Creating Space with Pixel Art (Devlog #4: First Graphic Design)
The stage has been set: my goals are in place, I brainstormed ideas, I came up with a game concept. Now, it’s time to hit the ground running and start drawing some pixel art!
Pixel art is somewhat of a fallen art-style; with technology being as advanced as it is today, most players are more attracted to the intricacies of 3D modeling and beautiful ray-tracing graphics. On the contrary, there is a particular charm that comes with a more simplistic style of graphic design. A particular charm that I am considerably fond of myself. Take the geniuses of Team Cherry, for example. Team Cherry is responsible for the development of the indie Metroidvania platformer(that also just happens to be my favorite video game of all time), Hollow Knight. Hollow knight is a masterpiece of a game in countless ways. I can—and may—write an entire blog post dedicated to the genius that went into the development of this game, but for this post, let’s just focus on the art style.
The art style of Hollow Knight is simple, but it certainly isn’t boring either. The simplistic design of the player character(right) creates a highly memorable and iconic symbol of the game. The colors all compliment each other nicely, and the refreshing shimmer of the water contrasts with the deep feeling of the cave in which you and the brave and cunning Quirrel(left) sit and reflect on a finished destiny exemplified by a shared adventure.
Before I get even more ahead of myself than I already am, my point is that it doesn’t take the most impressive and detailed 3D graphics to create an amazing gaming experience. Similarly, pixel art can create an enjoyable gaming experience too(not to mention how much more fun it is(in my opinion) to make pixel art than to create any other form of art).
Pixel art is a very unique art style. While other art-styles offer a virtually limitless toolbox of creativity, pixel art limits you to just a few little squares to illustrate your ideas. With pixel art, choosing a specific resolution to use for your sprites before you start making them is customary because it allows for your sprites to all look even. To choose your resolution means to choose how many pixels you are limiting yourself to using in each sprite. For example, in my space game, I chose a sprite resolution of 8×8: this means, I have 8 pixels by 8 pixels of space to make my astronaut. While a resolution of 8×8 may seem easier since it’s less overall art I would have to be doing, the spatial limitations of such a small resolution isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world to work around. I had to get creative. I would carefully and strategically place each individual pixel in just the right spot so that, when zoomed out, the image looks normal. I came up with the following player character for my game.
It may be clearer now what little space 8×8 actually is. Pixel art forces its creator to, well, get creative! The careful artistic strategy behind the creation of pixel art is what draws me to it so much.
After creating the player character, I made some asteroids for the player to have to dodge. I made a small one and a bigger one, and they look like this.
These do not follow the 8×8 resolution, but they scale up linearly which will prevent them from looking out of place in the scene.
Finally, I embarked on the daunting task of making the background and stage that the player will jump around on. This took about 3 hours of hard work, but it has paid off and—not to toot my own horn a little it—is probably one of my best works when it comes to pixel art.
With pixel art out of the way, I now plan to dive right into the Unity Engine and start implementing these sprites with some game mechanics and programming. So far, my space-themed game is off to a great start!
Leave a Reply