Well yes, 2D productions a la Wadjet Eye and 3D productions a la Minecraft are both called pixel art. 

Let's put it like this: it's the 3D games I'd use "also" for.

Also:
http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/wp-content/uploads/UV-shelter.png

I can clearly see the use of soft brushes on the background. Looks like you tolerate "mixed style" games after all. 

I would also like to add that even though the term "pixel art" seems to be a relatively recent invention (correct me if I'm wrong), it still applies to older games retroactively. 

Did I ever say otherwise? After all, I do use hi-res textures on simple 20-year-old geometry. Question: how do you infer the use of 3D brushes from a fixed image? 

I wasn't aware of that. I've never heard the term used for these old games. If that's true, I stand corrected. 

I always wondered why the building blocks used for mapping in Quake-like engines are called this way. It kinda makes sense (because laying them is sorta like laying brush strokes), but not really. 

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.
oh...

*backs away* 

Yeah, 3D editing vocabulary is often puzzling me too. I've looked at your example picture again and I think you may be wrong. You're talking about the reflections on the facade of the building, right? Look again: the perspective of the reflected building right to center is wrong, it should be reversed with the side visible on the left, not right. 

No, I'm talking about soft brushes.

Brush is a thing you paint with. It's also an appropriately named tool in image manipulation programs (because you paint with it). 

Ah, this kind of brushes... I was wondering what you meant by soft. What's the mixed style you were referring to, then? I thought you were talking about the use of 3D brushes in a 2D game. 

Pixel art combined with not pixel art. 

Oh, right, in the sense that pixel art is made pixel by pixel whereas brush work is not. I have no idea how you can spot which technique was used in the final image. 

It can be argued that 256 colors are okay to pixel things. 16777216, on the other hand, is a bit excessive. 

I was certain I read somewhere that a lot of the textures in Quake were painted and then down-ressed. I suspect that many of them were touched-up afterwards in some pixel pushing software (as well as some made entirely pixel-by-pixel) 

I didn't know this game used 24-bit coloring. Is this their latest production? The last Wadjet Eye game I played was The Shivah, which still looked 8-bit to me. It seems the definition of pixel art has broadened. 

So yeah. There was a lot of precise work involved, this much I can say. 

Ok thanks I'll stick with bronze text for both, didnt realize it was dependant on compiler...thought the engine had to be able to recognize the \b characters.

Carry on with your mindless stylistic vs realistic debate. 

http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/wp-content/uploads/rajshree.png 

 

That was me in the comment above BTW, I hadn't noticed I was logged out.

@Fifth Yeah, I remember reading that too. That's the source of my "downgraded art to circumvent hardware limitations" comment from the other day. 

Unless it was redrawn or something. Its page mentions something like that.

The earliest game on the site seems to feature pixel backgrounds. 

It would seem that the debate had moved on. Not sure if it's a good idea to reignite it with arbitrary statements like "GL Blur Isn't An Improvement", which is a matter of opinion. Of course, it works better with hi-res textures, but some people do prefer blurry vs. blocky, even on low-res textures. 

Granted, this particular image looks a bit lush for 256 colors. Other screens in the game look less "refined". 

They all feature true color backgrounds with pixel art characters (excluding portraits). 

Thinking about it, I have to admit that The Shivah effectively looks more 16-bit than 8-bit. I don't know how many colors they actually used but it looks like a Megadrive/SNES game.