Because it uses less VRAM, which is available is smaller quantities in mobile devices.there's a reason why mobile games use 2.5d or tweening for 2d games
There is just something so endearing about beautiful pixel art such as those animated in the link, that the modern styled 3D engines simply can't replicate, IMO.
this is a cool color cycle trick demo website.. if you want to see how people push it.
Makes me sad this art is forgotten by many.
Limitation often pushed people to get the most out of the tools they have.
Look at the 3d gba games
this is also why the capcom fighting games on PS1 were shit, the amount of animations the PS1 needed to render was well beyond the memory capacity and so they had to make a lot of cutbacks on the game in order to make it work on the machine.Because it uses less VRAM, which is available is smaller quantities in mobile devices.
With frame-by-frame animations, each frame is a single image.
The bigger the resolution, the more memory it will use.
If you want detailed animations, then a 24 frame-per-second animation will require 24 individual images per second.
For skeletal sprite animation, you only need one texture with all the sprites, and all the animations will reference that single texture.
It will use less memory, but slightly increase CPU usage.
Wonder Boy is a game that uses frame-by-frame animations, and Muramasa uses skeletal sprite animation.
Just wanted to point out that both require a lot of effort to look good, regardless of the animation strategy.
stuff shown here is cool and very nice to appreciate... but a lot of the boomer shooters OP is talking about do not use 2D for environments at all because that's kind of hard to make work. He's angry at the stuff in the world being 2d not the world itself lol
this is a cool color cycle trick demo website.. if you want to see how people push it.
Makes me sad this art is forgotten by many.
Limitation often pushed people to get the most out of the tools they have.
Look at the 3d gba games
It's just laziness which sells because of 90s kids who are nostalgic over their blocky childhood games. We live in 2023 not 1996 dammit.
No. I hate realism too.
almost every dev does that, you aren't going to find many that don't.What I don't like however, are developers that pick only the constraints they like from 8 or 16 bits pixels, like the color palette, but then make their game for modern hardware only.
If you are going to pretend to make a GB or MD homage, then do it properly and make a GB or MD game. Then bundle it in an emulator for modern consoles.
We can have all. having variety of art in games is great it what makes video games enjoyable.So you don’t like pixel art style and you don’t like realism and you think all games should look like Shadow Warrior 3 with its exaggerated art style and color saturation?
Some games are a clear homage to a very specific older console, such as Shovel Knight or the upcoming game from Yacht Club. Timespinner is basically the exact pixel-art style from later Square SNES RPGs. Curse of the Moon games are clearly meant to look like NES games. Even Capcom made Megaman 9 and 10. They could have made SNES, NES or GB games. M2 made Aleste 3 for GG and Bitmap Bureau made Xeno Crisis for MegaDrive.almost every dev does that, you aren't going to find many that don't.
Pixel art is a form of art and an artistic choice, not a nostalgic tool meant to pay homage to older systems.
Is straw manning your only way of debating? Not even worth responding to this insane strawSo you don’t like pixel art style and you don’t like realism and you think all games should look like Shadow Warrior 3 with its exaggerated art style and color saturation?
Pure unadultered facts right here.It's not pixel art; it's just bad graphics.
Gaming visuals aren't a binary choice between 90s graphics and photorealism. I don't know why people keep making it out to be this way ITT. There are literally 1000s of other art styles. There is anime style, cel shaded style, semi-realism, watercolour, etc.I hate the constant seek for realism so I kinda get it, but we can't do nothing, just avoid those games, graphics are also part of enjoyment
And pixel is just different style, you are free not to like it but it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist.Gaming visuals aren't a binary choice between 90s graphics and photorealism. I don't know why people keep making it out to be this way ITT. There are literally 1000s of other art styles. There is anime style, cel shaded style, semi-realism, watercolour, etc.
Objectively it should stop being made or be a more niche thing since we're well past the pixel era in 2023. There are two entire decades dedicated to those games, people can go play them if they want pixel graphics. It is holding back originality and part of what is keeping gaming stagnant.And pixel is just different style, you are free not to like it but it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist.
Speak for yourself, I can enjoy pixel art not matter how many years has past.Objectively it stop existing or at least be a more niche thing since we're well past the pixel era in 2023. There are two entire decades dedicated to those games, people can go play them if they want pixel graphics.
Objectively it should stop being made or be a more niche thing since we're well past the pixel era in 2023. There are two entire decades dedicated to those games, people can go play them if they want pixel graphics. It is holding back originality and part of what is keeping gaming stagnant.
Metal Slug is magnificent.
fuck off. Objectively it is a form of art and will always be made. It will continue to exist so long as there are people who want to make games inspired by them.Objectively it should stop being made or be a more niche thing since we're well past the pixel era in 2023.
cancer.For skeletal sprite animation
fuck off. Objectively it is a form of art and will always be made. It will continue to exist so long as there are people who want to make games inspired by them.
