Pixel Arcade

A pixel runner in a sun-bleached desert, a near miss, a CLOSE CALL! tag and an arcade end card.

1:1Medium pace7splayfulnostalgictense

Square 8-bit gameplay style for indie games, playful launches and challenges. Box-shadow pixel sprites on a warm desert with stepped parallax ridges, a two-frame run cycle, motion snapped to an 8px grid, a red CLOSE CALL! tag on the near miss, a ticking score HUD, and a white flash into a chunky pixel end card with a blinking PRESS START.

Use this style

With Frame Jam installed, press Use this style in the local gallery, or just ask your agent:

Make a video with the Frame Jam style "pixel-arcade" and open it for review.

Palette

sky#f3ead8
sand#efe6d2
farRidge#d6c2a2
nearRidge#bba07c
sun#f6c76b
ink#1a1410
red#e23d3d
blue#2f6fe0
paper#fff8ec

Type

Display
Press Start 2P 400Title 76px with a hard 6px drop shadow; HUD and tags 26–30px
Body
Press Start 2P 400End-card details 26px, line-height 1.7

Motion

Scroll
none (snapped to 8px)
Jump
power2.out / power2.in (snapped to 8px)
Pop
steps(3)
Card
steps(6)
Blink
steps(1)
Average shot
3.5s

One continuous gameplay shot (~5s) with two obstacles, then the end card. The run cycle flips every 0.14s.

Transitions and text

  • white flash (0.06s) into the end card
  • end card drops in on 6 discrete steps
  • score counts up every frame and jumps +500 on the near miss
  • CLOSE CALL! tag pops on steps(3), floats up on steps(5)
  • PRESS START blinks with steps(1) yoyo

Style guide your agent follows

  1. Draw sprites with a single element and a box-shadow per pixel (9–14px pixels); no images.
  2. Snap every moving x/y to an 8px grid with a GSAP modifiers function so motion feels like hardware.
  3. Use stepped column ridges at two depths for parallax (far moves ~40% of the ground speed).
  4. Two-frame run cycle toggled with visibility every 0.14s; jumps are power2 up/down, snapped.
  5. Only stepped eases for UI (steps(1–6)); never smooth fades except the white flash.
  6. HUD in Press Start 2P: SCORE left, HI right. End on a paper card with a hard 16px shadow, red title, real details (where to play, platforms) and a blinking PRESS START.