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Retro Graphics
The reason doesn’t matter, but I recently went through the old AGSotD threads. Particularly the Casual Friday threads. There were several mentions, and this goes back over five years, why, if it’s possible to create stunning graphics for a low-budget casual game, do devs keep going back to the old Retro trope.
The new post: Lucy Dreaming - A retro, pixel-art point & click demo out now! is just one of many recent examples. Is this truly a design decision? If so, is it based on any valid market research that says retro is what the buying public really wants?
I think not.
Is it based on budget? Codeminion, the one-off creator of the highly-rated casual game Phantasmat never produced a second game. Probably they spent everything they had on the first game. And, while there was a hint of a sequel, the money was gone.
Is that the reason Retro is in style? If we go Hi-Rez in our first game, there will be no more money for a second game.
Which ignores what market research might tell you. Which is if you focus on Retro, there might not be a market for your second game.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
The new post: Lucy Dreaming - A retro, pixel-art point & click demo out now! is just one of many recent examples. Is this truly a design decision? If so, is it based on any valid market research that says retro is what the buying public really wants?
I hope not. Design decisions should be based on what the designer, not the buying public, wants. If a game is based on market research it’s just another soulless product marketed and sold to consumers for profit.
Also, if I were asked if I prefer pixel-art or hi-res, I wouldn’t even know how to answer that.
For “pixel-art”, are we talking:
or
And for “hi-res” are we talking:
or
AKA Charo
Also, if I were asked if I prefer pixel-art or hi-res, I wouldn’t even know how to answer that.
Me neither, because that question doesn’t make much sense.
Pixelart can be hi-res, those terms aren’t mutually exclusive.
Do you like oranges or fruit, doesn’t make much sense either? Obviously in most cases pixelart is lower resolution, because there are very few actual reasons why it needs to be using bigger resolutions.
In some cases a game can be using some effects which are hi-res. For instance, The Darkside Detective which is kind of fake pixelart as an artistic choice, uses “hi-res” effects such as semi-transparent fog, glow around light sources, etc. And does it look fantastic!
For “pixel-art”, are we talking:
This actually is the best looking of the four examples you posted.
The dithering looks great, and those tree leaves are so well done.
The only complaints I have about that screenshot are the pumpkin which could have more details to it, and the protagonist which is a bit crude (at least colour choices are questionable), but otherwise just great.
This is purely speculative, but I think one reason for current trend of retro art in modern adventures could be chalked on the fact, that for the longest time, the most popular adventure game engine available was, and still is I guess, Adventure Game Studio.
AGS was a goto engine for a lot of amateur developers, who then during the years transitioned to making commercial games, still using AGS, which was never really geared towards anything else but low-resolution graphics like the games that inspired it had.
Even now, when they are moving to other engines, pixel art might be something they are stuck on, as that was the style they grew accustomed to, not only because of the games they liked, but because of the games they created for years using AGS. Also, if you are a solo developer, doing the art, coding, etc. you obviously use the style you are most proficient at.
This actually is the best looking of the four examples you posted.
The dithering looks great, and those tree leaves are so well done.The only complaints I have about that screenshot are the pumpkin which could have more details to it, and the protagonist which is a bit crude (at least colour choices are questionable), but otherwise just great.
Which is a great demonstration that there’s really no accounting for taste - I’m not fond of the art in Hugo (certainly when compared to Unavowed or any Wadjet Eye game) and think the mix of hi- and lo-res in Darkside Detective looks cheap and lazy.
If you like dithering, there’s plenty of it in Lucy Dreaming.
AKA Charo
I’m not convinced it is purely market-driven. If you really want to make a selling hit you don’t necessarily need to do pixel-art or retro graphics. To give you an example: Machinarium, with its modern graphics and music, sold like 4 million copies (data from 2016, so the number is larger). If your goal is just to profit, than appealing to a casual gamer is usually a better solution than appealing to a niche of adventure game fans. And - just to be clear - I’m not saying here that any of Amanita’s design decisions were purely market-driven: I think they just had a good artistic vision for the game and it just clicked with people.
