Poll: The Use of "Pixel Art" in Modern Games

[Dizchu]

I love pixel art. It's just... it's awesome. And that's not my nostalgia speaking, I genuinely think that as an art style it can be absolutely gorgeous. Think of it like a mosaic or tapestry or something similar. The colours are crisp, the art looks sharp, there's a precision and deliberation behind the style that indicates true craftsmanship...

But there are also people that hate it. People that think it is a gimmick or that it is merely used to appeal to the indie/retro crowd. "It's 2015, why are we still relying on dated techniques that were a necessity in the 80s but now we have the technology to do anything?" Maybe they're just sick of the saturation of 2D pixel art platformers? Maybe they genuinely find the style unappealing? Maybe they're just being edgy?

What are your thoughts? How do you feel about pixel art? Have you tried working in the style before, are you aware of its strengths and weaknesses? Do you want similar but different art styles to become commonplace?

I genuinely want some thoughts about this.

 

[Saetha]

Pixel art's neat. I've done a few art projects in it before - I haven't got the hang of full-scale digital coloring yet, but I have no patience for mixing paints and the like, so pixel art's been a nice stepping stone while I figure out the more advanced stuff. It can be a really beautiful style, I think.

Granted it does seem to be a bit overused, and I occasionally see pixel art that was obviously done for convenience with little style or thought put into it. But the real problem there is the artist half-assing it, and you'll always have artists that half-ass it, pixel art or no.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Another crowd outside of the indie one that uses it is the Japanese one. Japanese games tend to be the games I enjoy playing the most so pixel art never really "went away" or "became this retro thing" for me. It's just one more style of art equal to 3D polygons.



I can see where in a climate of AAA-only-gaming, one may start to see sprites as just this obsolete thing which serves no purpose other than tickle your nostalgia but I do not live in this climate and I play more AA (not AAA, not indie either) games than anything so I never stopped experiencing pixel art for more than a month or two.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I think that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

I LOVE the pixel art style used in Super Time Force Ultra. I think it looks absolutely fantastic. It has just the right amount of color and detail where everything is simple but instantly recognizable at the same time.

Spoiler

At the same time there are games where I really dislike the pixel art style.

Take a look at the game "Reprisal"

Spoiler

The pixel art has almost no detail whatsoever. You can't tell any of the NPCs apart, and it makes it look like very little time or effort was put into the graphics. Maybe the game's mechanics make up for it, I don't know, but I really don't like the look of the game. It just looks cheap and ugly to me.

 

[Dizchu]

I LOVE the pixel art style used in Super Time Force Ultra. I think it looks absolutely fantastic. It has just the right amount of color and detail where everything is simple but instantly recognizable at the same time.

That artwork is gorgeous, woah. If it weren't so action-packed it'd look very moody. That's something I think pixel art can do really well, by drawing environments that aren't high-definition or anti-aliased, it requires the player's imagination to fill in the blanks. It can be really effective, like an expressionist painting in a way. It's something not many art styles can achieve.

 

[senordesol]

I think the 'mistake' in certain folks' displeasure may lie in the idea that it's 'obsolete technology' rather than a legitimate art style (like impressionist or cubist).

I prefer Pixel/Sprite art in projects because they require a fair bit of personality to be effective. Being bland just isn't an option, and thus we get stuff like Bastion, Alien Hominid, Braid, and Dragon's Crown. These aren't 'pixel' art per se, BUT the limited technical focus lends itself to greater attention to presentation.

 

[Timeless Lavender]

I love it. I see it as an art style rather than technical limitation.

 

[Zhukov]

I like pixel art that isn't trying to look like 8-bit pixel art.

8-bit games looked uniformly hideous, as does anything trying to imitate them.

 

[Dizchu]

I like pixel art that isn't trying to look like 8-bit pixel art.

8-bit games looked uniformly hideous, as does anything trying to imitate them.

Yeah I'm much more fond of the faux 16-bit style (or even 32/64-bit with limited palettes).

That said, how do you feel about Shovel Knight? While not quite limited to the capabilities of the NES, it comes pretty close. Yet it looks gorgeous (well to me it does). However, the developers of Shovel Knight have the added tool of hindsight and the near-endless resources available to developers these days (especially compared to the 80s).

 

[default]

It's great. I love pixel art, I use it myself, but I'm a little torn. It's beautiful as an aesthetic when you take it and do more with it, like cel-shading or watercolour.

