Learn by doing
Pixel Art Academy's interactive tutorials are designed for learning by doing. While there will be plenty of nerdy reading, all lessons are immediately followed by drawing what you've learned.
Test your knowledge
Before you move on, you want to make sure you understand what you've been learning. Pixel Art Academy uses formative assessment to identify gaps in knowledge so that you can apply further study and practice to build strong fundamentals.
Become a game artist
You can't be an artist by just copying other people's work. It's time to create your own art! In Pixel Art Academy, you will be working on various projects, most of them creating art for classic games such as snake, invaders, block breaker, and pinball creator.
Play your creations
Immediate feedback is very important. Start up the game and see how your sprites look in context. Then jump back to the canvas and immediately see your changes.
Future development
I've been working on Pixel Art Academy for almost a decade, building the game's engine, writing the story, and narrowing down the learning design. While the bigger adventure game that I have in mind is still far from complete, the game's educational core is ready to be shared with a wider audience. That's why I created Learn Mode, a standalone single-player version that includes just the polished learning content.During the Early Access period, I will create tutorials, challenges, and projects that cover the major pixel art fundamentals (jaggies, dithering, and aliasing), applied to different areas (characters, environments, items). After this first course gets a full release, the development will continue to other areas (drawing from observation, perspective, shading …) as well as integration of the new content into the game's full Adventure Mode.
TL;DR:
Draw Quickly minigame with 94 subjects to draw.
[/*]Symbolic drawing mode where the computer guesses what you\'re drawing.
[/*]Realistic drawing mode where you apply simplification with a reference.
[/*]
I like to follow the tutorialchallengeproject progression where learning new theory continues to practice and then a creative project where you apply the new knowledge freeform.
The Simplification tutorial is no different and so in between learning abstraction (tutorial) and drawing your own icons (project, coming in the future), I wanted to squeeze in a fun challenge called Draw Quickly.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/4378026e8ac74223d5a4a683a32865702c3d76b8.png\"][/img]
To keep things black and white, I put it on the Pixeltosh. I can easily imagine how I\'d be playing wtih an educational software like this in the 80s.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/2200ea2968bc99508a2257528b61a6d3f6be32cd.png\"][/img]
Symbolic drawing mode is very much like Pictionary, where the computer is trying to guess which of the 10 things you\'re currently drawing.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/c68b636a0d47f64fea1a4c4e5bb86451d90d5e2c.gif\"][/img]
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/671c6f68db5a902137df1cda6b3f51169d95e698.png\"][/img]
Behind the scenes, there\'s a tiny neural network doing the guessing. It can only recognize 94 items, so it\'s far from perfect, but good enough for some quick fun.
After you\'re done drawing things like apples and fish, you can move onto harder things.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/23e032be0b8ed01f5347a745c0dc9f772e25ea98.png\"][/img]
It\'s similar in realistic drawing mode, going from simple to complex drawings.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/80812744631dbb5cb0d8855dacdacbbbfdc11b83.png\"][/img]
This time, however, you draw with the help of a reference, each time having less time to draw, so it forces you to simplify and decide which of the lines are the most important.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/41717be4ed0618cc6d25975fbe93069109416660.gif\"][/img]
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/b03c94afd9b80e6245b9af8587bed66db54a46e9.png\"][/img]
I prepared references for all 94 possible subjects and I hope you\'ll have fun discovering them all.
Two devlogs cover the development of this feature, first the neural network training sprint , and then the Draw Quickly one .
Next up I\'ll have to organize the tutorials a little bit better since there would be too many to display in the portfolio as I add more in the future.
See you then!\nRetro
The paths stopped showing in some of the pixel art curves lessons due to upgraded paths. Had to change one line of code and now it works again. Yay!
TL;DR:
Simplification tutorial.
[/*]3D references that can be manipulated.
