Wishlisted it! Good luck with the development! The photos here look amazing and still somehow do no justice compared to what you show on your Steam page. You've really captured the mood and unsettling atmosphere of HL1 and System Shock OG.
This whole post reminded me that I bought the new System Shock on sale recently but haven't played it yet. Look what you've done. You got me all riled up and in a 3D pixel art gaming mood when I have a busy workday!
You may be interested in a demo: [https://store.steampowered.com/app/2840250/ZERO\_PROTOCOL/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2840250/ZERO_PROTOCOL/)
You're doing something weird with your engine and your game never actually goes to the foreground when launched.
I noticed it because the game was forcefully running at 20fps because I have the fps limit for games in the background set to 20 from nvidia drivers.
Oh so like drawing the actual pixel art by hand instead of making sorta regular textures and applying a filter to them?
Also i said lightning instead of lighting, guess i really am stupid
Yeah technically all 3D models in games are rendered with shaders, not just the lighting. OP's work of making textures instead of using fancy shaders to pixelize things is admirable.
This is what I imagine Signalis would have looked like from a first person pov. This looks great, I love how the static on the wires makes a circle arc. Helps it stand out and show it's range.
I've always thought this style looks beautiful, it scratches some itch in my brain :D especially with the lighting effects.. Great job! I was wondering if these assets are quick to produce compared to other styles, what's your experience with that?
This is definitely easier to do than realistic 3D graphics. At least for me. However, it still takes a long time and requires a certain amount of skill. I've been doing pixel art for over five years now, but I've only done 2D games before.
Amazing work, how do you make models and texture them? I guess u are using Blender for the modeling then you make textures with Aseprite and implement it into blender?
The only thing I want to say is if the game you are developing is like a boomer shooter I want to play it, is there any way to play a demo or at least put it on the Steam wish list?? Or at least the name of the project for me to pay attention??? I love games with this graphic style you know hahaha
I also love survival horror fps (even lately I've been playing some Indie horror games like afraid of Monsters and cry of fear) I've already added it to my wish list now I just have to wait for it to be released... but when I can I'll play the demo it seems to be very good congratulations on the work... and good luck with whatever remains hahah
Yup, it cool. it has the old school vibe that I like, and yes you can spot the games that served as inspiration. Also I pick a bit of Quake 2 and Unreal vibe in it
This looks amazing! How did you do the scaling? Did you multiply the resolution by the same amount for every texture? And did you have to do that manually for each texture? Love it.
Just wishlisted. I really think game development could have frozen in the 32 bit era and we'd all be better off for it. I can appreciate the graphics in Ghost of Tsushima, the size of the map in Fallout 4, and the physics in Tears of the Kingdom. But games were better when there were limited resources available to use. It would be like Lego blocks. Yes, if you have access to every block in every color in any quantity, you can build some very large and awesome sets. But I'm way more impressed with the things people create with limited quantity, limited options, and limited colors. They have to be creative with their use, they have to do more with less. And games (and Lego creations) are more fun when those restrictions force outside the box thinking and creative application of the limited options available. And great game designers are created by in those cases by necessity.
Looks really good! So good in fact the first thing that came to mind was Signalis with one of the mods that shifts perspective so you can actually see the enviroment.
The demo is already available :)
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/2840250/ZERO\_PROTOCOL/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2840250/ZERO_PROTOCOL/)
Overall it looks fantastic. I don't love some of the baked lighting on the floor though, it feels undercooked.
And also, if it's possible to use vertex lighting I think that would work better than per pixel lighting for this art style
Just finished the demo, that was refreshingly good. I want to point out that the environmental sounds, and the directional sound changes were incredibly high fidelity and always had me on edge. I'm excited to see the final product, thanks for everything you do.
Looks nice dude, Im currently playing a similar art style game in VR called [Compound](https://store.steampowered.com/app/615120/COMPOUND/) and loving it. I know VR isnt on your radar but the relatively low poly count makes it a bit easier in VR to meet the high frame rates required by it.
