i disagree. go on steam and look how many are still creating new 8-bit video games. one of the most streamed games on twitch is an 8-bit side scroller.

Um, outside of Zaccaria, pinball DMD "dots" design and 8-bit video games on steam have about zero to do with each other.

Pixel art is pixel art. Nothing all that special about doing it for pinball vs a game on Steam.

I think the point was it's not a "lost art" at all, and is in fact a very popular style now. If you wanted to make a pin now with dots you'd have no trouble finding artists to work on it for you.

Lost art or not, the point is that monochrome dots are no longer an industry standard in pinball and the folks that specialized in programmed dots would no longer be needed for that particular skill in pinball, outside of homebrews or one off titles.

IMHO pinball dots form the 90's have no more to do with modern "8-bit looking Steam titles" than black and white gameboy games have to do with the current "hot PS5" titles.

Others started to compare current "classic 8-bit looking" steam video games to 90's pinball dot art, not I.

The move to LCD's has unintentionally led to more happening on the screen, and less on the playfield. The biggest reason is because of the BOM - now they have to pay more to get actor likeness rights for full video instead of recreating scenes with dots. From a coding/design standpoint, it feels to me like many modern games use the screen as a crutch to convey pinball moments, rather than the playfield.

I agree speederice.

The display was always primarily to just give the player that's up some information, score, modes, hits, high scores, audits, settings, tournament values, ect.

The new industry standard vanilla solution serves the same purpose. However today, the display screen has a lot more to offer the others observing the player playing, and not exclusively for the player. This concept has really taken off with both JJ titles and more and more with recent Stern machines. Showing progress with visual checkboxes is also another JJ signature that I don't mind but don't especially love either. It's just that pausing to constantly consider all options/progress and tasks is not always the most fun I've had playing a pinball game... sometimes you are just in the mood for a game's simplicity. Probably why my favorite Stern games are still titles from 2000-2005.

Interactive video modes were always an afterthought (and in almost all cases, they still are) because after all, it's pinball... not pinball with a video game. However the Pin2000, Multimorphic, and some homebrew concepts I've played at Expo do come to mind as first breaking those standards.

It has made a comeback in a big way.

N

150% what this guy said.