Hana Kim

Steam Next Fest just ended and I played 23 demos. Here are the three that stuck with me, plus a rant about pixel art that nobody asked for.

Hollowveil

I played the Hollowveil demo for three hours and was genuinely upset when it ended. It's a metroidvania with hand-drawn animation that feels like playing through a Studio Ghibli film if Ghibli made something about grief and mushrooms. The movement feels perfect — there's a wall-slide mechanic that has exactly the right amount of friction. The demo ends on a cliffhanger that I'm still thinking about. Wishlisted immediately.

The Pixel Art Masterclass

AdamCYounis posted a pixel art tutorial that's the best I've seen. The key insight: good pixel art isn't about working at low resolution — it's about understanding what information to preserve when you reduce resolution. He showed how the same character at 16x16, 32x32, and 64x64 requires completely different design choices, not just different levels of detail. At 16x16, you're designing symbols. At 64x64, you're designing illustrations. Most indie devs treat them the same and their art suffers for it.

The Indie Dev Log Rabbit Hole

Spent an evening on r/indiegames reading dev logs from solo developers. The ones I liked best were honest about what's not working. One dev posted: "Week 47. The combat still doesn't feel good. I've rewritten the hit-stop system four times. I think the problem is actually the sound design, not the code." That kind of honesty is rare and incredibly useful. Most dev logs are highlight reels. The real lessons are in the struggles.

Strong Pixel Art Opinions

Hot take: the indie game scene has a pixel art oversaturation problem. Not because pixel art is bad — I love it — but because too many games use it as an aesthetic shortcut rather than an intentional design choice. If your game would look better in a different style but you chose pixels because it's "easier," it shows. Pixel art at its best is incredibly labor-intensive and demands mastery. At its worst, it's a crutch.