They were well executed and suited their purpose in Bars of Black and White and in Exploit (and in the Majesty of Colors they were exquisite), but in Sugarcore and How to Raise a Dragon they cause the games to suffer.

In Sugarcore: the gradient tool is instantly recognizable to anyone who’s used Flash and implies laziness. Players who don’t recognize it will still unconsciously link it to the numerous worse-executed games floating around the internet’s bilge. It just gives it a “look,” you know? Use it sparingly. The portraits and floating clouds in the background are a little sloppy looking, as well, and they don’t fit in with the smoothed style surrounding them. Okay, this is a nice way of saying they are poorly drawn.

In How to Raise a Dragon, the pixels are not a bad idea, but they are also sort of sloppy looking. They are used in lieu of more detailed graphics to avoid having to draw, right? They are probably better than the alternative, but the use of pixels should not become your crutch. Instead it should be used to artistic effect. In Majesty of Colors, the pixels worked for a lot of good reasons:
1. They fit the concept. The people were only a few pixels because it was natural for them to be so small compared to the huge monster. Also, they contributed to the player’s experiencing the action through his unfamiliar/simplified point of view.
2. They made the only-one-mechanic thing feel more reasonable. We are familiar with older games being simpler. Not that it would have stood out otherwise, but the visuals from ancient times made us accept the simple controls (or control, rather) more heartily.
3. They made a statement. The game already asserted “this is art!” but the graphics said “not only is this particular game a work of art, but it grew from a history of games that are also art, but which have received less recognition than they deserve as such!” which was pretty sweet.
In How to Raise a Dragon, though, they don’t do any of those things. I appreciate the layered backgrounds and distance having larger pixels and thus being less clear, but the contrast between large and small pixels could be used to greater effect to promote the hugeness of the dragon and the feeling of getting larger. The beginning might feature very large pixels which get smaller with each stage. The dragon would start simple, and become more detailed (and more impressive) as it grows, and people could be kept a consistent size and shape, which would prevent the discontinuity between the look of the wizard at the end of the first stage and the villagers in the last stage. This sort of happens when moving from Adult stage to Hero stage, when the dragon becomes larger and more detailed, and it works! Which makes me wish that it happened for the rest of the game.

But I understand that these are month-made games, so visuals are not the most important aspect. When it comes to creating a game with a longer development period, I hope you consider getting help with the graphics. Sometimes drawing it yourself will work with an idea, like Bars of Black and White, Exploit, and Majesty of Colors, but usually I think your games will look more appealing if someone else handles it.

….In short, I both enjoyed liked both games, and wish there was sequals/similarized type games. Thanks for reading! ^^