Game Dev Secrets: Pixels vs Texels! #indiegamedev #gamedev

The game that I'm developing as an indie game dev is called Isadora's Edge! A 2D Pixel Art platformer game, that I'm developing in the Godot Game Engine! If you're new to Godot or have any questions about Godot or game dev in general, feel free to ask me! #indiegame #gamedesign #godot #godotengine #gaming #gamedevelopment #pixelart #gameengine

[Kvemon]

Pixel rotation looks incredible for particles and other effects. Everything in gamedev is tools, and there are no clear rules on what to use and what not, you need to do what works best for your project.

[OctagonalSquare]

You forgot the secret 3rd option: manually animate each frame of the rotation

[BeansproutPost]

The pixel one looked super crunchy up closed, but when you zoomed back out, it felt better to me.

[hunterfox]

I prefer the pixel rotation look. It makes everything in the scene feel like it's following a specific ruleset. Makes the whole illusion feel more solid

[dfelipeg]

This is a great explanation of what Minecraft is doing with it's new graphics options. The community is used to shadows and reflections that are really smooth while the official approach of the game forces the shadow into the pixel grid perfectly.

[emdash]

For me personally, it's very important that a pixel art game stay pixel-consistent, even if it looks funky at times.

[Quartz_geode]

As much as texel perfect rotation is incredibly smooth, there's just something really satisfying in looking at this crunchy pixel perfect rotation.

Edit: jesus Christ, 2K likes? I didn't even said anything new guys, why are you pressing the button •_•

[PhantomInfinity]

imo pixel games almost always look better when everything is aligned to the pixels

[Acorn_donut]

I love Celeste’s use of pixel perfect graphics

[gaster]

It would be a TON of work, but the best looking way to rotate a character would be to make a separate sprite for every angle(game would keep the characters at specific angles so that you don't need infinite sprites tho)
btw fun fact: Undertale uses Pixel Perfect rotation, which can be for example seen when Papyrus jumps out of the window in Undyne's house.

[BioRaidos]

I'd say texel rotation for full sprites like that student enemy work best, so basically characters, while pixel rotation works well with stuff like particles such as a lasers, flames, electricity, smoke, etc., since the color and shape do a lot of the heavy lifting there to convey what they are meant to be.
However I'd also say Pixel rotation should be used probably for objects that are not interactible in the game as we don't want to mess up with hitboxes, while Texel rotation is good to maintain the hitboxes and keep everything more fair and in check.

[Local-Murlk]

I'd personally say it depends on the pixel count. If it's obviously pixel art, sort of like this, then texel, however, things like rainworld (which you should totally play), then pixel, if youve ever played it you'd know that the movement isn't just an animation, it's the enemies (or your) limbs pathfinding to find the most efficient way to walk, it's so cool! You should check it out!

[Mothy]

I like the pixel rotation. The crunch adds to the immersion of gameplay

[ghostprotocol]

As a little kid i always thought thast when something is moveing they should molve by pixel rather than moving by texel and I diddnt know what that term ment but now I know.
Thank you

[nkkalashnikov]

texel rotation kinda gives a collage or YouTube edit feel imo, so it feels kinda like "probably don't default to this one but if there's an explicit creative reason then go for it"

[trippy]

pixel rotation for quick and large movements, texel for subtle shakes and small fine rotation for me

[Wolforce]

my solution is usually: don't have rotating sprites :D if its really needed you can do mirrorring, or pre bake some rotations with good pixel ratios

[deddrz]

I was actually surprised at how well the pixel rotation can hold the overall shape of the character, pretty cool

[sebastiangudino]

I love when games DONT use texel rotation. Yeah, the "stardew valley" style looks fine. But i love when they don't "fake" the rotation and actually respect the pixel grid (It is PIXEK art after all)

[Datendo]

Best way in my opinion is to draw a few frames of spinning, and smooth it out with pixel perfect rotation.