[/*]
This update brings a new tutorial about simplifying shapes from realistic to highly stylized.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/323af848cba8f04d378620dc4b96cf54750a85e6.png\"][/img]
4 techniques are presented, which can be used in various degrees and combinations. The silhouette lesson shows that if you choose a good angle you don\'t need any details for an object to be recognizable.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/a2072cfde621a511afc960a8641c20a5b1d7380a.gif\"][/img]
I had to implement a new type of 3D reference that you can manipulate to solve the lesson. Besides being able to rotate the 3D model, you can also add or remove detailsone of the most used approaches in simplification.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/bb5700e44e9ca3f121b878ad7756d9c1161f2c2a.gif\"][/img]
You can change the objects\' proportions to make lines and shapes more readable.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/8e8111f48ab56a135694fb157f19c45b407245f3.gif\"][/img]
And you can morph the shapes themselves towards their basic versions (circles, squares, horizontal/vertical/45 degree lines).
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/1d386d25145cddd150fed4d64d2fc8a47f903b56.gif\"][/img]
Each stylization lesson comes with 3 references to choose from and there\'s a final lesson where you study various characters from ZX Spectrum games, from realistic to simplified.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/ac234d402e48cbe68aa9fbe39b67b9ddd3d3800c.png\"][/img]As always, you can go behind the scenes and hear my thoughts on the lessons in the devlog:
If you\'ve done all the tutorials so far you\'ll notice that the portfolio folder is getting pretty stuffed, so I\'ll have to deal with that soon, but perhaps a new challenge could come first. I guess we\'ll find out in the next update!
Thank you all for playing and giving the game a chance!
Cheers,\nRetro
TL;DR:
10-year anniversary video going over a decade of Pixel Art Academy development.
[/*]Play other educational games on Back to School Games Celebration.
[/*]
Most of you probably don\'t know the history behind Pixel Art Academy: Learn Mode. It started as an idea to give players an experience of going to art school, but you\'d also learn a real drawing skill along the way.
The project proved to be a bigger dream than I imagined, so 7 years into development I decided to release the competed lessons as a standalone version, now known as Learn Mode.
In my 10-year anniversary video I go over this project\'s beginning on Kickstarter, a bit chaotic development of the adventure parts, and the eventual switch to a more focused, polished experience.
I hope you will enjoy learning a bit more about the motivation behind the project:
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/a44a1ee427d0e85cac04995fd444b1401694019d.png\"][/img]
I didn\'t do a sale to celebrate this big milestone exactly on the anniversary as I knew that Back to School Games Celebration will be happening later this month and now it\'s finally here!
I love taking part in this event because I am so inspired by the games from the 90s that had an educational component. It\'s absolutely wonderful to see other indie games that give the same feeling.
So check out the event to find some other learning games or productivity tools you might enjoy:
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44695353/sale/BacktoSchoolGamesCelebration2025
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/fe3a11d0a5b5b463ae11f965dd580f670e2e28fc.png\"][/img]
That\'s it for this time, I\'ll be back with a new game update next time as we dive towards simplification, pixel art scale, and eventually the next challenge.
Thank you for all the wonderful reviews, feedback, and support on this journey!
Retro
A player reported they were getting an EPERM error on Windows during the autosave, so I fixed my file system handling to avoid this.\n\nI also noticed while debugging this that the Invasion project unlocked too soon (when you finished the Shape tutorial). I fixed it so it correctly unlocks after the Shape language tutorial.
TL;DR:
Invasion project (a shmup game for PICO-8) unlocks after you complete Shape language.
[/*]Customize the Invasion design document on the Pixeltosh.
[/*]Chronoscope, a magazine with science fiction artworks for inspiration and reference.
[/*]A new dynamic soundtrack song plays in Pixel art fundamentals and Invasion project.
[/*]
After a bunch of theory around designing shapes, it\'s time to put things into practice by drawing sprites for a simple, single-screen shoot em\' up.
