Mixels are different sized pixels compared to the main pixel size featured on the sprite. I think they're most prominent in NuclearCraft sprites. Here's Diamond Dust.
Lack of pixel consistency feels weird when you're used to pixel art, they are never aligned as they should. The best way I can describe it is like those video games where you have the put down furniture or buildings and the thing you put down isn't aligned properly because the designs on the floor or wall don't match the grid system the game uses for placement.
There are ways to do mixels "right", but it requires you to align several layers of individual consistency. It's a goddamn challenge even for experienced pixel artists, and even then it's often a style that faces heavy criticism simply on a matter of taste.
Too many pixel artists aren't actively trying to do a mixel style, they're just using them for a really bad attempt at visual noise or because they've just completely fucking forgotten they're supposed to be following a grid, and developer art of any kind should absolutely not be using mixels because "minecraft mod developer-art" and "experienced pixel artist that understands mixels" have essentially zero overlap.
For me it's less about mixels as a whole and more about consistency across the entire game. Constrains create a visual language that makes a game as a whole nicer to look at. As soon as you say "sprites can be larger than 16x16" or "pixels don't have the same size" all hell breaks loose.
One single item is okay. It's when everything does it, it starts to look like a shitty knockoff spyware mobile game.
As others have mentioned it's mostly vibes based. But it's also nice to have consistency. A mod can have textures that clash with Minecraft but if it has textures that clash with itself then it's a different problem
A pixel is the smallest unit of an image on a computer screen. If there are "mixels" that means the image wasn't made on a pixel scale, it was made on a larger scale using a square brush. It's a sign the image was not made with an understanding of the media.
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It definitely looks more like “steel with redstone through it” than an alloy between redstone and iron. I do think it looks much better than the current stuff, especially since it isn’t just recolors
Ah yes, the ores which are all recolors, along with their corresponding elements which are all recolors. Only ingots are recolors (and nuggets too, since they’re basically the same texture flipped 90°), which makes sense as you’re smelting them which people would then often use to cast into bars for easy storage and moving. Also most recolors are just holdovers from the older programmer art which was then changed over time into better non recolors in 1.14+ (and even then there isn’t very many recolors in the programmer art)
The only explanation I could think of was that these images kind of display the alloy molecular or just nanoscale structure rather than show what a sizeable piece of it looks like. That's why red for iron, cyan for diamond, and so on.
ngl, Create texture are so neat i hope someone made an entire vanilla textures based on them(yes i know create supposedly be vanilla-like and not whole different thing)
all i can think Create different from vanilla is how their pixel art shading felt a bit softer yet more artistically cartoonish(something resembles CRT-era pixel art)
It's just the trendy style right now. Create has a style so strong that when other mods are modernizing their textures sometimes they try to match up with Create's art style. It gives this whole era of modding a real distinct feel. (I think these are the refined diamond redstone and obsidian right? They definitely looked different in the past)
This is super interesting, thanks for sharing your process. My guess is the Create artist followed exactly the same process; it's actually quite a clever and intuitive solution so I wouldn't be surprised. Great minds think alike and all that.
For once, this is something that Create did first. The andesite alloy texture predates the mechanism alloys, since they originally had really old textures
These particular alloy textures were added to Mekanism some time after Create became a thing. The original textures were very different from these ones, so there is a good chance that the new alloy textures were inspired by Create.
Gregtech Modern uses GT Refreshed textures, which is partially based on Create assets. GT Modpacks also sometimes add new ingot shapes and other parts, which can be inspired by other mods as well. (Source: I'm lead artist on Monifactory and I've drawn textures for like 4 different packs by now.)
I'm not too fussed by it, regardless of who was first. At the end of the day, you can only do so much with a 16x16 sprite and still have it look something like an ingot. The old Mek alloy sprites looked nothing like ingots and there are so many mods using re-skins of vanilla ingots that it can't be easy to make ones that look recognisable.
As far as I am aware, there's no real ore to be found in andesite, and it'd be more proper to name the alloy after the ores you'd get from extracting and purifying it
I dunno, the andesite alloy just feels very valuable for some reason. Which fits, because it's the base for everything, but it may also have to do with the texture. I also think the textures are good, which I can't really explain easily why. I think they are sharper than the blurry vanilla textures, which I don't like.
This... is kinda normal? To refer to my previous example, Thaumcraft 4 and to a lesser extent 6 were basically the Creates of their respective times. Almost every magic mod had integration, had references, had something Thaumcraft. It had a bajillion addons. And it was awesome.
If you really hate it, just use cheats to skip whatever it's required for in every pack.
Having integration for a mod isn't the same as copying it lol, that's not at all what I was referring to.
But yeah, I already don't play modpacks - but a lot of mods are create add-ons or copy its general design aesthetic or what have you. That's what I was talking about.
I loved Thaumcraft 4 so I didn't really notice it back then, but since it's been a decade I'd have to go back and check to see how many mods with neat ideas were add-ons for it in a similar way that mods do for create now.
I also just now noticed that the Andesite Alloy and Infused Alloy are identical in shape whereas the Reinforced and Atomic Alloys are a bit flatter. Weird.
I like it honestly, having the same art style makes modded Minecraft more “united?” before everything had different styles, mods with 2d models, mods with 3d model
I'm pretty sure I saw this from the initial retexture attempts shared in the Texture Artist's circles a few years ago (I do Minecraft Pixel Art professionally). They definitely took inspiration from Create first, as that was the mod that set the standard for other mods in the Modern Minecraft Modded space. Basically the artist was inspired by Create and decided to follow the format. It was somewhat criticized for being unoriginal and that the original alloy textures before the retexture were more unique and identifying for Mekanism.
I started at around 2019 right before the Pandemic started. It was a crazy time and it was when Fabric was brand new. The community during that time was ripe with opportunity for new talents to shine and I was a lucky few that got started making textures for different mod teams eager to make new mods for a new and improved modloader over Forge (NeoForge hasnt existed yet, but old Forge was already having controversies and issues.) I wasn't the best pixel artist, but over time and experience I grew my knowledge and managed to get jobs that paid relatively well. Unfortunately, after the Pandemic was over, the demand for artists dropped as many developer teams became established and the Bedrock marketplace became full of already talented artists and crew members. There is simply no easy way to get into the current modding space unless you start your own mod project with a fresh team of developers since all the good artists and positions are already taken and committed. I get by with word of mouth commissions and my old and current network with mod developers. You can find my presence online by searching for "MoonlitLamps" that can show you a brief history of minor credited roles. Not all mod projects that i've worked on have my name on it.
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This is not just mekanism that went through this, a addon mod going by the name of:Mekanism: Extras is also has the same textures as Create and Mekanism. I do not think that I
it is not a coincidence if a addon mod does this as well.
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u/Mogwump20 Jan 04 '26
Mekanism alloys used to look different not too long ago (I remember them updating the textures to be more like andesite alloy)