Thursday 3 May 2012

The 8-bit art revival - will it last?


On our Wall Art Rockers site you will run into a lot of artwork that wouldn't look out of place during the production of a videogame. 

In fact, you can view the work we did for Just Add Water, who helped bring Odd World: Stranger's Wrath back into being for a modernised re-release. However, a lot of game art these days, especially in the indie space, is trending towards a resolution that's not been seen on consoles much for decades: 8-bit. 

Low-resolution, it might seem at first to be extremely ugly or primitive. But when you look at the art seen in games like Superbrothers: Swords and Sworcery EP, you know that despite the lack of pixels, some of the art can really be mindblowing. But is it going to stick around, or is it just a passing thing? 

Realistically, it'll be around for decades, at least, and that's from this point forwards, not from its genesis point. Whether you were a gamer or you simply recognise someone's Pac-Man username, you'll know that retro art is a big thing. People like the art of yore, as it still has a sense of clean-cut simplicity to it that some multi-layered, more complex art does not. Here at WAR, we're into all sorts, and focus on progressive, incredibly detailed pieces, but low-res work certainly has its place. 

Whether it'll still be popular within certain mediums in time - not only in games, but even retro chip-tune music (music produced with old gaming hardware) - is something we'll have to wait for, as predicting the tastes of the world is simply impossible. But as society becomes more and more digitised, that appeal may actually just keep on growing. So don't worry about the Super Mario Bros. 3 art on your wall - it'll still be a worthy centrepiece in the years to come, we think.



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