Jiggeh
@jiggeh.bsky.social
Pixel artist, illustrator, game collector, twitch streamer, etc
Looking for pixel art/gamedev work!
Find my stuff more easily: #art | #pixelart | #gamedev
https://jiggeh.com/
https://www.twitch.tv/jiggeh
http://linktr.ee/jiggeh
Looking for pixel art/gamedev work!
Find my stuff more easily: #art | #pixelart | #gamedev
https://jiggeh.com/
https://www.twitch.tv/jiggeh
http://linktr.ee/jiggeh
Even if I'm not 100% on board with the art direction for either game, I do think it's encouraging that Rivals and Tôkon both seem to be getting free reignto just look like 'Chinese MOBA' and 'ASW fighting game' respectively. I'll take that over blandly realistic Rise of Hydra any day of the week!
November 11, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Even if I'm not 100% on board with the art direction for either game, I do think it's encouraging that Rivals and Tôkon both seem to be getting free reignto just look like 'Chinese MOBA' and 'ASW fighting game' respectively. I'll take that over blandly realistic Rise of Hydra any day of the week!
BUT having said that, it's by far the most appealing + interesting looking big budget/console superhero game since, idk, MvC3? I think its general approach to appealing and exciting characters and superhero action is exactly what it should be and I applaud it for it, even if I dislike the costumes
November 11, 2025 at 2:58 PM
BUT having said that, it's by far the most appealing + interesting looking big budget/console superhero game since, idk, MvC3? I think its general approach to appealing and exciting characters and superhero action is exactly what it should be and I applaud it for it, even if I dislike the costumes
Personally I strongly dislike the general direction of the costume design with everyone wearing overcoats and super greebly plastic armour - and even forcing what's meant to be classic comic designs into the same design funnel to match the look... there are hardly any superhero tights in the game!
November 11, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Personally I strongly dislike the general direction of the costume design with everyone wearing overcoats and super greebly plastic armour - and even forcing what's meant to be classic comic designs into the same design funnel to match the look... there are hardly any superhero tights in the game!
Yep! It's almost quaint how much that game was (rightfully!) hated for its bland visual presentation considering things like CD's Avengers... But of course, given the legacy of Capcom's previous work, it was a horrendous step down not just in art direction, but overall confidence in its own style
November 11, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Yep! It's almost quaint how much that game was (rightfully!) hated for its bland visual presentation considering things like CD's Avengers... But of course, given the legacy of Capcom's previous work, it was a horrendous step down not just in art direction, but overall confidence in its own style
ultimately my point is that both market forces and cultural trends lead companies to go with what they perceive as being the most likely to be successful, and in big budget video games that tends to boil down to - pardon the oversimplification - "realistic graphics"
November 11, 2025 at 2:50 PM
ultimately my point is that both market forces and cultural trends lead companies to go with what they perceive as being the most likely to be successful, and in big budget video games that tends to boil down to - pardon the oversimplification - "realistic graphics"
i'm also speaking in very broad terms, and comparing things with how they worked 20 or 30 years ago. Back then, the gap between what a team of 4 vs 20 artists could achieve was much, much smaller than today's sort-of equivalent gap between a team of 2 vs 200 artists
November 11, 2025 at 2:48 PM
i'm also speaking in very broad terms, and comparing things with how they worked 20 or 30 years ago. Back then, the gap between what a team of 4 vs 20 artists could achieve was much, much smaller than today's sort-of equivalent gap between a team of 2 vs 200 artists
Well, yes and no. Yes you can achieve a certain baseline of "realistic graphics" with things you get out of the box in UE5, and you're right that tech is more accessible than ever - but the bar is also high for the kind of 'realism' that people at large find impressive + achieves that prestige
November 11, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Well, yes and no. Yes you can achieve a certain baseline of "realistic graphics" with things you get out of the box in UE5, and you're right that tech is more accessible than ever - but the bar is also high for the kind of 'realism' that people at large find impressive + achieves that prestige
yet, they are tremendously successful! Nintendo has a cultural cachet and deeply loyal fanbase which uniquely affords them the ability to basically do whatever they want - and noone else is really able to replicate their successes. That's exactly what I'm talking about when I say they're an anomaly.
November 11, 2025 at 2:39 PM
yet, they are tremendously successful! Nintendo has a cultural cachet and deeply loyal fanbase which uniquely affords them the ability to basically do whatever they want - and noone else is really able to replicate their successes. That's exactly what I'm talking about when I say they're an anomaly.