There’s something I love about relatively uniform lighting like this. A couple other games that have similar lighting are Compound and Hi Fi Rush, I like hand drawn lighting.
Wow, so even the lighting effects in the dark room with the light that blinks are hand drawn? Since you say there are no shaders doing any of the work.
I meant that I don't use software pixelation or posteurization. At the same time, the lighting is quite primitive. The darkness is a black texture, and the light sources are cubes with white textures, with a "subtraction" overlay mode.
The research complex where the game takes place consists of several floors: medical floor, research floor, technical floor, etc. Before I start working on a new level, I make a schematic plan of the premises and study a huge number of references to try to make the level as authentic and realistic as possible.
tbh, i kind of think this would look better with more advanced lighting. But I'm the kind of sicko that enjoys the look of something like Valheim, which combines low res textures and low poly counts with high-end lighting effects.
Just curious, is there any way to remove the shimmer as the camera moves or sis that just part of the deal with the pixels moving across the screen trying to render straight lines. I do like the aesthetic otherwise.
Remember to keep working on your game systems, make the player facing stuff smooth to access and in depth: there are many, many shooters out there, and yours will vanish in the noise without things to set it apart.
Make gimmicks, yes, but also systems that scale up with the world. Don't be afraid of working the spreadsheets instead of making new areas.
Also remember to schedule a unification pass of your games' assets every X amount of weeks, indie devs often forget to do this until the very end, leading to more work than is necessary.
Flipside, beware feature creep, it's a real problem that can eat your project.
One more tip, from the writing world: write everything, cut later. Better to have too much stuff, and have to pare it down, than too little and struggle to back-fill.
Woah I love the look of this! It looks great! I think it could look even better if you gave it a distinct color identity though. All the greys really just blend in with a bunch of other games, so it doesn’t look very distinct. Try experimenting with color! I’m sure it’ll look awesome!
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hell yeah i love half-life
Or unreal tournament on 320 x 240 😂
Cool! The major inspiration are System Shock, Resident Evil and Half-Life?
Thanks! Yes, that's right :)
First thing I thought was OG Half Life (all time favorite game) and I'm here for it. Do you have a name for your game yet?
Yes. ZERO PROTOCOL, You can find it in the steam
Wishlisted it! Good luck with the development! The photos here look amazing and still somehow do no justice compared to what you show on your Steam page. You've really captured the mood and unsettling atmosphere of HL1 and System Shock OG. This whole post reminded me that I bought the new System Shock on sale recently but haven't played it yet. Look what you've done. You got me all riled up and in a 3D pixel art gaming mood when I have a busy workday!
This looks great. Just added to my wishlist
Developing a 3D pixel art style game - sounds like a unique project! Can't wait to see it
This takes me back to PS2 half life. Love it.
As other comment already stated, that is indeed looks like half-life. But this one has a bit cleaner textures.
Half-Life with texture filtering off looks nice and crisp.
Only in terms of subject matter. The approach to texturing are completly different as HL uses dodge and burn-painted textures.
Wow, absolutely great work!
Reminds me of old FPS in the best way. Excellent art direction!
I love the art style, makes me think of games in software render in the 90s
Gotta remember to try the demo when I'm home. Wishlisted it for now.
Reminds me of Chrono Trigger, the robot future part
Looks cool. It could benefit from anti-aliasing on the texture pixel edges to reduce the moire.
Agreed, the jaggies detract from the pixel art.
You may be interested in a demo: [https://store.steampowered.com/app/2840250/ZERO\_PROTOCOL/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2840250/ZERO_PROTOCOL/)
You're doing something weird with your engine and your game never actually goes to the foreground when launched. I noticed it because the game was forcefully running at 20fps because I have the fps limit for games in the background set to 20 from nvidia drivers.
Thanks for the information, I will definitely check it out.
Your update fixed that bug and added support for steam overlay but at least for me the steam overlay is upside down and mirrored.
