Why is every indie game made with Pixel Art?

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The indie dev love for pixel art grows by the year - in this video essay I look at why the style has made such a comeback, the technical shortcuts and challenges it poses, and at the unique ways that developers have evolved the form.
I’ll look at games for the Switch, Ps4, Xbox One and PC all the way back to the NES and SNES.
Let me know what your favourite recent pixel art games have been in the comments below!
Slip - Geographer
Sundays - R.LUM.R
Lake George - William Rosati
Lullaby - Yung Logos
Mad Science (Sting) - MK2
Marlboro lLite - Spazz Cardigan
Games featured in this video;
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening - Nintendo
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening Switch - Nintendo
Katana Zero - Askiisoft / Devolver Digital
Celeste - Matt Makes Games
Game Dev Story _ Kairosoft
Super Mario Galaxy - Nintendo
Hyper Light Drifter - Heart Machine
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Nintendo
Stardew Valley - Eric Barone / Sickhead Games
Axiom Verge - Thomas Happ
Papers Please - Lucas Pope
Skyrim - Bathesda
Conan Exiles - Funcom
Assassins Creed Liberation
Mass Effect Andromeda - EA / Bioware
Street Fighter 2 - Capcom
Wargroove - Chucklefish
Dead Cells - Motion Twin
Fez - Phil Fish
Super Mario Odyssey - Nintendo
Octopath Traveller - Sqaure Enix
Pokemon Red - Nintendo
Dragon Warrior Monsters - Square Enix
Survival Kids - Konami
Unchartered 4 - Naughty Dog
Faster than Light - Subset Games
Super Castlevania IV - Konami
Final Fantasy III - Square Enix
Mega Man X - Capcom
FTL: Faster Than Light - Subset Games
Contact: [e-mail]

[@outofsight8308]

Hey everyone - Thanks a LOT for taking the time to watch! Amazed and super chuffed at how well this has done for a first video. I'm working on my next video so please subscribe and bear with my whilst it gets made! Stay tuned :)

[@Laiser]

This is your first video dude? I would have thought this was a channel going on for years. It was so well made. Instant subscribed

[@ziyajafarov282]

Centeron play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xlise.centeron It is not pixel art.

[@kinneyjoseph2]

I was just thinking, "4 months ago? Pretty likely they're not doing more." Then I see this comment from 2 hours ago lol. I'm glad to have the update and I have subscribed; looking forward to your content!

[@DantevanGemert]

What kind of content will your channel be about? I'm really interested

[@alicaido6616]

hopefully you'll welcome this criticism, but it seems you need to work on your expression throughout your voice over it's great in places but really monotone in others looking forward to your next vid :D

[@azamkhizir3628]

The reason I love pixel art is because I can run the game on my potato laptop without the need to bother about image quality....in most cases

[@jaredolsen5143]

Except for Minecraft.

[@TheDifferentAnimator]

Minecraft is only for people with $3000 gaming pcs

[@aeiouaeiouaeiouaeiou4510]

Noita

[@NijikaAirConditioner]

@Holly T R/wooosh

[@itslilac5806]

AEIOUAEIOU AEIOUAEIOU Bruh, my VR ready PC can’t handle that game if I have anything other than discord and steam running in the background lol

[@swozzlesticks3068]

"It is out of nostalgia, cost cutting, or an artistic choice?" Yes

[@connorconnor2421]

r/inclusiveor

[@dinoaurus1]

@@connorconnor2421 this is youtube

[@connorconnor2421]

@@dinoaurus1 kzbin.info/www/bejne/eH24nJqIdt6SjNE

[@the_Googie]

@@connorconnor2421 get back to reddit, dumbass

[@skkadoot9533]

@@the_Googie r/no

[@cptant7610]

Physics are also a reason not mentioned. Nobody bats an eye when a 2d sprite instantly turns around or changes direction while it feels very "wrong" with a 3d model.

[@nittayoshifumi8252]

Smear frames also looks more acceptable on 2d sprites than on 3d I could be wrong though

[@derpydino17]

That could also apply to traditional 2D animation.

[@tiefensucht]

The big question is: Why every smartphone game looks the same? Its like there is one designer who creates all the assets for all games.

[@tiefensucht]

@Arsenal Gaming Makes sense. Designers guess what app developers think gamers may like.

[@pugzsniper]

Three words UNITY ASSET STORE

[@uwnbaw]

The cringy graphics that look like what most KZbin videos use.

[@zynel413]

There is a company called Voodoo that makes most of the 3D, simple games.

[@Mike-jx6pj]

It’s made in unity and uses unity standard graphics

[@carlosavila4290]

As an indie developer it's easy to answer: low budget

[@Differentad-mq9tk]

What game did you made?

[@unlimited8410]

and good looking if done right

[@scottmune4484]

ikr, its a pretty stupid question to ask in hindsight. to me its as obvious as black anad white why.

[@xaius4348]

Spriting a single character with pixel art can take a couple hundred hours. Often times simple 3D animations are actually simpler to do. The reason I love pixel art is because it isn't practical, it's an extremely expressive artstyle, and a labor of love.

[@kurios2998]

This.

[@bunniz]

I love how it originally done out of necessity and now it’s an artistic choice.

[@Senordisastermaster]

It has its ups and downs. However, there is a certain type of pixel art that is annoying and that is when they don’t bother to adhere to any grid. A game of this style would make something like a blocky arm and simply move it on an axis instead of animating different frames (and even lowering its resolution to hide it). There are very few exceptions, but the more the game uses it the more cheap it looks. :)

[@patricklewis9787]

An overdone artistic choice now, it’s almost more of like a movie trope than a style now tbh

[@AN-ou6qu]

@@Senordisastermaster you mean skeletal animation? I think it looks pretty cool honestly

[@zacherylouis8660]

@Kyaru Momochi did you not watch the video?

