Adding to the list here that I haven’t seen mentioned is Pixel Studio. It’s free, but also offers extra cool features for a one-time cost, and can be used across multiple devices (PC, iOS, etc)
Aseprite is free if you compile it yourself ([check here](https://www.aseprite.org/faq/#if-aseprite-source-code-is-available-how-is-that-you-are-selling-it)).
I'm not an artist but isn't the making of pixel art basically placing one square at a time and then coloring them differently based on the shadow and stuff? I mean you can use the engine's sprite editor as well. I bought a pixel art pack some time ago and I make my own sprites using the engine's sprite editor whenever I need to.
Every time I use GM's sprite editor for even the simplest stuff I get unreasonably frustrated, the other day I spent 5 minutes figuring out how to draw a transparent line. Even something as straightforward as rotating a sprite by 90 degrees is way more of a pain in the ass than it needs to be. I wouldn't use it for actual spriting with a gun to my head, I don't know what they were thinking during the switch from GMS1 to GMS2, I remember the old sprite editor being okay.
Ya I think a good piece of software will help with layers, batch recolouring, and opacity and animation stuff that you _can_ do by hand. But it can really help
Depends really, stuff like blasphemous is more painted large scale with a tablet then zoomed in to clean up after, that said you can do pretty much everything with a mouse just depends on what style you're going for. For the average person wanting pixel art for their game tho, yes.
Another way to make stuff
You can use blender to make your design in 3d the take screenshots for example I make a little slime monster, put the camera above at an angle of the slime monster and print screen. Take him into game maker and then you have something to work off of. Pretty good!
Makes sense. Ive only been using blender a few weeks but I'm absolutely obsessed. I've been making shitty gms 2d games for 10 years, it's time I move on to shitty 3d games. But if you know a good learning or tutorial resource for best practices using 3d blender models in 2d games, I'd be interested.
I don't, however I have been thinking about tinkering in Godot for 3d things. It looks fun! Haven't yet, due to the current game I'm working on.
I wish you the best in your 3d adventure! Lots of cool things to do there!
Aseprite on PC, I use pixaki on iPad. I was super happy and using the 2nd for most of my art, but since about a month ago I'm having unresolved issues that I'm not sure if it's Apple, the iPad, or the tech companies (Apple didn't even understand when I called them), so I'd say Aseprite first.
I'll have to check it out. Only thing is, my iPad is also giving me trouble with procreate exports so I think it's on their end (more or less used a discord server to pass all my sprites to my PC but then iPad decided it can only export jpegs no matter what settings I change. Now I have to do it by compressing the pngs which isn't hard but the time wasted adds up)
As someone with 1000 hours in both aseprite is likely the best out there, and if you already use Photoshop at all it's great for pixel art (otherwise huge learning curve, tho less than digital painting or editing for just knowing what you need to use in the software)
I can really recommend Aseprite for pixel art sprites.
Adding to the list here that I haven’t seen mentioned is Pixel Studio. It’s free, but also offers extra cool features for a one-time cost, and can be used across multiple devices (PC, iOS, etc)
Fan of aseprite myself. Not free though
Aseprite is free if you compile it yourself ([check here](https://www.aseprite.org/faq/#if-aseprite-source-code-is-available-how-is-that-you-are-selling-it)).
There is a precompiled clone of aseprite on GitHub under a different name... I just can't remember the name of it right now...
https://libresprite.github.io That one. Exactly the same. Got forked before aseprite went commercial and it is following all aseprite updates.
Oh sweet! Thanks for sharing that
the only downside is if you have a laptop with no space on it q\_q otherwise I Libre sprite is an okay alternative.
Some people use spritemancer, others use gimp, others use pixelmush, most known I believe is aseprite.
[https://www.getpaint.net/](https://www.getpaint.net/) Make sure to get some plugin packs like Pyrochild and Boltbait
Asesprite for your back :) else there is graphicsgale ☺️☺️
Glad to see pixel studio here, it doesn't get mentioned much
I'm not an artist but isn't the making of pixel art basically placing one square at a time and then coloring them differently based on the shadow and stuff? I mean you can use the engine's sprite editor as well. I bought a pixel art pack some time ago and I make my own sprites using the engine's sprite editor whenever I need to.
GM's sprite editor doesn't hold a candle to many other tools explicitly designed for making sprites.
Every time I use GM's sprite editor for even the simplest stuff I get unreasonably frustrated, the other day I spent 5 minutes figuring out how to draw a transparent line. Even something as straightforward as rotating a sprite by 90 degrees is way more of a pain in the ass than it needs to be. I wouldn't use it for actual spriting with a gun to my head, I don't know what they were thinking during the switch from GMS1 to GMS2, I remember the old sprite editor being okay.
Ya I think a good piece of software will help with layers, batch recolouring, and opacity and animation stuff that you _can_ do by hand. But it can really help
Depends really, stuff like blasphemous is more painted large scale with a tablet then zoomed in to clean up after, that said you can do pretty much everything with a mouse just depends on what style you're going for. For the average person wanting pixel art for their game tho, yes.
Another way to make stuff You can use blender to make your design in 3d the take screenshots for example I make a little slime monster, put the camera above at an angle of the slime monster and print screen. Take him into game maker and then you have something to work off of. Pretty good!
Why would you print screen instead of using the render?
You can use what ever you'd like. I usually just use Screen snip. To take out what I need.
Makes sense. Ive only been using blender a few weeks but I'm absolutely obsessed. I've been making shitty gms 2d games for 10 years, it's time I move on to shitty 3d games. But if you know a good learning or tutorial resource for best practices using 3d blender models in 2d games, I'd be interested.
I don't, however I have been thinking about tinkering in Godot for 3d things. It looks fun! Haven't yet, due to the current game I'm working on. I wish you the best in your 3d adventure! Lots of cool things to do there!
Aseprite on PC, I use pixaki on iPad. I was super happy and using the 2nd for most of my art, but since about a month ago I'm having unresolved issues that I'm not sure if it's Apple, the iPad, or the tech companies (Apple didn't even understand when I called them), so I'd say Aseprite first.
Resprite exists on iPhone (maybe iPad) that is a very similar Asesprite interface (I have no idea if it’s the same company)
I'll have to check it out. Only thing is, my iPad is also giving me trouble with procreate exports so I think it's on their end (more or less used a discord server to pass all my sprites to my PC but then iPad decided it can only export jpegs no matter what settings I change. Now I have to do it by compressing the pngs which isn't hard but the time wasted adds up)
Graphicsgale
In case you're not looking to make pixel art graphics specifically, I'm a fan of Krita for being both a good quality digital art software and free.
Photoshop works fine, plus it has the essentials version if you don't wanna do a subscription
As someone with 1000 hours in both aseprite is likely the best out there, and if you already use Photoshop at all it's great for pixel art (otherwise huge learning curve, tho less than digital painting or editing for just knowing what you need to use in the software)
Aseprite is the best for me
SpriteMaster. I used to like a bit old now though
Aseprite is what I use
PyxelEdit, if you do pixel art. https://pyxeledit.com/
Pixelorama is free and has similar workflow to aseprite
Pixelorama, is free [https://orama-interactive.itch.io/pixelorama](https://orama-interactive.itch.io/pixelorama)