I can be wrong here, but I think the number one reason for retro graphics is… nostalgia. Many indie developers grew up on classical point-and-click titles and want to incorporate the magic of these games into their own projects. For many people “retro feel” is part of this magic, so… when they design their own game, the artistic choices are kind of obvious to them. Let’s take a look at other genre - fps. There are so many indie projects that are doom / quake clones. Why? Is it really easier for them? I’m not sure. I think they just love the originals so much they want their own project to give them the same feeling.
Of course, there is still a question of “is making good pixel-art easier than good non-pixel-art”. While I am not qualified enough to answer, I will only say that I’ve heard this exact opinion from one of my graphic designer friends. He said something like “many people say that pixel-art is hard, because you have limited resources to make legible graphics, but… it is actually very easy compared to other ways of desing [either traditional or 3d]”. Is it true? I don’t know. There is probably a long debate over this on some internet forum :)
Codeminion, the one-off creator of the highly-rated casual game Phantasmat never produced a second game. Probably they spent everything they had on the first game. And, while there was a hint of a sequel, the money was gone.
Phantasmat looks gorgeous. They obviously had very talented graphic designers and they probably had to pay them good money (I hope), but is this the only reason for not making a second game? Maybe, but maybe not. It was their first game and there are a ton of reasons not to make a second game, even if the first one is profitable. Just one example: since you don’t have an established audience, it takes you more time to reach out your potential buyers. Let’s say your game takes 10 months after the premiere to start making a profit (after covering the initial investment). By this time, maybe, the team had to move on to different activities in order to have a stable income? So, here we are, almost one year after the premiere and we can start planning another title (we even have the funds), but… most people that were involved already moved on to doing something else.
This is purely speculative, but I think one reason for current trend of retro art in modern adventures could be chalked on the fact, that for the longest time, the most popular adventure game engine available was, and still is I guess, Adventure Game Studio.
Yes, this may also be a valid reason for many developers. I haven’t thought of that, but it seems reasonable.
Well, I remember when first screenshots of Technobabylon 2: Birthright were published, people complained because they had abandoned pixel art and didn’t like the new 3D visuals. I think that’s a sign.
By the way, it’s been three years and no news for this game. I heard James Dearden had some health issues…
Currently translating Strangeland into Spanish. Wish me luck, or send me money to my Paypal haha
Well, I remember when first screenshots of Technobabylon 2: Birthright were published, people complained because they had abandoned pixel art and didn’t like the new 3D visuals. I think that’s a sign.
By the way, it’s been three years and no news for this game. I heard James Dearden had some health issues…
I know I was super pumped for the game and even though I think I would have preferred the pixel art I don’t mind trying something new cuz ultimately it’s the gameplay and story that I care about more than the graphics.
This is purely speculative, but I think one reason for current trend of retro art in modern adventures could be chalked on the fact, that for the longest time, the most popular adventure game engine available was, and still is I guess, Adventure Game Studio.
That makes the most sense. Although I think that still relates to money. With AGS being essentially free, you have very little overhead other than your own time and creative energy.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
Well, how do you sale your game as “a classic adventure game like Lucas Arts and Sierra games” and program it using Unreal Engine? 
Currently translating Strangeland into Spanish. Wish me luck, or send me money to my Paypal haha
This is purely speculative, but I think one reason for current trend of retro art in modern adventures could be chalked on the fact, that for the longest time, the most popular adventure game engine available was, and still is I guess, Adventure Game Studio.
That makes the most sense. Although I think that still relates to money. With AGS being essentially free, you have very little overhead other than your own time and creative energy.
correct very low barrier of entrance as far as money goes. Plus on the gameplay front it’s not like adventure game devs got to design smart AI enemies, physics, combat, or whole other host of design systems to integrate and work with each other and not crash. Instead it is animation, art and some puzzles, but half the devs don’t even bother with puzzles anymore. Unless you count picking up a key one room over to use on the door in the next screen a puzzle. For the record I’m not saying it doesn’t take a lot to design a great adventure game, it just takes a lot less to design a bad one lol. which a lot of these are but we’re so starved for good ones, a lot of gamers give them passes and a pat on the back, for at least trying. which I think that is patronizing.
