How Retro Game Graphics Are Inspiring Modern Game Design

Games don’t need fancy graphics to be fun. If all these years of gaming have taught us anything, it’s that we sometimes enjoy revisiting older games more than playing new, fancy titles. Sure, we could say the pixely and polygonal indie game craze from 10 years ago is mostly gone now, but retro game graphics are still inspiring modern game design.

Retro Graphics Inspire Creativity

In the endless pursuit of better and faster, developers have become obsessed with the notion that graphics should always push forward. It’s baked into our thinking, right? We see a game with graphics that are just slightly better than last year, and we rush on forums to rant about how it’s not enough.

Video games are a tech-driven medium, that is true. But if we look at it from that standpoint, then old tech, old games, they’re just yesterday’s news. We very well know it’s not true. The proof? Kids, who have zero nostalgia to speak of, are sitting down in front of the TV with Nintendo cartridges and finding them genuinely fun. Maybe it’s not about how many polygons we can pack into a character’s face or how real the water looks.

If we think back, limited technology actually improved creativity. Developers had to work around many technological limitations, primarily graphic limitations. In that sense, retro graphics push modern game design to find new solutions and think outside the box. Which is good in today’s “copy what everyone else is doing” gaming industry.

Complex Gameplay with Simple Aesthetics

The good thing about gaming is that complex gameplay doesn’t necessarily have to be coupled with super realistic graphics. Graphics are just the “messenger”. A conduit. Early games were primitive, a few pixels bumping into each other, but what were you really doing? Moving a paddle, saving a princess, maybe bouncing a ball.

You think about Breakout, and all you’re doing is sliding a bar left and right, knocking out blocks like you’re some kind of minimalist demolition expert. Now, everything looks like a scene from your wildest dream, but none of that guarantees fun. You can have all the 4K resolution you want, but if the gameplay’s off, if the mechanics don’t click, you’re just staring at a pretty picture. If retro games have taught us anything, it’s that you don’t need fancy graphics to build a great game.

Wider Influence of Retro Games

It would be very narrow-minded to look at this just from the video game perspective. Retro games and graphics influence is much broader. We have pixel art and 8-bit soundtracks, but also retro arcade games for sale, which are very popular lately. Gamers love them for their dual nature – they are both decorative and functional. And not only nostalgic millennials love them, but also younger gamers who appreciate the old days.

Modern Retro Genre

Gamers love retro graphics so much that there was a whole “modern retro” genre born out of nostalgia. There’s no better way to explain how retro graphics inspire modern game design than pointing to a modern retro movement. The indie scene has turned it into its own wild beast.

Games like Shovel Knight evoke nostalgia in a different way. Then there’s Celeste, which sneaks in the emotional gut-punch with its precision-platforming. Modern retro seeks to replicate that certain something from bygone gaming eras when consoles and PCs wheezed under the weight of simpler demands. Indie games of the early 2010s were littered with pixel art, often rehashing old 2D platformers. And who can say we didn’t love it? I played so many of those. Shovel Knight? Absolute gem. It’s funny how something aiming for the past can feel so fresh.

Promoting Timelessness

Pixel art is surprisingly timeless. Even with today’s graphics standards. Why? Couldn’t tell. It just is. And that’s the thing – retro graphics are timeless. If an indie studio wants to focus on gameplay and a unique storyline but can’t afford top-notch animations and designers, who cares? Gamers won’t mind a low polygon count as long as the game is good. We’re still using controllers very similar to those that were invented 30 years ago, right? So, if anything, modern game design is very inspired by the things it’s actively not trying to be – old.