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88-428: Chained Echoes is a role-playing video game featuring pixel art visuals inspired by the 16-bit era and turn-based combat. Unlike most older role-playing games that feature random encounters , enemies are visible on the map and trigger encounters on the same screen, similar to Chrono Trigger . Battles are turn-based, and each character in the player's party has a standard attack, several special abilities, items, and

176-579: A committee, known as the 7Cs committee (CCCC Committee on Computers in Composition and Communication), that selects onsite and online hosts for the Computers & Writing conference and coordinates the "Technology Innovator Award" presented at that annual conference. The conference "Computers and Writing" was established in 1982 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by Donald Ross and Lillian Bridwell. The conference

264-422: A common name for graphic designers and/or pixel artists. Although some graphicians worked on adding art to cracked video games ( cracktros ), the demoscene contributed to artistic communities creating pixel art for its own sake as art. These were often shared via floppy disks that were handed from person to person or via the postal service. The golden age of the demoscene and its associated pixel art milieu, however,

352-582: A defensive stance. In combat, party members use attacks and abilities that raise the "overdrive" meter, which reaches an optimal green zone where abilities are more effective. However, the overdrive meter can overheat, and the party must discharge some of the excess by using specific abilities, such as defenses and "Ultra Moves". Unlike other role-playing games, characters in Chained Echoes do not level-up, instead leveling up skills automatically through battle, with added skill point rewards. The player controls

440-794: A few notable exceptions, such as Habbo Hotel , which inspired a great amount of isometric pixel art, and Advance Wars , for Game Boy Advance . The popularity of pixel art accelerated during the 2010s. One major contribution to this trend was the success of several 'retro' pixel art games such as Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (2011), Terraria (2011), Fez (2012), Papers, Please (2013), Shovel Knight (2014), Undertale (2015), Owlboy (2016), Stardew Valley (2016), Deltarune (2018), Celeste (2018), and Octopath Traveler (2018). Many of these games combined low-resolution game assets with non-pixel art (NPA) elements such as filters, high definition UI, or special effects. The increased attention on pixel art in media and

528-423: A flexible medium, pixel artists can often imitate styles from traditional media, such as impressionism or pointillism in oil painting or cross-hatching in embroidery. Pixel art is not a style itself, but a broad artistic medium. However, there are different styles within pixel art that revolve around pixel placement. One common distinction in style is the use of clusters. A cluster is a field of connected pixels with

616-554: A forum, a hall of fame, and a monthly top 10-pixel art competition based on member voting. Over time, the overlapping but separate communities of Pixelation and Pixel Joint were engaged in online discourse about the nature of pixel art, inspiring widely shared tutorials and arguably contributing to a new paradigm that was different from the pixel art of the 1990s. A major concern was to establish pixel art as its own medium and/or art form, separate from other types of digital art, such as Oekaki. In particular, highly restricted palettes (e.g.

704-772: A fourth-year PhD candidate at Michigan State University; Jo Hsu, an assistant professor of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Texas at Austin; Cana Itchuaqiyaq, tribal member of the Noorvik Native Community in NW Alaska and an assistant professor of professional and technical writing at Virginia Tech; McKinley Green, an assistant professor of English at George Mason University. Presenters: Computers and writing pedagogy teach students practical applications and implications of writing by exploring complex concepts such as visual rhetoric, issues of access, and

792-442: A hiatus. In addition, the increasing popularity of pixel art in this decade also attracted new artists to the demoscene, who had not been active during the 1990s and 2000s. It is important to note that the demoscene and its graphics competitions never stopped, but the 2010s could nevertheless be considered a period of rejuvenation. As advanced digital painting software like Photoshop became more widely available and easier to use,

880-422: A major effect in shaping the direction of pixel art. Prominent artists would look for ways to innovate, display superior technique, overcome technical restrictions, and in many cases aim for photorealism through anti-aliasing . As the internet became more available in the 1990s, pixel artists and demosceners gradually began to spread their pixel art via websites, instant messaging, and online file sharing. While