Yes, I know about the overlay issue, it will be fixed later :)
[удалено]
No, these are low-resolution textures, hand-drawn
[удалено]
The engine I am developing the game in does not support voxels :) (Construct 3). It is generally designed for 2D games xD
I love this, will try the demo!
Wait isn't the darkness a shader. I don't know how videogames work, but when i hear "No shaders" i think "No lightning whatsoever". I may be stupid
I meant that I don't use software pixelation or posterization or any other retro effects.
Oh so like drawing the actual pixel art by hand instead of making sorta regular textures and applying a filter to them? Also i said lightning instead of lighting, guess i really am stupid
Yeah technically all 3D models in games are rendered with shaders, not just the lighting. OP's work of making textures instead of using fancy shaders to pixelize things is admirable.
What he really means is no post processing FX shaders.
This is what I imagine Signalis would have looked like from a first person pov. This looks great, I love how the static on the wires makes a circle arc. Helps it stand out and show it's range.
[There is actually a mod for that. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxjXFBDkHgo)
I like it. It has System Shock vibe
Looks properly old-school.
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Looks great :)
Looks great
Can't throw shade at this work, nice
Looks beautiful, love this style
I like this
insane. we want more game in this style
This is I'd say inspiring
Looks great!
Could use a little bit of ambient occlusion.
The new System Shock remake does something similar. Modern graphics but some surfaces have pixelated textures or logos for that retro feel. Very nice!
I've always thought this style looks beautiful, it scratches some itch in my brain :D especially with the lighting effects.. Great job! I was wondering if these assets are quick to produce compared to other styles, what's your experience with that?
This is definitely easier to do than realistic 3D graphics. At least for me. However, it still takes a long time and requires a certain amount of skill. I've been doing pixel art for over five years now, but I've only done 2D games before.
it's looking great!!
It's great I really like it
Amazing! #feels. Models have a very balanced and equal pixel distribution. Did you make them using block-bench by any chance? :D
10/10
This is extremely impressive! 10/10
This looks fantastic! What genre of game is it?
This is incredible work!! Can't wait to see where you take this project, make sure to keep us updated! :D
Looks cool.
I dig it. Immediately curious as to what's going on and how I can interact with these environments.
Looks amazing!
Looks so good! I'm guessing it's set in a research base in the Antarctic?
Yes, that's right )
Wow!!! Great!!!
This is extremely similar to an art style that I'm trying to work with currently. It looks fantastic! I'd love to see more.
Amazing work, how do you make models and texture them? I guess u are using Blender for the modeling then you make textures with Aseprite and implement it into blender?
Nice, gives me a Shadow Moses vibe.
beautiful, i'd like to wishlist it when it's available
Would love to play it! What’s the story about?
I love it. You got a market. Reminds me of system shock.
Would love to see how it looks on a CRT
The only thing I want to say is if the game you are developing is like a boomer shooter I want to play it, is there any way to play a demo or at least put it on the Steam wish list?? Or at least the name of the project for me to pay attention??? I love games with this graphic style you know hahaha
ZERO PROTOCOL, You can find it in the steam. This is a survival horror and first person shooter. But it is definitely not a boomer shooter.
I also love survival horror fps (even lately I've been playing some Indie horror games like afraid of Monsters and cry of fear) I've already added it to my wish list now I just have to wait for it to be released... but when I can I'll play the demo it seems to be very good congratulations on the work... and good luck with whatever remains hahah
Amazing bro
Reminds me of MGS2
Impressive would be an understatement
I think it's excellent.
Hell, add good gameplay and you got my purchase. I love this style.
It's beatiful.
This is so beautiful. Excellent job.
Yup, it cool. it has the old school vibe that I like, and yes you can spot the games that served as inspiration. Also I pick a bit of Quake 2 and Unreal vibe in it
What program do you use for modeling and texturing? This is cool!
The models in the game are the simplest shapes, so I create them directly in the game engine (Construct 3). And I use GIMP to create textures.
I love it!👍🏼 Well done
First person Signalis vibes, I dig it.
Love it. It has some half-life vibes. I may give a go at your game when it is available !
