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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
Good low poly stuff takes a lot more time+effort to get right, and the barrier to pixel art is just much lower by comparison, especially for small indie teams on a budget.
That said, good low poly art is delicious and we need more of it. Some good stuff off the top of my head:
Guildlings
Superhot
YIIK
This is super dismissive.
There is a lot of bad pixel art, just as there is a lot of great low poly art. If you feel like cherry picking examples you could probably delude yourself into thinking one is inately superior to the other, but the joy of good pixel art is the same as good low poly art: artists working under minimalistic tech limitations to convey character and atmosphere in a way best suited to the style.
Look at Mega Man Legends and tell me this game looks like "butt fruit"
That said, good low poly art is delicious and we need more of it. Some good stuff off the top of my head:
Guildlings
Superhot
YIIK
This is super dismissive.
There is a lot of bad pixel art, just as there is a lot of great low poly art. If you feel like cherry picking examples you could probably delude yourself into thinking one is inately superior to the other, but the joy of good pixel art is the same as good low poly art: artists working under minimalistic tech limitations to convey character and atmosphere in a way best suited to the style.
Look at Mega Man Legends and tell me this game looks like "butt fruit"
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because its fugly as hell and the purpose of pixel art is that current AAA games literally don't go for that look anymore
being purposely ugly like that only works for comedic games like octodad
being purposely ugly like that only works for comedic games like octodad
I think Low Poly Looks can definitely be appealing:
Or:
And I'd actually strongly disagree with people that are saying Pixel Art is way easier to do than 3d. It's just not. All modern game-engines are laid out for 3D and you get a LOT of shit for free when you're making your game in 3D, whereas with Pixel Art, you get absolutely nothing. And making all the Animations using Pixel Art is incredibly time-consuming - it's quite a lot quicker to animate in 3d in comparison to drawing the animations frame-by-frame.
Or:
And I'd actually strongly disagree with people that are saying Pixel Art is way easier to do than 3d. It's just not. All modern game-engines are laid out for 3D and you get a LOT of shit for free when you're making your game in 3D, whereas with Pixel Art, you get absolutely nothing. And making all the Animations using Pixel Art is incredibly time-consuming - it's quite a lot quicker to animate in 3d in comparison to drawing the animations frame-by-frame.
Does Redout count, or is it too modern?
Modern low-ploy will always look amazing in comparison to the old school based on just the shaders and no pixel crawl/flicker alone. I think it counts as modern still due to that (shaders) alone.
I thought Firewatch (as well as their new one coming out), Virginia, and the like all looked great, but modern lighting and shaders help big time with that as well.
The texture work of most ps1 games that you guys love are basically pixel art.
So you need to do pixel art well to make low poly ps1 well.
And that is not even mentioning games like Breath of Fire that had awesome pixel art sprites walking on a low poly 3d enviroment
So you need to do pixel art well to make low poly ps1 well.
And that is not even mentioning games like Breath of Fire that had awesome pixel art sprites walking on a low poly 3d enviroment
They exist, just lower in number because they take more effort to make (relatively speaking, on a technical level). Also, mid-90s 3D game nostalgia is still in its infancy stages, I'm sure efforts inspired by those ilk will become more prevalent within the next 2 years or so.
Big misconception: it CAN look good, depending on the game. There are a lot of ugly-looking SNES games and a lot of beautiful-looking PS1.
When people say statements like yours, they usually take the best examples of one (which are in the minority) with the worst examples of the other (which are usually within the majority), and that paints a very lopsided perspective.
Big misconception: it CAN look good, depending on the game. There are a lot of ugly-looking SNES games and a lot of beautiful-looking PS1.
When people say statements like yours, they usually take the best examples of one (which are in the minority) with the worst examples of the other (which are usually within the majority), and that paints a very lopsided perspective.
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This is the same mentality that almost killed 2D gaming in the industry in the mid-90s and got otherwise-great 2D games bashed by the press simply because they weren't 3D. It's an incredibly ignorant line of thinking.
There was a retro survival horror game announced a while back that had ps1 era resident evil style graphics. but I cannot remember what the name of it was.
Looked interesting though.
Edit: Oh man, apparently it came out back in 2016. Whoooops. Doesn't seem like it turned out to be any good either. Shame.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/433380/Back_in_1995/
Looked interesting though.
