Nintendo Switch - Games You Can Play Right Now

Indie showcase tomorrow

You know at least 2 or 3 games will release after the show too.

Stele wrote:

Indie showcase tomorrow

You know at least 2 or 3 games will release after the show too.

I'm hoping it's finally time for Sports Story.

Oh Sea of Stars looks awesome!

Shoot I missed the start.

Loco Motive is the best name for murder mystery game on a train ever.

Hahaha Dungeon Munchies

Releasing today!

Figment 2 available today!

Hmm never played the first

Oink Games today too, timed Switch exclusive

Omori for the closer but not until spring

Sea of Stars was a powerful opener. I already kickstarted the game but man is it looking beautiful. Loco Motive interested me a bit, and of course River City Girls 2, but I feel like the absence of Hollow Knight: Silksong is really being felt in these indie presentations.

At the same time, I could easily see Hollow Knight: Silksong being presented some of the bigger titles in a traditional Direct, given how big of a name and deal it is.

Sea of Stars - cool.....holiday 2022...yeah I can ignore that for now.

Random thought - I will not be sad when the pixel art trend is over.

I'm already nominating Endling as the most depressing game of 2022. Looks cool, but it looks like the kind of game that would make me cry my eyes out.

bobbywatson wrote:

I'm already nominating Endling as the most depressing game of 2022. Looks cool, but it looks like the kind of game that would make me cry my eyes out.

Just keep your kids alive!

farley3k wrote:

Sea of Stars - cool.....holiday 2022...yeah I can ignore that for now.

Random thought - I will not be sad when the pixel art trend is over.

Huh? Pixel art is beautiful and economical to produce.

Subjective. I’m pretty over most of it as well. Usually nowadays if I enjoy a pixel based game it’s in spite of the art style rather than because of it.

There's a game jam proof of concept sort of thing for Loco Motive on itch. It's definitely worth checking out. I played it earlier in the year and knowing it's going to be fleshed out to a dull sized game makes me pretty keen for it!

DSGamer wrote:
farley3k wrote:

Random thought - I will not be sad when the pixel art trend is over.

Huh? Pixel art is beautiful and economical to produce.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Subjective. I’m pretty over most of it as well. Usually nowadays if I enjoy a pixel based game it’s in spite of the art style rather than because of it.

The cost is subjective? I'm pretty sure that's not how money works.

That said, the lay person's understanding of game costs certainly can be pretty darn fuzzy, which is close enough to "subjective" for most purposes.

Mostly I'm interested in seeing a comparison between typical indie pixel art and other styles produced with an equivalent budget. I'm mostly thinking of whatever kind of 3d modeling you get for that price, but now that I think of it I guess that could also include say, vector art from the heyday of Flash games and stuff like that.

Yeah, I like me some pixel art, but is it really cheaper than other 2D styles?

It's cheaper than 3D of course. 3D graphics were invented to destroy game dev budgets.

farley3k wrote:

Sea of Stars - cool.....holiday 2022...yeah I can ignore that for now.

Random thought - I will not be sad when the pixel art trend is over.

I feel you. I felt the pixel art style was a detriment to Unsighted, but Sea of Stars looks really impressive with the shadows and effects in that style. It feels like it adds to the experience. In Unsighted's case, they had a beautiful vector art looking splash screen, and then the in game art was just too low resolution to get any expressiveness across with subtlety. It just felt like it distracted and didn't add to the game, despite it being one of my top 10 games for the year. I loved it in spite of its art style, just like Blind Evil is talking about.

I mean, honestly, I think summarizing "pixel art" as one general style is like saying "I'm done with animation". Maybe you're done with types of animation or drawing styles, but there's an awful lot out there and some of it looks different from others. I like certain kinds of pixel art, and other kinds of pixel art you can tell is done because it's a small budget indie game without time to hire an art specialist and therefore they do the best with what they have.

Sea of Stars is my jam in terms of pixel art, but that's also because it is clearly going for a style tied to what I grew up with. Simultaneously, while, say, Hollow Knight looks absolutely gorgeous, I find a lot of games with hand-drawn art look far too Flash animation or picture-book for me, or just have character designs that I'm not overly fond of. Or it's something like Gris which certainly looks beautiful but isn't my preference.

