Holy crow this is gorgeous.

Yes, sorry about that. I wish I were a coder, but alas, we're waiting on him to address this! We're working on Auro every day, though!

It's nicely written, but I don't exactly see it as a counter. Even if my art is bad and I'm just "not doing pixel art right," the point was that a lot of the audience can't even GET to the point where they can assess whether or not they like my work on its merits. They have to first come into conflict with the lack of special knowledge preventing them from understanding something isn't like wrong with the iphone, or that our app has some technical glitch. All the other article's points are fine, but they don't undermine that principle. Even if I was literally the only one criticized for being "pixelated," I would still have failed my audience. I would still have communicated with them in a language they don't speak. I think people are getting hung up in the details. I don't blame them. I'm not the best writer. But the core of my message, I believe, still stands.

his examples were gorgeous.

Of course! you're amazing! I tried to credit everyone. I hope I bring more people to pixeljoint.

hardeehar har =]

Thanks! Yeah I agree. The art for Auro was my attempt at "uncompromised" but I started it 4 YEARS ago! So some assets show their age in terms of my abilities. I hope to touch it all up as we go but man it takes a long time. It's worth pointing out, though, that this article doesn't even touch on development costs/workflow. It assumes you have infinite time and money, just always communicate in a language people already speak. The cardinal sin here is feeling entitled to an audience taking extra time to learn special information in order to appreciate your work. The onus is on us to make people appreciate it as instantly as possible, no matter the style. Even if my game is the only one getting these complaints, I am still guilty of that failure in communication.

Glad you liked the read. Thanks for the comment!

BG is just a template on which to animate. Here is the game in context.

http://i.imgur.com/01sc93K.png

Terrific values

Yeah my palette process is start with a primary(yellow), a secondary(lavender), and a neutral(blue). From there, I add colors when I need them, and reuse them when I can. That's how I got this whole thing done with 45 colors. Though I bet an artist more skilled than I could have done it in fewer.

Thanks so much! Yeah, I had to make a few concessions there. There is no orange in the palette. The closest are a couple of warm browns, which are present in the crown. I did my best to unify the palette with borrowing colors from everywhere, and reusing it everywhere else. I would also have liked to make Auro's skin a bit more red, but the reddest color in the pallette is practically indigo!

I'm just now, in the past couple years really focusing hard on color and gamut. Next one will be better.

Thanks everyone for the crazy support! For those of you interested, as I said in the description, the game itself took 4 years and it is 100% hand done pixel art by yours truly. No mixed resolutions, no scaling, no particle effects or shadow engine. The real deal.  If you'd like, please check it out!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/auro-monster-bumping-adventure/id912559144

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.DinofarmAuro

Aw thanks, bud! Yeah I want to start building a gallery here but the thumbnailing process is a real pain! Still getting used to it.