It runs on PICO-8, so it\'s not a long project like the Pinball game, but it\'s not as simple as the Snake game either. The extra bit of functionality is that you have the chance to customize the design document for the game.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/76870449c0ce8178dccff9b1336aef9220cfa51b.png\"][/img]
You can change every underlined word in the document
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/29dacaf049a75a6ba83d20bf542dad37b53084a5.png\"][/img]
and adjust plenty of numeric properties.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/91033afe544f4cdd72cfe4f6a326a9e2c5732809.png\"][/img]
The main thing is of course still to draw the sprites.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/6a9c32ec4ad0ea8c0233ef6370f007658ed53cc0.png\"][/img]
And you have a new magazine/book available if you choose to design your game with the science fiction theme.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/e21825fb6f04b920c655b272e6bc93b566f66882.png\"][/img]
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/d3bd63c257750e7b83bb4c4f8247b162aa0aab94.png\"][/img]
Of course you get to play the game and tweak it until you\'re happy with the gameplay.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/44592760/18b78ac21095830ccd5a297c8875ad6e0b911ad6.png\"][/img]
There was also a new song added to the game\'s OST (you can hear it when you don\'t have a cassette tape playing in the Music app) and I\'m so happy with how it turned out. It appears at the end of the devlog as well:
I hope you will have fun coming up with creative ways to change the design. I can make it even more advanced in the future (multiple sprites for invaders, invaders that attack out of formation, rotating and animated sprites) as right now it\'s still quite limited, but of course there\'s a million other things to develop too, so I\'ll get back to new tutorials next.
Cheers!\nRetro
TL;DR:
Shape language tutorial.
[/*]Filled rectangle/ellipse tool by clicking again on the ruler.
[/*]Redesigned look of picking up references.
[/*]
You can now unlock the first tutorial in the Design fundamentals course (as soon as you complete the Elements of art: shape). In Shape language, you'll learn from 12 different games, how they use circles, squares, and triangles as the building blocks for their characters.
To aid you with drawing all the shapes, you can now click again on the rectangle or ellipse tool to get the filled variant.
I've also improved the display of references with better drop shadows, which should make exploring all the game cartridges more pleasant.
As always, I go behind the scenes in my devlog.
I hope you will enjoy this learning-from-examples approach. Soon you should be able to put this knowledge into practice as well.
See you then!
Retro
It was discovered that the color help option that draws symbols instead of dots didn't work properly on Windows and Linux (it was misaligned and too big, which made it also impossible to see which pixels to delete). This hotfix attempts to resolve this issue.
Just a bug fix for the Maniac Mansion reference in the Pixel art line art challenge. One of the shapes wasn't completely black and since the game now supports shapes of different colors, it wouldn't let you complete it.
TL;DR:
- Elements of art tutorial on shapes.
- Ruler tool for drawing lines, rectangles, and ellipses.
- A detailed plan for the rest of Learn Mode.
I'm very excited to be working back on new tutorials. Starting off with the next element of art, you will learn how to start a drawing with basic shapes and transform them with details and organic forms.
If you look closely, you will notice a new ruler tool that will speed up drawing of rectangles and ellipses (there will be a LOT of them).
The latest YouTube devlog goes behind the scenes of all the lessons, as well as offers a look at the plan for the rest of the content in Learn Mode.
Given how many sprints it will take to get all the elements of art out, I will now prioritize developing new content over quality-of-life updates, unless of course half of the game breaks or any essential feature requests come up. Let me know in the forums.
Thanks for giving the game a try and I hope you will enjoy the new lessons. Cheers!
Retro
TL;DR:
- Artworks section will appear after you complete the pixel art evaluation challenge.
- Create custom artworks with up to 16 colors.
- Basic, monoramp, system, and modern palettes.
- Fullscreen artwork preview.
- Export the image as a PNG at varying scales.
Many of you have been asking for the ability to create your own artworks inside the game, so I enabled this feature.
This is not meant as a replacement for dedicated drawing softwarethe game's built-in editor is too barebones for that. Still, if you want to play around with the game's tools and pixel art evaluation, you will now unlock the Artworks section after completing the fan art challenge.
Creating an artwork comes with a neat little interface for selecting color palettes.
The current limitation of the editor is having palettes with up to 16 colors, but once I add the color element of art tutorial, this should be increased.
You can preview your artwork fullscreen by clicking on it in the clipboard.
And when you're happy with your work, you can export it at various magnification levels.
The game will then create a PNG file (or a ZIP if you select multiple scales).
All of this is very limited, but since I thought it was a good feature request, I figured I'd add it sooner rather than later, and it can become more full-featured as the game's future tutorials add more capabilities to the editor.
Here's also the devlog showcasing all this:
That's enough quality-of-life updates for now though. I'm looking forward to getting back to creating new learning content with the next development sprint.
