What’s beautiful at the time isn’t always guaranteed to age like a fine bottle of Bordeaux, sometimes it’s less a delicious wine and more a pungent vinegar after a few decades.<\/p>\n
So how can a game age more gracefully and stay relevant in the years to come?<\/p>\n
We think the answer lies in a strong artistic style that’s chosen to suit gameplay, rather than simply more horsepower and shiner surfaces.<\/p>\n
Don’t believe us? Have a look at our reasoning below and let us know what you think.<\/p>\n
It might sound basic…<\/h2>\n
Describing an art style where images are built of individually colored pixels on screen, pixel art was a dominant art style during the 1970s’, 80’s, and early 90’s, with games for platforms like the Amiga and consoles like the Sega Mega-Drive and even the Playstation utilizing the technique to create many of their worlds and characters.<\/p>\n
But pixel art is pretty basic, as far as art styles go, right?<\/p>\n
Well, it also helped to define some of our favorite games which still stand the test of time and look incredible today.<\/p>\n
Take this blue hedgehog for example, who we still think looks pretty darn snazzy!<\/p>\n It’s easy to forget that Sonic The Hedgehog 2 was released back in 1992, especially when you compare this with some other games released in the same year (we’re looking at you, Make My Video: Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch!)<\/p>\n It looks like quite a few people agree with us too, with pixel art making a resurgence in several modern-day bestsellers, like Stardew Valley and Coffee Talk.<\/p>\n The point we’re making is that you can do a lot without breaking the bank or pushing a platform to its limits.<\/p>\n Some of the best games were made without burning out a single graphics card!<\/p>\n This sounds like a bit of a no-brainer, but in reality, it’s something that’s often overlooked.<\/p>\n For example, if you were to create a new game, using the latest engine, you’d want the player to be able to rotate the camera to really get the most out of the rooms and areas you’ve created, right?<\/p>\n And you’d want the characters to look as close to realistic as possible, wouldn’t you?<\/p>\n Not necessarily. Take Luigi’s Mansion 3, released on the Nintendo Switch back in 2019 on the Nintendo Switch.<\/p>\n Due to the nature of the Switch as a console, it’s almost impossible to get the same level of graphical fidelity as a PC or PlayStation 5, which is why developers need to get creative and thoughtful about their choice of art style.<\/p>\nConsider the graphical style alongside the gameplay development process<\/strong><\/h2>\n