I think some people confuse the lack of gouraud shading (i.e flat shading) with low poly.
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Why don't we have a "low-poly PS1 inspired" games craze as we have pixel-art SNES/MD/NES?
- Thread starter newtonlod
- Start date
The guy who makes ps1 style renditions of modern video games has a project for a ps1 styled horror game
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bvoid-pc-horror/#/
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bvoid-pc-horror/#/
No, my first console was PS1 and I can't stand that style. I tend to dislike most retro style, like SNES games for example
Modern pixel art is amazing though.
I'm not sure what you could possibly call that art-style other than "low-poly". It's supposed to look like very few polygons (relative to other games) are used in the environment, hence all the jagged edges.
Low Poly /=/ Flat Shading
That iceberg scene would be like 5 fps on the N64/PS1 so I wouldn't consider it low poly.
This is what a cutting-edge futuristic racer looks like on the PS1.
https://www./proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fj0vL3.png&hash=141851156dbdcec28c592c0629de0c7d
The worst part of that era were the extremely low resolutions, poor framerates, short draw distance or graphical glitches like Z-fighting and jumpy polygons. Once you take those out of the picture (no pun intended) you are left with something that can be aesthetically really pleasing if done right.
As people have already mentioned, I think retaining the general limitations of lower polygon count and lower resolution unfiltered textures but enhancing the visuals with something closer to a "beefed up" PS1 is what most people are talking about here and would like to see more of.
Which is basically something like NDS level graphics rendered in a much higher resolution (shamelessly posting Krammy's wonderful gifs):
The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter
Phantasy Star 0
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
Nanostray 2
Avalon Code
Which is basically something like NDS level graphics rendered in a much higher resolution (shamelessly posting Krammy's wonderful gifs):
The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter
Phantasy Star 0
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
Nanostray 2
Avalon Code
It's coming. It will mirror the initial rise of 3d games. 2d is limiting and it gets boring. Low-grade 3d graphics may be rough looking, but even the simplest 3d will allow your game to stand out from the sea of 2d-bound ones.
edit: the two posts above me are both packed with wonderful examples.
edit: the two posts above me are both packed with wonderful examples.
32/64 bit era was like literally the ugliest gen. only reason it was acceptable was because it was mindblowing seeing movement in 3D space
even the most limited indie productions can produce 7th gen 3D visuals relatively easily. aside from obvious throwbacks like Dusk it's just not utilitarian like "pixel art" is today
even the most limited indie productions can produce 7th gen 3D visuals relatively easily. aside from obvious throwbacks like Dusk it's just not utilitarian like "pixel art" is today
As people have already mentioned, I think retaining the general limitations of lower polygon count and lower resolution unfiltered textures but enhancing the visuals with something closer to a "beefed up" PS1 is what most people are talking about here and would like to see more of.
Which is basically something like NDS level graphics rendered in a much higher resolution (shamelessly posting Krammy's wonderful gifs):
The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter
Phantasy Star 0
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
Nanostray 2
Avalon Code
Exactly and boy these games looks so good. DS was a gold mine.
^ this looks amazing...
The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road
btw, one of the reason I prefer 3D to 2D it's because of free camera movement. It's almost impossible to replicate that look with 2D sprites and static background.
The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road
Man that's so charming and just gorgeous to look at. Thanks for posting this.
I came in this thread to say because it doesn't look appealing anymore but... you've got my attentionThere's some being made. One I relatively enjoyed from a few months ago was the indie horror title, "Helltown":
Helltown on Steam
I liked it personally.
Case in point, and I love this look a lot myself. The NDS is a wonderful anachronistic artifact due to its hardware limitations, but it also benefited from years of experience, matured talent and learned tricks, so it was like a pinnacle of 2D pixel art and its 3D equivalent, with a lot of the games having gorgeous pixel art textures and well crafted, optimized 3D models, which is what makes a lot of the games look really good.
Looking at these NDS games like some of the Pokemon titles reminds me a lot of stuff like Delver, which is another example of a more modern look on very limited 3D environments and billboard sprites:
We did get Steven's Sausage Roll a few years ago:
And there's a PS1-looking take on Rainbow Six: Siege with destructible buildings and interesting multi-round shifts in combat that was at PAX South, still in development in the Seattle area, called Due Process. God, I hope this game ever comes out. It's been awesome at various expos.