[@denizmergen418]

@Kyaru Momochi even if i prefer dimple art styles pixel or not such as font starve holow knight tf2 ehen iser fotage of overwatch or csgo i cant understand whats hapening

[@HedenCop]

I'd like to point out that as a 3D artist who's currently working with an indie studio, it's hard to imagine just how much goes into creating a game. Joining this group I was fully prepared to animate fight animations and walk cycles and the occasional special animation but lots of times, transition animations are needed, and that's for a multitude of 3D characters that you've already had to model, rig, and make game friendly. And then for the coding, I never thought about having to code a saving system which is a pain, or having to code the inventory system and the loading screens and then all the other UI. That doesn't even really scratch the surface of how many little things there are that never get talked about. There really is so much to game dev and it's insane to see, so when artists use pixel art to save even just a bit of time it's completely understandable why.

[@kaikoehler1763]

oh yeah. indie gamedev is no joke. The amount of effort required to make games with such a small team is immense. I've only done 2D games, and even those are insanely hard. I can only imagine how hard it is to create and animate multiple 3D models. respect++

[@theearthburner6159]

@@kaikoehler1763 yeah kinda, as a 3d game dev, I can say animating and making the characters and everything can be difficult but in Pixel art, it might be even more difficult to make animations because you have to draw it for every frame. In 3d you just animate it like normal, still I don't have any idea about 2d games lol.

[@rodsaco3154]

amen

[@albo3music]

This 100%. I joined a small indie studio as the musician expecting id do a few songs and the game would release in a couple months. Now nearly a year into development, ive helped with every other part as well (besides coding; i cant do that for shit lol)

[@dynamitemonkey-zj6pt]

i work as an animator, and for many reasons, i decided to develop a solo game, and really, it's no joke, sometimes i just sit and think if it's even worth it, considering the amount of money most indie games make and the ammount of effort for a game to be called "great"

[@solid2542]

I really hate people who see a pixelated game and say "the 80's called they want their game back" -actual 1 star review I found on The Messenger

[@daniel-zh9nj6yn6y]

Especially considering there are images and a video of the gameplay.

[@roqsteady5290]

Actually that is pretty funny :).

[@LWT1331]

I agree with the reviewer. That's pretty much how I feel.

[@ThatSneakman]

@Formarotica It's amazing how broad a horizon one can get just by trying stuff. Sorta wish I wasn't so stubborn in a lot of cases. I was extremely hesitant on Undertale once, but now it's one of my all time favourites.

[@milandavid7223]

Realism isn't always desirable, and it isn't necessarily a measure of beauty

[@jeromealday614]

Tell that to my homies at Pixar

[@CompanionCube]

neither is pixel art

[@cormano64]

@@jeromealday614 Pixar does highly stylized 3D, not at all realistic.

[@VestedUTuber]

@@cormano64 Pretty sure that's his point. 3D doesn't have to be realistic, and in fact stylized 3D generally ends up looking a lot better for a lot longer than photorealistic 3D.

[@ziyajafarov282]

I don't agree about beauty part though. Centeron - my new indie game. play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xlise.centeron

[@_oceanstar]

Hi, pixel artist here. A big reason I think pixel art is widely used is time efficiency, but also because it allows for a lot of creative interpretation- no pixel artist makes art that looks the same, whereas more HD art is harder to distinguish. Color, linework, selout, AA, all are different key components of pixel art that are up to wide interpretation, and so the genre is easily one of the most diverse art forms. Edit - I think a lot of people here interpreted this as "Pixel art is the best art form." I should've made it clear that that's not really what I'm saying here. I'm simply explaining what I think about why lots of people are getting into pixel art - it's easily stylized and very time efficient. I also didn't mean HD art, I meant realism, because in the end all "realistic" art tries to look the same, whereas HD art can mean a lot of things, some of which share many attributes with pixel art. Sorry for not making that clear.

[@outofsight8308]

Thanks for this - good point and cool to hear a take from a pixel artist!

[@itslilac5806]

I think that a big part of it too is that because the art style is so simplistic, more time can be spent and is needed for story aspects. Things like Celeste and one shot have amazing gameplay mechanics, but owe so much of their popularity and overall enjoyment on just the story alone. They allow smaller developers to spend more time on the writing rather than programming & design.

[@zema9401]

I disagree. Im not an artist but for me most pixel games look the same. Stardew Valley is an exception to that, even though its not the only one but imo other Styles have more options.

[@christianholt408]

@@itslilac5806 I would agree with you partially thanks to things like unity, blender, and unreal a lot of the programming for assets is already done for us and the rest will have to be done by us/me regardless of art style. However, it does give me a lot more time, if the assets take much less time to animate and model, to spend on other things like coding features that can make a game stand out.

[@tyler-xo3rb]

@@zema9401 Shovel Knight, Axiom Verge, Stardew Valley, Batman on NES, Environmental Station Alpha and Risk of Rain all look the same, folks.

[@thunderwolf1151]

broke: use new technology to raise the resolution of games woke: use new technology to make the pixels even BETTER

[@firestar3963]

The first time where going woke WON'T make you broke.

[@AppyTheApe]

@@firestar3963 Haha so true

[@NILBOG13]

Woke= Brainwashed Moron.

[@stellao.7365]

The simplicity of pixel art also really allows artists to focus on color and form!

[@valletas]

If you get the form right you dont even need to draw the character because he will be easy to see just from his shadow

[@silverblue73]

@@valletas all about that silhouette

[@williamshakemilk2192]

Me at age 6: wow this game looks so realistic Me at age 15: Eww pixel art Me as an adult: PIXEL ART IS LITERATURE

[@outofsight8308]

Haha! That's great

[@snowmanleblanc6053]

@@cristiansmochina9056 nitpicky at you seemingly joke, 40 isn't that old really, and if your sight is blurry, then pixel art is way to go because it gives a lot less pixel, thus less information to your eyes and brain to dechiper.

[@etlttc353]

I never hated it It looked cool

[@snowmanleblanc6053]

@@cristiansmochina9056 old and inappropriate, how immature you are

[@chooby4405]

@Cristian Smochina your*

[@Tiniuc]

And now we have Noita, where EVERY SINGLE PIXEL has physics!

