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Pixel-Art in video games, not just some squares.

Holammer

Holammer

Member


GuardGrave was released today for PC, an arcade game taking inspiration from Burger Time & Don Doko Don. From Canadian Monster Bath Games, the guys behind Battle Princess Madelyn and the currently Switch exclusive Deathwish Enforcers. I'll grab it later.



This came out of early access last week with a full PC release and a Switch version. From US dev Jaspel, it's a roguelike deckbuilder where you organize your inventory to win. Saw some good buzz about it.


Small Saga is a turnbased JRPG and the result of a kickstarter four years ago. There's some clever ideas here, a berserker mouse swinging a Swiss army knife like a buster sword, a pyromancer with a dispostable lighter. This UK developed game seems to be a mainly one man project and it's currently very well recieved on Steam.



Happymeal Inc's Final Exerion was released Switch two months ago and it had a PC release today. Based on a small series of games starting with Exerion from 1983. A Galaxian/galaga type game notable for having a bit of momentum in the controls and pretty sick graphics effects for the time.
 
nkarafo

nkarafo

Member
OK, this isn't exactly Pixel Art, but like Cup-Head, it's one of the rare examples of a modern 2D game that looks clean without having that ugly Adobe Flash vibe:



While not as smooth as Cup-Head since it's not animated in "ones", it still looks great because it uses actual animation instead of the dreaded skeletal one. As a result, it looks like you are controlling an actual, HD cartoon.
 
S

Sophist

Member
Found this program to convert image to pixel art.

captain4lk.itch.io

SLK_img2pixel by Lukas Holzbeierlein

Convert images/textures to pixel art
captain4lk.itch.io captain4lk.itch.io

imagey8ewv.jpg


testy1clt.png
 
Holammer

Holammer

Member


Link's Awakening DX HD for PC released 10 days ago and I finally got around to try it out. It's a better than perfect port of the GBC version with widescreen support, a larger play area and having the entire map on screen is possible, high refresh rates (240 fps worked fine), subtle lighting effects from emissive sources, pixel perfect controls with analogue stick & general QoL changes. It comes with the source code and everything is easy to access. Art like sprite sheets are plain PNG files so an artist could easily drawover with a few more colors for detail & shading, without having to struggle with some strange pak files.



There's no ROM required so this is going to be taken down by Nintendo any second now, grab it now while you can. It did not recognize my DualSense controller, but add it to Steam as a Non-Steam game and it works. Itch.io is freaked out over the file as an unknown new user uploaded it without prior history on the site. I can't guarantee it's not going to mine bitcoins on your system, but I can vouch for it working. It also needs .NET 6.0 installed, windows will ask if you want to install it, so no biggie.

linksawakeningdxhd.itch.io

Link's Awakening DX HD by linksawakeningdxhd

PC Version of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX
linksawakeningdxhd.itch.io linksawakeningdxhd.itch.io


Cross Blitz is a deckbuilding roguelike RPG released on Early Access. It's reception on Steam is mixed and even I wonder if it really needed a pixel art aestetic? But in this thread we celebrate the pixel!



Die in a Dungeon's title is a pun that hints as how it functions mechanically. You play using coloured dice with different functions rather than cards and upgrade individual die or find new ones as loot. It sounds bonkers at a glance, but it makes sense after just a few minutes. Coming soon on PC.



This one is very well received on Steam with a 97% user score average. Available for Switch and PC. It goes in the wishlist and it's a perfect example of how a good publisher can help a game, the devs self-published another well recieved title with similar themes which seems to have failed to find an audiance.
 
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Holammer

Holammer

Member


You might want to have Crystal Story: Dawn of Dusk on your radar. An action-Rpg taking inspiration and cues from everywhere. Earthbound, FF6 and it's robbing Undertale blind. In fact, it might lean too heavily into references from the little I've seen, but the art looks top-tier.

