quake-esque

 

[Buff DrinkLots]

Do you get tired of 3d graphics as well? This argument makes no sense to me. It's just a super non specific art style.

 

[CO_Andy]

Metroid: Rogue Dawn (NES)

Krautbuster (NeoGeo)