968-730: A maximum of 8 or 16 colors) were argued by some to be a defining feature of pixel art. One example is the so-called "8 color gentlemen's club", consisting of pixel artists who celebrated pixel art with 8 colors. The use of transparent layers and smudging tools was also considered non-pixel art and unacceptable for the Pixel Joint gallery. Whereas the demoscene had, to a large degree, revolved around physical gatherings and groups of artists, musicians, and programmers collaborating, pixel art communities on Pixel Joint and Pixelation were based mostly on online interaction among individual artists. On Pixel Joint, pixel art made through collaboration between artists

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1056-446: A particular style, many pixel artists alternate between different styles in their works. Pixel art is a flexible medium and shares traditions of figure drawing, landscapes, and abstract with traditional media. However, certain genres have emerged as particularly popular. These genres often overlap, but include: Essentially all raster graphics editors can be used in some way for pixel art, some of which include features designed to make

1144-475: A party of up to 8 characters. The game's estimated length is up to 30 or 40 hours. Chained Echoes is set on the continent of Valandis during the time of a multi-generational war between three kingdoms, Taryn, Gravos and Escanya. After a great catastrophe caused by grand grimoire shakes the continent, kingdoms agree to sign a peace treaty. One year later, an unknown force strives to begin a new war. Group of unlikely heroes join forces in order to stop it. The game

1232-536: A piece to be reasonably called "pixel art" have been the source of great disagreement among professionals and enthusiasts. In general, the construction of a pixel image can be very similar to that of a digital artwork, particularly during the early sketching phases. The part in which the biggest distinction is made is the final pixel-by-pixel polishing. Oekaki is a form of digital art done at small resolutions that present many similarities with pixel art. However, in Oekaki,

1320-453: A pivotal decade for pixel art establishing itself as an artform practiced around the world, separate from other forms of digital art. In particular, the Pixelation forum and Pixel Joint gallery are credited as the most influential English-speaking online communities, connecting pixel artists all over the world in a way that the mostly Western European demoscene movement had not. Pixelation was

1408-667: A separate art form. Gradually, professional artists and graphic designers had a bigger impact in the video game industry. Sierra Entertainment released Mystery House , pixelled by Roberta Williams , and the King's Quest series; and Lucasfilm Games released games such as Maniac Mansion , Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders , and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure . Mark J. Ferrari, an artist at Lucasfilm Games, later said: When I

1496-424: A separate art medium or art form. After the golden age of demoscene pixel art in the 1990s, many notable pixel artists of that milieu took a break from pixel art in the 2000s - although some made an early transition to join Pixelation and Pixel Joint, such as Gas 13 and Tomic. While activity did decline, the demoscene continued to explore pixel art on platforms from the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly using

1584-476: A variety of tools, such as free-hand/pencil, lines, and rectangles. One key difference between pixel art and other digital art is that pixel artists tend to apply a single color at a time, avoiding tools such as soft edges, smudging, and blurring. Agreeing on which tools and techniques are considered non-pixel art (NPA) is something that has caused considerable disagreement in the past. For example, applying layers with different filters that adjust hue or light values

1672-405: A web forum where artists could share pixel art to give and receive feedback. Its main focus was critiquing, developing skills and understanding of pixel art, more so than simply sharing art for the sake of admiration, entertainment, or competition. Pixel Joint is an online gallery where members can submit personal work and comment on other members' pixel art. It has features such as weekly challenges,

1760-536: A year of considering the story concept. The game had a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2019. The game was published by Deck13 . The music was developed over 4 years by Eddie Marianukroh and includes 50 tracks at 2 hours in length. The PC and Switch versions of Chained Echoes have received "universal acclaim", while the PlayStation 4 version has received "generally favorable" reviews on Metacritic . Rock Paper Shotgun said that " Chained Echoes has taken all

1848-428: Is a form of digital art drawn with graphical software where images are built using pixels as the only building block. It is widely associated with the low-resolution graphics from 8-bit and 16-bit era computers , arcade machines and video game consoles , in addition to other limited systems such as LED displays and graphing calculators , which have a limited number of pixels and colors available. The art form