[@etlttc353]

Nice

[@dinoaurus1]

Games balls, 10/10

[@Fafr]

A game for the mentally deranged degenerates, in a good way

[@metawarp7446]

About your last point: I think *ideas are sometimes more beautiful/good looking than reality.* _The idea of a sunset can be more beautiful than a real one_ That's probably why minimalism in general looks pretty good. But pixel art truly gives you an "idea" about the world, and your imagination interprets the world as more appealing than it could have been with realistic graphics. *Sometimes more appealing than the real world.*

[@martinjakab]

I dont think its true.

[@jameswoodland2719]

I would say usually more appealing. I mean, what's more fun, fighting dragons or doing your taxes? The whole goal of video games is to make you the player happy, but real life doesn't give a shit.

[@VeryPeeved]

@@jameswoodland2719 I guarantee you there's a very fun game out there about doing taxes.

[@SuperUSBman]

Hollow Knight: hold my hand drawn art

[@fusk7799]

@@scratchsoft2347 castle crashers joined the chat

[@Sweedster]

And it’s horribly optimized unfortunately

[@fusk7799]

@@calebking1608 then why whenever I click on it, it shows the main menu and then crashes?

[@Sweedster]

R2D2 from Star Trek I’ve got an HP Spectre x360 with an i7 and gtx 1050 ti, it had constant frame stuttering and lag until I ran it at low settings and 1080p

[@fusk7799]

@@calebking1608 yes

[@jakfearon2945]

I was a pixel art artist back in the day on SNES, Genesis, etc. Back then most of us were constantly working towards more and more high definition styles and tech. It was so limiting feeling to have so few pixels and such a limited color palette. Well, we eventually got what we wanted, and I and others moved up in the 3D world, and eventually everything became HD 3D everywhere. And now, twenty-five years after I started working in the industry, I find myself choosing pixel art games over 3D many times. The limitations, as it often turns out, were the key to its creative beauty. When I first started seeing pixel art coming back into popularity I thought it was an interesting quirk, but I'm happy to see how much it's grown and happy to keep enjoying it as it continues to do so. :)

[@fergochan]

"The limitations, as it often turns out, were the key to its creative beauty." It's kind of like poetry in that respect.

[@drillerdev4624]

Any particular project you worked in that we might remember?

[@jakfearon2945]

@@drillerdev4624 Depends on what you would remember. ;) -- If you look me up, my web site has my CV with a list of titles I've worked on.

[@drillerdev4624]

While not my cup of tea, you have some pretty big sport titles under your belt :) I think I phrased my question wrong. I was looking for some "from the trenches" stories about classic titles. Now that I've seen some unreleased titles, I'd like to hear about them. Were they troublesome developments?, was it a higher exec decision?

[@jakfearon2945]

​@@drillerdev4624 As far as sports games, yeah, I worked on several, even though I'm not into them at all. Sports were never my thing, but it was fun working on them anyway since it was my first actual job in video games, so I will always love those titles because of that. :) The unreleased titles left us disappointed, of course. Spending so much time on something only to have it shelved, that sucked. Super interesting to see ROMs out there now for them, though, like 'Shaq vs. the Legends', so people can actually play them. Most of the games that got cancelled were due to higher up exec decisions, yup. Tiburon was really tiny back then, only a handful of us, and we were a tight team, so when word would come down from above that something was canned, it was tough to get inspired again. Luckily that didn't happen often. There were also some titles that we pitched at CES that never ever saw the light of day and no one really knows about, but I still have a bunch of the original artwork from some of our pitches. Tiburon was mostly doing sports games, of course, and our pitches tended to be more action or cartoon based (we liked Earthworm Jim , etc.), so although we were allowed to pitch them on a sort of low-key level, we petty much knew they would never fly at EA, haha. It was fun to come up with stuff, though. At Boss Games, with 'Stunt Racer 3000' (Stunt Racer 64) I was actually promoted to Art Director on it, but I stepped down a few weeks later since I wasn't so much into 'management' and just wanted to do art. Then before the game shipped I left the company to form my own, so I never got credit in it, and even sadder I never got my complementary copy. Sadder because it's so rare now, haha! Ah well, it was fun to work on it but we'd just come off of 'World Driver Championship' and I kind of wanted to be doing something else, anyway. So I hope that helps give a bit more insight into your question. I'm really nostalgic about those old days, so thanks for asking. :)

[@PorthoGamesBR]

Im in Game Design Collegue, and one of my teachers explained why 2d art is used still nowadays. "2d is simple, is like a painting: You dont need to feel like its real, your just need to like what you see. 3d can be beautifull, but need to be consistent or/and realistic, because a bad 3d model or bad movements in a 3d game will make the player feel uncomfortable in the game and break the immersion"

[@presauced]

nice teacher

[@amo8804]

fake

[@muhdmukhlis1535]

@@amo8804 You are fake

[@damsen978]

But this is about Pixel art, not specifically 2D art in general.

[@rickroleadopai6811]

0:44 oh yes, kris, my favourite character from undertale

[@NikhilKurup-ot8vd]

Shows Kris in the Undertale pic: That one fan: *Demonic Screeching*

[@peculiarjack617]

Two u mean

[@demonyckscreations9990]

That was me

[@mr_mishu0076]

Screem

[@beatlejinx4714]

*summons up my demons

[@river4283]

I came to the comments looking to see if anyone noticed that lol

[@psychicchicken5263]

I use pixel art because: A: It's easier, not even gonna make an excuse to why I choose the easier art style. B: Let's me focus more on gameplay, letting me make more games in less time. C: I make games alone, so I want a balance to everything; I'm better at the coding part than anything, so if I try to make detailed art, it won't meet the quality of the game itself. D: I mostly play roguelikes and indie games, which are almost strictly pixelated, so it's easier to take notes to improve when I'm seeing that kind of art so often. And E: I make 2D games, and pixel art appeals more than anything to some people, but 2D non-pixel art isn't preferred over 3D graphics for almost any gamer.

