Why have indie games been consistently unable to surpass the retro games they take inspiration from?

Why have indie games been consistently unable to surpass the retro games they take inspiration from?

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  1. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    I don't like indieslop but are you seriously asking this question?
    >How is a game made by one person or a few more not on the same level as a game made by a studio

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      Indie games have better tech and bigger budgets, and most of these indie studios have over a dozen people dumbass

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        >Indie games have better tech and bigger budgets, and most of these indie studios have over a dozen people dumbass
        Well then don't compare the best looking retro game in existence to a game game made by one person like the picture in the OP.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        Let me rephrase the anon's question.
        >How is a game by a small team of amateurs on the same level as the greatest professionals in the industry backed by one of of the major videogame corporations at the time?

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          Nazca were complete nobodies before Metal Slug you stupid frick.

          • 11 months ago
            Anonymous

            >Nazca were complete nobodies before Metal Slug you stupid frick.
            So were the Cuphead devs you stupid frick. Comparing the most talented of a generation to the average is and will continue to be stupid but you can't seem to get this point through your thick fricking skull no matter how many people fricking say it in a hundred of your copy pasted thread.

            • 11 months ago
              Anonymous

              The average retro game absolutely mogs the average indie game you stupid frick. That is the point.

              • 11 months ago
                Anonymous

                Bullshit. 90% of retro games suck ass and are not played nor remembered today. I didn't see you putting Midnight Resistance as the retro game in your OP because you cherry pick the best and know it. There are a ton of 8, 9 and 10 out 10 indie games out there that keep pace with the best of the retro scene.
                And lets remember that the modern 2D scene is a sideshow to 3D gaming and not the focus of the entire industry like 2D gaming was. We get a ton of good games despite that.

          • 11 months ago
            Anonymous

            >Nazca were complete nobodies before Metal Slug
            stupid homosexual is stupid and a homosexual, more at 11

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        >Indie games have better tech and bigger budgets
        Undertale had a budget of precisely $51,124 USD.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      Indies can't be slop you moron. Of course buzzword-spouting Black folk like you don't know what those buzzwords even mean.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        >indies cant be slop
        Theres plenty of indie horror slop out there anon

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        How can it not be slop? Explain to me.
        I'm seriously starting to get Gankertard fatigue.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        >Indies can't be slop
        How about indiepoz?

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        Yes they can. There's dozens of hundreds of asset flips or clones of better more successful indies. "Indieslop" might not be a term that's palatable for you but the concept it embodies is absolutely real.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        >Indies can't be slop you moron.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      >arrrhg hueg studios just like today
      >its vwery hard :(( u idiott
      literally just like 3-4 dudes doing most the real work

  2. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    >why doesn't every game have the same art style????

  3. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    >game made by 2-3 people max doesn't look as good as a game made by an actual full team of devs

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      >full team of devs
      metal slug was made by less than 10 people

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        Maybe you should dunk on every other retro game for failing to look as good as Metal Slug. Clearly that team was exceptional.

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          There are dozens if not hundreds of great looking console and arcade games from small teams <10 people moron. Modern indie devs are just lazy and lack drive. Look at something like Cuphead, primarily done by two people who actually had pride and devotion to what they were doing and it looks better than any other indie by a mile.

          • 11 months ago
            Anonymous

            indie games are risk business, we are talking about two dudes risking three or four years of their life in a project that might not make a single penny. take in consideration they might also have families, and you can see why they would cut corners everywhere.

            • 11 months ago
              Anonymous

              >you can see why they would cut corners everywhere
              And that's exactly why nobody buys their shit.

              • 11 months ago
                Anonymous

                You weren't going to buy shit anyways Black person your kind just pirate and want the death of the west.

            • 11 months ago
              Anonymous

              It's about passion, designing a game people would love and that you really want to make, not about greed. As soon as you become focused on the money your game becomes soulless goyslop

              • 11 months ago
                Anonymous

                greed? frickers have the survive out there, most indie games on steam makes less than 4000 dollars, now imagine working three years for that.

              • 11 months ago
                Anonymous

                Passion does not pay the bills.

              • 11 months ago
                Anonymous

                some people think indie devs are making millions, while 99% of them are barely going by.