It's simple, pure and expressive, but I personally dislike artists who just directly emulate the graphical style of the past complete with shitty colours and awkward 3-frame animation. It feels lazy, extremely overdone and gives the style in general a bad image.


Here's an example of GOOD pixel art:

I am so fucking excited for this game. Hyper Light Drifter, if you're interested.

 

[Zhukov]

That said, how do you feel about Shovel Knight? While not quite limited to the capabilities of the NES, it comes pretty close. Yet it looks gorgeous (well to me it does). However, the developers of Shovel Knight have the added tool of hindsight and the near-endless resources available to developers these days (especially compared to the 80s).

Nah, I thought Shovel Knight looked ugly.

Seemed like a well designed game though, judging from the footage I watched.

 

[Dizchu]

I'm currently looking forward to a game called Heart Forth Alicia. The artwork is... well... see for yourself.

THIS is the kind of pixel art that truly whets my appetite.

I am so fucking excited for this game. Hyper Light Drifter, if you're interested.

I checked it out back when I was getting research materials for the pre-production of my own game, it looked absolutely stunning. The artwork is fantastic. It's gonna be released soon, too (Q1 or Q2 2015 apparently).

 

[default]

I'm currently looking forward to a game called Heart Forth Alicia. The artwork is... well... see for yourself.

THIS is the kind of pixel art that truly whets my appetite.

I am so fucking excited for this game. Hyper Light Drifter, if you're interested.

I checked it out back when I was getting research materials for the pre-production of my own game, it looked absolutely stunning. The artwork is fantastic. It's gonna be released soon, too (Q1 or Q2 2015 apparently).

Wow, that is absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing! I'm reading about Heart Forth, Alicia now and it looks amazing. Definitely keeping an eye on this

Yeah, I'm pretty hyped for HLD. I played the little beta test they put out a few months ago, it was excellent.

 

[Gennadios]

I think a good pixel artist can cram alot more personality and back story into a scene than an equally skilled group of modelers, animators, and texture artists can, the problem is that pixel art is alot more limited in terms of what can be done with a single scene. It works for indies because they generally have to work within a smaller scope.

I personally love tactical JRPGs with pixel characters superimposed with 3D terrain. something about the aesthetic and the unrealism just works for the medium. I also prefer the hand drawn ships of top-down space games like Starfarer and SPAZ to fully 3D ones.

There's also this one japanese survival horror/platformer hentai game that does quite amazing things with pixel art *cough.*

 

[Quadocky]

I like pixel art that isn't trying to look like 8-bit pixel art.

8-bit games looked uniformly hideous, as does anything trying to imitate them.

I agree, but I would add that i personally do love it when a game like Shovel Knight for instance works within those specific limitations but still looks great in terms of aesthetic value.

 

[HannesPascal]

One of my all time favourite games is the original Deus Ex so I don't really care about graphics but I think Pixel Art is incredibly ugly and I pretty much never buy games using it.

 

[hermes]

...Thomas was Alone (ESPECIALLY THIS ONE) I like all of those games, however I wasn't planning on buying any of them as they looked like lazy cash-ins and I wouldn't have bought them if it wasn't because a friend of mine always keeps nagging me about buying certain games so he can discuss them with someone.

Honestly in my opinion there's no excuse for games to look like Thomas was alone...

It's not about "Picking a simple aesthetic", it's just laziness.

You do realize that the simple geometric figures is THE POINT of that game? If the game had something more detailed than shapes, it would have lost half its impact and universality and most of the mechanics would fall apart.

Many games like Shovel Knight, Thomas was Alone or Minecraft are built around the aesthetic choices. If they went for realism instead, the result would have to be an entirely different game.

 

[CaitSeith]

Pixel Art (like any other graphic style) must have sense in terms of the game's aesthetics, otherwise they just make the game worse. But seriously, unless the AAA industry focus their budgets on using pixel art in their big titles, I see no reason to feel overwhelmed. Heck, there are still several interesting indie games (and AA titles) without pixel art out there.

 

[CrystalShadow]

I don't have any specific fondness for pixel art, but I do think 2d games in general tend to age much more gracefully than 3d games do.
Games from the early 90's are more appealing to me visually than those from the early 2000's, even though if you'd asked me at the time I would'vwould've said the state of the art 3d games from that era were stunning. In hindsight they are not, and the older 2d games have held up better long term...

 

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