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1936-563: Is a subject of debate, but an artwork is usually considered as such if deliberate thought was put into each individual pixel of the image. Standard digital artworks or low-resolution photographs are also composed of pixels, but they would only be considered pixel art if the individual pixels were placed with artistic intent, even if the pixels are clearly visible or prominent ( see Definition ). The phrases " dot art " and " pixel pushing " are sometimes used as synonyms for pixel art, particularly by Japanese artists. A much more popular variation

2024-561: Is broad including discussions on ethics when using computers in writing programs, how discourse can be produced through technologies, software development, and computer-aided literacy instruction. Some topics include hypertext theory, visual rhetoric , multimedia authoring, distance learning , digital rhetoric , usability studies, the patterns of online communities, how various media change reading and writing practices, textual conventions, and genres. Other topics examine social or critical issues in computer technology and literacy, such as

2112-401: Is considered a non-pixel art technique, but the resulting art may still be considered pixel art if there's a clear foundation of deliberate placement of pixels. To preserve the careful pixel placement, pixel art is preferably stored in a file format utilizing lossless data compression. The JPEG format, for example, is often avoided because of its compression, as it introduces visible artifacts in

2200-535: Is evident by the feminist roots of the conference and subfield. The conference's feminist roots are evident in its support of minority scholars and scholarship. Awards such as the Hawisher and Selfe Caring for the Future Scholarship provide opportunities for new presenters in Computers and Writing related fields to attend the conference. This scholarship is preferably awarded to minority scholars who are involved in

2288-433: Is no well-known tradition of pixel art from the 1970s that differentiated between the deliberate placement of pixels or the aestheticization of individual pixels in contrast to other forms of digital painting or digital art. For this reason, one could argue that pixel art was not a recognized medium or artform in the 1970s. In what is sometimes referred to as the golden age of video games or golden age of arcade video games ,

2376-425: Is not accurate anymore. The following is a better way to interpret it: "The process that leads to the final artwork is less relevant than the final result. If the pixels play an important individual role in the final composition , it will be broadly regarded as a pixel art piece by most artists independently of the techniques that may have been implemented to achieve that result." A common characteristic in pixel art

2464-459: Is often regarded as beginning in the early 1990s. Before the 1990s, display systems were mostly based on a small 4-bit palette of imposed colors (16 fixed shades innate to each system, often incompatible with one another). The coming decade greatly improved the graphics standard with the appearance of increased color depth and indexed color palettes (For example, 512 colors for the Atari ST and

2552-421: Is optimistic regarding technology's influence on writing. The conference also examines and voices fears and concerns related to computer technology. Some of these fears are related to institutional policies and control as well as the fear of being overwhelmed by the constant march of technological innovation. The conference has also explored how computer-mediated writing can be used in socially responsible ways, as

2640-716: Is still employed to this day by pixel artists and game studios, even though the technological limitations have since been surpassed. Most works of pixel art are also restrictive both in file size and the number of colors used in their color palette because of software limitations—to achieve a certain aesthetic or simply to reduce the perceived noise. Older forms of pixel art tend to employ smaller palettes, with some video games being made using just two colors (1-bit color depth ). Because of these self-imposed limitations, pixel art presents strong similarities with many traditional restrictive art forms such as mosaics , cross-stitch and fuse beads . The precise definition of pixel art

2728-400: Is the low overall color count in the image. Pixel art as a medium mimics a lot of traits found in older video game graphics, rendered by machines capable of only outputting a limited number of colors at once. Additionally, many pixel artists are of the opinion that in most cases, using a large number of colors, especially when very similar to each other in value, is unnecessary, and detracts from

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2816-427: Is the term spriting , which sometimes refers to the activity of making pixel art elements for video games specifically. The concept most likely originated from the word sprite , which is used in computer graphics to describe a two-dimensional bitmap that can be used as a building block in the construction of larger scenes. The majority of pixel artists agree that an image can only be categorized as pixel art when

2904-768: The Mega Drive , 4,096 for the Amiga ECS , 32,768 for the Super Nintendo , and 16,777,216 for the Amiga AGA and the VGA mode of the PCs). During the 1990s, 2D games with manually painted graphics saw increasing competition from 3-dimensional games and games using pre-rendered 3D assets. Still, pixel art games like Flashback , The Secret of Monkey Island , The Chaos Engine , Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike , and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to

