Intentionally Low Resolution Games

[NewQuest]

I felt the need to go on a small rant.

There have been a few games lately that have intentionally low resolutions, most of them being indie games like Lone Survivor, Home, McPixel, etc. This is something that I don't mind at all, but some gamers consider it the fucking end of creativity.

I'm mainly talking about PC elitists here, so maybe this rant is directed towards them, but they complain that even NES games had higher resolutions, and that these games are just scams/products of laziness.

What is the issue with these games?

Lone Survivor is an awesome game, and Home provokes a lot of interesting thought. Sure, McPixel isn't fantastic but it's a fun distraction. Since when did these things become an issue?

If someone makes a game with fantastic ideas or interesting gameplay, some people would refuse to play based on how "pixelated" it is.

Semi-related, I find that pixelated games really assist in the whole, "uncanny valley" mechanic. I feel more immersed in Lone Survivor or Home than I do in some big budget games. There are a lot of reasons I'm sure, but the graphics DO have some effect on the immersion.

Regardless, I just wanted to know your opinion. I really don't want to get into Steam greenlight too much right now, but there have been comments on games already that complain about the small resolution of certain games, and you can bet that they down vote these games, so it's just been pissing me off.

What do you think? Is it really that big of an issue?

 

[Aerosteam]

Not sure if this is the case for any other game, but I believe Minecraft plays and looks what it is because Mojang didn't need to scale up the gameplay or graphics since testers were fine with what it was.

Personally, I don't mind it, even if the developers are lazy and didn't make the game look good because they can't (be bothered). Also I'm guilty for the same thing in my art, so I can't be a hypocrite.

 

[NewQuest]

Not sure if this is the case for any other game, but I believe Minecraft plays and looks what it is because Mojang didn't need to scale up the gameplay or graphics since testers were fine with what it was.

Personally, I don't it, even if the developers are lazy and didn't make the game look good because they can't (be bothered). Also I'm guilty for the same thing in my art, so I can't be a hypocrite.

I agree.

I mean, I'm not saying every game SHOULD look like that, I guess I just don't see where it's a hindrance.

 

[Batou667]

Yeah.

Deliberately simpler aesthetics (and this doesn't just apply to pixel-art games, but also cel-shaded games, games that choose a restricted or desaturated palette, and so on) tend to make a game more iconic rather than realistic. The player is forced to "fill in the gaps" themselves, and the game is often more immersive as a result.

The Minecraft example is a good one: if somebody modded Minecraft to have the graphics of Skyrim, it'd be horrible to play. The high detail of the models and textures would be completely mismatched to the simple, block-based gameplay.