That’s an excellent example of setting the mood. Artistic pixel art rather than functional pixel art. I agree about the waterfall. It breaks the scene. Not sure why they went with a high res on that and low for everything else. Consistency is important. The barbarian style warrior looks great!
So because it’s easy to throw shit together and for the sport of it? Both of which are catered purely to the whims of the developer, with no thought to the player.
Why do you even need art then? Just have text saying “ammo”. If the point is communication, then skip the symbolic middle man and use actual language.
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I’ve thought about that a few times. Of course, our brains actually work with images so that may be an important factor but I have considered just having labeled squares / cubes. The player a simple rectangle YOU and a tiny arrow pointing the direction facing. It may work. It all depends on how effective the messages are communicated. If the player has a lower attack and a high attack for example probably a punch! or kick! word at the appropriate height would be sufficient. Rotation clockwise for the upper attack and counter for the lower attack would work too.
I am not sure man and it would be a very interesting experiment.
I can’t see the individual pixels on my screen. I’m not going to call that pixel art.
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Well it could be real pixel art which has nothing to do with the size of the pixels. I just wonder why they didn’t stick with low or high resolution for everything.
I could be the same “resolution” for everything. Maybe the alpha or fake alpha just hides the individual pixels…
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You have a great eye! I certainly could not see it in the little image. I grabbed the image and put it in a paint program and zoomed up and low and behold the waterfall does indeed use the same resolution.
They seem to be using a large number of colors and that combined with the animation makes it look very smooth and at a higher resolution. Not sure exactly how many I did a color count in PSP and it said 209 for the waterfall.
I’d like it better if they used maybe 8 or 16 colors max on the waterfall so it had the same look as the rest of the scene. It does look awesome overall though.
In total agreement with you Rocko.
And this swings back around to the question/dilema - Are we creating games for ourselves or for others?
I’m creating stuff I want to make - and hope others may like what I make as well.
But I fall into the second camp - Pixel art is a challenge for me. A fun, difficult challenge, and I’ve come to respect nice quality pixel art in games because I know how time consuming it is to create, when done right.
I think it’s rewarding to create something with limited resolution. Though I usually result to 3D because it’s easier for me, and it is more versatile.
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You can always tell when a game is designed for fun or for profit.
I’m going to look into that 3D model => 2D sprite plugin for blender. My 3D art and 2D art is terrible… but if I’m taking a 3D object and lowering the quality intentionally, the result might look deliberate!
update on posting back: I’ll still make a few by hand and post so people can admire what anti-art is. ETA - this weekend
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Well, in this case it’s not for a game at all. The only game I’m working on is the one in my profile pic.
I’m really doing the pixel art for poops and giggles. And because I have a lot of down time at work sometimes and need something to help keep me awake at 4:00 AM.
Oh, and I can tell what they did here.
They took a texture for the water and stretched it out and lightened the color towards the bottom. Then they offset the texture along the changes and made an image of each frame. Finally they took those frames and limited the colors and lowered the resolution to get the colors and pixel size they needed.
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To me pixel art done well adds to the game as it is clear enough to convey what is there & happening yet ‘fuzzy’ enough to let me fill some details in with my imagination. I think that’s why a lot of the old games held up so well, the players had to invest a bit of themselves in each character.
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A patched up teddybear with a jetpack?
Maybe that’s the issue 
Some people can only art if they’re inspired or if the art has a purpose.
Are those two things related? You work at 4am? I did that on monday. Experiencing deadlines like that is the reason I stopped pursuing game design as a career and kept it as a hobby.
I agree completely and this is one of the reasons why I am not big on graphics. Although I can certainly notice superb graphics and appreciate them to me that is really nothing to do with the game at least in some ways. A big part of the appeal of retro gaming is the primitive graphics.
When we played such games our imaginations took over. No longer were we controlling a blocky little blob looking somewhat like a disfigured human and instead it was us. The graphics themselves really “disappeared” other than providing a frame of reference communicating important information… we are here… two baddies are to the left… a treasure is to the right.
Much of the game experience was in our minds. Sometimes I think there is a big difference with the modern gamers. I don’t know if it is a lack of imagination or what really but they seem to almost need exceptional graphics in order to get into a game. Whereas for me those same graphics can serve as an obstacle to get into the game.
@Not_Sure as promised, here’s the results of my 3D => 2D example. The hand drawn images died in a fire, but I textured the model as a compromise.
I think @Ony and would enjoy this as well.
Prepare your eyeballs
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That’d be pretty awesome to see a game done entirely in that style. Both the 3D and the 2D. I really like the 2D look of your character. Kind of imagining a whole screen filled with objects done in this style I think it would be pretty interesting.
I figured the end result would look deliberate 
I definitely want to make something, just not sure what yet. I’ve been completely out of ideas. I can’t even work up the will to build a module.
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You seem in some Big Burnout
I just look or play at some old games to find inspiration , is there not some style game you would want to make but with your own graphics and style ?
Maybe just a simple, short little platfomer as a sample. A character on one of those electronic billboards in an area saturated with them (Japan? Times Square?..) escapes & starts moving & jumping across other billboards to get to the other gender model on a sign elsewhere. Should also help fit in with the slightly flickery look.
Yeah @Tomnnn I get that burnout too. It just happens as a result of too many projects I think. I’m always designing and developing at work. In any given week I’ll work on maybe 3 to 10 projects just depends on what the current situation is. Sometimes there is a pressing need so I focus on one project for a couple days.
I always have multiple personal projects of one kind or another going on. And same with those. I work on one for a bit. Then another for a bit. Sometimes I just need to take time away completely. Like today have done nothing so far on projects. Been playing NES games with my girlfriend.
Maybe just don’t work on anything for a few days and you’ll suddenly have a strong urge to make a certain something. Or if you are bouncing between many different things just taking a break from them all can recharge battery too. If you are doing nothing no projects then yeah just play games and get ideas!