next »

[lithander]

Browsing through a thread like this I notice that a lot of games share a similar visual style. THe majority of games are 2D Games, most using Low-Resolution Sprites and backgrounds, often also with a limited color set and simple perspectives. They all look very "retro"... very 8bit.

Classic games had this look because of technical limitations. But our modern computers don't impose the same strict limitations on the designer. So the reason must be in the creators. If it is a deliberate choice what is the motivation? If it's not... what's holding people back from exploring more diverse visual styles in their games?

[Zaratustra]

because it's so EASY

[moi]

because these game creators think everything revolves around their childhood

[Mr. Yes]

There have been discussions about this before. A very interesting discussion, nonetheless.

While nostalgia plays a large role, I don't think that's the entire reason. I never played a whole lot of "retro" games during my childhood, and yet I find the style incredibly appealing, for whatever reason.

[Mikademus]

There have been discussions about this before. A very interesting discussion, nonetheless.

While nostalgia plays a large role, I don't think that's the entire reason. I never played a whole lot of "retro" games during my childhood, and yet I find the style incredibly appealing, for whatever reason.

There are some things that are appealing, cute if you wish. Whether culturally or biologically instilled in us doesn't really matter. Chibi manga style is perhaps the prime example, and I suspect 8bit graphics falls into the same category of stuff we will tend to perceive as cute.

[The-Imp]

Nostalgia, NES, childhood, Cave Story, etc., etc..

I just think it's cool, I don't know why... 8-bit is cute too.

[mirosurabu]

One correction: mentioned thread is not representative of whole indie scene. It's just part of the scene. If you take a look at casual indie games, you'll see that none of them use retro graphics.

Regarding why people here choose retro style - I have no idea. But it seems to be related to nostalgia in some cases. Some will argue it's because it's the easiest way to make acceptable graphics. (personally I don't agree with that for several reasons)

I do retro graphics from time to time myself, but that's because I like to try different things. In fact, I tend to do minimalistic flash artwork for my games most of the time.

[Balrog]

My game looks like an NES game because I did the graphics myself and the reason I did the graphics myself is because I don't play nice with others 

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

because it's so EASY

Abstract is actually even easier (which is probably why it's the second-most common visual style in indie games, after retro).

[Traveller]

Retro is good because lots of people are bad artists, and retro is easy.

Before sending flames my way, have you ever seen what happens when indie developers make 64x64 pixels tiles for games that are 24 bit color?  It is REALLY HARD to make anything LIKE good graphics in high resolution and high colors...but more importantly it is very easy to make -awful- art like that.  I have seen grass tiles that would make you vomit just looking at them.  Big game companies need professional artists because, well, high res high color work demands professional artists.

There is NOTHING worse artistically than using higher res and more colors than your talent and time investment can handle.  And it takes a whole lot of time.

Whereas if you scale each pixel up to 4x4 or more and restrict yourself to a limited palette, it's hard to suck as bad.  Yes, it still takes talent to make GOOD art.  But it's a lot harder to make bad art.

I've seen some really awful high res high color games that make me turn them off in disgust because the art is SO BAD.  I can't remember ever seeing a retro-style game (very small or very low res tiles as the defining art style) that made me turn it off due to bad art.

[lithander]

The combined answer of the replies so far seems to be "it's the easiest way to create a visual style that people will find appealing".

As to why it is appealing it sounds likely that nostalgia plays a role and another might be that our brain is used to give meaning to abstract place holders. The same reason why a badly drawn tv series like southpark manages to have "believable" characters where a real but bad actor might fail at being believable.

But none the less: Let's say you really like the pixel style or you're not that great an artist so pixeling a rough character is the best you can do. Isn't there a way where your game could still profit from modern processing power? One idea that comes to mind would be adding the 3rd dimension to pixelgraphics for example... at least this would be a lot closer to _my_ childhood, considering how many hours I've spend building stuff with DUPLO and later LEGO. And it wasn't hard at all to get some good looking results! (Yes even good looking with the critical eyes of a grown up! )

[JLJac]

Yup, it's easier. When having few colours the number of combinations in a 16x16 picture is almost countable, when drawing you can just try and try until you get it right, without having to get anything right from the beginning. I think it's pretty telling that you can create pixel art without a tablet, while hi-rez art drawn with a mouse almost always look crappy.