Best,
Retro
TL;DR:
- New dynamic soundtrack song for the Elements of Art tutorial.
- Pinball Creation Kit sounds.
I had an odd week before some travel and a family visit so I did a quick update on the audio front.
The game's original soundtrack received a new song by Anna Eicheneuer which will play after the Elements of Art tutorial is unlocked (whenever you don't put on a cassette tape in the Music app, since that overrides the OST).
One thing that didn't make the cut in the past was sound effects in the pinball game. As I had a couple of days left over the weekend after finishing the new song, I quickly threw together some 4-bit Macintosh-style blips and bloops to make playing pinball more tactile.
Can't include screenshots of these things, but you can hear them in the devlog:
During the travels, I'll be designing the rest of the Elements of Art sections, and possibly look into "free draw" mode as a lot of you have been asking for it.
See you a bit (or maybe a byte)!
Retro
TL;DR:
- Renaming and removing of saved games.
- The Continue button in the main menu loads the game you last played.
- 10-pixel grid in the pinball editor.
- Option to use right-clicking instead of the back button.
- Customizable music effects.
- Many other bug fixes and polishing.
Sorry for the delay in this quality-of-life update. I was affected by the fires in Los Angeles, and it took a bit before I could get back to the game's development.
I implemented a bunch of features you've been requesting (listed above) and it was a nice update to get me back into the groove with coding the game.
The main thing many of you have been asking for, you can now edit saved games:
And for those of you trying to do precise pinball designs, the grid could come in handy:
As always, there's a behind-the-scenes devlog where you can see all the changes in practice:
I'll now work on the audio a bit before implementing the second issue of Pinball Magazine, which should conclude the work on the line element of art. Can't wait to get onto the next one (shape) right after.
Best,
Retro
TL;DR:
- Publications offer a way to cut out images and use them as references in your projects.
- Pinball Magazine issue 1 with four articles: prewar pinball machines, gobble holes, bumpers, and gates.
I'm back with another content update, bringing some much-needed help with the pinball project.
If you were feeling a bit lost on how to draw the various pinball parts, you were not alone, and this has finally improved.
When you now start working on your pinball playfield, the game introduces Pinball Magazine, a way for you to learn what you're going to be designing.
As you get access to more parts, new articles will be unlocked.
You can even cut out images and they will appear in the reference tray for you to draw from.
You can use the magazine to get inspired for your own designs (with a beautiful full-screen display of images) or practice by re-creating existing parts from reference.
This is just the first of the improvements on the pinball project. Take a look at the latest devlog to see behind the scenes of this development sprint and my thoughts for the future.
As this is the last update of 2024, I want to thank you for an incredible year. Your support of educational video games means the world to me and it makes me so happy that you're on board with learning in this way. I have so many plans for the future and can't wait to get them all developed with you.
Wishing you all the best for the holidays and I will see you next year!
Retro
Just a tiny one-line bugfix since the color help instructions prevented the drawing of project sprites until the instructions were shown.
Otherwise, I'm in the middle of improving the Pinball project, which will be coming in the next content update.
Cheers!
Retro
TL;DR:
- Color help form to request error detection on your sprite.
- Option to have cross-stitch symbols instead of dots to indicate colors.
Today's quality-of-life update brings a feature requested as early as the demo by people with color vision deficiency but proved necessary in general since some of the sprites contain very similar colors.
You can choose to either get one-time help that shows all the incorrect and missing pixels when you can't find a mistake yourself, or enable constant display of incorrect colors as you go along.
If able, I recommend trying to color-match palette colors with the reference yourself (to train color observation), but if that's too hard, the game is now more accessible with the possibility of changing the small color dots into cross-stitch symbols.
Here's the devlog about it as well:
Next up will be another content update as I quite like this alternating between QoL improvements and new/improved things to do in the game.
Best,
Retro
TL;DR:
- 2 new Pixel art diagonals lessons.
- 3 new Pixel art curves lessons.
- UI indicators where to click in various tutorials.
I completely replaced the diagonals evaluation lesson and broke it down into two much more digestible parts.