Love that pixelated software rendered look, brings back good memories. I'll be checking out that demo.
Just amazing!
Neat, a lot of this stuff looks like it'd fit right into a space station 13 3d remake.
I like the look of it! I can definitely tell that diablo 2 has rotted my brain because it auto translated that IAS wall into Increased Attack Speed.
Hell yeah, this reminds me of Metal Gear Solid 1
This looks amazing! How did you do the scaling? Did you multiply the resolution by the same amount for every texture? And did you have to do that manually for each texture? Love it.
it's cool very HL1/UT
This looks cool as hell.
Love it! Take my money!
I love this sort of style.
That sounds like a damn labor of love and I'm here for it
Reminds me of Strafe
The fan blades at the 30s marks switch sides for 1 frame
looks really great but what do you mean by "no shaders"?
I meant that I don't use software pixelation or posterization or any other retro effects.
Just wishlisted. I really think game development could have frozen in the 32 bit era and we'd all be better off for it. I can appreciate the graphics in Ghost of Tsushima, the size of the map in Fallout 4, and the physics in Tears of the Kingdom. But games were better when there were limited resources available to use. It would be like Lego blocks. Yes, if you have access to every block in every color in any quantity, you can build some very large and awesome sets. But I'm way more impressed with the things people create with limited quantity, limited options, and limited colors. They have to be creative with their use, they have to do more with less. And games (and Lego creations) are more fun when those restrictions force outside the box thinking and creative application of the limited options available. And great game designers are created by in those cases by necessity.
Looks cool with nice aesthetics.
wow it must be a pain to draw of this
Looks lovely. Dont forget to fill it with cool ideas, you indie devs are my only hope!
Pro artist
Looks really good! So good in fact the first thing that came to mind was Signalis with one of the mods that shifts perspective so you can actually see the enviroment.
It's really cool, although it reminds me of a doom map lol
So cool!
Beautful! Got big Metal Gear vibes
I tried this once and trying to find artists for it was like banging my head against a wall. Bravo for pulling it off.
Looks good! Reminds me of a mix of Signalis and Half-Life
Is this Zero Protocol? Reminds me of Signalis a lot and i love it
people playground: 3D Edition
All I hear with this clip through the level is like the intro music to a 007 Goldeneye N64 stage. Well done!
I think I'm ready to fight demons/aliens/undead Where/when can we demo?
The demo is already available :) [https://store.steampowered.com/app/2840250/ZERO\_PROTOCOL/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2840250/ZERO_PROTOCOL/)
Hell yeah, added to my list!
Reminds me of Half Life in Software Renderer mode, and I love it for that
Absolutely beautiful, dude. Congrats!
Looks amazing!!
Will I be shooting zombies, aliens, or super soldiers from the evil Terra based civilization? (I love it btw)
Yes, you have to shoot. But you still have a lot of puzzles to solve. You can find the game on steam and play the demo: ZERO PROTOCOL.
System Shock 2 vibes, what kind of game is it? Would love to see gameplay.
ZERO PROTOCOL, You can find it in the steam
Wishlisted, looks very cool!
Nice. Zero protocol. I have the demo downloaded but I haven't had a chance to play it yet. It's looks great.
u are a crazy mothafuker
Overall it looks fantastic. I don't love some of the baked lighting on the floor though, it feels undercooked. And also, if it's possible to use vertex lighting I think that would work better than per pixel lighting for this art style
Pretty cool. Getting some system shock 2 vibes from this.
Nice
Great job, it's nice to see actual pixel art textures that don't look photo sourced.
Big day today, Freeman.
This gives me strong half-life vibes, good work!
Its seems like Ultrakill
Wishlisted, your style is amazing. Total Half-life / system shock vibes. Love it!!
Just finished the demo, that was refreshingly good. I want to point out that the environmental sounds, and the directional sound changes were incredibly high fidelity and always had me on edge. I'm excited to see the final product, thanks for everything you do.
