Too bad it looks like a DS game

[Aliquis Freedom & Ethnopluralism]

I've played Castlevania on the DS. That's fine. Because it's the limits of the system.
But I don't get why a PC game has to look like a DS game.

[Nicholas Steel]

SNES* which is another way of saying way superior to a DS game.

[Mr. Christmas]

Aesthetic choice. Pixel art of this quality takes incredible effort as you must animate each frame.

3D models can easily be animated once rendered and given proper "bones."

[Aliquis Freedom & Ethnopluralism]

Originally posted by Nicholas Steel:

SNES* which is another way of saying way superior to a DS game.

Then again increase the resolution and color palette a bunch of times more and you'd get something even more superior ;D

[Seraphita]

Answer is "Why the hell not?" PC isn't where absolutely everything should be in 12k resolution and 1080 fps. Sometimes old games are as good if not better than said "shiny" games so...

[Aliquis Freedom & Ethnopluralism]

Well it wasn't really a question. Though the last sentence is kinda written as one but that's a false claim; PC-games doesn't have to look like DS-games. So .. =P

The game isn't old and that have nothing to do with the resolution or the question.
Also plenty of old games aren't as good as we remember them. Sure Mega Man is good but the flickering multi-sprite characters and the occasional slow-down isn't things which make it better =P

[Seraphita]

That's like only your opinion? Are you one of those goons who think PC should only have high graphics because I seriously hope you're not that dumb. I still play old games myself because many I find are better than new ones. I wouldn't replace wild arms for fallout 4 or etc EVER...

[AliceEngine]

The graphics are actually the game's best asset.

[Aliquis Freedom & Ethnopluralism]

Originally posted by Zero:

That's like only your opinion? Are you one of those goons who think PC should only have high graphics because I seriously hope you're not that dumb. I still play old games myself because many I find are better than new ones. I wouldn't replace wild arms for fallout 4 or etc EVER...

It's only my opinion it looks like a DS-game?
The Nintendo DS used a 256x192 resolution. 120 000 polygons/s with all hardware effects, 262 144 colors, 4 million vertices/s, 90 million pixel/s fillrate, cel-shading, hardware fog. Pretty sure this game isn't locked at those speeds but the lower resolution and colors on screen at the same time / less tones used because of less pixels to tone through isn't really an "opinion", then again the resolution may be 320x200 or the wide aspect ratio with 200 lines or maybe 240 or whatever.
360, 180 and 120 lines would work great for scaling onto 720p or 1080p.
I play for instance Overwatch in 75% resolution scaling and on low. I don't really care that much about how it looks. 50% resolution scaling or 720p upscaled to 1080p and low in Quake Champions too though that actually looks like ♥♥♥♥ it's only to get better performance.

You can have handdrawn/sharp/highly detailed graphics and lots of frames for animations and such in a higher resolution too. Though it would of course require a bit more work and I guess people choose lower resolution both to save work and get a "nostalgic wipe" or whatever though by now there's not any real nostalgia too it since it's been done so many times it's just low resolution noticable as low resolution not "this is a SNES game" (or worse NES game with flickering sprite updates and slow downs.)

I haven't played Fallout 4. That's new for me. My first computer was an SVI-728 with MSX operating system and a 256x192 resolution so actually just the same as the original DS displays though that one only had 16 colors and could only do 32 sprites, 16 kB video RAM and I don't know what clock for the graphics chip (I assume it had one? =P), the CPU was a 3.56 MHz Z80 with 64 kB of RAM.
This is the absolute best looking game I had on it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGrKnpzZayc
I wouldn't get extra pleasure from games looking like that today though.
Pretty decent music thoug, guess they could had made that game for the DS too =P. The game-play may still be enjoyable but it is a bit limited today.

I saw this in my Steam queue today: https://store.steampowered.com/app/334940/Yokus_Island_Express/
It still have like say a Yoshi's Islands kind of game play but it haven't limited itself holding back with the graphics.
A game like this doesn't focus to look "real" (well in a way), definitely not like the DS or SNES game but still looks very nice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSJMjQAJjio
The same style graphics in lower resolution would just look lower resolution and give of the yarn feel less.

I've played Castlevania on the DS and it was good but I totally would had preferred a higher resolution and more detailed and even better animated (with the details) Castlevania had it been capable of that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxZfT7ysMOQ
It works. But..
well this wasn't all that much more detailed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCKDHFNfM4Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc7hWEs6cnk
I don't know which platformer games have a higher resolution but I'd figure it would look better. That is an opinion though.

The SNES games look well but this looks better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wTFy-pJFMI
It's still the same style but it's likely how they would had preferred to do it from the start had the hardware been capable of it.

I would just had preferred something with more details that's all :)

Originally posted by AliceEngine:

The graphics are actually the game's best asset.

