John Rabbit
Banned
babysitter bloodbath apes this style and i love it.
That 2D 8/16-bit indie retro-style needs to go, though. It was a nostalgic fun to see this kind of games being made nowadays, but I'm seriously tired of it.
But low-poly PS1 graphics? Nah.
Thanks for this perspective, hadn't considered that the type of game introduced by that era has not really gone away. Which perhaps postpones any real longing or demand for it in the market.I've actually thought about this myself many times and had various discussions with friends about it. The conclusion is usually that it's tricky because retro-ism isn't necessarily just about something old or nostalgic. It can be just about that, but those are usually the more superficial stuff which ape an old art style, often not very accurately, just to get retro cred. The games which really feel retro in the right way are games which are going after the soul of a bygone era, not just the aesthetics. It has to feel authentically part of that era in scope, design, visuals, and sound.
When we consider that, this creates a problem when we're looking at stuff PS1 onwards. The expansion into disc format and 3D was very much characterized by FMV, voices, and more elaborate and complex art assets. The games which largely defined that era were no longer made by 5-10 people, but rather teams of dozens or even a hundred. Furthermore the type of games made in this era are still very much made today, just in an even larger scale. They're not exactly lost from the commercial field like 2D platformers or top down shooters are. For these reasons, I think it would be very unlikely that we would really see smaller independent developers looking to make retro stuff to explore the PS1 era. It really never went away.
The N64 is a more interesting choice though. It's actually a very nice sort of in-between era where a lot of the type of games which defined the system would not be extremely difficult to make with a small team today, and there's definitely a distinctive feel (read: ugly!) for the 3D which is very different from what we've seen since. So I could actually see more people attempt that sort of thing.
Working in small texture sizes is kind of the key to getting the chunky pixel look that I feel like most people pursuing this style would want to emulate.
babysitter bloodbath apes this style and i love it.
Are you serious?do you really think Shovel Knight looks exactly like an 8-bit game? no, they used things like actual artistry and modern technique to make it look good, not aged. just like -- gasp -- the low-poly examples in the OP!
There's no other that looks quite like Vagrant Story is there (especially in animation)? I was going to make a thread about this, but got too bothered by the idea of people replying Dark Souls and The Last of Us or w/e.
As someone who loves this aesthetic, it will probably be a niche thing at best. Low poly games using the standard look anyone who makes stuff in Cinema4D uses will probably be more common:
As a 3D modeler, I really dislike the low poly style. Maybe because it would open the gates to developers making very slopped together textures and models and passing off the excuse "well the PS1 did it!".
If games had to go backwards, I would rather it be PS2/GC/Xbox era stuff. Effort is still minimal and it doesn't look like the game is trying to cripple itself.
I guess you could say that's what Minecraft is.Minecraft.
The NES was very distinct. Even some games that try to look like it still cheat in some ways or straight up go past it.I think this is sort of illogical though. On the same token, we can say that going for a NES sprite style could let lazy artists make shitty sprites with low colors and pass it off with an excuse. Can some people do it? Sure. Would it be obvious that there's a lack of effort? Absolutely. Good artists work around the NES limitations to create nice stuff which fits into that limitation range. It results in a different feel than going after SNES limitations for example.
You can take the limitations of the N64 and PS1 and totally own it. The sign of a truly good artist is the ability to create appealing and attractive things within constrains. There were good looking PS1 games, there were bad looking PS1 games. Same with N64. There's no reason why it can't be done well, but I highlighted earlier why it is less likely for there to be a wave of PS1 style "retro" type games. If we're talking entirely about the technical limitations creating a specific feel to the 3D, saying something like "but it might allow SOME people to be lazy!" is nonsensical. So what? Who cares? People can tell the difference between good art and bad art.
I think it would be a really cool art direction. The two examples of in development games posted by the OP look really good.
A direct copy of 32 bit tech is undesirable, because most of the time the games of that era did look terrible. However, simplistic, clean, low poly models, combined with modern shading techniques and crisp textures can look really awesome.
Polycount would probably peg it as something in the ps2 era instead of ps1 but:I'd like to see a mix between low poly characters and ridiculously high-res textures. Granted, anyone could probably just slap on a 4k texture to a Quake 1 model, but I want to see something designed with this combination in mind specifically.
Still need the middle ground .... low poly bakcgrounds with sprites
Hopefully never, N64/PS1 era aged the worst.
Pixel art is a design choice. Low-polygon 3D games are simply the result of graphical limitations.
Mint disapproves of ye of little faith in low-poly graphics.
Like any technology - be it the Genesis's sound chip or the Vectrex's display - low-poly graphics can be used wonderfully within certain limitations. I'd love to see new games that take advantage of the look as well as late PS1 games did. It'd have the dual effect of calling back to a time that many of us actually are nostalgic for and being less resource-intensive.
I agree but I don't think anyone wants to see PS1's texture warping again though.