but it's a complex issue with lots of angles to it, video games don't exist in a vacuum immune to outside aesthetic or cultural trends either, for that matter. here's hoping the world being pretty shit right now will inspire a generation of creatives making stuff with mroe colour and optimism lol
November 10, 2025 at 6:58 PM
but it's a complex issue with lots of angles to it, video games don't exist in a vacuum immune to outside aesthetic or cultural trends either, for that matter. here's hoping the world being pretty shit right now will inspire a generation of creatives making stuff with mroe colour and optimism lol
There's also the fact that realistic visuals is sorta-kinda the exclusive domain of the most massive publishers who have the resources to pull it off, so doing realistic graphics becomes a way of proving you're in the big leagues, feeding into that same kind of narrative, so to speak
November 10, 2025 at 6:56 PM
There's also the fact that realistic visuals is sorta-kinda the exclusive domain of the most massive publishers who have the resources to pull it off, so doing realistic graphics becomes a way of proving you're in the big leagues, feeding into that same kind of narrative, so to speak
(as an aside, it should be noted that Nintendo is a complete anomaly in almost every regard, they're not representative of the market as a whole, and no-one else can replicate what they're doing, lol)
November 10, 2025 at 6:54 PM
(as an aside, it should be noted that Nintendo is a complete anomaly in almost every regard, they're not representative of the market as a whole, and no-one else can replicate what they're doing, lol)
While there are definitely games that are hugely popular and profitable without realistic visuals, it still has a certain degree of stigma attached to it (ie being "for kids" or looking "mobile"). realistic visuals+high production value is shorthand for "prestige" which attracts wide audiences
November 10, 2025 at 6:53 PM
While there are definitely games that are hugely popular and profitable without realistic visuals, it still has a certain degree of stigma attached to it (ie being "for kids" or looking "mobile"). realistic visuals+high production value is shorthand for "prestige" which attracts wide audiences
The chase after fidelity definitely started earlier (arguably day 1), but I think even the most "realistic" PS1 games are still forced into a stylized look by necessity, and it's mostly true on PS2 too. but game engines like Renderware etc started a shift towards a bit more "samey" rendering imo
November 10, 2025 at 6:50 PM
The chase after fidelity definitely started earlier (arguably day 1), but I think even the most "realistic" PS1 games are still forced into a stylized look by necessity, and it's mostly true on PS2 too. but game engines like Renderware etc started a shift towards a bit more "samey" rendering imo
i'm just saying, if super hero movies today looked anywhere near as awesome as Batman & Robin, i'd probably be considerably less grumpy about this whole thing
November 10, 2025 at 12:34 PM
i'm just saying, if super hero movies today looked anywhere near as awesome as Batman & Robin, i'd probably be considerably less grumpy about this whole thing
but imo super hero games were hit uniquely hard in that this trend in game art coincided with not just the super hero movie boom, so movies became the de facto inspiration over comics, but also the movies themselves leaning way harder towards visual "realism" than comic book films of the 80s and 90s
November 10, 2025 at 12:33 PM
but imo super hero games were hit uniquely hard in that this trend in game art coincided with not just the super hero movie boom, so movies became the de facto inspiration over comics, but also the movies themselves leaning way harder towards visual "realism" than comic book films of the 80s and 90s
There was definitely a wider shift in video game art that began around the early-mid 2000s where more advanced tech created more and more realistic "defaults" to lean on (vs earlier 3D graphics where everything had to be invented and thus art directed with some intent), so it affected everything...
November 10, 2025 at 12:31 PM
There was definitely a wider shift in video game art that began around the early-mid 2000s where more advanced tech created more and more realistic "defaults" to lean on (vs earlier 3D graphics where everything had to be invented and thus art directed with some intent), so it affected everything...
but like... that's about it?? Even stuff that didn't have "good graphics" by the standards of their time still typically took some inspiration from actual comics and created something cool from that. But it feels like that largely died around the PS3/360 era 🤷
November 10, 2025 at 12:29 PM
but like... that's about it?? Even stuff that didn't have "good graphics" by the standards of their time still typically took some inspiration from actual comics and created something cool from that. But it feels like that largely died around the PS3/360 era 🤷
There's also a good handful of really unappealing-looking GBA games that relied on Donkey Kong Country-style prerendered sprites. Rarely a good look in general, but perhaps especially sad when it turns exciting comic book super heroes into limp, plasticky automatons
November 10, 2025 at 12:25 PM
There's also a good handful of really unappealing-looking GBA games that relied on Donkey Kong Country-style prerendered sprites. Rarely a good look in general, but perhaps especially sad when it turns exciting comic book super heroes into limp, plasticky automatons
So honestly looking back, I feel like I struggle to think of old comic games that I dislike the look of as much as I do these big modern games. Batman: Revenge of the Joker for the MD comes to mind, that is a truly inept game on every front, including remaking the NES graphics to look way, way worse
November 10, 2025 at 12:23 PM
So honestly looking back, I feel like I struggle to think of old comic games that I dislike the look of as much as I do these big modern games. Batman: Revenge of the Joker for the MD comes to mind, that is a truly inept game on every front, including remaking the NES graphics to look way, way worse
Even average-looking super hero games of old are so much more appealing to me, partially because I have a fondness for the aesthetics of both video games and comics of my childhood, sure, but I feel like they were so much more earnest about their influences and putting that COMIC BOOK feel on screen
November 10, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Even average-looking super hero games of old are so much more appealing to me, partially because I have a fondness for the aesthetics of both video games and comics of my childhood, sure, but I feel like they were so much more earnest about their influences and putting that COMIC BOOK feel on screen
I feel like it goes without saying that Capcom's Marvel arcade games from the 90s are the absolute gold standard, not just for cool looking super hero games, but really even in terms of depicting those characters the coolest they've ever been in general. But even beyond that outlier of sorts...
November 10, 2025 at 12:19 PM
I feel like it goes without saying that Capcom's Marvel arcade games from the 90s are the absolute gold standard, not just for cool looking super hero games, but really even in terms of depicting those characters the coolest they've ever been in general. But even beyond that outlier of sorts...
Recent-ish Marvel mobile games have had way cooler looking characters than anything we'd see in the movies or big boy console games, for that matter. Even when they added MCU character skins they tended to look much better, on account of actual comicky heroic body proportions and stylised animation
November 10, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Recent-ish Marvel mobile games have had way cooler looking characters than anything we'd see in the movies or big boy console games, for that matter. Even when they added MCU character skins they tended to look much better, on account of actual comicky heroic body proportions and stylised animation
I think the Batman Begins game on PS2/Xb is a standout example of a game that borrows from the movie source material but pushes things quite far with exaggerated lighting and colour palettes to achieve something pretty striking. To say nothing of things like Thor on DS which has sick pixel art
November 10, 2025 at 12:14 PM
I think the Batman Begins game on PS2/Xb is a standout example of a game that borrows from the movie source material but pushes things quite far with exaggerated lighting and colour palettes to achieve something pretty striking. To say nothing of things like Thor on DS which has sick pixel art