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[EmCeeGramr]

People keep insisting that it'd be bad because of texture warping or fog or clipping or draw distance is like poo-pooing the entire idea of making retro pixel-art games because most of them use a bajillion more onscreen sprites and colors and layers and particle effects and animation and lack of overscan and data sizes and level sizes than any of that old hardware could achieve even a fraction of.

I mean, yeah, going back early 3D games have aged way worse than most 2D games; but that's not really the point of a modern homage to the art styles of that era, and it's perfectly understandable for someone to have an attachment to chunky models with clean solid colored textures just like someone can enjoy a sprite made of three colors of squares.

 

[Lijik]

Personally I'm pretty tired of 2d platformers. I can't wait until we start getting some 3d platformers from indies, but I understand that 3d games are exponentially more work than 2d.

Really not at all what you're talking about but I feel the work-factor is why pixel art in indie games will probably never fully go away.

 

[kick51]

It's already happening and i'm glad to see there are people already salty about it.

Sorry, but it's no less logical than 8-bit NES sprite throwbacks. Some of those 8-bit games even incorporate the limitations of the hardware so as to emulate the glitches and defects.

but it's already happening, so no use arguing.

Someone just needs to make something that follows PS1 hardware 100% and has all that messed up shakiness and texture warping.

 

[MrCunningham]

This thread kind of reminds me of a little indie game from 2005 called Darwinia

At the time, it had this really novel PS1 generation look, which I kind of liked. I have no problem with the low poly look, especially when it can be run through high resolution and doesn't have the vomit inducing jittery textures or lack of z-buffering.

 

[KDash31987]

The few games in development I found in that thread utilizing this style:

God damn. I need those. Now.

I'm in full support of this. I still play 32X, Saturn, PlayStation, and N64 games regularly, and I love the way they look.

That reminds me: I'll always love Virtua Racing's clean, fast, smooth flat-shading.

And very little beats nice gouraud shading.

Hell yes. I love the look of Sega Model 1 games. I even once took a picture of myself and made it look like it came out of Virtua Fighter, and used that as my Facebook picture for a good while. Hah. Maybe I'll make it my NeoGAF avatar, too...hmm...

 

[TomRL]

lol@people saying it was the worst generation. I hope that wasn't totally based on graphics.

I think we already have a lot of games like this. Doesn't No Man's Sky use this style? Anyway, there is still a lot of potential for horror in these retro 3D graphics that aren't be taken advantage of.

 

[Lijik]

God damn. I need those. Now

Sky Rogue is available to play

 

[KDash31987]

Sky Rogue is available to play

Thanks! Now I know what I'm doing tonight.

 

[vicoakland]

Nice thread, thanks!

Couple points.

The art design on Brahma Force Assault on Bootlegger 9 was pretty cool for PS1, kinda Portal-esque.

I could see an indie dev taking this kind of feel an running with it, while making improvements, of course.

Silent Bomber's gameplay is something anybody who loves indies should hope that we see imitated in new clothes. The game played very fast, very precise.

And I'd personally love to see some new 3d indie rogue-likes / immersive adventures and if low-poly is a way to get there...great.

Bring on the indie Baroques, Azure Dreams, Breath of Fire Dragon Quarters, and Romancing Sagas.

 

[Mman235]

I thought I put together a small selection of shots from modern mods for various games to show a vague approximation of how a modern early 3D game would actually look like, rather than the PS1/N64 type mess people seem to think they would be (also listed the game and mod name). Of course there's plenty more of this out there, and a couple of these arguably aren't even the best of the best visually:

(Doom - Sunder)



(Quake - Map Jam 2 Tronyn's map)



(Tomb Raider - Mists of Avalon)



(Unreal - Don't Shoot the Chest)



(Unreal - Project Zephon)



Edit: Added another Unreal shot because I thought the first didn't have a very good angle. I've still kept the old one though.

 

[omegashockwave]

Hopefully never.

Seriously. That generation's looks aged terribly.

 

[BinaryPork2737]

Hopefully never.

First post nailed it. Most PS1 and N64 games don't look as nice as SNES/NES/Genesis etc. to me.

 

[hateradio]

I actually would love a Metal Gear Solid: Higher-Poly Remake.

Stuff like this astronaut make me envision how awesome all the characters would look in better models.

I mean, yeah, going back early 3D games have aged way worse than most 2D games; but that's not really the point of a modern homage to the art styles of that era, and it's perfectly understandable for someone to have an attachment to chunky models with clean solid colored textures just like someone can enjoy a sprite made of three colors of squares.

Exactly, anyone who's quoting "Hopefully never" is shortsighted.

 

[MrCunningham]

Sky Rogue is available to play

Something about Sky Rogue gives me a Starfighter vibe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=GGXytmFQHns#t=57

Maybe it's because of the ship designs.

 

[Log4Girlz]

God damn. I need those. Now.

I'm in full support of this. I still play 32X, Saturn, PlayStation, and N64 games regularly, and I love the way they look.



Hell yes. I love the look of Sega Model 1 games. I even once took a picture of myself and made it look like it came out of Virtua Fighter, and used that as my Facebook picture for a good while. Hah. Maybe I'll make it my NeoGAF avatar, too...hmm...