Kinda want to say "that makes me sad."
But hopefully it's just that some things looks amazing, even though within the limitations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUS6uM8MeT0
looks nicer than
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j350HVcB2dA

Even
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Irn7cvAqs0U
is an upgrade over
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8teXm6723-g
It's pretty close in style but improved upon since it could be.

[Seraphita]

And the fact it makes you sad is your lame opinion. Pixel graphics are fine but you seem to be corrupted by "It's PC so it must be top looking graphics". Answer is no. People like you need to learn that old feel can still be good. If you can't deal with that, don't look at the games, thanks.

[^_^]

What is it did you think was going to happen here, that you were gonna sweep in, tell the dev team to not make a retro SNES era style game and suddenly make the world a better place? If in your opinion a retro style game like this is worse off, then dont play it, but there are a plethora of people who have bought, played, and thoroughly enjoyed this title. People are all different, don't be that guy who thinks all games have to fit his bill of what a game should be, because that would ruin the point of there being different genres, styles, and aesthetics in games. I would also like to point out that looks are not what make a great game, how many games have been made in the past 10 years that are gorgeous to look at, and still end up being rotten garbage due to crap story line, and gameplay mechanics that arent even on par with my sink disposal unit? plenty, thats how many.

[Niall]

omg games have been awesome looking since 1996 and the release of the N64. I was gaming in the 70's and 80's so all modern games look great to me. it's not about the looks it's about the mechanics and fun factor.

what concerns me is the woman having two men. Not a good example to show the young who would be most likely to play this.

[Aliquis Freedom & Ethnopluralism]

Originally posted by Zero:

And the fact it makes you sad is your lame opinion. Pixel graphics are fine but you seem to be corrupted by "It's PC so it must be top looking graphics". Answer is no. People like you need to learn that old feel can still be good. If you can't deal with that, don't look at the games, thanks.

Sure it can be good. It could just look even better =P

Originally posted by ^_^:

What is it did you think was going to happen here, that you were gonna sweep in, tell the dev team to not make a retro SNES era style game and suddenly make the world a better place? If in your opinion a retro style game like this is worse off, then dont play it, but there are a plethora of people who have bought, played, and thoroughly enjoyed this title. People are all different, don't be that guy who thinks all games have to fit his bill of what a game should be, because that would ruin the point of there being different genres, styles, and aesthetics in games. I would also like to point out that looks are not what make a great game, how many games have been made in the past 10 years that are gorgeous to look at, and still end up being rotten garbage due to crap story line, and gameplay mechanics that arent even on par with my sink disposal unit? plenty, thats how many.

Guess I expected what happened. That people would feel offended and become defensive about it.
Seem weird to not play it because it could have had higher resolution.
Just a bit sad it was held back there.

Originally posted by Niall Noígíallach:

omg games have been awesome looking since 1996 and the release of the N64. I was gaming in the 70's and 80's so all modern games look great to me. it's not about the looks it's about the mechanics and fun factor.

what concerns me is the woman having two men. Not a good example to show the young who would be most likely to play this.

:D:D:D

Well, at-least it's just a game and that don't seem that weird. Not as a Swedish progressive kindergarten.

[Seraphita]

It doesn't need to look better. There is an unwritten law that some games can just be GOOD the way they are. Trying to force better graphics on every games only ruin the idea set behind them.

As I said, if you can't accept a design choice made by a dev, stick to your high graphic games.

[Aliquis Freedom & Ethnopluralism]

I definitely have accepted it. I'm unlikely to change it.
I just feel it's a bit unnecessary and could had looked better without :)

[HYPERFORMANCE]

Much of the time it comes down to the logistics of development. Animating a 60-pixel-tall sprite is more time consuming and difficult several times over compared to animating a 30-pixel sprite. Compare Street Fighter 3rd Strike with Street Fighter 2. Both games play perfectly well but you bet your butt a tremendous increase in manpower and work hours went into making 3rd Strike look the way it does. Unless a development team has the resources of Capcom, the ultra high detail and fluidity in graphics is just not a priority luxury, which in the end is all graphics are after SNES-grade resolution - luxury. (Speaking of 2D graphics here, if it isn't clear.)

There is also the consideration of compatibility with lower-end systems (which people like myself who play casually enough to not want to spend a lot on high performance [or should I say... HYPERFORMANCE?!] hardware).

In my reckoning the retro/throwback feel that became a trend in post-Cave Story indie games is tired anyway, and realistically the style of graphics in Timespinner is perfectly appropriate considering there is no lack of detail or animation that detracts from the clarity of on-screen action.

So ultimately it is as much a practical matter so much as an aesthetic determination.

Shoutout to whoever did the work on the sprite animation by the way. As someone who does that for fun I can tell it was a labor of love.