Better version of that GIF (unembeddable for some reason?) is here: https://gfycat.com/ifr/DismalOffensiveCockatoo ... while the only recent video I can find is on their stupid Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/dueprocessgame/videos/1686114354786227/
...but totally worth clicking through to watch.
And there's a PS1-looking take on Rainbow Six: Siege with destructible buildings and interesting multi-round shifts in combat that was at PAX South, still in development in the Seattle area, called Due Process. God, I hope this game ever comes out. It's been awesome at various expos.
Better version of that GIF (unembeddable for some reason?) is here: https://gfycat.com/ifr/DismalOffensiveCockatoo ... while the only recent video I can find is on their stupid Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/dueprocessgame/videos/1686114354786227/
...but totally worth clicking through to watch.
As people have already mentioned, I think retaining the general limitations of lower polygon count and lower resolution unfiltered textures but enhancing the visuals with something closer to a "beefed up" PS1 is what most people are talking about here and would like to see more of.
Which is basically something like NDS level graphics rendered in a much higher resolution (shamelessly posting Krammy's wonderful gifs):
The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter
Phantasy Star 0
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
Nanostray 2
Avalon Code
"low poly" is basically a part of an art style at this point. Surprised so many people here find it universally ugly.
I'm sure some of the appeal is just ironic retro love but it's still nice in many cases.
Both these posts are great, good examples! I personally love the look.
Honestly, a lot of this is IMO due to artists familiarity with 3D and how better today's tools are. Which is exactly why I'd love to see more people doing it.
Sadly, it's harder to program (it might be just too much of a step up for people who are doing stuff alone and aren't great programmers? Even as purely a mental step up) and it's just a different kind of art. I don't know how similar it is to pixel art workflow, but modelling stuff by well... dragging vertices and edges around might not be something that people who like drawing sprites would like to do. Dunno.
This too. And not only in Survival Horror but in JRPG too. Loved the scenarios on Square games.
I'm actually fine with it. At least we're getting PS2-esque games coming out from indies and small devs, which is a better scenario.
Legend of Mana
Lost Sphear
Earthlock: Festival of Magic
Legrand Legacy
For the King
Light Fairytale
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark
Legend of Mana
Lost Sphear
Earthlock: Festival of Magic
Legrand Legacy
For the King
Light Fairytale
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark
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Most of it looks AMAZING. PLEASE edit the post with the games names! :DI'm actually fine with it. At least we're getting PS2-esque games coming out from indies and small devs, which is a better scenario.
Done. Some of them are already out or in early access.
There are still plenty of them more but those are what I can remember right now.
Yep. Why would anyone want to play a game that looks like a PS1 game aka the "haven't aged well" generation?
It can be pulled off if paired with a really strong artstyle; But let's be honest most games from the ps1/n64 era are ugly as sin. Pixel art if done well enough has timeless appeal. Metal Slug 1-3 still looks better than most games today.
One of the main reasons why a developer would choose to make a game with a pixel art style is that (it can be) extremely fast, easy and cheap to create, even compared to digital painting - the lack of fidelity means the brain of he viewer fills in the gaps, rather then the artist.
Making a 3D game, even one with a low poly art style, is considerably more difficult, even moreso then digital painting (the "next tier" up from pixel art, if you will). Even if you use an established engine like Unity, there's just so many more things an artist has to worry about, and so many more steps involved in creating the final product. You might not be spending time sculpting a high res mesh in Zbrush or creating PBR materials for it, but you'll still be modelling each individual asset in a 3D software package, unwrapping it, and texturing it. And then those objects have to used to construct a level in pretty much the same way any other 3D game would (unless by "low poly" we're talking Doom-like pesudo-3D).
And honestly from a purely economical stand point I'm not sure the costs of making an attractive low poly game are low enough to justify going down that route simply as a way of saving money - if you've made the transition to 3D, you might as well go the full PBR, high poly hog instead of trying to emulate the look of an old PS1 game.