I loved the model 1 and 2 arcade looks. Model 1 was particularly clean.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I like the look and with modern or redone engines, you can eliminate lots of the visual artifacts.

I like what Evoland on Steam does.

 

[koutoru]

Probably when we get more developers who grew up playing games during that era and feel nostalgic about those games.

Modern engines can make even simple low polygon 3D look good, depending what type of look your going for in the game.

 

[Log4Girlz]

Has anyone seen paper craft models of low poly designs with even the textures reproduced? Those look damned cool.

 

[Lijik]

I actually would love a Metal Gear Solid: Higher-Poly Remake.

This post reminded me Ive wanted a low-poly Snake/hi-poly Snake buddy cop adventure ever since I saw this picture

 

[SerTapTap]

I'd love to see more of this as long as the artstyle owns it. Mega Man Legends looks fantastic to this day because the artstyle 100% works with the low poly models and low res textures. Drift Stage reminds me of it very much.

You guys do realize that, just like how modern pixelart doesn't have to deal with 4 bits of color, sprite flicker or like 4 audio channels, modern low-poly games wouldn't have to have Z fighting, fog, blurry textures etc?

 

[Melon Husk]

VR, if it takes off, will bring it. 4k@90Hz won't come without compromises.

 

[Carn82]

I think it takes a lot of effort for a lot of 'indie developers' to switch to 3d, low poly or not.

 

[sixteen-bit]

WTB Shovel Knight 64

 

[Famassu]

I'm fine with having 2D games but please make them look like there was effort put into the graphics. No reason we can't have more games that look like Little Big Planet, Child of Light, Valiant Hearts, etc. There's no reason to see jaggies anymore.

Other than those cost millions to make. Child of Light and Valiant Hearts are "AAA" indie (or "indie") games and Little Big Planets are even bigger and they aren't made with the kind of budgets that most indies have.

 

[PixyJunket]

Hopefully never.

This is the best "first post" in the history of NeoGAF.

 

[drspeedy]

If indie developers ever decide to move onto retro-style 3D graphics, they should aim for the "Dreamcast-look".

Games with somewhat simple geometry and a very clean, colorful look.

oh absolutely this.

Late 90's, early 2000's arcade/Dreamcast would be awesome. Those blue skies!

 

[Valkyria]

I can believe the amount of short sighting in this thread. i would love to have a generation as the 32 bits, I have hooked to my 37" TV a saturn and I love the way games like Nights look, yeah polygons are a mess, but that is part of the charm, if you can not deliver through graphics you shine in gameplay and art.

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

This is the best "first post" in the history of NeoGAF.

Lol, this post is pretty ironic coming from someone sporting an avatar from a very dated era of a different entertainment medium

 

[RedSwirl]

You're already seeing it in the mountain of Minecraft clones we have today.

 

[Famassu]

This is the best "first post" in the history of NeoGAF.

You mean one of the worst. There are plenty of good looking PS1 games that wouldn't be all that displeasing to look at if the style were emulated with a bit of a modern flair & good art style. If someone emulated the look & style of Vagrant Story, that would be way more awesome than more retro NES crap.

 

[gelf]

It doesn't have to be purely a stylistic choice but if an indie only has the budget for that level of fidelity then I don't see why not. I prefer that look to early 2D.

The polygons would be less messy on modern systems anyway.

 

[Uncle Rupee]

There are plenty of examples of games from that era that indie devs could draw from but it's still a lot of work.

 

[epmode]

Enemy Starfighter is a thing of beauty.

This right here. Low poly + simple textures can be beautiful in the right hands.

(You should probably watch the video, GAF)

 

[ichtyander]

There was some mention of this in the PS1 graphics thread. I've been seeing a ton of low poly, visually minimalistic indie games in the last couple of years that are more reminiscent of early flat shaded poly graphics, like:

Tie Fighter

Star Fox

I feel a lot of people are shifting to 3D in a very simple and easy to develop way (as in not having to worry about texturing a whole lot). Lots of that stuff looks like Timothy J. Reynolds' art:

Timothy J. Reynolds

Scale

Into This Wylde Abyss

Enemy Starfighter

Godus

Honestly, I've been in love with flat shaded polys since the old DOS and SEGA arcade days, so I couldn't be happier. Sure, it's not always the exact same look but the basic, minimalistic idea is there. Although I'd say this minimalism is becoming a trend in design overall these days, not just games.

But I'd say the PS1 look adds the low res textures into the mix, creating a different look. And this has also been happening for a while now, most notably the Minecraft look:

Eldritch

Delver

I'd say these two games are a more appropriate example of a modern approach to PS1 era graphics. Basically, reasonably well done pixel art textures on a low poly 3D environment. But the thing is, we've had this stuff for years now on the NDS (screens taken from GAF's NDS Games in HD thread):

Solatorobo

Avalon Code

Ni No Kuni

The NDS was probably the last major system to actually require low poly modeling and texturing techniques, since mobile is advancing at an incredible rate. I'm sure we'll be seeing more deliberately "downgraded" graphics like this in the following years. Hell, texture filtering might become an optional thing again.

