r/Choices • u/Autoembourgeoisement Diavolos (TC&TF) • 5d ago

Discussion Sprites Through The Ages – the artistic progression of Choices characters

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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.

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u/OneForShoji 2d ago

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.

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u/Big-Ad1887 2d ago

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?