2992-546: The Nintendo Entertainment System (1983) and Master System (1985). The term pixel art was first published in a journal letter by Adele Goldberg and Robert Flegal of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in 1982. The practice, however, goes back at least 11 years before that, for example in Richard Shoup's SuperPaint system in 1972, also at Xerox PARC. Because of the severe restrictions of early graphics,

3080-533: The Smithsonian Institution museum of Washington created an exhibition called The Art of Video Games , attended by almost 700,000 people. Although some commenters had predicted the decline of "retro" pixel art after a wave of pixel art games in the 2010s, pixel art has continued to remain popular in the current decade. One major contributing factor seems to have been the COVID-19 pandemic, as people around

3168-627: The #sworcery hashtag went viral, contributing to the renewed interest in pixel art in video games. Pixel Joint and Pixelation remained important communities with a growing number of contributors, but the 2010s saw the rise of new communities on Reddit , DeviantArt , Instagram , and Twitter. While Pixelation, in particular, had a core of very dedicated, often professional, pixel artists and Pixel Joint had moderators who accepted or rejected submissions to its online gallery, new pixel art communities in social media were naturally less cohesive, yet more open. Not only did social media contribute significantly to

3256-467: The 1980s saw a period of innovation in video games, both as a new artform and a form of entertainment. During the early 1980s, video game creators were mainly programmers and not graphic designers. Technological innovation led to market pressure for more representational and "realistic" graphics in games. As graphics improved, it became possible to replace hand-drawn game assets with imported pictures or 3D polygons, which contributed to pixel art developing as

3344-455: The 1990s and early 2000s. The conference has been held annually since 1988, which is the year that the CCCC Committee on Computers established a subcommittee to support the Computers and Writing Conference. While the journal Computers and Composition , founded by Cynthia Selfe and Kate Kiefer in 1983, is not officially connected to the Computers and Writing Conference, both began around

3432-411: The 2000s, pixel art was largely abandoned in favor of more modern graphics, particularly based on 3D. Many professional game artists who had been working with pixel art either left the industry or switched to other forms of digital art. This arguably contributed to pixel art establishing itself as an independent art form, practiced mostly by independent artists rather than game industry employees. There are

3520-548: The Commodore 64 and Atari computers. Pixel doll communities grew rapidly during the 2000s, in large part due to the continued growth of forums, message boards, and chat services. With websites like the Doll Palace, Eden Enchanted, DeviantArt, and many personal websites, pixel dolls were increasingly recognized as a new art form, with public feedback, competition, tutorials, best practices, and rules of conduct. The 2000s were arguably

3608-605: The Past had a major influence on future artists in the game industry, the contemporary demoscene and the aesthetic of pixel art in later decades. In addition to pixel art influenced by video games, pixel artists (or graphicians) in the demoscene continued to make pixel art for demos and cracktros. Some demoscene pixel artists active in the 1990s have cited movies and urban graffiti as important influences for their art, particularly in designing logos. In addition to copying sprites from existing video games, demoscene pixel artists also copied

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3696-637: The aesthetic of 1980s video games had a major impact on contemporary and future pixel art, both in video games, the demoscene graphics and among independent artists. As computers became more affordable in the 1980s, software such as DEGAS Elite (1986) for the Atari ST, Deluxe Paint (1985) and Deluxe Paint 2 (1986) for the Commodore Amiga , and Paint Magic for the Commodore 64 , inspired many later pixel artists to create digital art by careful placement of pixels. In

3784-483: The age of communication technology, amateurs and experts collaborate to create, sustain and develop virtual communities based on what James Paul Gee and Elisabeth Hayes have called "passionate affinity spaces ", or communities organized around "a shared endeavor, interest, or passion". Technology, specifically blogs, can be a way to build learning communities and help students learn to write authentically for and respond to various audiences by making their writing public. On

3872-401: The art form. One widely used technique is dithering , commonly using noise or a repeating pattern such as a checkerboard or lines to create a third color when seen from a distance. Other common techniques include anti-aliasing (AA) where strong edges are softened by manually placing pixels, and sub-pixelling, changing the colors of pixels to create an illusion of movement. Because pixel art is

