I promised one more thing from Ultimate Pixel Crew yesterday. As much as permanent teams are not common in pixel art (I can only think of eBoy off the top of my head), the advantage is clear if you want to tackle bigger projects. Game companies sometimes have a lasting core of pixel artists, but it’s more common to outsource the work to a band of freelancers that stick together for just one project (or even less). We’ve had music videos created in this way as well, for example Goldfish’s We Come Together had a team of 15 working on it. Today we'll look at a smaller production though, coming from an established team.
Ultimate Pixel Crew, specifically @motocross-arts and @setamo-arts, early last year created a video for SKY-HI’s song Role Playing Soldier. The lyrics, neatly supported by gaming-themed visuals, tackle the often absurd nature of RPGs where the player essentially grinds their way to the end by killing and looting a never-ending wave of enemies. The meaningless task is questioned in the music video by both the player character and a melancholically-woke monster that is tired of the mindless violence. Where Elvis and Dimmi gave a satirical take on the same topic, Motocross Saito and Setamo paint a more positive resolution. I’ll let you find it out yourself in the video that clearly gives a nod to Hyper Light Drifter as well:
