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Hi everyone,

I’m working on a top-down game and looking for ways to optimize the time spent creating character art and animations. My idea is to design all the characters, NPCs, and monsters with just left and right views. When a character moves up or down, the game would still show either the left or right view, with running animations.

I know this deviates from the more traditional approach where you’d also have front and back views for upward and downward movement. I’m curious if anyone has seen this approach used effectively in other games. Does it look okay, or does it feel awkward?

If you’ve tried something similar or know of games that have, I’d love to hear your thoughts or see examples! I want to make sure this doesn’t compromise the visual experience too much before committing to it.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Thanks for all of the answers. They're definitely putting my mind at ease on this subject. I did read an article about the future of 2D gaming from gamesindustry.biz, where the author interviews a number of game developers. They're all very positive on the future of 2D in general, and are seeing a revival of the medium. They did also discuss the value perception, which all besides one thought did not contribute negatively to the value of the game.

Hi,

I am a hobby game developer, and I am developing a HTML5 game engine for multiplayer usage. I am now at a point where I want to move forward on developing a small prototype of the game I am currently conceptualizing.

So far, I've been thinking about using 2D pixel art, as this means I can spend less time on asset development and more time on game systems, mechanics and environments.

I am, however, uncertain what effect 2D graphics have in terms of interest and sales of games. What is your experience as a game developer or gamer? Do you have any data/statistics to share on this?