I’ve been noticing lately: pixel art seems to be everywhere again.

A few years ago people called it “retro” and moved on. Now more and more new games, including big hits, are using it on purpose. I think there are a few reasons:

It’s readable. Small sprites and limited palettes force you to keep only what matters. A good pixel art character reads at a glance.

It’s fast to iterate. A solo dev or a small team can change a sprite in minutes. That’s perfect for a 9-day jam.

Constraints help creativity. With a 16 colour palette and a 32×32 canvas, you stop agonising over details and start making decisions.

It runs everywhere. Tiny textures, tiny files, and it works great in the browser, which is exactly what this jam needs.

And of course there’s nostalgia, but I don’t think that’s the whole story. Younger players who never touched a console from the 90s love it too.

A few things I’d love to hear from you:

• Are you planning pixel art for the jam, or something else? Why?
• What’s your favourite pixel art game from the last couple of years?
• Any tips for keeping a consistent style when you’re working fast?

Personally I’m a big fan of chunky pixels with strong silhouettes and a tight palette. I’ve been working on a pixel art roguelike on the side, and the palette limit has taught me more than any tutorial.

Good luck to everyone taking part. Can’t wait to see what you make! 🕹️

I personally wasn't even there around the era of pixel games and I prefer non pixel designs (digitally hand drawn) with smooth lines and all and this is my first jam so I'm trying to figure out how to adapt to making small games as someoen who thinks BIG... too big sometimes. But yh goodluck too 👾

I've also found that programmers find pixel art, with it having simple rules to follow, and it being easier to remain consistent with, easier to make on their own.

A real artist can do AMAZING things with pixel art, but the average person can pick up a premade palette from lospec(https://lospec.com/palette-list) and make something "ok" within the span of a game jam.

For the jam, if you don't consider yourself an artist, I suggest checking out the pixel art asset packs here on itch. (/game-assets/tag-pixel-art) There are a lot of great packs to choose from, and if you pick something with a 32x32 scale of lower, you can usually copy the colors already used in the assets, and edit them to make whatever else you might need for your game, while staying fairly consistent with the style of the rest of the pack. 👍

For pixel art games I've enjoyed.... that is a long list.... Some stand-outs that I can remember off the top of my head were Kingdom: New Lands(and Two crowns), Dome Keeper, Shogun showdown, 9 Kings, Yes Your Grace, He is coming, and of course stardew valley. 😅 I'm also looking forward to the release of Örnöga: Idle & Loot (https://store.steampowered.com/app/3536530/Ornoga_Idle__Loot/)

Hello! I want this jam to be my entry point into game development, and I'm looking to join a team to help them with pixel art.

I'm a huge fan of classic retro pixel games—classic Sonic games and Doom 1 & 2 are titles I never get tired of playing and listening to their soundtracks!

I don't really see myself at a level to give advice to anyone yet, but to work faster, I usually rely on the classic workflow (unless the art style calls for a specific approach):

1. Rough Sketch / Blocking: Getting the main shape on the canvas without worrying about mistakes.

2. Clean Lineart: Refining pixel lines and cleaning up double pixels.

3. Flat Colors: Filling in base colors with the bucket tool.

4. Details & Texturing: Adding small touches like cracks, moss, stubble, or spots.

5. Shading & Highlights: Giving the piece depth and a 3D feel.

I'd love to hear more about your roguelike game and help out if you need an artist!