[@AshtonSnapp]

same. (even though I haven’t made a game yet)

[@dudeofgeneral56]

"2D non-pixel art isn't preferred over 3D graphics for almost any gamer" *laughs in hollow knight*

[@psychicchicken5263]

@@dudeofgeneral56 I said almost any, Ori and Hollow Knight are virtually the only modern games with that style of art

[@dudeofgeneral56]

There are serveral more but i get what chu mean, i mostly play 2D games because i don't really like 3D much, and i would rather have a cartoonish style to the game rather than overly realistic like lots of 3D games nowadays

[@psychicchicken5263]

@@dudeofgeneral56 there are lots of non-pixelated 2D games, but if you look at all the games with long-living, active communities, they're mostly 3D or pixelated.

[@vjm3]

I've always seen it as something more manageable than 3D. To take a character and make it 3D takes way more than just crafting it. The wrong shape, and it'll look awkward or unrealistic. You have to literally take in to account every angle before designing a successful 3D character. However with pixel art, not only can you get away with 5 poses minimum, you can better control the placement and setting of the world thanks to this. It's easier, and more affordable. Finally, in order to make pixel art of a character stand out, you're severely restricted in both size and style. You need to make your character stand out with color cues/designs so when you advertise your character, even when taken out of context, people know what game the character is from. Mickey Mouse and Shovel Knight are great examples of this. Place Mickey Mouse in any game, anywhere, and you'll know it's Mickey Mouse thanks to design cues. The small size of the pixels (not much of a restriction anymore, but I digress) also forces you to get creative with the character creation. Mario has a mustache, because back when he was pixels they needed some design aspect to better define his face. Bowser has black bracelets, so you could tell what were hands and what were arms. These little things all add up, and need to be taken in to consideration when designing a character.

[@danielbueno8474]

Although I grew up in the 16-bit era I'm no expert in pixel art, especially modern pixel art, but imho I think it might be easier and more effficient to make character sprites in pixel art than making a nice 3D character model, but I also think making backgrounds with pixel art is way harder than modelling it in 3D, don't you agree? I mean, I have this idea for a platformer/action game that I HOPE I'll start making someday, and for the exact reasons you mentioned I came to the conclusion that I should make the characters in pixel art, but the thought of having to make all of the background layers, foregrounds, stuff for parallax effects, and anything else having to do with the design being in pixel art kinda scares me. I don't plan on hiring a team or anyone else to create pixel art for me, so I thought it would be more efficient and quicker to make everything in 3D, convert it into 2D kinda like how they did in Dead Cells (except I'll be dealing with static backgrounds, not a character with fluid movements) and correct any mistakes on the transition to pixel art with photoshop. And boy, I hope it works out, otherwise I don't think I'll be able to ever take this idea of mine out of paper, ha ha :)

[@Dogman_35]

Four poses minimum, you're forgetting about top-down games.

[@wheatley6544]

@@danielbueno8474 Sounds like you think "pixel art" requires drawing an image pixel by pixel or something? I'd definitely approach it more like concept art. I.e. use whatever techniques are efficient. Mix and match 3D, photos, textures, custom painting etc to get the result you are looking for, then pixelate and fine tune.

[@allinindie]

Really great video! As an indie dev, I only really have one addition to the overall discussion, and that's that pixel art isn't inherently easier than 3D in the grand scope of development. It's true that there is a higher initial knowledge/skill barrier to 3D development and depending on the style of game is can of course be more difficult to make a 3D game not look "off" or cheap in its own way. However, once that initial barrier is cleared, it is actually often quicker and easier to create a 3D game for a number of reasons. Here's some examples: If you want your character to have costumes in a 2D game, you'll often have to hand animate every single iteration of that for all of your characters animations, rather than just quickly creating a new model and snapping it to the existing skeleton and anims. The same rules apply to characters that look different but share the same utility. All your NPCs need to be animated or you need to create a system which mashes various sprites together. Depending on your game and art style this isn't always a good approach. Want a quick new animation, an edit on an existing one or a blend between two? Depending on your pixel art fidelity you might have to spend a good long while animating frame by frame all of these, rather than creating a few key frames and letting the software largely do the work. Secondary animation on clothes have to be done by yourself at all times instead of letting physics handle lots of it. I'm oversimplifying here as I know high quality 3D animation requires a lot of input from the creator, but even for testing, it can often be quicker to mock something up. You're not redrawing the whole character for every frame. You just move the bits if you need to edit and export a file. Once they exist, 3D models can be much more easily manipulated and to much greater extents before they start to look wrong. If you scale or rotate sprites you quickly run into issues of square sizes not being consistent or having pixels at angles. You'll frequently find this in indie games and even if gamers don't know exactly why something looks kinda cheap or wrong, it's usually because of poor use of this. I think Celeste is a great example of a HD pixel art game that manages to just skirt this issue with some good artistic choices in the fonts and character portraits, but the line is very fine. Many game types or effects are a lot harder to pull off if you don't have 3D as an option. Perspective has to be artistically created rather than it naturally happening by moving objects closer or father away. You might have to employ a lot of trickery to stop your game feeling too flat when scrolling about. It very much depends on the game design and the art style for sure. The sub pixel animation in SNK games like Metal Slug is crazy for example, where as Downwell is simple and easy (not bad though!). I just want to dispel this myth that pixel art is always easier than 3D, especially when now I'm on my 2nd game I'm working towards carefully crafted 640x360 art and hand drawn animations and it's extremely time consuming as a solo developer. I'd have animated all the characters with at least simple animation already if I'd made the game in 3D but probably have literal months and months just for 8 characters because of the style I'm going for.

[@codo8584]

Two main reasons, budget, and it's easier to learn pixel art than modelling for many

[@robbieaulia6462]

True, I mean you can't expect everyone to be able to draw.

[@Gnidel]

@@robbieaulia6462 Pixel art is also easier than drawing.

