There have been a lot of pixel art games talked about in the forums this past week, and it continues to remind me how difficult it is for me to make stuff out. For some reason my eyes just can’t seem put the jumble of blocks together into the interesting mosaic they’re supposed to be. So it’s a challenge to enjoy the game when you’re constantly stressing your eye-brain connection to figure out what’s going on or what you’re seeing. It’s kind of like when you’re trying to understand a foreign language while interpreting on the fly back to your native language.
You’re not alone. Though for me it’s just that I dislike that art style. I do have trouble making out what things are if the pixel count is low enough though, like in Master of Magic.
I don’t think it’s because they’re lazy, it’s because the cost to do polygonal art is steep compared to doing pixel art. So you do what you can afford. I just wish I could enjoy it because there are good games out there built this way.
I don’t have a problem with pixel art but I still like to play old games that used it in a non-retro sense.
I am making a game of my own and I am using pixel art because I can’t afford to hire an artist on my $0 budget. If my ship ever comes in I am open to replacing all art with something fancier.
Yeah, it’s rare I want to play a game with pixel art. They really have to have something to motivate me to give it a try. There have been several though worth playing. There are some good ones on the list.
There is a reason graphics evolved and 320x240 didn’t stay the standard forever. So no, you are not alone, I do not play pixel art games. I like to enjoy good immersive graphics with in my gaming.
I know, that is the thing that makes me sad. In the city builder thread was what I’m guessing is super cute pixel art builder, but the only thing I could easily make out were the wisps of smoke. Which did look darling. The little peoples kept becoming a couple of blocks instead of the cute little animated peeps they’re supposed to be.
I like all kinds of different art styles, some pixel art I don’t like and some I just love, same with anything, I suppose. Depends on the game, but generally speaking I’m not dissuaded or turned off by pixel art in games.
I do love the art in Dead Cells. (The only exception I can think of right now). But I think they cheat. I think they made all the art originally not pixelated, and then ran it through a pixelizer to give it the pixel art look, but the underlying great art style still shines through despite the pixelizer.
Fez and Hyper Light Drifter are both very nice looking games. However, the former lacks substantive gameplay, and the latter is in a genre (ARPGs) I am not interested in.
These days I just outright avoid most pixel art games. It’s an art-style that tends to make for bad UI’s and hard-to-read situations - I don’t like having to fight the art to play a game.