The year was 1987. Nintendo and Sega would soon be locked in an epic rivalry. Each would bring their weapon, the SNES and the Sega Genesis. Both systems would armed with the highest graphics available, 16-bit. This style would define the generation and open up new doors for designers and artists to tell their digital stories. Indie developers have been taking pages from history and applying this style to their own modern games to rousing success.
And I wish they would move on already.
I'm tired of so many games using the old 16-bit or 32-bit art style for their games. I understand how nostalgic it feels and some of the excellent art that can be made with it. It has its place, I know that, but indie games now seem to all be just grabbing at the old styles instead of trying something new. Often, the excellent art that came out of that era was because the hardware was restricted and there was only so much they could do with their tools. They had to make what they had do more than they thought it could. These days, developers aren't developing their own signature styles for art and design. They cling to old ideas without adding to it with their own innovations.
This is one of the reasons that I am really interested in the game A Hat In Time. This game is a fun, cartoony came styled after games like Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie. This game seems to have its own styles and originality, while still holding to an older style of design. It looks fun and charming, but more than anything, it has a design philosophy that I appreciate. I liked those collect-a-thon games of old, and I'm glad to see them coming back. And it is coming back in a way that isn't just aping everything about the classic. It is possible to take what we have learned from old games and apply older design theories to new games.
As a basic rule, I think that we need to stop looking at the small aspects of the games we loved and look at the bigger picture. There is a deeper theme in the old games that is oft overlooked when designers start a project, and it suffers for it. Understanding how all the parts work together to influence the final project should be the main purpose in game design.
And can we stop ripping off Final Fantasy for every RPG story line, please?
Just something to chew on.
