ARTIUS Pure Imagination Now on spawnd
Join CommunitySummary
On spawnd we announce ARTIUS: Pure Imagination now available to play. The post highlights the fast-paced, momentum-based 2D platformer with hand-drawn art, detailed animations, and polished sound. A developer Q&A discusses themes of artistic resistance and the demo features players may notice only in gameplay.
ARTIUS is a fast-paced, momentum-based 2D platformer where you play as artists battling to preserve creativity in a world on the verge of artistic extinction! Dash, swing, and smash your way through a vibrant, hand-drawn world in this adrenaline-fueled platformer where art is your strongest weapon.
🎮 Play it now: https://www.spawnd.gg/-/games/artius
Meet PVic Games, the team behind ARTIUS: Pure Imagination, in our Dev Q&A 🎨
Q: Despite the rise of AI-generated assets, ARTIUS goes in the opposite direction with hand-drawn illustrations and a story about artistic resistance. How did this idea come about?
A: The initial development of Artius: Pure Imagination actually predates the popularization of generative AI (we started conceptualizing it in the first half of 2022). However, since then, the themes we wanted to explore have only intensified with the rise of these platforms. The tendency to treat art merely as “content,” and the vilification of the artist in a fundamentally artistic world, both in the illustrated universe of ARTIUS and in our own, are themes that have become impossible to ignore.
Q: What part of the development do you think players won’t notice, but that you’re really proud to have included in the demo?
A: Because the game is very fast-paced, players might not immediately notice the number of individual animations created for each character action. We also tried to include many fun sound effects in this demo, aiming to add an extra layer of polish that may not always be consciously noticed, but that we hope makes all the difference.
Q: Were there any inspirations behind the development of the game’s four heroes?
A: The inspiration for the four heroes, and for the whole little group of artists, draws heavily from Peanuts (especially Snoopy), particularly when it comes to loyalty and friendship. Fictional characters often use generic elements (like fire powers, for example). Our idea was to use art itself instead, which ends up being more interesting and helps define the personalities of many artists.
Q: What can fans of other games in the genre (like Pizza Tower and Sonic) expect from this demo?
A: I believe fans of titles like Pizza Tower and Sonic the Hedgehog can expect a game that continues many of the design ideas and mindsets of the genre, while also subverting certain expectations, such as the strong narrative presence in our project. We’re very happy with the result and would like to invite both genre veterans and newcomers to check out the demo!
Huge thanks to from PVic Games for this Dev Q&A! 🧡
Add ARTIUS: Pure Imagination to your wishlist and play the demo on spawnd! 🎮