[@valletas]

@@robbieaulia6462 i can do pixel art and modelling but i cant draw even if my life depended on it

[@scrung]

pixel art is just an art medium. a lot of indie pixel art games look like trash because hordes of game devs (like everyone in the comments) assumed it's 'easier' than drawing. chances are if you dont know how to draw well then you're not going to make pretty looking pixel art either.

[@memegazer]

I don't think you can call the pixel art of indie devs "simple" Maybe in some cases, it is simple...but in modern games, pixel art has really evolved. I would say pixel art as an art form is more complicated now than it ever has been.

[@mategido]

And I completely adore it! I would love for AAA games to use pixel art aswell

[@Riael]

People who don't know what they're talking about: "You can't possibly call pixel art simple" That one crazy person from From Software: "I hand crafted every scale of Darkeater Midir by hand in zbrush"

[@MrMahokai]

i appreciate ur answer but pls ... on damn earth, stop call everything what is made by hand "complicated" it isnt by far, its simple in the way to build and access, its difficult in the way to fine tune, nothing else. Its like painting (u need the technique and the hints, nowdays thanks to the internet and YT not that hard as it was back in the days) the last part is practice ( cause practice makes perfect ) nothing on earth come by granted. But this isnt a term of "complicated" than more a thing of "discipline" and "practice" complicate is to learn a program which isnt intuitive in all his facets to build simple things. To Paint over this Topic with the color of "COMPLICATED" build more fear of the topic as necessary.

[@percher4824]

Go back to whatever hole you came from and stay there, Kratek.

[@renookami4651]

​@@MrMahokai Making that many scales by hand is tedious rather than complicated. Just like being asked to make a sprite sheet of 320+ variations of the same character (instead of 80, because some head of project/coder can't handle sprite supeposition and effects in this day and age u_u") can become unnecesseraly super tedious. At this point it's a self imposed restriction for bragging rights.

[@spinnis]

As someone who has absolutely no nostalgia for pixel art since I am a zoomer, I can safely say that it is it's own valuable style in its own right.

[@no_misaki]

@@fortunegamer5459 hmmm

[@CommandoPixel]

Yo same. Check out Street Fighter 3's sprite art, along with games from that same era. It's soooooo good.

[@rks-hd8tg]

@I Have Crippling Depression I hate my wife, am i right fellow boomers

[@Nugcon]

@I Have Crippling Depression yes u

[@Hman-wm5qm]

As a 100% totally successful indie game developer, I don't really even like pixel art that much. It's just ridiculously easy to make.

[@thatpersonineverycommentse2195]

(person makes one mistake in the video) comment section: I'm going to tell this guy what he did wrong even though 90 other comments did already

[@professionalfangster1510]

Well, no shit. There are 3,000 comments on this video, do you really expect him to see those comments? Better to point it out than to not.

[@aubreyh1930]

@@professionalfangster1510 and 2500 are about the same thing. Trust me, he knows. You can calm down and stop telling him

[@blackholeguy1529]

but i gotta comment on how he got deltarune mixed up with undertale!!1!11!!

[@spoopu9947]

Born in 05, and I'm so glad I grew up with the wii's virtual console. It allowed me to gain a passion for video game history, and eventually led to my love and adoration to old soundchip hardware and chiptune music. I always assumed the "it looks bad because pixel art" thing was a joke because it, of course, is amazing, just different. It makes me dread having children of my own some day because even with the difficulty of showing a new generation products of your time, I grew up in a way where I gained a love for things generations before mine. Of course that gives me hope that it'll work out but... wait, what am I talking about? this is a youtube comment section? no one cares lmao XD

[@asroriadraws]

Also 05, I didn't bother with virtual console, I guess I was too little to understand it 😅 barely used Wii and 3ds eShop, maybe that's why I have a greater attachment to physical games. I can't remember what but I know I played some pixel art games on 3ds, I think I also tried a demo of a Zelda game, I really can't remember lol

[@mtamer2943]

Pixel artist here: I just freakin' love the pixel charm! And the idea of developing 2D games makes me pretty happy.

[@ratamahatta5306]

I agree, back then pixel art was made out of necessity, but nowadays it is own aesthetics

[@ElliotKeaton]

It's one thing to use pixel art, which can be absolutely beautiful and/or mimic older pixel art to evoke a similar feel. It's another thing entirely to put a bunch of pixels together in a vague approximation of a thing. Just because pixel art can be done well doesn't mean it can't be done poorly.

[@The_Jovian]

I don't think it's really worth discussing that side of it when you can say that about any art style. HD graphics could look like RDR2 or they could look like Mass Effect Andromeda. It's about the competency of the artists, not the style.

[@ElliotKeaton]

@@The_Jovian Except "[putting] a bunch of pixels together in a vague approximation of a thing" _is_ a style and it's one many indie devs consciously strive for.

[@The_Jovian]

@@ElliotKeaton then in that case, it isn't poorly done, it's just a style you don't like.

[@ElliotKeaton]

@@The_Jovian Doing something poorly on purpose is still doing something poorly.

[@The_Jovian]

@@ElliotKeaton it's called subjectivity Elliott

[@itsViirtueYEAH]

I think pixel art is extremely charming, usually there is a lot of love a unique expression out into it, not only that but it's also extremely accessible with people who have lower end pc's. It also allows resources to be focused on things that are in my opinion more important such as immersive and compelling storytelling, moving soundtracks, and a lot more.

[@lolstationvita5922]

*Developers in 2010's:* In the 2020's we will have the most photorealistic graphics with raytracing technology. *Actually, the 2020's:* Pixel-art becomed a dominant visual style for every game.

[@Maxi23543]

Actually pixel art seems to be fading away in favor of ps1 style graphics.

[@Koala019]

*indie* games

[@daferade]

Actually both

[@gangstasteve5753]

what makes you think a single developer is going to be able to develop 4k graphics from scratch? You people piss me off.