And besides they'll stop being as prevalent anyways. UE5's going to shake up the entire indie industry and teams will be able to make games on the scale of triple A without a fraction of the budget. hell indies are already moving away from the pixel art look as it stands.
Octopath 2 it just fucking gorgeous game to look at and boss sprites looks well design and looks epic as fuck.Octopath II, to me, was a recent wonderful modern example. I loved the use of 2D-3D blending, and the detail on the boss sprites in particular made me ascend. What also really caught my eye and made me go "DANG" was the use of dramatic lighting, and how that affected the sprites. (Of course, it's not indie, and the credits show they even had a department specifically for handling just the boss sprites)
Metal Slug is magnificent.
Yeah, for mobile games I can understand the reasoning, but for console and PC there's no excuse for them to use frame-by-frame animations.cancer.
These look horrible though.Octopath II, to me, was a recent wonderful modern example. I loved the use of 2D-3D blending, and the detail on the boss sprites in particular made me ascend. What also really caught my eye and made me go "DANG" was the use of dramatic lighting, and how that affected the sprites. (Of course, it's not indie, and the credits show they even had a department specifically for handling just the boss sprites)
Sorry, I personally can't see the sprite work and animations as being lazy. There's clearly a lot of filtering/post-processing/lighting techniques used, but it just worked for me. And it's not like I don't appreciate the absolute full scale wildness and intricacy of the Metal Slug games. It looked great to me while playing, so we might have to disagree on this.These look horrible though.
It's what lazy devs do: get some sprites with *very* low resolution and put some photorealistic lighting and EXTREME bloom + depth of field shaders on top to hide all the ugliness.
Thing is, sprites were low res because they were suited for the resolution they were meant to be rendered.
Modern pixel art would be suited for high resolution monitors, and not 80's monitor resolution.
This "retro" trend needs to go.
It's just an excuse to make cheap graphics and throw in the trash the potential that current hardware has for 2D games.
These look horrible though.
It's what lazy devs do: get some sprites with *very* low resolution and put some photorealistic lighting and EXTREME bloom + depth of field shaders on top to hide all the ugliness.
Thing is, sprites were low res because they were suited for the resolution they were meant to be rendered.
Modern pixel art would be art suited for high resolution monitors, and not 80's monitor resolution.
This "retro" trend needs to go.
It's just an excuse to make cheap graphics and throw in the trash the potential that current hardware has for 2D games.
cancer.
so cancerous infact that it looks superior to most frame by frame animations. especially compared to choppy stiff anime and rounded ugly cartoons.
These look horrible though.
It's what lazy devs do: get some sprites with *very* low resolution and put some photorealistic lighting and EXTREME bloom + depth of field shaders on top to hide all the ugliness.
Thing is, sprites were low res because they were suited for the resolution they were meant to be rendered.
Modern pixel art would be suited for high resolution monitors, and not 80's monitor resolution.
This "retro" trend needs to go.
It's just an excuse to make cheap graphics and throw in the trash the potential that current hardware has for 2D games.
Thank you for this example- I can see a contrast in how the concepts are tackled, but I like different aspects of each regarding both games.I vastly prefer a more traditional 2D look like Sea of Stars:
Seems like a much nicer mix of pixel art with more modern lighting
Objectively it should stop being made or be a more niche thing since we're well past the pixel era in 2023.
chrono trigger doesn't hold up that much better than Jak and Daxter, Metal Gear Solid 2, Ratchet and Clank, Jet Set Radio Future, Halo, and Conker's Bad Fur Day. If the only thing you see is dated polygons, you've got a severe issue with your vision.Look at PS1/early PS2 days and tell me that Chrono Trigger doesn't hold up better than just about anything else.
This level of pixel art will cease to exist TBH, it requires way too much work, most modern dev will just use cheaper ways such as Spine or convert 3D animation into 2D sprite.Look at old fighting game backgrounds as an example of what can be done with good pixel art. (full disclosure: Some of these may be "traced" polygons, I am not autstic enough to know which backgrounds were done with what method)
chrono trigger doesn't hold up that much better than Jak and Daxter, Metal Gear Solid 2, Ratchet and Clank, Jet Set Radio Future, Halo, and Conker's Bad Fur Day. If the only thing you see is dated polygons, you've got a severe issue with your vision.
Love them both, but hope they decide to put Octopath Traveler 1 on PS5.Thats your loss because Octopath 2 is one the best games I played this year and honestly I find its visuals absolutely gorgeous!
I didn't play any of those games growing up. Many of them still have great art directions that hold up well and bringing up images of how these games look at their worst isn't gonna change that. Not to mention that for as good as Chrono Trigger looks... the animations in it are also janky and terrible even by SNES standards.I think it's your nostalgia not my eyes that need to be checked, bud.