No matter if you’re an experienced game developer or a hobbyist looking for something fun to do in your spare time. Pixel games are a fun challenge and everyone can learn how to create one if they have enough time & patience. You can even collaborate with other individuals to work on the project together if you don’t want to do it alone! Either way, creating a pixel game isn’t as hard as you might think but the devil is always hidden in the details.
Create Your Own Pixel Game Step-By-Step
Pixel art is a very simple yet charming graphic style a lot of people choose when creating their games, especially on smaller teams. Pixel games were one of the first visual computer games ever created with Pong being the first one in history.
Back in the day, developers didn’t have much of a choice due to technical limitations. So they had to be especially creative with the limited resources they had at hand. Pixels are individual squares of colors and while it is considered retro, a lot of people young and old still enjoy this type of art.
The reason why indie developers often choose to create pixel games is because they are not as complicated and time-consuming as 3D ultra-realistic games. But don’t be fooled! While pixel games are easier to pull off than other types of games, it can be a lot harder to make it interesting for people! Let’s take a look at how you can create your own pixel game and how you can make it worthwhile.
1. Planning & Conceptualizing
Before you dive head over heels into the process of actually making your game, you have to create a concept first. This can look completely different from project to project. Some teams might only need a quick & very rough draft while others write a lengthy game design document to make sure everything is working out. As an individual, you don’t have to spend ages in the planning stage since you don’t have to share your vision with others. But the bigger your team and the size of the project is, the more important it gets to really plan things out before starting.
Either way, in the planning & conceptualizing phase you should determine the scope, the art direction, and the story of the game. Consider things like genre, tools and gameplay mechanics so you know how much work it is and how much time you need to finish it. Once you’ve got your project outlined, you can finally start developing it.
2. Build A Prototype
Now that you have a rough idea of how you want your game to look like, you need to see if it actually works. Take your core mechanics and build a simple & rough prototype. Use primitives like cubes for your main character and see if everything works out as planned. If you plan on having a combat system, try it out. Do you have an innovative idea for a game mechanic that nobody has ever done before? Try it out. You can always make the game prettier later down the line. But first you need to have a solid foundation to build upon.
This way you can spot the flaws in your idea early on and easily change things around without losing too much time. Maybe you even discover something better? You will never know until you try it out!
3. Create Your Assets & Sprites
Once you’re sure your prototype works fine, you can finally begin to create the assets you need for your game. If you are a team of multiple people, the artists can already start working while the prototype is still in development to save you some time. But before you create your 2D assets, you need to decide on a resolution and art style to make it coherent.
Usually, the sprites are drawn on tiles that are either 8×8,16×16, 24×24 or 32×32. Which size you choose depends completely on the kind of style you want to achieve. But we don’t recommend going bigger than 32×32 because otherwise the workload would increase tremendously. If you are not sure what size to pick, it is a good idea to start too big rather than too small since scaling down is always easier than scaling up.
4. Develop Your Game
Creating assets & developing your game goes hand in hand. It is always going to be a back-and-forth between steps 3 & 4 so there is no right or wrong order. While you develop your game further, you’re going to go through a lot of changes and probably also have to get rid of already finished parts of your work. But this is how it goes. Some things make it in, others don’t but in this stage, things really start to come together.
Also, don’t be afraid to change things if the opportunity arises. You don’t always have to strictly follow the guidelines you’ve set during the planning & conceptualizing. Creating a game is a creative process and it’s going to change a lot over time. As long as you make sure you’re going forward and not backwards, you are going to be on the right track.
5. Add Music & Sound Effects
Music can make or break a game so don’t forget to take your time to create and implement right. Picking the right soundtrack to complement your game can enhance it by quite a bit. It can support or also completely change the mood of the scene.
Implementing the right sounds while picking up objects or completing goals gives the player a very rewarding and addictive feeling. Also, try not to make the soundtracks too repetitive or else the players will be annoyed and turn it off altogether.
6. Test, Polish & Iterate
Once everything is in place and you’ve got everything you need, all you have to do is test your game, polish it, iterate… And repeat. Do this for as long as needed. Try to get rid of all the bugs and problems while also smoothing out any rough edges. But don’t get stuck in this phase forever! There is no such thing as the perfect game. Push it as far as you can but once your game is good enough to be released… Go for it.
7. Plushing & Marketing Your Game
Now that your game is finally ready, it’s time to publish it. While we only mention marketing now, you can also start advertising your game way sooner than this. Post social media content to build an audience, create a website and open up a Steam store as early as possible to already gain an audience before you’ve even officially released it. Getting your game on the market is quite easy nowadays since a lot of platforms allow you to self-publish your game or you can try to find yourself a publisher.
Making A Good Pixel Game Is Hard
While making and creating a pixel game is easy, making an outstanding one is where it becomes more challenging. Since everyone can basically create a pixel game, the market is flooded with them. But only a handful actually make it. How is this possible?
Pixel games usually don’t attract as many people as 3D games do because of their retro look. If you decide to go for a pixel art style, be aware of your content. You have to take your time to make it look really good and unique. This is how you can catch more people’s attention. It has to run smoothly, should have as few bugs as possible and keeps the players longing for more. This can be quite the challenge to pull off.
Examples Of Outstanding Pixel Games
The game ‘To The Moon’ for example doesn’t have any groundbreaking game mechanics but its amazing soundtrack, beautiful art style and heartbreaking story captured the hearts of so many people.
Another great example is Undertale by Toby Fox. It doesn’t have the prettiest pixel art style but it is definitely unique and one of my personal favourites. It has loveable characters, great game mechanics and even a lot of replay value if you want to dive deeper into the lore of Undertale. Especially the music Toby Fox created for this game has been so outstanding that people who didn’t even play the game know many of the soundtracks like Megalovenia.
As you can see, creating your own pixel game isn’t as complicated as you might think but you have to bring with you a lot of time and patience, especially if you work alone and not in a team. If you’re completely new to this, maybe start with smaller and simpler projects first before creating a fully-fledged and highly complicated RPG. But now that you know the basics, you can finally start your journey as a game developer!
If you are curious about pixel art games, you might also want to know how you can create the perfect platformer:
Jump, Bounce, Win – Create The Perfect Platformer
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