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Let's take a moment to appreciate pixel art [GIF/Image-heavy]

This thread got me to purchase Stranged. I have to say the game is kind of crap. Won't even run full screen on my mac, and the controls are the worst I've seen of any P&C game (and I've played hundreds). For example, when you click somewhere, there's no correcting the route until your character gets there, and man does s/he move slow.
Yeah, I posted it because I really like the art style, but all the general consensus for the game is that it's pretty bad
 
Ninja Baseball Bat Man

Video

One of my favorite arcade games and a big part of that is because of how colorful it is and how crazy the designs for enemies are. A lot of fun to play.

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Super Tempo

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A favorite Sega Saturn game of mine, this is a beautiful platformer that feels like playing a cartoon.

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Herc's Adventures

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This was released on the Sega Saturn and PlayStation 1 but I've only played the Saturn version. From what I've read and been told the Saturn version is superior because of how well the system handled 2D games but I can't verify if that's true in this case. Anyway, I love this game for its humor and cartoon-like qualities. One of my favorite LucasArts games.

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Super Dodge Ball (Neo Geo version)

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There are other Super Dodge Ball games but the only one I've cared about is this Neo Geo version. Dodge ball with traditional fighting game mechanics makes it so much fun to play and it looks gorgeous.

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Waku Waku 7

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I've only played the Sega Saturn port but I've always been fond of this game for its character designs.

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Snatcher

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A fantastic adventure game by Hideo Kojima. The Sega CD has a decent library but if you were to own one game for it, and can afford it, make it this one.

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WWF WrestleFest

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I'm not into wrestling anymore but I can still get a lot of enjoyment out of this game. It's always been my favorite wrestling game and came out at a time when wrestling was a lot of fun to me. The character sprites are big and look really good.

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RichardKSJ

Member
This thread is helping me make a list, thanks.

These are all just so beautiful. It's not easy making sprite art look this beautiful.
 

sn00zer

Member
Im so so sooooo glad indies have been steering away from "retro" looking pixel art and have started making actual pixel...art
 

KiraXD

Member
The Last Night in motion

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Man im SO READY for this game... im sensing an AMAZING Cyberpunk revolution for the next few years... With Deus Ex Mankind Divided, The Last Night, Cyberpunk 2077 (these are the games im looking forward to the most) plus more... its a good time to be a cyberpunk fan!
 
Man im SO READY for this game... im sensing an AMAZING Cyberpunk revolution for the next few years... With Deus Ex Mankind Divided, The Last Night, Cyberpunk 2077 (these are the games im looking forward to the most) plus more... its a good time to be a cyberpunk fan!
The Last Night Kickstarter is probably happening this month; the devs have been working on the trailer, a prototype, and talking with publishers

And don't forget Metrocide, DEX, Limbs, STEALER, Technobabylon, Lithium City, Hidden Asset

Limbs is cool, it's a freeware entry for the Cyberpunk Jam. Kind of like Papers Please, except you're a cybernetic limb repairman
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Pejo

Member
Love great pixel art! It requires imagination on the part of the person playing the game, but can look so good when animated well.
 

dEvAnGeL

Member
jez i just played the last night draft and that game is awesome! i had no idea about the game, thanks OP, now this has become one of my most anticipated games, i love the setting
 

Ranger X

Member
So where's the pixel art in Drift Stage? That game is 3D...

If low res textures (or look likes) = pixel art, Minecraft is a pixel art game!
 
So where's the pixel art in Drift Stage? That game is 3D...

If low res textures (or look likes) = pixel art, Minecraft is a pixel art game!
From the KS page: "Drift Stage features a unique art style, blending pixel art and 3D models"

Similar to Wings of Saint Nazaire, I guess
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Yes, Wings IS a 2D game - although we are using 3D acceleration of course, all ships that you see are NOT 3D models! We pre-render 2D images for every possible angle that you can see them from (544 for a normal fighter) and then display the right sprite. This is exactly what the early Wing Commander games did - we're doing it this way because we absolutely love the retro effect this has. It's hard to tell for most people but almost everybody agrees that it, almost subconsciously, has a really neat nostalgia effect!

Wings is a 2D game in the sense that while we are using a 3D engine, the vast majority of the artwork displayed is pre-rendered, placed on simple flat planes. That makes most of the art 2D. The source is of course 3D assets, but they're 3D assets rendered in such a way as to resemble mid-nineties dos-era games.
 
Thank you OP for this beautiful thread. It's truly an excitng time to be playing video games thanks to indie developers. Im hoping most of these games come out on the Vita
 
Man, I can't believe so many people would dismiss all of these pixel art games. I remember during the ps2 era that pixel art games are a dying breed. Digital distribution have really opened the gate for 2d pixel arts
 
Those are beautiful and as beautiful as the newer Pixel Art games are the animations in general are not as good as the older stuff imo
Stuff like Rain World and Crawl have more fluid animations than older games could ever hope to achieve. I'd say a lot of current pixel art games have pretty good animations
 
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Knights in the Nightmare, I love how the characters especially the knights look on the PSP screen.