There are certain kinds of pixel art that turn me off of an indie game, but sometimes the pixel art is why I'm interested in the first place. It's a real mixed bag. Either way, I highly doubt it's a "trend" that will go away and will instead be an art style that remains, just like cel-shading in 3D games versus realism versus cartoonish proportions (or whatever you'd call Psychonauts 2).

ccesarano wrote:

Sea of Stars is my jam in terms of pixel art, but that's also because it is clearly going for a style tied to what I grew up with.

This. Also, Loco Motive is way more "pixel art" than Sea of Stars. And I'm fine with that, but I'll admit that it's kinda pushing the boundary for me.

Vargen wrote:
DSGamer wrote:
farley3k wrote:

Random thought - I will not be sad when the pixel art trend is over.

Huh? Pixel art is beautiful and economical to produce.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Subjective. I’m pretty over most of it as well. Usually nowadays if I enjoy a pixel based game it’s in spite of the art style rather than because of it.

The cost is subjective? I'm pretty sure that's not how money works.

That said, the lay person's understanding of game costs certainly can be pretty darn fuzzy, which is close enough to "subjective" for most purposes.

Mostly I'm interested in seeing a comparison between typical indie pixel art and other styles produced with an equivalent budget. I'm mostly thinking of whatever kind of 3d modeling you get for that price, but now that I think of it I guess that could also include say, vector art from the heyday of Flash games and stuff like that.

I meant the beautiful part. Should have been more specific. Even if they are beautiful now they’re often really derivative so the benefit is lost.

I don’t really give much thought anymore to the economy of game making. Nobody gets graded on a scale.

Damn, yeah, Sea of Stars looks wonderful.

Blind_Evil wrote:
Vargen wrote:
DSGamer wrote:
farley3k wrote:

Random thought - I will not be sad when the pixel art trend is over.

Huh? Pixel art is beautiful and economical to produce.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Subjective. I’m pretty over most of it as well. Usually nowadays if I enjoy a pixel based game it’s in spite of the art style rather than because of it.

The cost is subjective? I'm pretty sure that's not how money works.

That said, the lay person's understanding of game costs certainly can be pretty darn fuzzy, which is close enough to "subjective" for most purposes.

Mostly I'm interested in seeing a comparison between typical indie pixel art and other styles produced with an equivalent budget. I'm mostly thinking of whatever kind of 3d modeling you get for that price, but now that I think of it I guess that could also include say, vector art from the heyday of Flash games and stuff like that.

I meant the beautiful part. Should have been more specific. Even if they are beautiful now they’re often really derivative so the benefit is lost.

I don’t really give much thought anymore to the economy of game making. Nobody gets graded on a scale.

I’m thinking of the human toll when I talk about economics. This is roughly my North Star.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/w6TdqqH_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium)

“Worse” graphics here being highly subjective, of course, because I think 2D games are frequently beautiful.

merphle wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

Sea of Stars is my jam in terms of pixel art, but that's also because it is clearly going for a style tied to what I grew up with.

This. Also, Loco Motive is way more "pixel art" than Sea of Stars. And I'm fine with that, but I'll admit that it's kinda pushing the boundary for me.

Yes it was Loco Motive that I was really talking about. Perhaps they just zoomed in too close but it looked horrible to me.

Sea of Stars does look fantastic. I've also had my eye on Omori for a while.

farley3k wrote:
merphle wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

Sea of Stars is my jam in terms of pixel art, but that's also because it is clearly going for a style tied to what I grew up with.

This. Also, Loco Motive is way more "pixel art" than Sea of Stars. And I'm fine with that, but I'll admit that it's kinda pushing the boundary for me.

Yes it was Loco Motive that I was really talking about. Perhaps they just zoomed in too close but it looked horrible to me.

I don't think that was zoomed in at all. I got the impression that it's supposed to emulate the old LucasArts Point&Click Adventure genre.

Spoiler: non-Switch games

IMAGE(https://classicreload.com/sites/default/files/styles/game_image/public/day-of-the-tentacle.png?itok=7RS3xdCP)
IMAGE(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/6010/ss_5410d5b952ec12642e0e2999afbd8d72dd8c19f5.1920x1080.jpg?t=1571778027)

I somehow missed that Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity was an alternative timeline, which is the only way things really make sense. This video basically recaps and explains the entire story, clarifying any points you might not have caught:

Tired: Pixel graphics.

Wired: PS1-style 3D with warped and unfiltered textures mapped onto jittering polygons.