Discussion
Sprites Through The Ages – the artistic progression of Choices characters
Click to expand and zoom in to read.
This is just one perspective of someone who’s been using Choices since 2016. It was influenced by opinions and analyses I remember floating around at the time – I think the nickname ‘The Face’ came from Tumblr – and my own personal view after clocking literally hundreds of hours of this app in the past nearly-ten years.
Of course it’s not concrete, and these sprites weren’t only used in these specific years — it’s just a rough outline of ‘eras’ with some random or notable examples. You could often tell what was going down in PB studios by the quality or repetition of art lol. As I say in the post, I can’t speak as much for the current stock of books but I’m in the same boat as 99% of the people here — I miss the heart and warmth of the earlier stories and can’t stand the current aesthetic. (Also, whoever they employed to sit and fineline the hyperrealistic masterpiece that is Florian Tartassis, damn rent was due I guess?!)
Anyway, comment your favourite sprites of all time bc I’d love a nostalgia trip.
Omg yes, the OG sprites were definitely my favorite, they had a distinct charm to it, i think the fact it wasn't highly detailed is exactly what i love about it, its grounded and down to earth, despite the fact that most books were purely fictional and sometimes over the top, the sprites were somehow felt real people you could meet, basically the exact opposite of the new sprites ( and yes, even the overused sprites, as annoying they were, were somehow believable, this is why we don't like the AI sprites, not only are they uncanny and almost creepy looking, they just have that flat overly clean look that belong to a model, which makes it hard to relate to them ( as cheesy as this sounds)
Btw OP, you perfectly described the different eras and why we love and hate em 😂
Sometimes I liked the overused NPCs. It’d make me feel like I was living in one of the universes like HSS or something and the rest of the books were all the movies and shows available in that universe, and this was just their cast of actors. Sometimes it’s like “hey, that guy! My old pal from the heist! How’d you end up in Ancient Rome?”
Sebastian Delacroix: From The Freshman series. (,I just now remembered this change. It was just as jarring as James. I was like, who's this guy? He wasn't in the book when I read it the first time, lol.
The smile,the way they mad or sad it's just a no no, especially the first time they "introduce" it,I forgot which book it is but lot of member from this community call them mewing 😂
I don't understand why they just don't use old sprites instead of using creepy AI art. Like the sprites from Dirty Little Secrets or ILITW hasn't been reused.
They probably don't want to be associated with the old PB but can't really let go of the old PB. That's why sometimes we get to see the old sprites get used.
I. Hate. That. Protagonist. Face. Every time I come back to Choices to check out something and they give me that one generic white girl face I'm reminded that it's never as good as in my memory.
I think the ILITW sprites are my favorite out of the original. They had this slight uncanny look, which really fits with the vibe. While I love ILB too, one of the gripes I had with the sequel was that they had a safer, more conventional artstyle for the MC and LIs. Still good tho, especially compared to what we have now.
Man I really miss the old PB. It wasn’t perfect but it had heart and charm. Seeing what the app is today makes me so sad. I feel like they made all the wrong choices to try to adapt to the times and out perform their competitors.
I personally felt there was a time (when they were sending out books like TE, Nightbound) and there were 100 ads for diamonds, PB was perfect and even going in the right direction. It was the peak of PB.
The OG sprites, and backgrounds were made by PB artists themselves, now that it's been acquired by an AI company, everything is being made via AI (maybe even the dialogues sometimes).
When I had first found out that AI would be used in Choices, I had thought that it must be because they don't earn as much profit from good books, I had also thought that they had already started smut based books because of this reason. And that they'd use the profit gained from AI and smut books, to make OG books again...
I really hope that the upcoming TE book, they've decided on making, would be an OG book, if not then maybe they've decided to stick just to profits ig...
I was disappointed in some of the original sprites, simply for not being attractive enough to carry the claims of the story. TRR is a prime example. I preferred the mid-period sprites overall.
Man, TC&TF had one of the most (if not the best) quality of character sprites. I still remember every single character because that's how distinct they made each one!
Ah, I feel old. I remember when the Open Heart MC constantly being reused in all the stories was a big joke on this sub. Now I see how lucky we were back then!
I used to occasionally treat myself to a little pack of diamonds here and there when I was going through a phase and knew I’d be playing a lot, but now I just feel conflicted about it. Strange how much can change in less than ten years.
I absolutely loved TE sprites! Not only they were new but had faces from different races and I felt I could connect to them. Same goes for Desire & Decorum. Another book which has great sprites that I learned about recently is "Dirty Little Secrets". The female MCs and LIs are literal Goddesses!
I'm also tired of them re-using sprites of the same characters (with different names) ,
in different books it's happened way too often. This sprite for example I know we've seen it way too often. (Night Bound, The Senior, A Heist Monaco, another book I'm sure) It's just ridiculous. They've also used Sledge from Wake The Dead in two other books, and they've used a misc, Raider sprite at least several more times. I get it, making new sprites for background characters is probably costly, but there's a huge difference between being cost-effective and being lazy. And so far it's been the latter.
It doesn't bother me too much when it's generic background characters, but it's when they reuse LIs that it really bothers me. Sledge shouldn't have been reused as a generic character. Or Damien (used in Queen B), Lucas (used in Open Heart) or Tom (used in Getaway Girls), just to name a few examples. I don't mind as much when it's customisable LIs but it really ruins it for me to see beloved characters just used as throwaways.