Edit: Oh man, apparently it came out back in 2016. Whoooops. Doesn't seem like it turned out to be any good either. Shame.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/433380/Back_in_1995/
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Right here.
I don't doubt it's the next step if it can somehow be made easier; but unless you got someone already good at it, it's incredibly hard.
Personally speaking: Good 2D >>>> Shitty 3D.
And the PSX era is basically a testament of that.
There's a Dr. Slump game? What's it like? is it any good?I think it depends on the game. Some early 3D really does look awful. But I still feel that others hold up rather well. These are a few good examples of what I feel still holds up well
Dr. Slump
Nuts and Bolts's appearance was supposed to be next-gen N64 visuals, hence why Banjo and other characters are 'blocky':
Low-poly 3D ages worse than 2D sprites, especially at the lower resolutions during the PS1 era. Texture quality doesn't always scale well at higher resolutions either.
It works well when it is crisp and clean at higher resolutions -- but I think most nostalgia is pointed towards the 16-bit era for "retro" style indie games.
It works well when it is crisp and clean at higher resolutions -- but I think most nostalgia is pointed towards the 16-bit era for "retro" style indie games.
Two reasons.
1) Accessibility. Low resolution pixel art 2D games are the easiest kind to develop.
2) This one is somewhat subjective, but I think early 3D games are generally hideous.
In 2D, if the artists were good, they could dream up any concept they liked and make a reasonably accurate representation of that happen in-game by drawing the art and animation frames. Early 3D games -- Especially the PSX and N64 -- Were so hindered by technological limits that it was almost impossible to make any kind of artistic vision come to life in a reasonably accurate way in a 3D environment. I can't think of a single 3D game on N64 or PSX that I even find tolerable to look at now.
1) Accessibility. Low resolution pixel art 2D games are the easiest kind to develop.
2) This one is somewhat subjective, but I think early 3D games are generally hideous.
In 2D, if the artists were good, they could dream up any concept they liked and make a reasonably accurate representation of that happen in-game by drawing the art and animation frames. Early 3D games -- Especially the PSX and N64 -- Were so hindered by technological limits that it was almost impossible to make any kind of artistic vision come to life in a reasonably accurate way in a 3D environment. I can't think of a single 3D game on N64 or PSX that I even find tolerable to look at now.
I never actually got to play it. But here's a gameplay video with subs explaining what it's like
Indies don't always have:
Money
Talent
Time
This is why you don't see more 3D games. It takes a lot longer to create three-dimensional figures, and not every individual or small team will have the skills to create appealing art.
I still think MGS1 is the best looking in the series. They didn't opt for realism there, but embraced the artwork of Yoji Shinkawa.
They should make a game based on the idea of draw distance during the PS1 days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVkw9dhZ5uM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVkw9dhZ5uM
No thanks, Sega Model 1 and Model 2 games would be bettern source of inspiration for graphics.
Wasn't there an indie game specifically imitating Alone in the Dark 1 graphics?
edit: "Back in 1995"
https://youtu.be/qtoCL2rGHik
edit: "Back in 1995"
https://youtu.be/qtoCL2rGHik
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I still think MGS1 is the best looking in the series. They didn't opt for realism there, but embraced the artwork of Yoji Shinkawa.
Never Stop Sneakin' came out on Switch, and it's basically a slightly modernized version of a PSX game -- MGS in particular.
If you have a Switch, you might dig it.
;)
If you're just considering the low poly aspect of it there's actually quite a few indie games that incorporate this style albeit with more advanced lighting and other tech.
INSIDE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDm6PAgNohU
Virginia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmNA0pv86oc
SUPERHOT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrS86l_CtAY
also upcoming games like:
TUNIC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6oXwcH7X4w
ASHEN:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdTYzJSTFiQ
All very beautiful in my opinion.
INSIDE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDm6PAgNohU
Virginia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmNA0pv86oc
SUPERHOT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrS86l_CtAY
also upcoming games like:
TUNIC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6oXwcH7X4w
ASHEN:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdTYzJSTFiQ
All very beautiful in my opinion.
Here's another example of how the style can make games look great.
this is a mod for Team Fortress 2:
If you still don't get why this style has its charms, then I don't know what to tell you...
this is a mod for Team Fortress 2:
If you still don't get why this style has its charms, then I don't know what to tell you...