3960-514: The book Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice, From the Afronet to Black lives Matter . Emerging Voices: Antonio Byrd, an assistant professor of English at the University of Missouri-Kansas City; Wilfredo Flores, a PhD Candidate in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures at Michigan State University and a co-founder of Queering Medicine; Constance Haywood,

4048-598: The case of the Commodore 64 and the Amstrad CPC , some early pixel artists used joysticks and keyboards to pixel. With the rise of the demoscene movement in Europe in the late 1980s, artists who were proficient with creating pixel art using 8-bit computers like the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum or 16-bit computers like the Atari ST began to publish their pixel art as demos. Demogroups would often include coders (programmers), musicians, and graphicians, where graphicians were

4136-429: The conflicts. Also looming behind the issue of culture in computer and writing is the digital divide . Cynthia Selfe showed that unequal access to technological literacy is situated in unequal social, cultural, economic, and political situations. As Selfe wrote, "computers continue to be distributed along the related axes of race and socioeconomic status and this distribution continues to ongoing patterns of racism and to

4224-400: The continued growth of pixel art, and more traffic to older pixel art websites, but websites like Tumblr , Twitter, and Instagram also gave significant global attention to new pixel artists outside of the traditional pixel art communities, such as Waneella and Pixel Jeff. During the 2010s, the demoscene arguably entered a silver age , as several older artists returned to their hobbies after

4312-650: The demoscene was arguably most popular among young men, an online movement began in the late 1990s known as pixel dolls or 'dollz', which was popular among young women. The increased popularity of online chatting and personal webpages at a time before digital cameras were common led to an increased demand for personal representation through personalized avatars . These avatars often took the form of pixel dolls, being pixel art characters that could be outfitted with different clothing and accessories. As pixel dolls grew more and more common, many pixel artists gradually began to develop this as an independent artform. The 2000s were

4400-452: The development of technological literacy . Drawing from the literacy narratives of two participants, Hawisher, Selfe, Moraski, and Pearson theorized five themes emergent from the cultural ecology of literacy, namely the "cultural, material, educational, and familial contexts" that shape and are shaped by literacy development. The five themes of cultural ecology emphasize that technological literacy goes through life spans, that literacy provides

4488-436: The early fall of 2022, Pixelation announced the closing of its webforum and a transition to Twitter. Pixel art continued to be a popular style in games across platforms, with releases such as Eastward (2021), Loop Hero (2021), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (2022), Songs of Conquest (2022), and Pizza Tower (2023) Some argued that the recent wave of pixel art games, released thirty years after

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4576-408: The field. While the conference was originally more focused on software and hardware decisions and use, the conference has become more concerned with the theoretical application of computers in writing pedagogy and practice. This attention to theory mirrors a shift to embrace multimodal compositions as texts and interdisciplinary growth as the conference became more mainstream and established in

4664-515: The first instances of pixel art in video games were relatively abstract. The low resolution of computers and game consoles forced game designers to carefully design game assets by deliberate placement of individual pixels, to form recognizable symbols, characters, or items. Simple function-based avatars (or player-surrogates) such as spaceships, cars, or tanks required a minimum of animation and computing power, while enemies, terrain, and power-ups were often represented by symbols or simple designs. Due to

4752-578: The game industry coincided with the rapid growth of pixel art communities. Owlboy's art director, Simon Andersen, explained that he wanted to show the advantages of the pixel as an art medium, pushing the potential of the artistic technique and showcase pixel art done properly, without millions of colors or 3D captures. In contrast, the heavily stylized and abstract Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP made extensive use of filters and non-pixel art graphics. Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery also allowed players to share various in-game achievements on Twitter ,

4840-415: The height of pixel doll popularity, in part because of various online communities that made use of pixel dolls for avatars and the popularity of internet forums in an age before social media. Despite this, there was relatively little interaction between the pixel doll communities and other pixel art communities such as Pixel Joint, Pixelation, or the demoscene. In video games for computers and consoles during

4928-607: The image. Different restrictions are central to pixel art, and these are often traced back to technical limitations of hardware such as Amiga, Commodore 64, NES, and early computers. The two most common restrictions are resolution and palette, and pixel artists often work with a significantly reduced canvas size and number of colors compared to other digital artists. (Lee, p. 276) Examples include Commodore 64 restrictions (320x200 resolution, 16 colors), original ZX Spectrum restrictions (256x192 pixels, 15 colors), and GameBoy restrictions (160x144 pixels, 4 colors). Some artists start