[@Koala019]

@@gangstasteve5753 4k graphics hahahah. you are definitely not a dev

[@DetNate]

I KNEW Dead Cells was 3D-animated! Even my Game Design lecturer wouldn't believe me when I said it looked like that, but the fool has never animated a thing himself.

[@DamageMaximo]

.

[@lick28]

.

[@techpriest4787]

Yep, the smoothness gave it away for me. AI can smooth out as well, but it's not yet used in an actual game as far as I know.

[@ggdk2865]

It also just looks nice. That's a point that shouldn't be neglected.

[@olzhas1one755]

That's subjective honestly

[@MasterArt7]

thats not a point its you personal opinion kiddo

[@ggdk2865]

@@MasterArt7 I was mentioning that the aesthetics itself can be appealing, a point which surprisingly was left out in the video, where it's just about the speed and ease of production.

[@ggdk2865]

@@MasterArt7 Also if you're ending your statement with "kiddo", I have to assume you're a child and can't take your contribution too seriously.

[@olzhas1one755]

@@ggdk2865 For pixel art to be "appealing" you have to nail it just right. The majority of indie games don't do it right, so it ends up looking like cack

[@hmmyes8964]

5:56 How did i not heard of this BEAUTIFUL game?! its almost a crime

[@bait5257]

It's shit

[@bait5257]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4LOfZhtbLWpms0

[@thisrandomdude_]

This video is absolutely brimming with quality and polish. It is mind-boggling to think that this was your first video. I don't know if you're reading this, but keep it up, dude.

[@zroyt]

"Undertale" _shows picture of deltarune_

[@thatsnotveryfresh]

i was literally just gonna comment thic bahaha

[@vhroom3436]

read my mind

[@Mslekenam]

Deltarune is an anagram of Undertale :O

[@FGZPYR]

THERE IS NO UNDERTALE TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS

[@perfectKeg]

Bruh i saw that too

[@yoshistover5881]

Celeste's art style is actually a lot like the Disgaea series in a sense. (3D world, 2D anime style characters during dialogue, and pixel art battles.)

[@PilatusAnon]

Celeste? Are you sure you don't mean Octopath Traveler?

[@azure4622]

@@PilatusAnon celeste as well but gameplay instead of combat

[@Rhaemos]

There's barely any 3D in Celeste, and not much pixel art in Disgaea outside of the characters... You're right about the dialogue but that's about it

[@taylorcoon3295]

I think you hit the nail on the head. Indie developers are usually one-man bands or small teams. pixel art allows a variety that ranges from superb artwork to simple and manageable. People often forget that for a one-man band, even relatively simple games might take years to develop. All the art and animations are an absolute dump truck workload.

[@worldofandrew8685]

can we talk about how good the editing is in this vid

[@cabrejos96]

I wanna see a modern remake of them old Final Fantasy games using the Octo Traveller graphics

[@Notkikc]

this

[@tasertag7513]

this

[@fuckingidiot6985]

this

[@TheTrueJuan]

I loved your editing and pacing. I was so enraptured by your videos especially how you referred back to thesis in an organic manner. Good job sir!

[@KARINEMOOSE]

This is so interesting! I remember trying to explain the use of pixel art to someone and the only reason I could really communicate was nostalgia. I didn't realize that story telling also benefits story-telling tremendously as you have to be more creative with the world/character building. Really well done, thank you!

[@PhilTruthborne]

I had no idea Dead Cells did that, hearing this actually amazed me at how they made it work!

[@linclogames]

Yeah...pretty cool.

[@barabara9855]

I had a feeling. I always thought the movements were very fluid

[@daniel-zh9nj6yn6y]

Diablo 1 & 2 did it too.

[@LighterST]

@@daniel-zh9nj6yn6y wow did they really? That's a discovery for me

[@davidjohansson4556]

Really? i actually guessed it while playing ''that just looks like a 3D model but pixelated'' not that i complain! i just like pixelart so much more

[@Jasonwolf1495]

I also love how octopath has different scales for players and monsters. Like the super sized detailed bosses are a really nice touch

[@amirdefreitas3234]

Loved your analysis and presentation! Very succinct and elegantly delivered. Subscribed. Pixel Art will always have a place in my heart. Remembering my younger days thoroughly immersed in classics like Seiken Densetsu 3, Tales of Phantasia, Mario RPG and the FF 1-6 series. I can still recall the emotions and joy I felt. My introduction and lifelong love for RPGs! Your channel will definitely grow, my friend! Keep it up! I'm getting into Indie Development myself, so I look forward to more of your videos :).

[@blazyrod3313]

Pixel art is the art of representing so much from very little, and to me that’s incredibly beautiful

[@Waynimations]

I just love how indie games can usually run on any computer

[@KomiksPakesShow]

The reason is because most of the time, the developers don't have a good computer

[@floatingchimney]

@@KomiksPakesShow Wrong. You need to have several times faster computer than the game you're developing requires.

[@KieraQ0323]

So you are saying because indie devs have not good pcs, their stuff can run on bad pcs?

[@drbobcat6]

Surprised (and glad) the ALGORITHM introduced me to this channel given its low sub count. Hope you'll continue to put out more content of such quality in the future.

[@Mantosasto]

Yeah, it's strange it's recommending a new channel and helping it grow. The opposite of what it usually does.

[@RickyRiceB]

“Nostalgic graphics!” *proceeds to make their character’s sprite tilt at 45° angle*

[@relo999]

proceeds to use odd resolutions and have scaling, rotating and non-grid based pixels.

[@RickyRiceB]

@@relo999 * screams in transparent 8 bit object *

[@relo999]

@@RickyRiceB * cries is no color limits *

[@demonyckscreations9990]

You guys have valid point

[@fernandobanda5734]

*proceeds to use small high-resolution UI on top of the pixelated gameplay*

[@jamesferb7776]

Really enjoyed the video, great work and can't wait to watch more of your videos!

