I am also wondering is Pixel Art easier to create than HD?
How do people create pixel art what tool do they use?
I prefer to do HD but is it much more difficult? its for a side scroller a metal slug clone type of game
If you are a competent artist and are putting equal levels of quality into it, neither is that different… at least if it’s static. Animation methods aren’t so equal though. Frame by frame animation can take a lot longer than skeletal based (tweened) animation, especially in bulk like with variants, and pixel art is pretty much stuck working frame by frame.
As for tools, the two main dedicated pixel art tools are asesprite and pyxel edit, but photoshop and GIMP work just fine.
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Cosmigo’s Pro Motion is also a very good dedicated pixel art tool, though it is a little more pricey than other tools(not like Photoshop though).
I for one never got good at pixel are HD art. I prefer to make models and if I need sprites, I render them out from models.
Well. It depends really how you work.
Creating Pixel art with some pixel art tool, where you paint with individual pixels can be easier. You only need to care about so many pixels instead of creating your art in HD first and then pixelating it.
But of course, you have to make every pixel count. If you misplace a pixel, it might be way more jarring than a small line in HD art which isn’t quite right.
In the end though, it really comes down to your expectations. Are you aiming for simple beginner pixel art? Or are you aiming higher (and, if you need to ask here, most probably too high for now)? Simple pixel art is, well, quite simple to create. Making simple pixel art which is also meaningful to the player is a little bit harder.
Personally, if I face such a question, I would try both. Create a pixel art character. Create a HD art character. See how much time you spend on both, see how the result looks. Maybe repeat the process a couple of times. Start with simple art first, and low resolution HD art to get a faster turn around.
Sometimes, when you do that, it makes “click” and the answer is right there before your eyes.
One pixel at a time! 
Honestly, your questions are very subjective and not something we can answer. You just need to start making art. What tool you use doesn’t matter, a lot of people use Photoshop, but there are free alternatives out there and there are alternatives dedicated to pixel art.
Here’s a 10-step pixel art tutorial by Derek Yu, the creator of both the original Spelunky (pixel art) and the remake (HD art) which I thought was worth saving:
Both games have really good looking art in my opinion.
You also make it sound like don’t actually want to do pixel art, but for some reason you think that it’s easier which is why you’re considering it. Good art is hard, crappy art is easy, no matter what style it’s made in, and neither style is hard if you’re talented at making good art.
Just start drawing. You’ll need to do thousands of drawings before you’ll have anything to show no matter what tool or style we advice you to choose.
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TwiiK has pretty much nailed it. Lots of different methods work. It just depends on which one works for you and how it works for the style you wish to achieve.
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You’ve touched on something that I’ve wrestled with for a long time.
Basically graphics are like everything else. The more time you spend on any one thing the better it can look. However, the more experienced & skilled you are in general the less time you should need to create a similar quality piece.
The tools you use can make a difference. You can make pixel art or HD art in Paint. If you are very experienced / skilled that may work extremely well for you. Otherwise, using a dedicated pixel art tool such as PyxelEdit or Pro Motion will probably work better for you. I think such tools would also work better even for highly experienced and skilled graphic artists. Odds are very high the people making high quality pixel art are not using Paint and are using these specialized tools. There is a reason for that.
Anyway, like the others have said… learning art fundamentals and then creating a lot of art is what you will need to do. Spend thousands of hours creating pixel or HD graphics always striving to learn & improve and you will end up much more capable than you are at the beginning.
The detail level of your art will make a huge difference in the amount of time it takes to create it. Metal Slug is known for having some of the best pixel art and animations ever created. So you have set a very high bar if you intend to match or surpass the art in that game. Not that it will be impossible to achieve just the goal represents a huge amount of work. I am sure many dedicated artists worked on that game… you are one person and you will also be responsible for game design, programming, sounds, music, etc. Hopefully that helps to put things into perspective.
Some things that may help you…
Use more abstract less detailed graphics perhaps at 1/2 to 1/4 of the resolution. Check out BroForce which has a sort of Metal Slug vibe to its presentation yet you can see the graphics are at a lower resolution with less detail meaning it wouldn’t take as long to create the graphics (it is the animation where the higher detail levels really add a huge amount of time).
You’ll notice BroForce (a very popular successful Indie game) looks like an extremely watered down game compared to any of the Metal Slug games. But BroForce was created by Indies. And is a fine game in itself. It just lacks the presentation wow factor of Metal Slug. In Metal Slug everything seems alive due to the heavy use of animation even on the background imagery, the music and sound FX. Now BroForce would be much more exciting with some focus on music and sounds but that is another topic.
Focus on streamlining your workflow in Unity (or whatever you decide to use). I have been focusing on this a lot. And the reason is because the more streamlined that development piece is the more time you can afford to spend on the presentation.
In the end, I’d highly recommend going with a presentation style similar to either BroForce or Blasting Agent
Personally, I’d go with the resolution and detail of Blasting Agent and use the time saved to jack up the presentation in other ways. Meaning add more animation, some wicked explosions, etc and a strong focus on audio. I think so many people put way more focus on the visuals and don’t realize how important audio is to sculpt a scene, set a mood and provide feedback.
The ultra low res will also come in very handy when you are creating and animating those 1/2 to 3/4 screen size bosses.
Just some things to think about. Creating Metal Slug calibre game by yourself will take many years IMO. Better to drop down use a simpler visual style and make a game that plays better than Metal Slug in less time.