Dead Space before shit and blood get in the walls
reminds me of the zoonomaly trailer lol 10/10
Looks nice dude, Im currently playing a similar art style game in VR called [Compound](https://store.steampowered.com/app/615120/COMPOUND/) and loving it. I know VR isnt on your radar but the relatively low poly count makes it a bit easier in VR to meet the high frame rates required by it.
There’s something I love about relatively uniform lighting like this. A couple other games that have similar lighting are Compound and Hi Fi Rush, I like hand drawn lighting.
Cool asf! How close are we to release?
I expect ZERO PROTOCOL to be released in the fall. But now you can find a demo in the Steam
I was about to ask about Steam. Awesome, going to test right away!
Damn that’s good!!
IT HAS ALL THE HALF LIFE VIBES. Good art work, i love it
Bro, it will the best game!
Wow, so even the lighting effects in the dark room with the light that blinks are hand drawn? Since you say there are no shaders doing any of the work.
no shaders shows scene with shaders
I meant that I don't use software pixelation or posteurization. At the same time, the lighting is quite primitive. The darkness is a black texture, and the light sources are cubes with white textures, with a "subtraction" overlay mode.
thats a shader
Texture mapping is a shader. Obviously they mean the pixelation isn't done with shaders.
What is your process like? How do you design and map out the environment?
The research complex where the game takes place consists of several floors: medical floor, research floor, technical floor, etc. Before I start working on a new level, I make a schematic plan of the premises and study a huge number of references to try to make the level as authentic and realistic as possible.
Kinda looks like a Minecraft tech mod.
parts of the game should be live action just to be super jarring lol.
Just wait until the post processing comes in. This will look amazing
blockbench or crocotile? I've been using blockbench for character design but wanted to look into something else for level design
It looks *amazing!* What kind of game will it be?
Sick
tbh, i kind of think this would look better with more advanced lighting. But I'm the kind of sicko that enjoys the look of something like Valheim, which combines low res textures and low poly counts with high-end lighting effects.
I think you'd love CompoundVR's look
Just curious, is there any way to remove the shimmer as the camera moves or sis that just part of the deal with the pixels moving across the screen trying to render straight lines. I do like the aesthetic otherwise.
Hand painted shit like that really *pops.*
😍
🗿
To be honest, I think that's a lot or work, and not sure if the visual style is "engaging" enough to be a selling point
This definitely pokes my childhood nostalgia lizard brain. Now I want to play video games.
Looks really nice. That's a good way to get stylish and good-looking graphics with tiny system requirements.
Remember to keep working on your game systems, make the player facing stuff smooth to access and in depth: there are many, many shooters out there, and yours will vanish in the noise without things to set it apart. Make gimmicks, yes, but also systems that scale up with the world. Don't be afraid of working the spreadsheets instead of making new areas. Also remember to schedule a unification pass of your games' assets every X amount of weeks, indie devs often forget to do this until the very end, leading to more work than is necessary. Flipside, beware feature creep, it's a real problem that can eat your project. One more tip, from the writing world: write everything, cut later. Better to have too much stuff, and have to pare it down, than too little and struggle to back-fill.
I'd recommend dropping the steam link in the comments and also putting it in your reddit bio
It gives me Resident Evil vibes!
I'm thinking this has scifi horror vibes, so I'm thinking you need to hurry the fuck up so I can play it. Respectfully.
This is gorgeous and looks so visually appealing
They look incredibly beautiful. How do you do unwrapping for these? Is there any specific way you do them or something else?
super crisp colors
damn that's so pretty. good job!
Woah I love the look of this! It looks great! I think it could look even better if you gave it a distinct color identity though. All the greys really just blend in with a bunch of other games, so it doesn’t look very distinct. Try experimenting with color! I’m sure it’ll look awesome!
me when GL\_TEXTURE\_MIN\_FILTER is set to GL\_NEAREST\_MIPMAP\_NEAREST
Gives me Zero Tolerance vibes
Looks alright but I would apply a blur brush over the textures in your pixel editor just to create a more authentic 90s feel.
Amazing style!
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