[@greencapzelda372]

The ending really left an impact on me. These are the reasons I love videogames. Thank you. I hope you will post more in the future

[@TheCivildecay]

Actually PS1 3D is the new hype in indieland (especially in the horror genre)

[@harrylane4]

I think I'll skip this era, then. PS1/n64/Saturn is my all-time least favorite gen, graphically. Even the 2D games lost a lot of charm that gen

[@Lococomiks]

@@harrylane4 You're not alone

[@armandostockvideos8386]

Alpha beta gamer?

[@KayX291]

Cept most of the time it's not even remotely like PS1 at all.

[@zaarongaming8174]

@@harrylane4 NGL a lot of PS1/N64/Saturn games imo look worse than Phantasy Star I for the Sega Master System.

[@RainyMood90]

Such a well made video. Well thought-out arguments, good insight and great editing. Cant fathom why would it have any dislikes ._.

[@CautiousArt]

Great and inspiring analysis here. Looking forward to seeing more.

[@cyanocitta3728]

hyperlight drifter is possibly my favourite game of all time, the art style, the gameplay, the sound design, they all work together and complement one another and it comes together to form a beautfiul engaging experience of a game.

[@ptato3010]

Have you played Celeste?

[@jamesonreno370]

To be fair, Octopath’s aesthetic had been done before in Ragnarok Online.

[@wulver810]

Possibly Pier Solar as well?

[@thatsmaik]

Damn true! Ragnarok Online... thanks for the flashback :D

[@GameArts1]

Indeed!

[@bluescat581]

I love the pixel aesthetics in indie games amd it's also nice we're seeing different visuals. Great video!

[@olyna]

Superb video Prod. well thought of with an overwhelmingly positive tone for the art. Greatly appreciated.

[@shomanoni]

I started making a game about 3 months ago and prior to beginning I asked myself what art will I use? Now, i personally love pixel art, but besides that I knew that it would be easier for me to express what i wanted in the game using pixel art. I usually pay for artist's for my art, and correct what i want because its easier to fix pixel art rather than 3D or a drawing animation and i can aswell make some objects my own because pixel art is easy to begin with for anyone (yet, very difficult to master IMO).

[@redking36]

Marrick Curia “Started making” Also, lots of personal projects go unfinished, or at least mine do.

[@blemblem4502]

Hope your project goes well

[@thotsi]

i was tabbed out when you mentioned "the elipses of trainer red" and i still got goosebumps

[@MatoLabu]

Wooooooooooooooooooooow! Thank you very much! So polished and pleasant to see!

[@TheWildDeadHero]

As an aspiring indie dev, it's much easier for me to develop my own engine and tools than if I were to attempt to do so in 3D.

[@racheltiffany9892]

"Why do indie dev's like to use pixelated styles?" "We just think they are neat!"

[@racheltiffany9892]

@I Have Crippling Depression Cant tell if you're being sarcastic but I'm taking it as a compliment

[@char5285]

I want to become a game developer but I dont know how. I have a ridiculous amount of Ideas in my head but have no motivation to try :/

[@racheltiffany9892]

@@char5285 Same

[@emmaryartistry2874]

Its pretty, its better looking than 2d art in games (except cut scenes, it looks good on those), very neat, its cheap, its easier, and its quite fun and relaxing at times.

[@emmaryartistry2874]

@@char5285 I recommend gathering your ideas in one place. Your story, your characters, flesh it out. Write it, and design it first. By then you will really know how much you actually want to presume it, and work on it. Then find lessons, course, talk to people on diffrent reddits or discords. Learn, then you can really delve into the game making process.

[@thestav]

I wish I could draw something slightly recognisable

[@gabesito306baia4]

Same😭

[@arewenot]

i can't draw shit

[@halobread]

1word SILHOUETTE

[@shardtheduraludon]

Well, at least Kirby is there for you.

[@romulusnuma116]

Try drawing a box

[@cboyer33]

Love this video! Thanks for creating this. Also love all the insights in the comments. Great group of followers.

[@srb2thepast]

0:43 I never knew undertale became deltarune.

[@jameswalker199]

Isn't that just the name of the second episode?

[@manybirbs722]

Pixel art ages really well imo and it’s why I love it so much

[@danytalksmusic]

Very impressive for a first video! Excited to see more from you in the near future.

[@outofsight8308]

Cheers!

[@woldemunster9244]

yeah, impressive that he believes to be a millenial and goes around telling to other people BS.

[@Benjahmenn]

Best commentary i've seen in a while great job man : )

[@HarmonicaMustang]

I used to play The Lion King 1997 DOS game when I was little. I remember falling in love with the level design, especially the first two levels. I loved the lush greens and the 'detail'. That game alone brought on my love for pixel art, so much to the point that I love designing tiled maps. They never end up in games (I'm an audio engineer, not a game designer), but it still brings me a lot of joy.

[@RodTejada502]

Mindblown! Well, you mentioned almost all of my recent favs BUT Shovel Knight. *chef's kiss!

[@pedrohenriqueguinsk4244]

I think the most impressive pixel art game of the recent years is the two games of The Last Door "series". It is so simple, but precise, and makes you wonder and imagine all the horrors the might occur with you and around you.

[@raxxie]

very good video.. gonna check out some of the titles you mentioned

[@Dom-qo9cf]

Very nice video! I'm surprised this channel doesn't have more subscriptions. Also, this is a convenient way to find more indie games to play.

[@EzrealOver9000]

Fun Fact: Pixelated images or better said, images that are less complicated and have less information on them are faster processed in the brain.

[@WindPortal]

Yes :D

[@rpgspree]

Yet images that are TOO lo-res require players to constantly squint to guess what they hell you're looking at. There's a breaking point were less isn't more, it's simply too little.

[@Azure1013]

@@rpgspree That's what I love about games in the 16-bit era. They give you just enough detail to feel immersed. Some of my favourite games come from the SNES and GBA.

[@rpgspree]

@@Azure1013 It seems to be the same for most people. They're actually thinking of the 16-bit era think of "8-bit" art.

[@UsaraDark]

Has anyone grew up on Ragnarok Online? I remember the sprite artwork for that game and I was always curious as to how well it can still look decades after it's release.

