Rant on Pixel Art

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Could someone click on the "I'm blind" poll option for me? I can't see it...

Cheers!

Not all pixel art are of the same quality, some have clear details, some might as well look like a blob of mashed colors.

Personally, many pixel games tend to be platformers - which are really not my type of game - or the rpgmaker type games - which a lot are similar to each other and too many of them, Some games need the differentiation, this is also why I could not get into Factorio, I would like to be better able to tell everything apart at a glance in a game about materials and production.

I loved Gunpoint, Final Station was fun, Metal Slug was awesome, etc, gameplay is much more important to me ofc. I grew up on pixelated Street Fighter and King of Fighter so my opinion is biased, it's fine to me, as long as you can see a leg or fist coming it's all good in a fighter game.

Thanks a lot for chooo choooo!

I always believe that games shouldn't be judged on graphics alone/firstly - Always start with the gameplay/fun factor, functionality, story/quest, and graphics take a position somewhere after/around story (there are games with stunning graphics and no story, that works fine too).

With that said, I am a huge fan of pixel art, and I do believe that well-crafted pixel art is worth more than any fancy, shiny 3D graphics - It all depends on its use obviously, but in many cases, pixel art that is used well is an absolute pleasure. It can't be said for every game, as sometimes "retro graphics" is just used as an excuse to put no effort in the art and/or it simply doesn't look good, but the developer made it that way due to nostalgia - Nostalgia is nice, but sometimes, outdated graphics are... well, outdated.

In general, pixel art that is pixel art because it looks fucking great (slightly biased by my love for it, here) is good - Pixel art that is pixel art that looks like the games that had very few tones because of limitations, not by choice, doesn't really make sense aside from if you are intentionally trying to replicate the retro artstyle (that in my opinion, looks kinda shit, and could be improved upon instead). Now, this is a personal opinion of course. I never was a fan of the "retro" look - I like "modern" pixel art with wide range of colour tones.

In conclusion, I think the major factor in a game's graphics is, does it "work"? Does it fit the game, does it look out of place? If pixel graphics are successfully used in a game, it's great. If 3D graphics work better, then so be it - But in the end, I won't think less of a game because it has pixel art, or even any other type of graphics, because I understand the work that is being put into it.

I absolutely love pixel art type games. They are my favorite, to be honest. But then again, I am old so there might be some nostalgia involved.
Fans fo pixel games should check out The Way. Its one of the best looking pixel games I've played in awhile. Its a good thing too because the puzzles get pretty tough, but you just want to keep trying so you can see more of the beautiful game.

While I don't care too much about art styles, I do care about graphic qualities and for some reason, some games can make me want to throw up even if I like the style. Because of this, I just choose games I like and don't make my stomach upset. (Examples being both the original and enhanced borderlands, which I really wanted to play ;-;)

Generally I shy away from pixelly games, as the art can often be poor, and I've been known to judge these sort of games even if the actual gameplay & story was fun for others. A couple of games I've tried recently that have the pixel-art done well are Dandara and Iconoclasts. It suits the genre they are as well. Bad situations have been Butcher and even stuff like Risk of Rain. But say I was playing a top down/isometric game such as an rpg or twin-stick shooter for example, I'd rather see nice clear graphics. The worst case of using pixels (or voxels in this case) are in FPS games - I really dislike the use then.

I love pixel art done right like the examples you mentioned, but what I don't like is pixel art games that try to look retro by making the game look like an NES era game. Those kind of games look too bland for me, I like my pixel art nice and colorful. The recently released Himno is a perfect example of the kind of pixel art I enjoy.

BTW thanks for the giveaways :-)

I think pixel art looks great, but you can't please everyone. It works the other way too. I read several negative reviews of Ducktales Remastered because it's not pixel art like the older version. I thought it looked great and it was especially wonderfully animated.

I've been developing a game in high res pixel art for well over a year now. Some sprite animations can take several weeks to complete, but I'm having the time of my life!. I hope most gamers will appreciate the end result, but I do expect negative reviews from people that always give negative reviews to pixel-art games.

I like good pixel art (with a well defined style, color palette, and strong understanding of dithering methods) as well as good CRT-filters.
At the same time I dislike pixel art when done poorly (inconsistent color palettes, mixed resolution sprites, etc.), and outright hate filters that 'liquify' the art to make it appear higher resolution (2x sal mode, super eagle mode, etc.).

Also, I absolutely LOVE 3D art with pixel art textures. The original Grandia, Breath of Fire 3-4, and Xenogears all being good examples:

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That article is fascinating!

I think a strong style and sense of identity (ie: you see a screenshot and before you even register a character's identity or a location, just by the aesthetic you know 'oh that's X') is more important than 2D or 3D, hands down.

For me, the story comes first, second is gameplay (am inept at platformers, moving quickly, shooting accurately :), and third the art. I confess I love some artforms. Really like rpg maker games (are those considered pixilated? not sure) and have games like Qora, Dark Fear, Primordia, Winter Novel, the Blackwell Legacy series, in my Favourites category.
If I can recognise what I am looking at (or for) then the art is no longer a consideration when playing, apart from a few "oh, that looks nice" moments.
There are a few games, usually not ones I want to play, that I will not - because of the pixels. If the pixels are large then I personally find the game confusing. I have trouble picking things out of the background and trying to make sense of my environment becomes too much of a chore. This, combined with a need to be quick, well, no point for me to try at all :)

I do mostly like pixel art, but I don't like pixel art that looks pixelated for the sake of being pixelated. I usually use the main character from Sword & Sworcery as my go-to example of this, but take a look at something like Mother Russia Bleeds. You've got quite a lot of details in there, but the characters seem to have been intentionally made to look more pixelated. Compare this to say Owlboy, where it's still clear that you've got pixel art, but it does not look overly pixelated, if that makes any sense. Even something more intentionally low-fi looking, like Shovel Knight end up looking less pixelated in motion than Mother Russia Bleeds.
I hope my view on pixel art makes sense.

Now if we talk about things that tend to look hideous: 3D models turned 2D sprites. I never liked the way the Warlords Battlecry series and Warlords 4 looked, for an example. It looks like the units "hover" above ground

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It's simple, in general anyone born after 2000, will go yuck pixel graphics, while the people before will get this nostalgic feel, sometimes it gets overdone, but it's not all (though for a bit) about graphics but as others mentioned the gameplay.

Plenty of "devs" trying their first gamemaker game, and end up looking totally shit in 3d.

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Haha, if I said I had a problem with pixel art, I'd be a bit of an ass. And a liar. Still, I do admit that I do it because I don't have legitimate drawing talent. I'm not even nostalgia generation :S

Bad pixel art is very, very bad, though. The worst.

But uhhhh, here -- have some weird things I made for my sis's uni thing...

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