To have a better learning curve on the curves tutorial, I put 3 extra lessons before Line art cleanup so that you get introduced to each of the Smooth curves criteria individually before having to apply them yourself.
Finally, the pixel art evaluation tutorials use a new feature where I can (subtly) point to different parts of the interface to make it easier to progress. Apologies to everyone who got stuck figuring out where to click and hover on the evaluation paper!
And if you want to see behind the scenes of this development sprint, check out the devlog:
Thank you for your support and see you in the next one!
Retro
Earlier today I released 0.24.0 with some improvements to a couple of lessons. Accidentally I also broke the Jaggies 2 lesson. I fixed it now in 0.24.1.
If you don't see 0.24.1 in the bottom-right corner when you launch the game, please restart Steam to get it.
Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for quickly reporting this bug, I really appreciate it!
Game-breaking bugs should mostly be solved (no more errors on loading, hopefully), so unless new critical things pop up, I will now be implementing quality-of-life improvements and your feature requests.
Version 0.23 (restart Steam to get the update) brings:
- Better tablet support.
- Right-click erases pixels.
- Brush size shortcuts are now +/- (like Aseprite).
- Change brush size with ctrl + mouse scroll.
- Loading percentage indicator (if loading takes more than a few seconds).
Cheers!
Retro
A big thank you to everyone who decided to take a chance on my little educational game when it released into Early Access last week! The response has been incredible and I'm grateful I will now be able to work full-time on Pixel Art Academy thanks to you.
I'm also very happy to be part of the Wholesome Games Steam Celebration , which started right now! My aim is to make learning a relaxing, encouraging experience, so I'm happy to have found my home in this community. I've extended my release discount to the start of this sale so you can still get it at 10% off for a few more days.
Bug fixes
The game-breaking bugs related to the pinball project have been fixed in the latest build (0.21.6). I now started working on an optimization that will eliminate lag when drawing bigger sprites. Until I release the fix, what helps in the fan art challenge is to only turn on pixel art evaluation criteria at the end to complete the challenge. Disable the criteria while drawing to prevent most of the lag. Sorry about that, will be fixed next!
I'm also writing down all the feature requests you've been sending and will spend a month or two realizing as many quality-of-life improvements as possible. Keep them coming!
Thanks again for the wonderful launch!
Retro
Hello everyone!
As is customary before I do a release, I want to give everyone a few reasons why NOT to buy the game:
- Not all fields of art are covered. Just line art is included with the first Early Access release (about 24 hours of content for a speedy playthrough). The other 6 elements of art (shape, form, space, value, color, and texture) will be added throughout Early Access. So if you're expecting to learn color theory or perspective right away, better wait for full release.
- A lot of quality-of-life and accessibility features are missing for now. Tablet support is not there (except for Apple Pencil). There is no color-blind mode yet. You can't rebind the keys I suggest you try the demo to see what state the game is in from a UI perspective at this point.
- There is no Steam integration yet. Achievements and cloud saves will come sometime down the road, but if these are essential features for you, better wait.
On the other hand, here is why buying Learn Mode in Early Access is for you:
- You want to learn as soon as possible. I like to do frequent updates (every 23 weeks), so when I'll have a new tutorial ready, It'll be immediately released in an update.
- Get the lowest price. The game will never be cheaper than it is right now. The price will slowly get higher as more content is in the game. There will not be any discounts that go cheaper than the price right now out of respect for my Kickstarter backers where the basic game tier was $10. So if you know you will buy it at one point, now is the best price/value.
- Support educational games and full-time development. If you like the idea of learning with video games, buying the game helps support that. Sales of Learn Mode will enable me to work on the game full-time so I can spend the most time developing new features and lessons for everyone to enjoy.
Alternatives to buying right now:
- Try the demo. If you're not sure if the game is for you, the demo covers the first 30 minutes of gameplay. If you like it, the Early Access release will continue straight from there (save files are transferred).
- Learn from my free Study Guide. The topics covered by the game are all in my Low-Resolution Raster Art book. I always put all educational resources I make for the game also out for free to make learning as accessible as possible. If you like my teaching style there, you will probably like the game even more.
I'm very open about my development process so you are very welcome to ask any questions and follow behind-the-scenes content in my devlogs on YouTube to know more about me.
