Visual aesthetics are what people notice about games right away. After all, they are called video games. Games like Tetris, Pong, and Asteroids are visually appealing titles founded on a common principle throughout all video games: what you see you control. If what you see is what you control and what you interact with for the entirety of the experience then why is the focus on visual aesthetics a secondary goal for a lot of indie games I see? How can mechanics and art work together, simultaneously to form a beautiful experience?
As I began moving closer and closer to “officially” starting Pizza Box Games, I looked around to see what smaller, one to two person teams were making. What I saw were interesting concepts with cool mechanics and… uninteresting character assets, text, and effects. You might think these projects were in their beginning stages, but no, their release dates were pretty close. Not only have I seen this in small projects, but also in several tutorial series; just focus on the systems, mechanics, and technical side of things then worry about the art.
I don’t claim to be “The world’s best artist,” or even a “good” artist, I merely want to make games that have an art first approach, while implementing systems and mechanics along the way. A lot of this is probably my naivete with just starting out and being a starry-eyed creator thinking I can change the wheel with my first game’s development. I’m a strong believer in changing wheels, adding to them, or giving them fresh coats of paint.
So, my first project intends to equip my taste for minimalism and simplistic color schemes. I started thinking about the mechanics, the narrative, and how the art would play into the game. It resulted in a process of trying to replicate a 1970’s aesthetic while feeling fresh and modern. Iterating on the process is leading me closer and closer to what I want the game to look like and feel like.
This approach is paying off so far. I’m in the early stages of learning Unity, writing the script for the game, and creating the visual guide. At times it feels like a lot of work (It is!) and I feel that its all worth it. The work is culminating into a beautiful project that I’m excited to share with the world once it’s ready. Thanks for reading this week’s post, until next week
-JT
Pizza Box Games 