You can see the in the above upgrade screen elements of the games glyph design occurring in the flourishes of menu panels. You can see how Hyper light drifters developers are embracing the nostalgic elements of there title with the special 16 bit cartridge release of hyper light drifter. It can also legitimise an indie title in veteran gamers eyes as in this modern era of sophisticated 3D worlds and characters they can remember when pixel art was the peak of technical achievement back in the day. A lot of developers and older gamers still have a deep fondness for titles of that era, in Hyper Light Drifters case its closest 16 bit era equivalent is possibly Nintendo's Legend Of Zelda Link to the past. This plays another part in the indie game scenes use of pixel art, nearly all games from the 16 bit era used the pixel art style because of technical restraints at the time. With 3D there is a sophisticated process (pipeline) to make sure the 3d model, texture, shaders and animation all make it into the game as they were intended. You can have one artist knock up pixel art with Photoshop or free software such as Gimp without needing a lot of technical assistance putting the art in the game. You don’t need teams of artist with expensive sophisticated 3D pipelines to sit down and create environments and characters with pixel art. A smaller team means you have to make compromises and one of the more complex expensive aspects in games development is graphics and that brings us to our next point. In order to create something in this vein you would need a team of very specialised programmers such as having a separate engine, graphics and sound programmer for example. Assassins Creed, Call of Duty and Uncharted typically have hundreds of people working on them. Indie developer’s projects tend to consist of very small teams working on less visually complex titles that normally makes up top ten charts. Pixel art style games are quite prevalent in the indie game scene, for a few reasons. Very similar to the pixel art techniques used in Hyper light Drifter and Sword and Sorcery. In all three cases these alien worlds were brought to life using big sections of flat colour then small details etched on top. What is also interesting about Hyper Light Drifter, Sword and Sorcery, and Another World is the minimalist approach to storytelling and the feeling of loneliness that you feel as you explore all three game’s alien worlds. This game at the time was cutting edge using unique roto scoping techniques to create the animations of the main character who was rendered in pixel art style. There is also some strong links from Sword and Sorcery and Hyper light Drifters look and feel that can be seen in a 16 bit era title called Another world By Delphine Sofware. L: Delphines Software 1994 title Another World R Supergiants Sword and sorcery So let’s begin and breakdown the art direction ! Art Direction From the contemporary use of colour to how nostalgia for old 16 bit titles reflects in the design. In this breakdown piece we are going to get in-depth with Hyper Light Drifter’s art direction and how it informs the UI style and form. What really catches the eye about Hyper Light Drifter is the great use of bold colourful pixel art style that while contemporary still harkens back to titles of the 16 bit era. You control the Drifter, a character that has access to technology that has long been lost by the inhabitants in this mysterious world and who are all now suffering from an unspecified illness. Studio Heart Machines debut title really does stand out in the varied field of independent titles with its visually striking action RPG Hyper Light Drifter. Hyper Light Drifter is an action adventure RPG in the vein of the best 16bit classics, with modernized mechanics and designs on a much grander scale.” - HeartMachine “Echoes of a dark and violent past resonate throughout a savage land, steeped in treasure and blood. Heart Machines Debut title Hyper Light Drifter
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |