Just a guy trying to nail the artistic look of 90's Square games, but if he makes progress...

[Nathaniel3W]

Some guy named Jo Seraph is posting on the Indie Game Developers Facebook page. He's trying to recreate the look of PlayStation-era Square Soft games and right now is trying to make prerendered isometric backgrounds that he then imports into RPG Maker. It's a long way from a finished game, but if he were to join a team that already had a game in the works, and if he could make this style work, I think that would be great news.

 

[supervoid]

Thing with 90's style prerendered graphics is that everybody who can do basic 3d is able to do it without any problem, but nobody put it into portfolio because it looks very amateurish. If you want something like this just find random artist and show them sample picture, they'll do it.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

Ok?

 

[Absinthe]

Pixel art retro is a legitimate art style. But Playstation retro is usually a sign that there is something wrong with you since you are in love with shitty rendering. There's no reason you couldn't copy the style you liked from older games and use better 3D tech. This feels like poor pandering to nostalgia and the usual "it's bad on purpose" coverup for a lack of talent.

 

[Mr. Pink]

I appreciate the aesthetic for more than nostalgic reasons. A lot of 90s 3D has a dreamlike or fantastic quality to it that would be appropriate for a fantasy game

 

[Joined on the 4th of July]

The peak of 90s 3D:

 

[Absinthe]

I appreciate the aesthetic for more than nostalgic reasons. A lot of 90s 3D has a dreamlike or fantastic quality to it that would be appropriate for a fantasy game

Sure, and there's nothing wrong with using that aesthetic. Thing is, you can develop that kind of aesthetic without replicating the poor rendering or low poly that characterized the PSX era. My take is that the people who pursue PSX graphics as an end unto itself have lost track of what the aesthetic was supposed to accomplish and are compensating for a lack of creativity, insight, and talent by aping shitty graphics from years ago and hoping nostalgia will magically make it better. The real quality of PSX visuals was not in the "graphics" themselves, but rather in the meticulous, purposeful art designs that characterized the PSX era.

Pursuing "PSX retro" itself as your art style seems like a recipe for a soulless, rehashed, ugly mess. If you want a game that makes PSX players feel at home, focus on good, evocative audiovisual design. Focus on capturing those strong impressions you want to recall from those past aesthetics and breathing new life into those sentiments. Don't focus on "PSX retro" because PSX retro is pretty damn ugly and pointless.