          • 11 months ago
            Anonymous

            Out of tens of thousands of retro games you spotlight only "There are dozens if not hundreds" but turn around and demand that every indie game look like Metal Slug or Cuphead? Also there are dozens if not hundreds of great looking indie or modern 2D games too but keep using that Undertale pic to compare to Metal Slug.

          • 11 months ago
            Anonymous

            Yeah, and it literally look years to come out with just the dlc because they refused to compromise on quality.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        >10
        nazca had 13 people on it

  4. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    some indie games do surpass retro games
    >b-b-b-but I don't like them
    that's because you, my friend, are a contrarian sourpuss and a tremendous homosexual

  5. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    BECASUE TIS MADE BY PROFESSIONALS OK?

    IT DOESNT MATTER THAT IM A TALENTLESS HACK THAT STOLE MOST OF THE SPRITES

    ITS A DEV TEAM AND IM LE ALONE

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      >repeat statement but make it le silly
      any actual counter-arguments, champ?
      didn't think so. I accept your concession.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        Steal better looking sprites?

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          I'll steal your mom's sprites

  6. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    >o-one person couldn't possibly do it alone
    Talentless hacks.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      Undertales boss fights are more time consuming to make then whatever weeb shit this is

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        Of course it's time consuming when you can't do jack shit.

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          Glad we agree

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      that one was animated by the dude who did sf3 animations

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      sauce

  7. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    But doesn't Undertale take inspiration from Earthbound? What does Metal Slug have anything to do with this?

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      Look at the sprites from a big company that went bankrupt doing sprites versus the indie game made by a dude that can't do spritework and some of his friends. The meaning should be obvious :^)

  8. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Undertale isn't sprite based because it wants to look retro, it's sprite based because Toby Fox can't draw for shit

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      And the game still has a very distinct, recognizable look and a memorable cast of characters. You cannot tell me the battle sequence spritework and animations are not good.

      Also you're correct that some solo poorgay working on a game he wanted to make cannot produce pixel art of the same caliber as professional artist. What he made, however, was more than sufficient. All of you people whining about muh graphics continually get btfo by gameplaychads and it's not even close.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        Homofox's Tumblrtale trash is literally the queerest shit ever made. Frick Tumblrtale.

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          Come back with an argument.

          • 11 months ago
            Anonymous

            Homofox's Tumblrtale trash is literally the queerest shit ever made. Frick Tumblrtale.

            is right. A they/them protagonist is very queer and a sign of a shit game. It's also very Tumblr which is another sign of it being the queerest shit.

  9. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Well most have old games have a large team of experienced graphics designers who had been making pixel games for years along with a team of experienced programmers, Indie games on the other hand are generally made by small groups of inexperienced amateurs who have not really had much experiences making sprites let alone games

  10. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    High budget game is high budget for a reason.

  11. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Toby Fox should just hire actually competent sprite artists.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      why hire someone when you can use Earthbound sprites?

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      Soul Vs Soulless

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      >left gets the job done and doesn't overdo things
      >right is too showy and downright ugly in the case of monster kid

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        left looks like a 5 year old made it
        not even an earthbound clone that it desperately wanted to be, more like a downgrade
        simple =/= soulful in pixel art
        its just lazy, but whoever made backgrounds was quite good
        >pic related

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      >bouncinghatmario.gif

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      toby fox sprite work is quite bad.
      and these animations don't even feature sub pixel animation.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      holy shit i wanna frick monster kid so bad

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        same..

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      >increasing the dimensions of the sprites
      Why cheat? If they're such bad sprites it should be easy to improve them without changing their width and height (in pixels)

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      post the mario gif

  12. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Indie games use pixel art because they either don't have the skills or time to do better

  13. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    >team of talented individuals
    vs
    >one furry sitting on a dildo daydreaming about being a sissy

  14. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Isn't one made by an entire studio where the other is made by mainly one person with some outside help? Try a little harder if you want people to take your troll attempt seriously

  15. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    meanwhile at nintend*

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      What's the middle game under Blasphemous

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        https://store.steampowered.com/app/600130/Valfaris/

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        Valfaris, a kind of sequel to Slain.
        It's a pretty fun run n gun.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      Huh, why is Blasphemous guy in Bloodstained?