 
Holammer

Holammer

Member


Spanish developer MadgearGames's Kemono Heroes released for the Switch 2020 and is finally releasing on "all the platforms" Q3 2024. Previously published by NISA, now via JanduSoft.



Sunkissed City got a Steam page the other day. If it looks familiar, it's made by Arthur Lee (Mr. Podunkian) a guy that helped out with updates to Stardew Valley.
Aiming for a PC release Q4 2024 "and hopefully consoles soon thereafter".
The video is 11 month old demo showing some enviroments and not repressentative of its current state, check out his Twitter for more up-to-date clips & info.

 
Holammer

Holammer

Member
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Japanese indie dev RETSUZAN's seven 'Game Buddy' games previously released on Switch two+ years ago got Steam releases with a new publisher. They look and sound similar to a Gameboy and borrow popular themes & mechanics from a few famous games. You can probably tell which ones just by looking at the title screen images.



Swedish developer Pixel Ferrets's Secrets of Grindea left Steam Early Access just a few days ago. It's been worked on for 13 years and started as a student project back in 2011. It already sold a couple 100k and is favorably recived on Steam with a 90% user rating.



Miracle's Hop Top is a fusion/mashup of Galaga and a platformer. This vertically scrolling arcade game seems to have been a fun side project for the developer which is currently working on an 80's anime styled Puzzle game called Dreamshot Fantasia.

 
Holammer

Holammer

Member


Hebereke Enjoy Edition was recently released. Since the original was a late 1991 NES release and considered too cutesy for most regions, it only ever saw release in Japan and Scandinavia, where it suffered a little bit of stupid localization and was released as Ufouria: The Saga. It's a proto-Metroidvania which features many of the now common tropes of the genre, there's a map, you unlock new characters and abilities for them as you explore the world. While it's unknown in the west, the series continued on the SNES with wildly different games like puzzle & racing.
Out now on PC/Steam and Switch.


Tezcatek, a Texas based developer finished & released their Kickstarter project just a few days ago. An action platformer which smash & grabs a lot from Castlevania IV and Castlevania: Bloodlines. It borderline looks like they might have overdrawn the sprites, but it does look good and for some reason it includes the name and likness of Bela Lugosi.



Korean dev Maetdol Games's Nightmare the Lunatic, a roguelike action platformer came out of Steam Early access. Where it seems to have been largely forgotten without making any waves. Someone needs a publisher!



As one Korean game leaves Early Access, another one enters with Magic Boutique of Royal Blue, a cutesy RPG with monster girls. It's not Kkangto Studio's first rodeo as they released a similar game with Alchemist of Pipi Forest back in 2021.

 
CamHostage

CamHostage

Member
So, this one dates back to 2021, but we were talking in a different thread about the future of the development team handling Dead Cells, the actual new game from the lead designer (who left the company to start a one-man-dev operation) and I found that perhaps this game had never have been brought up before on GAF. (Maybe I'm wrong on that? Either way, enjoy if you missed it.)

Nuclear Blaze, by Sébastien Benard, is a 2D firefighter platformer/exploration game. Available on PC, PS4, and Switch.


gameplay3-banner.gif


 
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Holammer

Holammer

Member


Beyond the Ice Palace from 1988 is getting a pixel art metroidvania sequel for PC and Consoles. In the works by French developer STORYBIRD Studio. The guys behind Aggelos and most recently Ganryu 2.
Afaik the original game started development as a Thundercats license and was later pitched to Capcom as Ghost & Goblins: Beyond the Ice Palace, but Capcom was working on Ghoul's & Ghosts, so they had to put it out there without a license attached.

Ironic to see a game which failed to score a big name license getting pawned off as a somewhat recognizable IP 36 years later.
 
mild sriracha

mild sriracha

Member
Holammer said:


Beyond the Ice Palace from 1988 is getting a pixel art metroidvania sequel for PC and Consoles. In the works by French developer STORYBIRD Studio. The guys behind Aggelos and most recently Ganryu 2.
Afaik the original game started development as a Thundercats license and was later pitched to Capcom as Ghost & Goblins: Beyond the Ice Palace, but Capcom was working on Ghoul's & Ghosts, so they had to put it out there without a license attached.