Also here's some HQ indie pixel art

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Jamestown Plus PS4 (although an older version is on PC)

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Noitu Love 2 PC (by Konjak who has worked on some of Wayforward's titles)

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Iconoclasts PC which Konjak has been making for the past 4-5 years.

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Crimzon Clover World Ignition PC
 
Stuff like Rain World and Crawl have more fluid animations than older games could ever hope to achieve. I'd say a lot of current pixel art games have pretty good animations

Might not be as fluid as the newer stuff although I think metal slug has some incredibly fluid and nuanced animations but I think most of the charm from the older games came from the animations fluid or not

Not trying to bash the newer stuff cause they look incredible
 

epmode

Member
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No way. Hyper Light Drifter is absolutely hurt by the 30 FPS thing. The game is constantly scrolling the screen in every direction and it looks like it's stuttering at all times.

It's a major oversight for a free-scrolling 2D action game. The devs should make 60 FPS scrolling a priority.

edit: And it's not unheard of for a developer to change their mind on the matter. Take a look at this thread for the upcoming Not A Hero, from the developers of OlliOlli:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/274270/discussions/0/618459931319012820/

They delayed the game by a week to upgrade their game from 30 FPS to 60 based on pre-release feedback. Good guys.
 

Alo81

Low Poly Gynecologist
No way. Hyper Light Drifter is absolutely hurt by the 30 FPS thing. The game is constantly scrolling the screen in every direction and it looks like it's stuttering at all times.

It's a major oversight for a free-scrolling 2D action game. The devs should make 60 FPS scrolling a priority.

edit: And it's not unheard of for a developer to change their mind on the matter. Take a look at this thread for the upcoming Not A Hero, from the developers of OlliOlli:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/274270/discussions/0/618459931319012820/

They delayed the game by a week to upgrade their game from 30 FPS to 60 based on pre-release feedback. Good guys.

My understanding is that HLD is far enough along in development, and so dependent on the framerate that changing to 60 would be a really difficult task.
 

epmode

Member
My understanding is that HLD is far enough along in development, and so dependent on the framerate that changing to 60 would be a really difficult task.

I wouldn't doubt it. I can't understand why a developer of a game like that would target 30 FPS from day one, though.
 

KiraXD

Member
No way. Hyper Light Drifter is absolutely hurt by the 30 FPS thing. The game is constantly scrolling the screen in every direction and it looks like it's stuttering at all times.

It's a major oversight for a free-scrolling 2D action game. The devs should make 60 FPS scrolling a priority.

edit: And it's not unheard of for a developer to change their mind on the matter. Take a look at this thread for the upcoming Not A Hero, from the developers of OlliOlli:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/274270/discussions/0/618459931319012820/

They delayed the game by a week to upgrade their game from 30 FPS to 60 based on pre-release feedback. Good guys.

ive not noticed stuttering playing the alpha... it looks great. 30fps is fine. sure 60 would be better... but its amazing even at 30.

I wouldn't doubt it. I can't understand why a developer of a game like that would target 30 FPS from day one, though.

60fps would require at least double the amount of animation... thats a lot of work for pixel drawn games like these. its also why they cant just "Make it 60" if its already well into development... it would mean redoing every piece of animation they have.
 

epmode

Member
60fps would require at least double the amount of animation... thats a lot of work for pixel drawn games like these. its also why they cant just "Make it 60" if its already well into development... it would mean redoing every piece of animation they have.

Just because the game refreshes at a certain rate doesn't mean that the animation has to match. Practically every NES game scrolls at 60 FPS but the sprite animation loops are incredibly short and they play at far below 60 frames per second.

Another example: 2D fighting games. Almost all run at 60, none of which animate the sprites at 60 FPS. No one wants to play a 2D fighter at 30 FPS.

If a developer has designed a sprite-based game in a manner that changing the refresh rate from 30 FPS to 60 FPS requires significant animation tweaks, they've already made a mistake.

ive not noticed stuttering playing the alpha... it looks great. 30fps is fine. sure 60 would be better... but its amazing even at 30.

The art looks great but the scrolling looks pretty stuttery on a large monitor. Character movement feels a bit sluggish as well. I wish I could overlook it but I can't decide what my eyes see.

I'm picking on Hyper Light Drifter in particular because it looks so goddamned good and I don't want to see such a promising game scarred by an inexplicably poor framerate.
 
BTW What actually falls in the bounds as pixel art? Does it have to be hand drawn (or atleast appear so to the beholder) or are hybrid techniques like Another World's / SF3 rotoscoping or touched up 3D models like newer CAVE shmups (or that Crimzon Clover pic I posted) ok to be called pixel art just so long as they look blocky?
 
SonyToo!™;163328911 said:
BTW What actually falls in the bounds as pixel art? Does it have to be hand drawn (or atleast appear so to the beholder) or are hybrid techniques like Another World's / SF3 rotoscoping or touched up 3D models like newer CAVE shmups (or that Crimzon Clover pic I posted) ok to be called pixel art just so long as they look blocky?
Well I mentioned Brigador in another post and the dev's approach to that is:
...entirely sprite based-- the vehicles and environments are baked down from rendered 3d models into sprites, and we use zdepth mapping in order to approximate the lighting. The ground tiles are pure pixel work.
 
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