Game has been known to be as
one of the most fun and best entertainment when it comes to refreshing minds. There
are many people who just enjoy playing games, then there are these people who
wanted to make games, to express their ideas that the other games didn’t have. That
is why there are independent game developers, expressing their ideas of games
that have been buried in their mind.
These indie developers
always wanted to focus their aim on more gameplay experience rather than only
graphics, that is why many indie games tends to use pixel graphics rather than
normal graphics.
Then there is this question
that people ask to indie developers, ‘why pixel graphics?’ an interesting
question, isn’t it? Most of indie developers always identical with pixel
graphics, obviously there must be many reasons behind it, right? That is why we
are going to explain the reasons behind it.
Gameplay and Content over Visuals
It doesn’t mean that they
don’t care about the art at all, they do care, but they prioritize gameplay
experience over visuals. There are some
examples of games where they can be fun and great without focusing fully on the
visual at all, such as Hotline Miami,
a game that focusing on its difficult gameplay yet it is exciting thanks to the
soundtrack behind it. Obviously, there are many indie games that both has great
gameplay and great visual, such as Terraria.
Besides that, creating game
that using 3D graphics is hard, it requires more than using pixel graphics.
Because the resources of indie developers aren’t as big as the AAA developers,
that is why resources is my next reason.
Resources
Indie developer team usually
doesn’t consist much of people, it can be around 10 or even 5 people, and their
budget is tight, meaning that they just can’t hire a professional 3D modelling
artist. Not to add that 3D modelling also requires a good computer and
expensive software, meaning more money. Meanwhile pixel art style only needs
drawing software and can work in most computer, it doesn’t require much of
resources, right?
The other factor if an indie
developer spends too much money on graphics it will be a big failure, since all
they focus during development is just graphics.
Not to mention that these
pixel graphics can take gamers back to the good old days of gaming, which is my
next point.
Nostalgia
Gamers know that pixel
graphic always bring backs good memories, because pixel graphic games is
identic with the old school or classic. Pixel graphic games that has retro
theme is currently trending in the gaming market. These pixel graphics couldn’t
help but revive all of gamers memories about the good old days of gaming, when
pixel graphic is that good. An example of game that has pixel graphic and also
brings nostalgia is The Messenger,
Hotline Miami, and Dead Cells.
Let’s not forget that most
indie developers grew up playing pixel graphic games, making a game that
similar to what they played when they grew up is something for them.
In conclusion; pixel graphic
has its own benefits, its easier to use, its cheaper and it doesn’t require
much for indie developers, let’s just say it’s the perfect option when making a
game. When pixel graphic done right, it can create a beautiful characters and
sceneries. Even though pixel graphic doesn’t have much realism as 3D but it can
bring gamers to a trip down to memory lane.
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