Tech

The pixel art revolution will be televised


So while artists like Final FantasyKazuko’s Kazuko Shibuya is bound by the technical constraints of 1980s game consoles, Neofotistou and Medeiros delight in the puzzle-box nature of using an almost limitless set of tools to create their own creations. Works of art are defined by their own limitations, not by technology. Neofotistou says this discipline is what separates modern pixel art from its predecessors. “What if, using the limitations of the NES, I could make the pixels on the screen look better than any NES artist at the time with the knowledge, skill, time or budget to create?”

Pixel art is not only meant to be creative, but it also opens new doors for how games are made, said Maddy Thorson, a colleague of Medeiros. Celeste.

“Pixel art is so small in file size we can keep all the gameplay graphics for Celeste in system RAM,” she explained. CelesteThe game’s notorious difficulty is built around a trial-and-error concept, and the player will die so often during gameplay that the game has a cheeky death counter. Storing graphics in RAM allows players to reboot immediately after they die, reducing frustration and adding “Ooh, I’ll get it next time!” That feeling makes the game very addictive.

It also allows Thorson to tweak and reload levels without having to restart the game, helping her create CelesteIntricate level design and perfect pixel background. “It’s too fast with pixel art.”

While Thorson says she’s created prototype 3D game ideas, pixel art remains the most comfortable medium for Extremely OK Games. “It’s about choosing our battles,” she said. “When are we in our comfort zone, and when do we step out?”

Retain pixel-art graphics for the next title of Extremely OK Game, a “2D interpretive action” game called Earthblade, allowing the team to fulfill their ambitions in elements such as level design, combat, and narrative. Medeiros laughs as he recalls reading online fan comments about how Celeste can run on classic gaming hardware. Impossible — even if the game runs at the same resolution as the Game Boy Advance game. With familiar visual backgrounds, Medeiros and Thorson bring their worlds to life through other means, including tricks that didn’t exist in the 80s: graphic elements that disrupt grid layouts Typical 8×8 games, realistic lighting, layered scrolling backgrounds, and impressive special effects.

There is a large section in the community that is not satisfied with modern pixel art games like Celeste Neofotistou adds visual lighting effects to the basics defined decades ago. But for her, it’s a sign of a growing medium. And she sees an opportunity for more graphic styles to follow the path paved with pixel art. “It’s a reinvention of the AAA gaming wheel by the indies, and it’s a lot of fun.”

Similarly, Medeiros expects an increase in PlayStation’s *Tomb Raider–* style low polygon graphics-inspired games. Just as pixel art picked up new tricks and removed the junk, these 3D games will also be refined for a new audience. “It’s more important to make games your way mind he said.

Pixel perfection

Once dominant and then eliminated, pixel art has been revived by artists such as Neofotistou and Medeiros. Driven by the rising tide of indie game development, their work shows a growing vehicle here for survival. Just as the simple pixel art of the 80s gave way to more complex techniques in the 90s, a similar evolution is happening today as pixel art is being rediscovered as a technique. modern art. The limitation on technology lies in tearing; The framework of possibilities is endlessly vast for the future of the medium.

Neofotistou says: “Pixel art doesn’t have to be classically drawn. “We use the tools that best align with the vision we’re trying to accomplish.”

Medeiros sees a future for pixel art filled with novel experiments and techniques. Even if the current pixel art movement disappears when the end of the indie game boom is over, making things using pixels can’t and won’t go away, says Neofotistou. We’ve only scratched the surface of what pixel art can offer as a creative medium.

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