5016-421: The issue has certainly become more controversial with the rise of NFTs. Perhaps linked to the increased influence and attraction of social media platforms like Twitter, Mastodon , Reddit, and Instagram, older pixel art communities on Pixelation and DeviantArt declined in the 2020s. Discord became an important platform for pixel art communities like Pixel Joint, PAD (Pixel Art Discord), Lospec, and Trigonomicon. In

5104-855: The issues of the " digital divide ", equitable access to computer-writing resources, and critical technological literacies. Many studies by scientists have shown that writing on computer is better than writing in a book "Computers and Writing" is also the name of an academic conference (see § Conference and Conference History below). This interdisciplinary field has grown out of rhetoric and composition studies . Members do scholarly work and teach in allied and diverse areas as technical and professional communication , linguistics , sociology , and law . Important journals supporting this field are Computers & Composition , Computers & Composition Online , and Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy . The professional organization Conference on College Composition and Communication has

5192-499: The learning process in our digitally infused moment. During the 1960s and 1970s, which was also known as the "Birth of Composition," computer-assisted instruction was used to observe students and provided instant positive, negative, or constructive feedback. How computers and digital technologies would impact writers' efficiency and quality of work was being determined. Initial debate came from how best to balance creativity and technical construction in writing. Many teachers thought that

5280-412: The limited hardware of the 1970s, abstraction, as in the case of Pong 's relatively simple design, sometimes led to better game readability and commercial success than attempting more detailed representational art. Although computers had been used to create art since the 1960s and microcomputers were used in the late 1970s and there are examples of digital art utilizing a more pixelated aesthetic, There

5368-464: The medium for people to exert their agency, that literacy occurs and develops both within and outside of school contexts, that the conditions of access influence people's literacy development, and that literacy practices and values transmit via family units. Kristine Blair pointed to the positive impacts of cultural conflicts in constructing online discourses and political discussions, while at the same time warning that students may not transform exposure to

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5456-402: The most profiled examples of pixel artists expressing opposition to NFTs is Castpixel, citing environmental effects and artificial scarcity. Furthermore, as is the case with other forms of digital art, pixel artists have also discovered many cases of plagiarism and fraud by actors who download pixel art without permission to sell as NFTs. Although the discussion around pixel art theft is not new,

5544-405: The overall cleanliness of the image, making it look messier. Many experienced pixel artists recommend not using more colors than necessary. As images get higher in resolution, pixels get harder to distinguish from each other, and the importance of their careful placement is diminished, to the point that the concept of pixel art falls apart. The exact point at which this occurs and the conditions for

5632-457: The pixel doll community split into a group of artists using traditional pixel art, known as pixel-shaders, and a group of artists using more advanced tools, known as tool-shaders. As internet forums lost popularity and drawn avatars were increasingly replaced by photos in internet communities, the pixel dolling community gradually became less active in this decade. Perhaps because of the rise of pixel art in video games and social media, pixel art

5720-475: The pixels of modern digital computing. Some of the earliest examples of pixel art could be found in analog electronic advertising displays, such as the ones from New York City during the early 20th century, with simple monochromatic light bulb matrix displays extant circa 1937. Pixel art as it is known today largely originates from the golden age of arcade video games , with games such as Space Invaders (1978) and Pac-Man (1980), and 8-bit consoles such as

5808-520: The pixels play an important individual role in the composition of the artwork, which usually requires deliberate control over the placement of each individual pixel. When purposefully editing in this way, changing the position of a few pixels can have a drastic effect on the image. Modern pixel art software incorporates tools that automatically place multiple pixels at once (such as fill tools, line tools, and brush tools), therefore defining pixel art as "art in which an artist has placed each individual pixel"

