What are some good tools for doing 1990s pixel art?

[tomf@mastodon.gamedev.place]

What are some good tools for doing 1990s pixel art? Specifically sprites, but maybe some larger backgrounds. I see someone's done a JS version of DeluxePaint! Any others people really like?

Slightly heretically, I'd love one that handled alpha channels well.

[tomf@mastodon.gamedev.place]

Recs so far:

Aseprite
Pro Motion NG
grafx2
piskel
pyxel edit
Pixelorama
Cosmigo
Libresprite

My brain is very small, so starting with the #1 most common which is Aseprite.

[eniko@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@TomF for pixel art aseprite is the best, imo. I use it, and we used it to male Kitsune Tails

I'm even using it for block game

Just don't do non pixel art with it

[tomf@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@eniko I look forward to the distant future where Photoshop has an Aseprite keybinding emulation because they had to kowtow to the dominant tooling paradigm.

[oblomov@sociale.network]

@eniko @TomF

OT but even as a FLOSS aficionado I really like how aseprite manages the whole licensing and source thing. It's source-available, so you can (AFAICS) build it yourself, although you cannot redistribute such a build. A purchase gets you binaries for all supported platforms (including a Steam key), plus tech support, and updates at least until the next major version. I like that attitude.

[tomf@mastodon.gamedev.place]

This was an incredibly helpful video on Aseprite for a newb like me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Y6OTzNrhk

[oblomov@sociale.network]

@TomF also that's some incredible hair, and is that the Crypt of the NecroDancer soundtrack in the background?

[tomf@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@oblomov Not sure - it says what he's playing in the top-left corner!

[oblomov@sociale.network]

@TomF oh right I hadn't noticed (and yes it was)