Although I think that still relates to money. With AGS being essentially free
There are plenty of free tools, so that doesn’t automatically force anyone to use AGS.
In the adventure genre alone, Wintermute is a free alternative, which even supports 2.5D graphics.
There are other engines and development tools that can be used as well, both 2D and 3D, and also “no-D” (for text adventures and such).
Even third party applications which have not been designed to be development platforms for new games, have been used that way, for instance GZDoom has been used as an engine for new games.
Why AGS is so successful comes down to few simple reasons.
It is free, so that is obvious. But it has also been around for a long time, so there are thousands of games that use the engine, and more importantly an active community around it.
And of course few “big names” like Wadjet Eye have also been important in the continued success of AGS.
The fact that now many AGS games are also supported and playable in ScummVM probably helps with the popularity too, even though there were some worried voices from the AGS community that any ScummVM integration might be a threat to AGS community. A real concern for some, although I really don’t fully understand that thinking.
In the end though, I think what matters most is the artistic choice.
There are several pre-made asset packs for different graphics styles, and very, very few adventure games actually use those.
So if developers wanted to make their games easy and fast, they presumably would use those, but they generally speaking don’t. Instead they choose to have custom-made pixelart, because they like it, and feel that it is best suited for their games.
I can be wrong here, but I think the number one reason for retro graphics is… nostalgia. Many indie developers grew up on classical point-and-click titles and want to incorporate the magic of these games into their own projects.
I, too, might be wrong here but the first adventure I ever played was the original King’s Quest I. It was first published for PC in 1984. I thought it was a few years earlier than that, but who am I to argue with Wiki?
So, what’s the point? Well it means that if you are less than 39 years old, you weren’t even born when KQI first came out. If you first played KQI when you were 20 years old when it first came out, you are now one year short of 60. So it’s hard for me to think that Nostalgia is a motivator here. My guess is that most indie developers are probably on the light side of 40.
And, since it’s obvious that I have few nostalgic memories of retro-style graphics, and since most contributors are aware that I am truly old enough to remember the dawning of the computer gaming world, I have a right to say that nostalgia is a cop out.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I am not sure if nostalgia is the main reason (like I said before), but it still makes a lot of sense to me. Please consider the following arguments.
Let’s say your “standard” aventure developer is around 40 years old. This means his teenage years (which is when he is playing the most games and he is old enough to be able to solve puzzles on his own) are around 1995-2000. By this time, most of the biggest adventure titles are already out and well-known, so of course he is playing these games, because everyone around him is recommending them. The games came out a couple of years earlier, sure, but still - these are the “childhood memories” many people are reffering to.
Moreover, if said adventure developer is not from US/UK/Germany etc., we are dealing with a significant delay in the transfer of technology. I remember kids in my school playing the first Monkey Island and talking passionately about it… it was 1996 (or 1997 even). Seems a bit weird, since the game came out in 1990, but… it is not so weird if you take into account the fact that in 1996 kids who even had a computer home were still a minority in my country (it was like 20-25% in my class).
I, too, might be wrong here but the first adventure I ever played was the original King’s Quest I. It was first published for PC in 1984. I thought it was a few years earlier than that, but who am I to argue with Wiki?
You are probably getting confused with Hi-Res Adventures which have some very similar settings and scenes as King’s Quest.
“Hi-Res Adventures” is actually a very ironic name considering the discussion about “hi-res vs. pixelart”. Those games are by today’s hi-res definition as-low-as-can-be-res.
And where it really gets funny is what Sierra did with King’s Quest which was at the time marketed as 3-D graphics, which obviously has nothing to do with today’s 3D definition, the only “3D” in that was that the protagonist was able to move on the Y axis to simulate depth in the environment.
Let’s say your “standard” aventure developer is around 40 years old. This means his teenage years (which is when he is playing the most games and he is old enough to be able to solve puzzles on his own) are around 1995-2000. By this time, most of the biggest adventure titles are already out and well-known, so of course he is playing these games, because everyone around him is recommending them. The games came out a couple of years earlier, sure, but still - these are the “childhood memories” many people are reffering to.
