But pixel art is a medium and not a style. Pixel art, just like its painterly or 3D counterparts, can exhibit a wide variety of styles. For example, looking at a tile set from a 16-bit Mario game versus that of a Sonic title, the average gamer will still be able to differentiate between the two even without seeing the eponymous characters of each franchise. The declaration that all pixel art is “retro” stems from the common misconception that pixel art is a style unto itself.

For Jace, defining the style and the art direction for Little Hellions was a requirement before he ever sat down to create the game’s first asset. He wanted to define how colour worked in the game, how objects were differentiated from one another, how interactable elements could stand out. As such, Jace has outlined a style for Little Hellions that he affectionately refers to as “heavy metal meets pop rocks”. The bright neons and the hellish, occult-inspired designs of the levels and the characters support this.

The background illustration process

But without a set of rules to maintain a consistent appearance, many game artists fall back on old habits, and when dealing in pixel art, those tendencies may not adapt well to being broken down into pixels. Some typical symptoms of lack of art direction, particularly for novice pixel artists, are sprites that appear flat or muddy, sprites that are difficult to differentiate from their backgrounds, or sprites that are too large for their intended purpose.

Muddy/Flat sprite

By knowing the art direction and narrative they intend to express in their games, artists can look past the generic comments on pixel art as a medium and can zero on what works for the game’s art direction. By asking the right questions, artists can transform a “I dislike that it’s blocky” bit of feedback into something more valuable, like “I dislike how objects have very extreme highlights” or “I dislike that all of the sprites have thick, two pixel outlines”.