So project 8x is a passion project of mine.  I have been a game dev hobbyist for a while starting different projects and multiple platforms.  As a solo dev these required more time and energy than I was able to give these projects.  All and all I enjoyed most of my time doing these things and I learned many things while doing them.  But every time I would run into a wall where I needed to learn a whole new set of skills like making music, which is not one of my strong suits.  And projects would kind of die.  

I found that my favorite part of trying to make games was the art aspect, from the images to the fx. So I really want to lean into that and share with the wider game development community.  I started Project 8x about half a year ago when I had started yet another game.  I am still working on that game but more or less very slowly and more in the background of other projects when I have time.  The tileset has a very clear method for being made with its color pallets that allows me to make tiles and characters easily readable while in the game.  and is heavily inspired by classic Nintendo games.

The Project 8x tileset currently is being worked on as a top down rpg style tileset. But should be usuable for other projects and if I ever look for a change in pace I may try to do a few other things such as space ships or some platformer tiles that also work with the tiles.  I enjoy making new environments so  if things go to plan there will be many different regions that will be able to be made with this set.

I chose 8x8 because I enjoy the challenge of trying to represent something in an incredibly limited space.  Each pixel has so much weight that I have to think carefully of how to represent an object.  Its a great challenge and a lot of fun.  I have worked in the past with other formats up to 64x which at that point pretty much becomes less pixel art and more drawing for me.  If I can maintain this project and find a bit more free time I would like to do things in the other sizes as well.

There is already a lot done that I have yet to share.  I have found that the hardest part to this endeavor is getting everything rounded up to share this with others.  Seriously fell flat on my face on this one.  Creating a web presence, packaging the tiles in a way that is useful and easy for others, and keeping a structure in the project that I may not have if I was just tinkering around with on a game.  These things while not what I would consider a wall to the project were for sure a headache.  But now that the project is structured on my pc, I'm looking at the best way to share this project on itch in a reasonable way for people to find.  Currently looking at a single project page with multiple downloads for each of the regions and characters and armor.  Or breaking the project into tilesets, character sets, monster sets, and item sets.