[@Starfloofle]

RO actually, if memory serves, did something akin to what Octopath does now. Its environments were actually 3D with the characters layered on top of it, but most of those background models were so low-res they either *were* pixel art or they passed for it. I never really got into the game, but I do remember breaking into its inner workings at one point or another and being surprised that the maps were not images at all but actually a model format.

[@nomblob5592]

TAmari Guilty Gear works on a similar principle, just more polished

[@zetlam]

Great video essay.! Congratulations.

[@Oxmond]

Great video 👍 Very informative and beautiful examples! Well done! 🤓🧡

[@outofsight8308]

Thanks a lot!

[@engel2583]

29 subs? what honestly man keep this up and I see you being up there very quickly, especially with this sorta professionally edited looking content you speak so confidently as well, nice video man!

[@outofsight8308]

Thanks very much, hopefully the channel builds up some steam! Great to hear you liked the VO, had to rerecord it loads of times to get it sounding alright!

[@offendedblueberry3257]

@@outofsight8308 Yah holy hell, I got this video recommended to my on my homepage and seeing the thumbnail and watching the entire video I expected to look down and see you having millions of views and tens of thousands of subs, all the other videos I've watched that were this well made and interesting about game dev stuff were by big channels. Edit: Wait, I just realized you only have one video. That's probably a big part of the reason. You should upload a couple more times, don't need to have a schedule but if I saw a video from you every couple of months that would be cool if that's something that you're passionate about

[@outofsight8308]

@@offendedblueberry3257 Thanks for the kind words! Yeah I'm planning on doing more of these but they take ages to make (60+ hours at least) and I've had a busy couple of months sadly. Looking forward to getting some more videos made when I have more time soon! Keep subbed!

[@offendedblueberry3257]

@@outofsight8308 Sounds good, I'm not trying to rush you or anything, it's just whenever you have time. That's a lot of work though. And yah, I subbed

[@GunGryphon]

Ragnarok Online still has my favorite use of pixel art in a 3d world. Yes, nostalgia is a real force.

[@composercode]

I could barely focus on the subject matter because your editing skills are so god-tier. Well done.

[@Jester2b04]

Excellent video. Good use of appropriate footage and editing.

[@outofsight8308]

Thanks!

[@jonel669]

This video essay was an interesting take to pixel art

[@Spenc3]

This is professional quality dude! Great job!

[@outofsight8308]

Cheers, glad you enjoyed it!

[@warmachine68]

What an incredible video. Thanks for making it

[@jerowns]

The excitement over the N64 and your EST gave you a sub! Great vid too

[@TheEnderFlash]

Your reading a novel analogy for playing pixel art games is genius!

[@crewman8476]

0:46 what is that game with the homeless man running through japan? I checked the each game I don't know and I still couldn't find it.

[@Leon-hp1wm]

@Sharun thanks

[@outofsight8308]

@Sharun That's the one! Some of my fave pixel art - can't wait to play it!

[@Ben4004]

Came to the comments to ask the same question!

[@JaesadaSrisuk]

I’m really impressed with the quality of the editing you did for this video. Some of these video essay channels really need to brush up on their editing skills in comparison. Keep up the great work!

[@outofsight8308]

Thanks! It does mean they take yonks to produce though sadly! Thanks for the encouraging words

[@appdeveloperacademy7648]

yes, totally pixelart style.

[@boobies191]

Excellent video. I am watching this after playing Undertale in one sitting and still reeling from the choices I made and the characters I affected, all of which I felt more invested in than I have fully HD rendered 3D models. That summary has perfectly summed up why I feel so much more invested in this kind of game. Thanks!

[@lunawolf2950]

0:42 Every Undertale fan ever: That. Is. DELTARUNE.

[@rotz394]

Even I know it's Deltarune, and I never even played EITHER game.

[@IAm-zo1bo]

@The Almighty Thanos but is it better then earthbound? THEN I WILL NOT PLAY

[@tobyy6098]

@@IAm-zo1bo played both of them recently and honestly I liked undertale a lot more but that's just an opinion so do whatever you want to do, nobody's forcing you lol

[@jameswalker199]

It's almost like they believe that episode 2 shouldn't be labelled as the whole franchise.

[@lunawolf2950]

@@jameswalker199 Dude, they're completely different games. Toby Fox confirmed that they don't even take place in the same universe. Undertale is a one-off game, and Deltarune is a completely different series. The full game isn't even out yet! Chapter 1 is analogous to the Undertale kickstarter demo!

[@greenleafyman1028]

Pixel art games shows that graphics aren't necessarily make games enjoyable, content does. This what I like pixel arts games, larger contents. From weapons, armors, story, enemies, battles and especially the ability to put mods on the game. When I saw a pixel arts games in the google playstore thats is above 500mb size, I already knew that this will be a really good game because it always happened to be.

[@d-bro-sector36]

It's almost scary how many of my fave games of the past YEARS you added. You even showed a Kairosoft game clip. I do love my pixel art.

[@setteplays]

Amazing video! You deserve even more. And I loved the message at the end about pixel art "demanding" more creative input from the player, because that's the main pillar of my game: player's imagination. People tend to see that kind of design choice as lazy, so I'm really happy you made this.

[@Interplanetary555]

I used to draw frames of animation on paper, then transfer that to illustrator, then transfer the result to flash to animate, then transfer this animation to photoshop for a final touch. And then i discovered pixel art. Honestly, you need to be beyond committed to do stuff like Hollow Knight or Cuphead graphic wise.

[@erivida64]

Terraria reminded how much I love the style, also you need more subs! Such a good vid!

[@martinstrnad641]

Great video, pls make more like these ... maybe something about stop-motion / clay animated games?

[@outofsight8308]

Thank you! Good idea! More on the way

[@EURIPODES]

Stoneshard, Blasphemous, Pocket Rogues, Katana Zero, Dead Cells, Hyper Light Drifter all shine so brightly on my Steam deck.