Graphical / Pixel-perfect issues

[Sparrowhawk]

First off I wanna say that I am SUPER intrigued by your game now that I've played some of the demo. I love the art style, music, narration and sound design. I'm very excited to see what you do for this game.

However, I am finding myself continually distracted by a few weird graphical things my brain keeps noticing and I think maybe they have to do with the pixel/world ratio or something. The best way I can describe is that it looks a lot like typical graphical "tearing" that you'd see in any game where the framerate exceeds the refresh rate of the monitor, but I'm seeing it happen in this game in what look like small square shaped regions all over the screen. It is almost as if there are dozens of small regions that are zooming in, instead of the whole screen zooming in.

I learned some terms from the devs of the game Monolith (team D13): Mixel and Rixel. They are used to describe what happens when the pixel perfect ratio for a given game is "broken" (either by sizing or rotating wrong). That is, something is scaled or rotated without a pixel perfect camera and you see either a diagonal or straight edge that bisects what would should be a "pixel". It results in, in my opinion, broken immersion. That is, I feel like I'm suddenly looking at things happening in a world made of pixels, rather than looking at a rich, imagined world through a "lense" that just happens to be pixels. That might sound odd...I apologize.

In looking at your game's files you're using Unity. Are you using their pixel perfect preview package or your own solution for resolution management/camera size?

I'm a wannabe Unity dev and I'm working on a 2D project as well and I know getting pixel art to look right can be weird in Unity. I can only imagine it's even more complicated given that your game does a lot of zooming in and out. It isn't ruining the game by any means, but it is highly distracting and I don't think I'm the only one noticing it. Not sure what advice I could offer (or whether you'd even want it) but if you've got a discord or something it could be fun to talk shop with you or whatever. Please keep up the good work.

[DevonCM]

Yeah I just loaded up the demo and immediately noticed this, it looks really bad unfortunately. I don't typically play "pixel art" games so I don't know if this is standard, but the pixel thing is a huge trend so I'd be surprised if they're all like this with the weird "tearing" look constantly.

Also I don't know if it's directly due to this issue, but any screen movement and panning looks bad and not at all smooth running at 2560x1440@150Hz.

So unfortunately I only ran up to the first enemies and had to close the game, because it's just very uncomfortable to look at.

I'd be happy to check it out again if these issues are addressed and I could see a clear and smooth image.

[Nanora]

First of all, the game looks really beautiful. I'm a sucker for this kind of art style but I also have to agree with this thread.
The frame pacing when you're playing at 144hz and/or 2k resolution and higher is just horrendous and it gives me motion sickness instantly. It is reaaaally uncomfortable to play like that and I had to quit after the first few enemies.

[Sparrowhawk]

I was going to upload a YouTube video showcasing it, but...then I took a look at other videos of people playing it...let's plays, etc. and it's there in every video. If any devs see this thread and want more thoughts on it that's fine but otherwise I think maybe this is just something most people don't notice. It doesn't "ruin" it for me, but my attention is constantly drawn to it....

[/ᐠ - ˕ -マ]

I can't get over it. Every second of every cut scene in the game pixels drift all over the place. It's impossible to look at without crying. And the fix is as easy as ticking a box on the camera.

I refuse to play this game for this specific reason.

[Sparrowhawk]

Originally posted by nacho varga fan page:

I can't get over it. Every second of every cut scene in the game pixels drift all over the place. It's impossible to look at without crying. And the fix is as easy as ticking a box on the camera.

I refuse to play this game for this specific reason.

What do you mean? What tick in what box?

[/ᐠ - ˕ -マ]

I meant in the Unity game engine, for example, it's not that hard to setup pixel snapping to avoid pixel grind.

It was a exaggeration on my part. But my point is it was probably a stylistic choice to leave that in.

Very weird to the eye. Can't get used to it for some reason.

[Sparrowhawk]

Originally posted by nacho varga fan page:

I meant in the Unity game engine, for example, it's not that hard to setup pixel snapping to avoid pixel grind.

It was a exaggeration on my part. But my point is it was probably a stylistic choice to leave that in.

Very weird to the eye. Can't get used to it for some reason.

Gotcha