I want this game to be a win-win experience, so I hope this helps to know if now is the right time to buy for you.
With that said, I hope you will enjoy what is in the Early Access version so far!
Cheers!
Retro
Hello, friends!
Only 2 weeks left until the game releases into Early Access. I'm excited, nervous, happy, and all the other emotions that the human brain can produce after working on a game for 9 years. Even though I've been releasing updates to Adventure Mode since 2017, the arrival of Learn Mode to Steam will be a special milestone.
Here's a new trailer showing what you will be able to do in the initial Early Access version:
I'm also overjoyed to announce the release on August 5 will be the big conclusion of the PixElated Festival, a week-long celebration of pixel art games here on Steam, starting next Monday (July 29August 5)!
PixElated will include an art contest where the top artwork will get exhibited on the event page for millions to see. But even if you don't win, the top 10 artists will receive a copy of Pixel Art Academy: Learn Mode! I'm happy I was able to contribute the game as a reward for the event.
Check out the official line-up and more information about the event here: https://pixelatedfest.com
I hope you're as excited as I am!
See you at the festival,
Retro
I'm happy to say that Pixel Art Academy: Learn Mode is now in such a state that it could enter Early Access. The current tentative release date is still in August, so that I have time to do polishing and fixing any critical bugs that might arise through play-tests.
Speaking of playing the game, if you're a streamer and would like to play the current version live, message me on Discord and I can get you pre-release access.
Content-wise, since the last update at the February Steam Next Fest, I've added:
- tutorials for curves and line width,
- a Pinball project for you to apply your line drawing skills to, and
- a Music app with 6 hours of songs so you don't get bored during long drawing sessions.
You can catch up on the development through my YouTube Devlog (episodes 1417), but if you have time for just one video, I'm quite proud of the new Pinball game.
Thank you for following the game's progress and I hope to get it in your hands soon!
Steam Next Fest is in full motion and if you've missed my Monday stream, come by on Wednesday for another AMA session (10 PM CET, 4 PM EST, 1 PM PST).
This time I'll be drawing the key artwork for the game like I usually do on my Wednesday streams, but as always, I'll be there to answer any questions or even jump into the game.
Hello friends! Steam Next Fest is starting on February 5 and I'll be taking part in it with the game's updated demo!
I'll host a live stream at 10 PM CET (4 PM EST, 1 PM PST) where you can see me play the game and ask any questions. I run a 100% transparent studio so even my finances are completely public. If you want to know anything about the game or how I run Retronator, this is a great time to drop by!
(p.s. You can opt-in to be reminded when the event starts and Steam will send a push notification/email to you.)
Happy 2024!
Over the holidays I started working on a feature I sadly had to cut from the initial September demo, but now the gods of development were merciful to me and, after a couple of weeks, dynamic in-game music is fully implemented!
Better yet, I also updated the demo with it, alongside a bunch of things you mentioned on the discussion forums (thank you all for your feedback!):
- Improved Lines lesson in the Helpers tutorial consisting of multiple steps.
- Stylus support (you can now play with the mouse, pen, or touch).
- A sound effect when completing a lesson.
- Scroll to zoom.
- Various bug fixes and tweaks.
As for me, I'm back to developing new features for the Early Access release. I'm very excited for all I have left to do! Cheers!
Retro
p.s. If you've missed my previous devlog, it gives a nice preview into future learning content:
Hello! First news update here, hopefully all goes well!
In case you followed the Pixel Art Academy page before the demo got released, I should first mention that indeed, the demo has been launched here on Steam. If you want to get a feel for how the game will play, give it a go ! It's available for all 3 platforms.
I also wanted to mention my YouTube devlog where I document my development sprints. The latest video talks about the first of the elements of art, the line! You can see behind the scenes of my process here:
Meanwhile, I'm off to a new sprint, taking the general line tutorial to pixel art fundamentals and addressing the topic of jaggies (which you can already read about in my Low-Resolution Raster Art book in the bigger Pixel Art Academy universe). The interactive Learn Mode version should be an even bigger treat!
That's it for this time, wishing you all the best!
Retro
Minimum Setup
- OS: 64-bit Ubuntu 14.04
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