Also most indie games are 2d platformers, and they want to tribute the era of 2d platformers by looking like something from that time.

[rogerlevy]

here's another thought ... pixelly graphics are truer to the artform?  after all computer graphics are represented with pixels ... using this style just highlights that fact.

[Gold Cray]

One idea that comes to mind would be adding the 3rd dimension to pixelgraphics for example...

You can do this sort of thing, but processing power is not the main factor here. You still have to write the code. Fewer dimensions tend to make the code simpler.

[TheSpaceMan]

As people have said, it's not just about the fact that modern computers can do more and thus can make things looks nicer. Every iteration of extra details takes time, indies who often develop games for fun get more focused on makeing fun games I think. Thus the engine are simpler (not in a bad way) render wise and more in detail gameplay wise. Spirtes is a fast easy way to make graphic and animations. I still think skinning in 3D is a nightmare to handle in a good way.

And also, a pixelated character have more details on the details that are important, high poly characters most often have more details at things that no one cares about. ^^

about indexing as well, can't that be used to create lots of identical colored items, characters and tiles with just changing the palett.

[Mr. Yes]

Hm.

The ease of creating retro graphics has always seemed like more of a convenient side-effect than a motive for creating them, at least to me. But this, of course, is different from person to person, and it's possible that the majority of retro game creators actually do make them because of that.

It's certainly not the case for me. At least, I hope not!

Rogerlevy's idea is kind of close to my feelings regarding this, though maybe not quite it. Pixel art is definitely very "computer-y" (as is everything else considered to be "retro" in indie games).

I also like Mikademus's comment a lot. The "cuteness" factor is there for sure. I tend to appreciate pixel art differently depending on whether or not it's been scaled to a larger size (as is very commonly done). Pixel art that's been scaled to a larger size tends to feel more nostalgic and "retro" to me while normally-sized pixel art tends to look more "cute" in a way. That's just me, though.

[Snakey]

I think its about development times. Indies don't have three to four years to develop a title, and thus within their budgets they sometimes have to employ retro methods. After all, with graphics these days, as long as it is true to what the developer wants to represent is there any more reason to have high resolution, highly detailed art?

If an 8 x 8 pixel sprite can represent a shotgun for both the designer and the player, is there much more the player can ask for?

I also think that most indies developer freeware, donation ware or absurdly cheap games and thus won't have massive amounts of money to spend on art as well as money to continue development for a long time.

Lastly, I think for myself, I just like that sort of art.

[Will Vale]

I really like the fact that the cockpit compo (and a few other things besides) seem to be defining what I would call the "Amiga 3D" aesthetic as an alternative to pixels, abstract flash, etc. It's great that we might be seeing another style come of age.

It's lo-fi (like lots of pixel art) and requires a similar distillation of shape, but it offers a very different palette to work with.

Look forward to seeing more stuff in this vein

[Mikademus]

here's another thought ... pixelly graphics are truer to the artform?  after all computer graphics are represented with pixels ... using this style just highlights that fact.

In that they require more reflection (and projection) to be meaningful, and given that you accept this as relevant to "art", then sure they more of an art form. If you perceive "true art" as depiction and realistic then modern AAA graphics is probably more of an art form. If you define art as skilful application of artistic ability then they may both be.

Rather than ask whether it is art, instead ask whether it is (can be) good, and then you'll indubitably get overwhelmingly positive replies

[Glaiel-Gamer]

It's nostalgia and "laziness" (for lack of a better term

Yes, it's easier to be bad when drawing at a higher resolution, so you need to find/be a better artist then. Vector art, for instance, is easier than photoshop art or high-res sprites, yet can easily be expanded to extremely complicated and amazing looking sprites, with a lot of room for style.

With low res, however, the limited resolution generally forces everyone to draw their people similarly, while in high res or vector you can have much more freedom with the style of the character.

People that do pixel art for laziness or lack of skill are going to try and justify it by defending it as a "stylistic choice" or "they think it looks better" or "it's truer to the medium" or "nostalgia" but keep in mind they're just justifying it because it's how they do art and they can't really do art the other way.

Solution: Find an artist.