You know, I often find myself wondering what crazy idea game jam organizers are going to come up with… and now something like this has come along! Ain’t every day a jam celebrates the distant past with what’s essentially a huge pixel party. Darn shame, because while low-res visuals aren’t for everyone, there’s no denying that they do carry a certain charm.
It’s no secret to regular readers that I’m a huge fan of pixel art in video games, although in this case, we’re not talking about 640×480 or even 320×200 in terms of resolution. Nope – #LOWREZJAM goes all the way back/down to… 32×32! Madness? Hardly. Oh alright, maybe a bit. Hasn’t stopped more than fifty developers from submitting their games, although it seems that more than a few have not been released yet. Patience, virtue and so on, I guess.
The idea of this is not to create a retro pixel art game, but rather to challenge your skills in making an enjoyable gaming experience using a minimal amount of detail.
With little over eighteen days on the clock, it’s not too late to consider partaking in this blocky jam. “Create a game with a maximum screen resolution of 32×32 pixels” is the only rule after all, and that’s hardly a complex one. Theme, genre, platform? None of that nonsense. This one’s all about making a low-res game and having fun while doing so, the only restriction being the low resolution.
Here’s to playing some interesting games in a couple of weeks, once #LOWREZJAM 2014 has run its course, and of course, the hope of a #LOWREZJAM 2015!