Moreover, if said adventure developer is not from US/UK/Germany etc., we are dealing with a significant delay in the transfer of technology.
Good points, but I still believe that most developers just happen to like the traditional Sierra/LucasArts style the most, and they are trying to replicate it.
Myst was released about a decade later after the traditional graphical adventures started. It had lots of fans. So if we think that the only factor is that something was popular and kids of certain age were influenced by it, we should see a good number of Myst clones.
And there certainly are those, especially if we consider walking simulators as Myst clones, which a whole new debate as such.
But I believe what Sierra, LucasArts and other companies did for about 10 years during the Golden Years of adventure gaming, and few years before and after, was simply the best kind of adventure gaming to most people, and they are following that pattern, both in game design as well as with graphics and GUI.
We have lots of examples of later developments in the adventure genre as well.
Escape from Monkey Island, King’s Quest: Mask of Eternity, Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon, Simon the Sorcerer 3D, etc. They all tried to get rid of the old-fashioned style, both graphics and interface.
If that was the right way to go, then where are all those new games that try to replicate those?
I, too, might be wrong here but the first adventure I ever played was the original King’s Quest I. It was first published for PC in 1984. I thought it was a few years earlier than that, but who am I to argue with Wiki?
You are probably getting confused with Hi-Res Adventures which have some very similar settings and scenes as King’s Quest.
“Hi-Res Adventures” is actually a very ironic name considering the discussion about “hi-res vs. pixelart”. Those games are by today’s hi-res definition as-low-as-can-be-res.
And where it really gets funny is what Sierra did with King’s Quest which was at the time marketed as 3-D graphics, which obviously has nothing to do with today’s 3D definition, the only “3D” in that was that the protagonist was able to move on the Y axis to simulate depth in the environment.Let’s say your “standard” aventure developer is around 40 years old. This means his teenage years (which is when he is playing the most games and he is old enough to be able to solve puzzles on his own) are around 1995-2000. By this time, most of the biggest adventure titles are already out and well-known, so of course he is playing these games, because everyone around him is recommending them. The games came out a couple of years earlier, sure, but still - these are the “childhood memories” many people are reffering to.
Moreover, if said adventure developer is not from US/UK/Germany etc., we are dealing with a significant delay in the transfer of technology.
Good points, but I still believe that most developers just happen to like the traditional Sierra/LucasArts style the most, and they are trying to replicate it.
Myst was released about a decade later after the traditional graphical adventures started. It had lots of fans. So if we think that the only factor is that something was popular and kids of certain age were influenced by it, we should see a good number of Myst clones.
And there certainly are those, especially if we consider walking simulators as Myst clones, which a whole new debate as such.
But I believe what Sierra, LucasArts and other companies did for about 10 years during the Golden Years of adventure gaming, and few years before and after, was simply the best kind of adventure gaming to most people, and they are following that pattern, both in game design as well as with graphics and GUI.
We have lots of examples of later developments in the adventure genre as well.
Escape from Monkey Island, King’s Quest: Mask of Eternity, Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon, Simon the Sorcerer 3D, etc. They all tried to get rid of the old-fashioned style, both graphics and interface.If that was the right way to go, then where are all those new games that try to replicate those?
by the time Gabriel knight 3 and broken sword 3 came along, technology had came a long way and other genres caught up and surpassed adventure game genre. Not only in gameplay but other games had started matching in story telling abilities as well. such as wing Commander 3, wing Commander 4, Metal Gear Solid Etc… those three games I believe came out in ‘94, 96 and 98. there are other examples too but these are the ones off the top of my head.
I remember the first time I saw a “talkie” on the computer, it was mind blowing to me. Before that you might have the odd word or saying voiced in a game but that was it. It was wing commander 2 and the whole intro cutscene, they had characters that were talking and I thought I was watching a Saturday morning cartoon show. for a while adventure games were the only ones to do that, consistently.
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