Making a 3D game, even one with a low poly art style, is considerably more difficult, even moreso then digital painting (the "next tier" up from pixel art, if you will). Even if you use an established engine like Unity, there's just so many more things an artist has to worry about, and so many more steps involved in creating the final product. You might not be spending time sculpting a high res mesh in Zbrush or creating PBR materials for it, but you'll still be modelling each individual asset in a 3D software package, unwrapping it, and texturing it. And then those objects have to used to construct a level in pretty much the same way any other 3D game would (unless by "low poly" we're talking Doom-like pesudo-3D).
And honestly from a purely economical stand point I'm not sure the costs of making an attractive low poly game are low enough to justify going down that route simply as a way of saving money - if you've made the transition to 3D, you might as well go the full PBR, high poly hog instead of trying to emulate the look of an old PS1 game.
I have no problem with low poly 3D N64/PSX style. It actually gives a nostalgia feeling from a remarking and beloved era and actually have a lot of people fan of these visuala. This "haven't aged well" is purely subjective opinion. You can see titles such as Turok 1&2 and Grim Fandango being remastered to Steam/GOG and being well received today. I would love a Super Mario 64/OOT/MGS/GoldenEye/FF7 low poly 3D inspired title and I'm sure a lot of people would love, too.
I love the look but I think the reason is that it is harder to do than 2d pixel art look, plus it would probably be harder to optimize.
Low poly tends to look awful unless you have a great artstyle to go with it.
The last low-poly game I loved was Asheron's Call, and not really for the graphics, but for it's scope combined with atmosphere. But even then it's a much more acquired taste. But good pixel-art like Iconoclasts that actually have detail to them (Celeste plays great and animates great but low/no detail sprites are a curse upon mankind) and decent animation are just much more pleasing to look at.
The last low-poly game I loved was Asheron's Call, and not really for the graphics, but for it's scope combined with atmosphere. But even then it's a much more acquired taste. But good pixel-art like Iconoclasts that actually have detail to them (Celeste plays great and animates great but low/no detail sprites are a curse upon mankind) and decent animation are just much more pleasing to look at.
3D games from the PS1/N64 era look terrible most of the time.
There's no craze because there's barely any interest in low-poly... This might change though, who knows ?
There's no craze because there's barely any interest in low-poly... This might change though, who knows ?
I guess you should go tell 34BT that the game they've been selling as low-poly isn't actually low poly then.
It's almost as if the word is the term is being thrown around willy nilly just like in this thread?
Also:
Yeah, this is right on the money for what I'm looking for. These nail that particular aesthetic.As people have already mentioned, I think retaining the general limitations of lower polygon count and lower resolution unfiltered textures but enhancing the visuals with something closer to a "beefed up" PS1 is what most people are talking about here and would like to see more of.
Which is basically something like NDS level graphics rendered in a much higher resolution (shamelessly posting Krammy's wonderful gifs):
The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter
Phantasy Star 0
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
Nanostray 2
Avalon Code
Oh FUCK, how could this topic go on without mentioning DUSK? That game is flipping awesome.
DUSK on Steam
This game is legitimately amazing.
Dusk is amazing! One of the best FPS I have ever played and it's not even finished yet.
New Blood Interactive is working on another low-poly FPS called Amid Evil:
I might have liked Yooka Laylee better if they'd gone with a simpler N64 artstyle.
As it is I feel like some of the graphics look nice (like Yookla Laylee themselves), while others that don't would have probably looked better in a simpler polygonal look (like that creepy refrigerator lady or the ugly Bee boss guy).
Game probably could have performed better with a lower poly artstyle as well (but you never know when it comes to Unity).
As it is I feel like some of the graphics look nice (like Yookla Laylee themselves), while others that don't would have probably looked better in a simpler polygonal look (like that creepy refrigerator lady or the ugly Bee boss guy).
Game probably could have performed better with a lower poly artstyle as well (but you never know when it comes to Unity).
I grew up in this era, and have more resentment than fondness for these limitations, given they held back a lot of gorgeous art direction during that period. The games either tend to look like shit from the outset or look constrained, to the point I have to ponder its merits as the ideal style for anyone's purposes. If I had the magic monkey's paw, I'd have every single applicable game remade to PS2-level fidelity before falling down the stairs.