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        There were some Bloodstained crossover DLC challenges, hard as nails too. The sad thing is that it just shows how great Bloodstained would have looked in proper pixel art. Hopefully they figure out a better artstyle for the sequel..

  16. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    ??? hollow knight is the best metroidvania ever made

  17. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Did undertale take inspiration from metal slug?
    Also, hasn't undertale out sold metal slug at this point? Its definitely far more relevant than that dead series.

  18. 11 months ago
    Anonymous
  19. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    so you're comparing metal slug to undertale? hahahahaha well here you go, here's my reply

  20. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Metal Slug is a god tier pixel art game, to this day is at least in the top 10 best looking pixel art games easily.
    i'm trying to get something that high quality retro, but no matter how much i work on it, it still fells far away.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      maybe don't use pixelshit filter on 3d models and work on those 2d sprites one pixel at a time

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        >3D models
        everything in that scene with the exception of the far background is a sprite.

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          Prove it.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        and even then the background are just squares with textures on top of them.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      let me fricking know the name of this game youre shilling already

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        look up for Ghost Hand.

  21. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    i doubt you'd be able to find a single 2D game from the PS1 era that looks as bad as the average 2D indie game today
    and indie devs today have access to much better software and hardware that makes development much easier and faster

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      >I bet if you look at the era where 95% of devs moved to 3D leaving only a handful of the best pixel artists to still make 2D games and then compare it to the current average...
      What a dumb fricking post. Also
      >and indie devs today have access to much better software and hardware that makes development much easier and faster
      Those are not a replacement for artistic talent, they just help said talent make better games, like Cuphead. Most movies still suck advanced CGI didn't change that either.

  22. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    team of less than 5 working whenever they want to vs. organized studio of 20+ employees

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      >Nazca Corp
      >organized studio of 20+ employees
      dumb zoomie

  23. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    It really isn’t any easier to make pixel art nowadays than 20-30 years ago. Technology doesn’t replace artistic talent.

  24. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    >retro game (1988)
    >made on the modern day equivalent of a calculator

  25. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Because you're dishonest homosexual who making bait threads all day.

  26. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    At the end of the day, even good indies are just mere copies of the better games that inspired them.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      Most retro games are just copying other retro games with a change or two. Turns out there is not infinite new ideas on how to make a game on a 2D plain, that is why most retro games fit pretty nicely into a handful of genre's.

  27. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    >all indie games are pixel trash
    I really do not understand the mindset of "It's either AAA games or pixel trash!"

  28. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    >why does this game made by one person have fewer assets that require time and man-hours to produce than this other game made by a company that had investors backing it with a couple million dollars
    I don't know OP, it sure is a mystery.

  29. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    ?t=83
    metal slug credits
    >"full dev team" according to Ganker

    ?t=135
    sifu credits
    >"indie game" with 1-2 devs according to Ganker

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      Why didn't you post the undertale credits you disingenuous frick?

  30. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    because when the 1ma doesn't have an artist it does what it can

  31. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    [...]

    3D indie games also look like shit and get btfo by pretty much any game from the PS2 era

  32. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    [...]

    >90% of retro games suck ass and are not played nor remembered today.
    shut the frick up moron ass zoomer, you haven't even played these games. Many of them still have large communities and regular players today including me.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      You obsessing over shitty old games because their "classics" doesn't make them better than shitty new games. A small % of old 2D games are great, a small % of modern 2D games are great, this is how it has always been.
      Pull up a catalog of NES, SNES and Genesis games and take a look how much trash there is in there. Now remember that they needed the backing of a company that could afford to buy and ship physical cartridges around the world while with indie games on download shops there is no skill floor.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        Retro games are better on average and overall quantity total than modern goyslop. Seethe about it zoomie.

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          indie games cost less than retro games did when they were new

          • 11 months ago
            Anonymous

            false

            • 11 months ago
              Anonymous

              >one google search
              >most SNES games were 60 dollars on release
              >open steam and search indie tag, relevant first
              >prices range from about 30 dollars for larger indie games with full 3D graphics to about 10 dollars for pixel games
              wow that was hard to disprove thanks anon kun for being a fricking drooling moron I hope you get raped by rabid Black folk.

              • 11 months ago
                Anonymous

                cost to make not cost to buy a copy as a consumer you stupid fricking moron

              • 11 months ago
                Anonymous

                Nobody said anything about development costs in that entire chain of replies you dog wiener sucking fricking moron I hope your mother gets cancer.