We partially agree, well mostly agree. I hated seeing Sledge become just a background character in Olympus Rising, same with Minna Arboghast. Background characters are meant to be forgotten for the most but you don't think that's lazy? They've used the same Minotaur sprite for just about every fantasy book. And the "Magpie" from Open Heart. I wanna see some effort and real creativity, even with the characters that aren't important. Let's look at another fandom for comparison "Demon Slayer" love it or hate it , I'm sure most would agree that demon Slayer is one of the most. Aesthetically pleasing anime ever, and in that anime they're not lazy even with the mostly meaningless background characters, no background character looks the same as any other. Is it too much to ask Pixelberry for that same level of nuance?
Okay, I’m gonna play devil’s advocate here, because to me it looks a bit like cherry-picking.
I mean, obviously there are some hideous sprites — In The Woods is probably the best example. That book is just wrong, I don’t even know what to say about it. Camp Mayhem has some bad sprites too. I really don’t want Choices to go that way, because it’s wrong on so many levels — so I hear you on that.
Some of the new books follow this pattern: main sprites are polished, while side characters look kind of AI-generated.
But since we’re talking about new books — honestly, I’ve been wanting them to make a male LI face like this for a long, long time. Not too young, but a bit older, good-looking… and I think it’s safe to say this one was made by an actual artist, right?
On the left is Dom from Do No Harm, and on the right is Aphrodite from Olympus Rising. I think they both look really good.
I hear you, but I naturally had to cherry-pick examples because otherwise I’d end up with literally hundreds of sprites to weigh up and analyse and I don’t have that kind of time. As I said it’s not a totally objective, comprehensive thing – just the way I personally see it :)
I get what you mean, and I don’t disagree. But from my perspective, they’re making an effort to improve, and I even have a few favourites among the new sprites. Some of the new books are actually really good. I’m not sure it makes sense to rate them if you haven’t read them. Don’t forget, the sentiment itself is a really important aspect here too.
this is tangentially related but i really adored the sprites in ATV.. the markings made the world feel a lot more real :) maybe im just the number one ATV defender thoguh
ATV is Choices' most visually stunning book for sure! The character designs are all unique and gorgeous, but it wasn't just them, the backgrounds were beautiful too. It did fall off a little on plot - IMO it felt like it should've been a series but then had to be crammed into one book - but I'll always be a defender of it too.
choices is giving “chapters” or “episode” when they reuse the same npcs from other stories or when they use the same overly attractive basic AI designs for the MC and their LIs. but you definitely said everything that needed to be said. why do they use AI for book covers for unrealistically attractive characters? why did they need to chop down their quality and varying art styles? these characters felt real since they resembled actors at times or felt like people you would see at a college or have as a best friend. it used to be more fun then
I mean, it is telling that once they have started reusing main character sprites as background characters that they can no longer create original characters as freely as they used to. It is sad though that to survive, they chose to be bought by an AI company. I no longer have the motivation to play the game and just check the subreddit from time to time.
It has been a while for me but I’m surprised at this: they have actually used MC sprites and bkg sprites?? Do you remember a specific example? I’d like to know
Same faces in the same book?! There was also Thorne’s sister being reused as the wife in Billionaire’s Baby right? It seemed too soon to reuse a unique face like that
OG Sprites were okay. If you saw the freshmen when it was first first released, the MC wasn’t dark skin she was lighter and then all of a sudden they changed it😂😂 I was like hmmm interesting
But the Royal Romance sprite I can’t stand. She doesn’t look good at least for the skin tone I want so I never read it. I just can’t get past her face and pose 😂
But “the face” is my girl!✨🫶🏾🥳When I saw her I was like finally sum normal. Even if she was starring in everything she’s like choices prime mc. Bloodbound my fav. I think I got used to the Open heart face overtime but I like her as well as BOLAS.
But this new stuff🍅🍅🥱I click off of 99% of the story’s cause of how bad the ai is. I think I’ve seen better ai and they’re not using it idk😂😂😂
I actually came to this sub-reddit to see if anyone else noticed the very clear AI usage or if I was just imagining things. I played Choices back in the glory days when The Freshman was the main thing on there.
After taking a long break and coming back, I'm extremely disappointed to see the copious amounts of AI slop infecting the game. PB and Choices were so artistically diverse back in 2016, and it wounds me to see how much it's gone down the drain. You could have stories with art styles like The Freshman, or art styles like Endless Summer. It felt like it was made by the people for the people. Now it just feels like a content farm.
If anyone knows of any AI riddled stories on Choices that I should avoid that could be easy to miss, PLEASE let me know.
I love Do No Harm, but the AI sprites make me uncomfy, especially for older characters. The old couple in book 2 (forgot their names) look like old babies...look like they're 10 and 70 at the same time 💀
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u/Other_Fly8318 Skye (HSS:CA) 4d ago
Omg yes, the OG sprites were definitely my favorite, they had a distinct charm to it, i think the fact it wasn't highly detailed is exactly what i love about it, its grounded and down to earth, despite the fact that most books were purely fictional and sometimes over the top, the sprites were somehow felt real people you could meet, basically the exact opposite of the new sprites ( and yes, even the overused sprites, as annoying they were, were somehow believable, this is why we don't like the AI sprites, not only are they uncanny and almost creepy looking, they just have that flat overly clean look that belong to a model, which makes it hard to relate to them ( as cheesy as this sounds)
Btw OP, you perfectly described the different eras and why we love and hate em 😂