I think using simpler low poly graphics that call on an earlier era could create some brilliant games, well it already has but in the spirit of the thread I'd be happy to see it become a thing like the sprite boom.
I remember an absolutely incredible night of raving and a bunch of us coming across a twin sit down of VR in a service station on the way home. I accidentally figured switching it on and off via the plug put it into free play and so six pretty high people played it until the sun came up. They must have thought we'd spent a fortune lol. Anyway I'd never encountered anything so amazing and it put me on to my video-game love affair. I had to wait a few years for the PS1 before I'd get that thrill again but thrill again I got. So in short I'm all for flat shaded poly games et al. They give me the feels.
I remember an absolutely incredible night of raving and a bunch of us coming across a twin sit down of VR in a service station on the way home. I accidentally figured switching it on and off via the plug put it into free play and so six pretty high people played it until the sun came up. They must have thought we'd spent a fortune lol. Anyway I'd never encountered anything so amazing and it put me on to my video-game love affair. I had to wait a few years for the PS1 before I'd get that thrill again but thrill again I got. So in short I'm all for flat shaded poly games et al. They give me the feels.
You were saying?
There is a difference between lowpoly and what type of shading you use.
That's not really true. Depends a lot on what style you're going for. A game with very detailed pixel-art like Owlboy takes a lot more time than a lot of 3D games out there. Not to mention nowadays you can buy a lot of assets for cheap in the Unity/Unreal store and that fasten the development a lot.
A lot of indies are embracing the "low-poly with new technology" not for nostalgia but because it looks good and it's relatively easy to do (easier than 2D in some cases), they're not aiming at PS1 visuals because those really don't look good today, a lot low-poly examples in this thread are still too high-poly for a real PS1. Of course, there will always be people with nostalgia for it, so you can expect some PS1-like visuals to show up in some games.
I love low-poly in general, when done right it leads to very memorable experiences. Killer7 is one of my favorites in that vein.
http://yiikrpg.com
I really dig how the style enhances the vibe here. I'll be checking this one out in the future.There'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.
Just looked at the official website, this one looks rad. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.YIIK
http://yiikrpg.com
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Not all pixel art is great or timeless. Most indie games are closer to nes than 3rd strike. Doesn't mean that they shouldn't exist.
In many cases the limitations of tech can give a distinct look like we have seen with ps1, n64, etc... Even if they also use polygons, they 're so removed from how a modern AAA game looks, they kind of are a different graphics style. In the end polygons and pixels are just means to visualize a game on screen. We 're also not talking about replicating a ps1 or a model 2 game 1:1 with all their shortcomings. Just take those limitations in mind, skip some, use some and combine with modern advacements to create a unique artstyle.
I agree though that in contrast to pixel art it's not as simple and straightforward as lowering the level of detail.
In many cases the limitations of tech can give a distinct look like we have seen with ps1, n64, etc... Even if they also use polygons, they 're so removed from how a modern AAA game looks, they kind of are a different graphics style. In the end polygons and pixels are just means to visualize a game on screen. We 're also not talking about replicating a ps1 or a model 2 game 1:1 with all their shortcomings. Just take those limitations in mind, skip some, use some and combine with modern advacements to create a unique artstyle.
I agree though that in contrast to pixel art it's not as simple and straightforward as lowering the level of detail.
Oh nice, a thread after my own heart!
I started work on a game using a PS1 era low poly art style just this weekend - hopefully I'll have something to share in the next couple of days. What are people's feelings on affine texture warping? Is it going too far, or does it add to the aesthetic?
My current aesthetic goals are a mix between Medal of Honor and Metal Gear Solid... though it'll be pretty tight in scope due to it being a solo effort.
I started work on a game using a PS1 era low poly art style just this weekend - hopefully I'll have something to share in the next couple of days. What are people's feelings on affine texture warping? Is it going too far, or does it add to the aesthetic?
My current aesthetic goals are a mix between Medal of Honor and Metal Gear Solid... though it'll be pretty tight in scope due to it being a solo effort.
No thanks, Sega Model 1 and Model 2 games would be bettern source of inspiration for graphics.
Exactly.
My ultimate hope would be to see some kind of first person game that looks like it takes place under the blue skies of an early 90's Sega arcade game.
Here is food for thought. What ever happened to live actors, and full live FMV?
Westwood was the best, and hilarious.