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Thanks a lot everyone so I have one last question lets us say you were comparing pixel art, hd vextor art in photoshop and Blender 3D for 3D modeling.
Which would be the most ideal? I ask this because I hear 3D is a lot easier to animate and faster to develop if one was going for low poly etc.
WOW
This is an amazing post!!! such quality!! thank you!!
I admit the Bro Force does look amazing but I hate the last one man that looks waaaaay too low. Bro Force looks like something 1 man could accomplish.
I didn’t realize or could appreciate Metal Slug’s art until now, wow you are right it really takes a team of people to create something like that it really stands the test of time.You never truly appreciate the work that Neo Geo put into that game until you try it yourself.
Bro Force looks incredible thanks for mentioning it I am gonna buy it. lol Didn’t know about this game I could see myself putting in the extra work to get the graphics to look like Bro Force I would rather that than go lower.
Could I ask your thoughts on 3D modeling for a side scroller? would that be easier say a low poly 3D metal slug clone?
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OMG bro force has 1.2 million owners JESUS CHRIST!!!
So its true Graphics don’t matter after all gameplay and fun is everything!!! I admit even for pixel art there is something special about Bro Force is anyone seeing it? yes low pixels but the explosions and sound and just overall feel is incredible.
Ok so I take it that its likely easier to make a bro force type of game with pixel art over say 3D?
Pixel art looks deceptive, but it is not easy to do, it’s time consuming.
I’d say a platform game with animated sprites using bones would be easier to begin with.
What about learning Blender 3D or Modo? and doing it all in low poly?
I guess it is possible to create a low poly slug, but don’t underestimate the time it takes to get professional with 3D.
It took me years to master blender, I started when I was about 10.
https://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?358525-Perfect-studio-setup-test
Keep in mind that BroForce was developed by a team. 5 to 6 people as I recall. Blasting Agent also by a team but I think maybe half the size of BroForce’s.
There have been some epic games made by a single person but they take a long time. Axiom Verge was about 6 years in development for example.
Ultra low poly flat not textured may be a good choice. It can produce a nice clean visual style. Would be easier to model and animate than frames of pixel art animation. But it would also look very different than either Metal Slug or BroForce.
Really the best thing to do is spend a week or two playing around. Find a visual style you like and can produce fairly quickly. Once you have that down you are basically “golden”. Becomes a matter of grinding through all of the content creation, game design, level design, programming, etc.
You can literally spend forever on graphics because you will always think something can be improved. So you must decide. Do you want to make awesome graphics for animations you can share online with others or do you want to make a game? If the latter then graphics quality cannot be your primary focus. Of course you can always hire artists or build a team and have 2 to 3 artists knocking themselves out on creating Metal Slug type graphics.
@Arowx has done some great ultra low poly work. You may want to check out his work and consult with him for guidance if taking this direction.
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WOW thanks and this thread is exactly why Unity was the way to go, there is noway in hell I would have gotten these quick and detailed responses in Unreal forums.
I am amazed Axiom Verge was created by 1 person. This goes to show one person can do it, I wanna do mine in 2 years so even if I released it as a short game for a much cheaper price i won’t mind. Not really concerned about profits just wanna make sure I release and complete my project and its up to par with other successful games this is most important to me.
I am buying Bro Force so I can experience this wonder and get some more ideas aswell. I know now what I have to do.
You are right I am gonna spend a week on pixel art and see how it works for me. The other guy said it could take years to learn Blender so I am guessing it may be a bad idea to do 3D but I will try it out anyways.
Ha ha. Well I am actually not using Unity lately for my projects but it all applies the same to anything. Anyway I am glad you found my replies helpful.
I am wrestling with the same thing currently. I’d like to make a game kind of sort of like either Rastan or Gladiator. Sort of a combo I guess. But doing it at the level of detail of the original artwork is just not reasonable for me as a lonewolf very part-time game dev. So I am deciding on a visual style that I can make look good while still being easy & fast to produce. It will likely be ultra low res pixel art like a 160x90 or even 128x72 pixel resolution for the screen.
The idea is it will then be easy to really bring the world to life with animated background, little details here & there (dust, leaves falling, etc). And will e easier to produce the large characters, etc. So first resolution, then I’ll choose (create) a palette of say 64 colors to work with. Then spend some time drawing characters at different levels of detail. Finally choosing one as the target for the entire game to follow. That being the one that is the best combination of looking good while taking the least amount of time to produce. Then I can focus on the actual game.
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It depends how much time you want to invest. Bear in mind knowing 3D is always a good thing but if you’re not interested in 3D then you can always ignore it. My time estimate was based on many things, learning the UI, low poly modelling, texturing, uv unwrapping, sculpting retoping, material node creation, lighting and rendering, smoke and particle effects, fur/hair particles, animating.
However if you just want to make a 2D place holder and animate using bones it is possible. For example, I did the following in blender but using bones. It is a bit of an overkill, especially when you have tools like spine 2d
and similar ones on the asset store, but knowing blender allowed me to do this for free. (the animation is a bit laggy but you get the idea)
Pixel art is going to take a long time.
Have a look at this guys blog, there’s a few time lapse giving you an idea of what it takes, plus bear in mind non of those are animated for game dev.
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Thtas cool the animation is very lacking but yeah I understand what you are saying.
And sometime this month Anima2D should be going free since that was picked up by UT. So now there shouldn’t be much need for external tools with that workflow.
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