2 High-Tech Low-Tech Authenticity: The Creation of Independent Style at the Independent Games Festival

Do independent games have anything in common? Figures 2.1–2.3 show three games all promoted as independent, but which at first appear quite different: VVVVVV
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(figure 2.1) uses a low-resolution pixel style that harkens back to the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 games
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of the 1980s. This pixel style is the primordial independent visual style, also found in earlier games like Cave Story.
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In pixel style, each pixel has been edited by hand, and these pixels are enlarged, giving the appearance of a lower resolution than what is afforded by the hardware the game is running on. But not all independent games share this pixelated style. And Yet It Moves
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(figure 2.2) could not have been produced in the 1980s due to technological limitations, with the graphics appearing to be made from paper cutouts, thus giving the impression of being analog rather than digital. Although Crayon Physics Deluxe
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(figure 2.3) also requires modern graphics capabilities to represent its crayon-based visual style, this style is again different from the paper style of And Yet It Moves. Is there any commonality to the visual styles of these games at all?