5896-818: The placement of individual pixels is not considered as important compared to the general feel of the artwork, giving it a characteristic "messy" or jagged look. There are plenty of algorithms that have been used to facilitate the creation or editing of pixel art, such as using 3D shaders within software like Blender to generate complex effects or rotating objects, that are later imported into pixel art software . There also exist many interpolation algorithms calibrated specifically for pixel art. Some traditional art forms, like counted-thread embroidery (including cross-stitch ) and some kinds of mosaic and beadwork , are very similar to pixel art and could be considered as non-digital counterparts or predecessors. These art forms construct pictures out of small colored units similar to

5984-429: The process easier. See Comparison of raster graphics editors for a list of notable raster graphics editors. The following notable programs were designed specifically to facilitate drawing pixel art. Computers and writing Computers and writing is a sub-field of college English studies about how computers and digital technologies affect literacy and the writing process. The range of inquiry in this field

6072-515: The process of pixelling by drawing line art, while others begin by blocking in simple shapes and big clusters. Traditionally, pixel art was done on a single layer, similar to painting on a canvas, but modern software permits work with multiple layers, potentially adding animation or transparency to the foreground while keeping a static background. To deal with the various restrictions of pixel art, such as reduced resolution or colors, pixel artists have traditionally employed several techniques specific to

6160-507: The quality of the best classic Japanese role-playing games since " Chained Echoes not only meets that standard, but if it was released back on the SNES when Final Fantasy IV , V , and VI were flying high, people would have considered them comparable." Screen Rant called the game "a must-play", because it is "a fresh, smart adventure that celebrates classic JRPGs while not being afraid to push into new directions". Pixel art Pixel art

6248-454: The release of the SNES, was largely influenced by nostalgia and freedom from publishers, responding to unoriginal stories in modern video game blockbusters and wanting to integrate contemporary themes, such as ecological concerns and representation of queer characters. Pixel art typically involves more careful and deliberate placement of pixels compared to other forms of digital art. Artists use different brush sizes (e.g. 1x1 or 2x2 pixels) and

6336-409: The right lessons from its 16-bit inspirations... [feeling] modern and nostalgic at the same time". Siliconera praised the game because "[t]he 16-bit art feels right for the style of the game, everyone in the large cast of characters feels distinct, the story is engaging, and the battle system feels familiar and unique at the same time." Nintendo Life called it one of the best role-playing games of

6424-709: The same color. The opposite of a cluster is an isolated pixel (1x1) surrounded by pixels of other colors. Cluster size has become an important marker of pixel art styles, where some pixel art uses large clusters and avoids isolated (orphan) pixels, whereas other works use clusters of all sizes in combination with isolated pixels, or even rely primarily on isolated pixels and small clusters for a more grainy, noisy texture. Styles that rely more on small clusters and isolated pixels often have similarities with pointillism and impressionism, whereas pixel art with larger clusters and geometric shapes has similarities with cubism and suprematism . Although some artists have been known for championing

6512-577: The same time and explore the subfield within the larger fields of composition studies and rhetoric . 2003 Purdue University, Indiana 2013 University of Findlay, Ohio 2022 East Carolina University, North Carolina Computers and Writing Conference "Practicing Digital Activisms" was held in East Carolina University, Greenville, NC in May 19-22, 2022. The hashtag for the conference was #CWCon22. Keynote Address: Charlton Mcllwain , author of

6600-409: The social implications of online writing. Scholars analyze how the computer becomes an environment for facilitated writing and communication. The production and consumption of digital, multimodal, and new media texts advances the field's range of study and research. The majority of computers and writing scholars agree that engaging students in the production of such multimodal/digital texts is crucial to

6688-410: The social nature of computer mediated writing. The conference initially presented original or "homemade" software design associated with word processing and editing, but eventually switched to commercial software as commercial software became more common for both individual students and educational institutions. The conference has a history of technological optimism , and the scholarship presented

6776-873: The subject "writing" because the students are required to know much more. Computers and writing pedagogies must be dynamic and adaptable to how technology, media, and the sociopolitical spaces operate in a constant state of flux. Emerging forms of pedagogies address "Digital Activism" and the use of social media on political communication and advocacy. Computers and digital media offer innovative ways to engage rhetorically with one another. Studying how students develop their digital literacy through their connecting their previous interactions with technologies to new forms by means of metaphors and mental models. Teaching theoretical composing concepts through scaffolding can build students' digital literacy both with current and future technologies and programs. These skills advance critical media awareness when working with digital media. In

6864-416: The technology programs offered needed improvement because they did not allow for the creative expression of the students, acting only as an evaluator, reader, and feedback agent. Now the programs require multimodality, creativity, and technical complexity. The problems the students face in these programs now require much more comprehensive thinking and creativity to the point that it is difficult to still call

6952-409: The virtual playing field, knowledge and talent matter more than degrees and professional memberships, so these spaces offer students a new learning environment and space to collaborate on the production and distribution of knowledge. Aligning with the notion of "affinity space", composition scholars have coined the term " cultural ecology " to examine the complex social and cultural contexts that shape

7040-421: The work of popular artists and illustrators such as Ian Miller and Simon Bisley . Competition gradually became an increasingly important part of demoscene gatherings, including pixel art (graphics) competitions, and as teenagers and young adults were the major demographic in these gatherings, a lot of demoscene pixel art referenced familiar fantasy, science fiction and cyberpunk tropes. Demoscene competitions had

7128-551: The world spent more time online, playing games, using social media and developing new hobbies. A second contributing factor seems to have been the rise of NFTs , as pixel art became an inexpensive way to produce large numbers of artworks. As the market for NFTs grew rapidly, many pixel artists embraced the new technology as a new source of income. Many notable professional artists also expressed skepticism and disapproval of NFTs, citing environmental factors, pyramid scheme claims, and money laundering as reasons for rejecting offers. One of

7216-412: The year and "a wonderful mash-up of '90s JRPG tropes, masterfully woven together to produce an experience that feels simultaneously nostalgic and fresh". Windows Central spoke positively about the combat system and story, saying that "for those players with ingrained nostalgia for classic SNES JRPGs, Chained Echoes is an absolute must have title". Digitally Downloaded said that the game would reach

7304-422: Was also seen in other areas of popular culture and even made its way to public museums. Ivan Dixon and Paul Robertson received international attention for making a pixel art version of The Simpsons ' introduction sequence. Eboy became well known for their isometric pixel art displays, often used for advertisement or sold as independent art. The work of pixel artists such as Octavi Navarro and Gustavo Viselner

7392-412: Was featured in major newspapers and magazines. French urban artist Invader received international attention for his urban pixel art mosaics, seen around the world. Among 1980s-inspired synthwave artists and groups, pixel art was used to make music videos, such as Valenberg's work for Perturbator and a Gunship music video by pixel artists Jason Tammemagi, Gyhyom, Mary Safro, and Waneella. In 2012,

7480-488: Was first hired by Lucasfilm Games in 1987 to do artwork for their computer games, pixel graphics was not thought of by anyone as an 'art form'. The use of pixels was not an aesthetic choice – as it certainly is now. If anything, pixels were an unavoidable and very irksome obstacle to the creation of any 'real art' for use in the exciting but bewildering new realm of computer entertainment. There were no pixel artists then – at all! There were only traditional artists. Nevertheless,

7568-402: Was informal at first, but has grown from a grassroots organized conference to an established, mainstream conference that examines the ways in which computers change writing practice and pedagogy. In earlier conferences, the scholarship presented often explored how computers influenced individual writers, but during the late 1980s and 1990s, scholarship shifted to hypertext and hypermedia , and

7656-632: Was made by the German developer Matthias Linda, who grew up making fan games with RPG Maker . His favorite games included Xenogears , Terranigma , Secret of Mana , Suikoden 2 , Breath of Fire , The Legend of Dragoon and Final Fantasy VI , all of which influenced his development of Chained Echoes . He was mindful not to copy them, instead trying to capture his experience of playing them, which he remembers as "in my head, all these games look and play better than they actually did." The game's development nearly took 7 years, beginning in 2016 after

7744-486: Was not accepted in the gallery but considered a separate pursuit. The relatively strict ideas of what constituted acceptable pixel art, enforced by moderators on Pixel Joint, led to repeated conflict but also contributed to pixel art standing out as a separate medium at a time when many types of digital paintings were shared on the internet, on websites like DeviantArt. In particular, several prominent artists mention Cure's tutorials as significant for learning about pixel art as

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