Ironic to see a game which failed to score a big name license getting pawned off as a somewhat recognizable IP 36 years later.
Click to expand...




Hey I think I'm starting to see a color swapped version of Lion-O in a Ghouls & Ghosts style 2D platformer. Wow.
 
P

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Sophist said:
Random find


Was Batman the prettiest game on NES? Those are raw pixel screenshots. The game being played on a CRT TV:


Here a comparison (notice how the pipes look different on CRT):
dxnnti3z.png
Click to expand...

Dear Lord we need proper CRT shaders. I think 4K + HDR would allow for the kind of CRT shaders we deserve even on moderate 800+ bits TV’s like the LG C9 and the like.
 
Holammer

Holammer

Member


This was just released, a Blackjack & roguelike deckbuilder in the style of Balatro. Developed since 2022 and from what I can gather it's mostly a single solo developer project by a Kiwi.



I have never played a Five Night's game nor had a Five Guys burger, but FNaF: Into the Pit released yesterday and it's selling very well and reviews favourably on Steam. It seems to be based on the first book in a series of FNAF stories from 2020 aimed at teen audiences. The developer, Mega Cat Games has been around since 2015 are they are shockingly productive with tons of games and lots of retro NES & Genesis games, but most of them flew under the radar, except for this one.

Console versions are in the works and will release soon, with physical editions.



Project Terra is got an name and trailer, it is now called Alabaster Dawn. GAF thread with more info here.


Outrider Mako is an action adventure that has been in development since 2019 by Asamado Games, a Japanese solo developer. The protagonist is a girl lost in the strange world of Japanese ghost'n goblins and Gods. Just like in Spirited Away, she needs to work get back. Here was a courier for a delivery company.
Expect a 2025 release on Steam.
The key art on the video is drawn by Kantaro, a former HAL Labs artist and somewhat famous for Pokemon TCG illustrations.



Nitro Express is another Japanese game developed by Grayfax Software, in development since 2020 and it seems to be another solo job. A sidescrolling run'n gun shooter where you as a police special forces fight robots & drones gone rogue across Tokyo. Your standard Japanese anime nonsense.

There should be a Store page on Steam, but it's experiencing technical difficulties. Game releases 2025 on PC.
 
Holammer

Holammer

Member


Boss Team Games announced a new game based on the Halloween & Evil Dead movie franchises. It seems to be developed by Wayforward and I'm glad to see them doing pixel art again. Will release on everything October 18'th this year.


X-out along with Katakis are famous early R-Type-likes on the 8 & 16bit micros. A remake of the underwater themed X-out is in the works by ININ Games & Ziggurat Games (which owns Rainbow Art's IPs). The remake is based on the Amiga version and includes updated graphics with new parallax fields, more colors, particles and lighting effects. The original composer Chris Huelsbeck returns with a an updated score and three new tracks (suppose this means additional stages?).

Releases on every current-gen machine known to man.


The Siege and the Sandfox is another pixel art metroidvania, but there's a new twist on the concept and this is platforming & stealth focused. It's been developed by UK based Cardboard Sword. By the looks of it, it's been developed on and off for at least six years, probably because the devs have done a bunch of contract work (it pays the bills).
This should be their first full game and it releases 2024 on PC.



D-pad studios, the Norwegian guys behind Owlboy are currently working on this beautiful arcade style game. It was announced in 2022 and is still in the works for PC and presumingly consoles too. I mostly mention it because I came across this proof-of-concept or just-4-fun video for a Chip'n Dale game made by Simon S. Andersen, one of the artists and CEO of D-pad.



yes-no.gif
 
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