              • 11 months ago
                Anonymous

                The whole discussion was about dev costs you fricking birdbrained imbecile.

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          I'd wager just the retro games you remember are better than the modern games you're thinking of. Sure there was a higher level of passion so proportionally more effort went into things but it was also the era of experimentation, finding what works and what doesn't. There's a ton of shit games from bad designers who had no idea what was actually fun. Not to mention shitty tie-in licensed titles that only really died with the advent of mobile gaming. As many well-cherised old titles as there are, there are plenty of infamously bad games as well.

          • 11 months ago
            Anonymous

            >Retro games are better on average and overall quantity total than modern goyslop. Seethe about it zoomie.
            Of course they are dumbass, the average for indie games is dragged down because anyone can upload shovelware to a DL service like Steam while the minimum skill floor of developing a retro game is again "the backing of a company that could afford to buy and ship physical cartridges". That doesn't change the fact that there are a ton of serious small studio's that put out great looking and playing modern 2D games. Just about any modern 2D game that does well enough to get a physical release is already better than the average retro game and often up there with the best of them.

            >t. zoomers in their teens
            go play your indie goyslop and frick off.

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          >Retro games are better on average and overall quantity total than modern goyslop. Seethe about it zoomie.
          Of course they are dumbass, the average for indie games is dragged down because anyone can upload shovelware to a DL service like Steam while the minimum skill floor of developing a retro game is again "the backing of a company that could afford to buy and ship physical cartridges". That doesn't change the fact that there are a ton of serious small studio's that put out great looking and playing modern 2D games. Just about any modern 2D game that does well enough to get a physical release is already better than the average retro game and often up there with the best of them.

          • 11 months ago
            Anonymous

            I had the Devs commenting of ender lilies commenting on some of my twitter post a while ago, it felt really good.

            look up for Ghost Hand.

  33. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    >how is this game that is made by at most two people not at the same graphical fidelity as a game made by a, at the time, major studio with lots of very talented artists, money, and outsourcing capabilities
    Gee, Black person, it's almost like this is the most loaded question of all time.

  34. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    play Afterimage

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      I did. It's honestly not that great, looks very pretty but actually plays quite boring. I quit halfway through the resting path.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        >I quit halfway through the resting path.
        Bro that's not even 1 hour into the game

  35. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    >indie game (brazil)

  36. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Undertale was probably more famous and more financially successful than Metal Slug to be honest. I mean I love Metal Slug, it's fun as frick, it's got great pixel art and lots of exciting moments stymied slightly by the fact it's designed entirely around eating money until you basically memorise every enemy spawn and boss pattern so you stop getting cornholed by enemies you couldn't see coming or rapid 180's in boss design meant to catch you off guard. But Undertale had a much more engaging story and Metal Slug doesn't really have much of a story, not one you actively engage with. You're just one of however many soldiers de jour and you plow through levels until you win. But an engaging and interesting story doesn't have to be all that expensive and relatively speaking what Tubby Fricks and Temmie saved on graphics Undertale couldn't have been that expensive and sold millions of copies. It'd be interesting to see an actual, inflation adjusted, chart of how much money both games series, Metal Slug as a whole and Undertale/Deltarune, have made versus their development costs.

  37. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Because indie games are made by ameturs, theres a wave of devs quitting the aaa space now though so you might get some nice indies.

  38. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    They have, you just don't like it because it's not Japanese enough for you.

  39. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Play Afterimage if you like Ender Lilies and Hollow Knight

  40. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    You're cherry picking. Metal Slug is a beacon of 2D sprite based games.

  41. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Depends on where you look

  42. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    for one, undertale wasn't taking inspiration from metal slug

  43. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Even pre-1985 Famicom games had budgets of at least $1M (+inflation) to meet Nintendo's quality standards. Metal Slug is a thirty minute arcade game that still cost $350K (+inf) with legacy developers tasked with pushing then-six year old MVG hardware to create something that could compete with Donkey Kong Country and Doom.

    That said, $10 games like Dead Cells, BroForce, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, Blasphemous, and Slipstream almost match high-end MVG1 graphics, and those are just off hand examples.

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