Spoiler

 

[Phediuk]

They already have. Lovely Planet, for instance, is one big homage to Jumping Flash:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IQx5L7-YVc

 

[Nishastra]

I'd love to see more high-end-PSX-style graphics like the images in the OP.

I love the chunky textures.

 

[JordanN]

There are plenty of examples of games from that era that indie devs could draw from but it's still a lot of work.

I was reading up on some Naughty Dog trivia and the amount of work they did back then is amazing.

- The wheels of the karts have a similar story to the Wumpa Fruit in previous games - they're not 3D, but actually sprites that always face the camera from the same angle. These were designed in a more clever way though, as they change their frames according to the camera angle (so you'll see the wheels' sides if the camera points at the kart from sideways, and so forth). This also made it easier for the Invisibility power-up, as all it needs is a turn-off of the 3D parts.

- In this game, Crash has 30 000 frames of animation, which Naughty Dog thought to be more than any other video-game character at the time.

- Boss Garage entrances don't have the usual pixelized textures you'd see "painted on" in most PS1 games. Instead, they use several flat polygons to compose the paintings in the entrances, making them look better than they would with textures.

Source: Crashmania

 

[Banana Aeon]

I'll rather them skip low poly, and go straight to Dreamcast era visuals.

Even as a child, I never really liked low poly look. With modern technology, it looks better, but I still prefer the smooth edges, and round models.

 

[Polioliolio]

Well, all the stuff you showed looked nothing like 95% of what we got during that era.

I wouldn't mind seeing that low poly colorful stuff though. Looks great.

 

[RedSwirl]

A lot of people in this thread seem to be referencing how badly that era's graphics have aged while not realizing many of that era's visual flaws would probably be ignored in modern retro-style games. Pixel art indie games today look much, much better than anything the NES or SNES could handle, often featuring more colors, more objects on screen, and more motion than you ever saw in a real 16-bit game. People even criticize indie games that actually try to replicate the limitations of old consoles because they've forgotten what old school games actually looked like. The same is probably true for PS1 and N64 games. Modern games with low-poly models probably wouldn't have the immense fog, shitty framerates, and texture warping we remember from that era. It would be a more cleaned-up version of retro polygon graphics.

And personally I really miss flat-shaded polygons like in Star Fox 1 and Virtua Fighter 1.

 

[Trago]

I fucking love the low poly look. I dunno if it's because I grew up on PS/N64/Saturn era games, but it's a style I'd like to see more of.

Also, if this style could make a comeback, maybe genres in that era could make comebacks.

N64 style character platformers anyone? A Hat In Time's got the right idea!

 

[Abounder]

Lots of mobile and Unity games already look like spiritual successors to the low poly eras. However 2d art often looks and plays better, plus it's less work

I want 2d sprite art that rivals Marvel vs Capcom

 

[Occam]

Hopefully never.

One and done.

 

[TheSonofBM]

From a technical standpoint im not sure if the low poly stuff is harder or easier than the sprite stuff. That will probably be a big factor in the indies starting to go that direction.

As the people that grew up with that stuff get older and decide to start making game, im guessing they will call back to it as the "retro" stuff they grew up with and had the biggest influences on them. I like the look of that racing game. Wouldn't mind a few games calling back to that.

 

[hateradio]

I fucking love the low poly look. I dunno if it's because I grew up on PS/N64/Saturn era games, but it's a style I'd like to see more of.

Also, if this style could make a comeback, maybe genres in that era could make comebacks.

N64 style character platformers anyone? A Hat In Time's got the right idea!

That looks more like Wind Waker than N64.

 

[Shig]

Early 3D wasn't bad because of low poly counts, it was bad because the hardware that delivered it was kind of a sputtering mess at doing so.

If you're judging the inherent worth and artistic potential of low-poly 3D on what it looked like on systems of old... the sub-sub-HD resolutions, the lack of AA with jaggies the size of your fist, the flickering textures, the horrific draw distances, the manic framerates, the texture quality limitations imposed by the pithy memory constraints of the hardware... You're assessing the value of a ship by looking at its barnacles.

Throw out all these issues and trade up for modern hardware standards, it's an entirely different ballgame.

 

[Banana Aeon]

I fucking love the low poly look. I dunno if it's because I grew up on PS/N64/Saturn era games, but it's a style I'd like to see more of.

Also, if this style could make a comeback, maybe genres in that era could make comebacks.

N64 style character platformers anyone? A Hat In Time's got the right idea!

That's not low poly. That looks like something from the Gamecube rendered at a higher resolution.

That's what I want. Not N64/PS1 level graphics.

 

[Trago]

That looks more like Wind Waker than N64.

Perhaps, but I used this game as an example of genres from that era more than the look. It still has a low polyish look, or maybe gamecube.

 

[Phediuk]

"PS1 games aged like shit" is the new "Genesis games sound like robot farts".

It's the brain-dead, knee-jerk response used to instantly dismiss a whole huge library of games.

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

Perhaps, but I used this game as an example of genres from that era more than the look. It still has a low poly look though.

It still has way more polygons than N64 era, that's Dreamcast or beyond.