The Best Of Game Design Is Celebrated At Into the Pixel 2013

Videogame art has come a long way since the days of Pong, Pac-Man, and the debut edition of Grand Theft Auto. The debate over whether game design is a legitimate art form has cooled down considerably as well. With major shows at venues like the Smithsonian American Art museum and the Museum of Modern Art in NYC acquiring videogames as part of its collection, it’s safe to say videogames have officially been indoctrinated into the artistic cannon. 

But even before the art world acknowledged the art of the videogame, the Entertainment Software Association launched a juried art exhibition in 2003 called Into the Pixel to recognize and celerate the vast achievements and advancements of this painstaking creative practice. This year, the exhibition celebrated its 10 year anniversary at E3 by staging a presentation of the 16 artists and games honored this year.  

One of the reasons why Into the Pixel is so interesting is because it’s not only judged by experts, but also by the entrants’ peers. Jurors in this year’s installment included founder and partner of iam8bit, Jon M. Gibson, Director of Talent and Content at the Annenberg Space for Photography Patricia Lanza, and Senior Partner Production Designer of Timbuk2 Studios, Matt Hall, among many others. 

Glenn Phillips, juror, principal project specialist and consulting curator at the Getty Research Institute remarked how Into the Pixel artworks are inspired by the legacies of both fine-art and video-game visuals. “This year’s Into the Pixel collection features artists who are working across a remarkable range of genres,” he said. “These works smartly capture the mood, the story, the style, and the energy of the games for which they were created.”

Check out the winners of this year’s Into the Pixel below and see if you agree.

Martin Deschambault: “The Naval Duel” from Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, developed and published by Ubisoft

Nathan “Bagel” Stapley: “Broken Age” from Broken Age, developed and published by Double Fine Productions

Raymond Swanland: “Junkyard” from Command and Conquer, developed by Victory Games and published by EA

Jaime Jones: “Back From the Wild” from Destiny, developed by Bungie and published by Activision

Dorje Bellbrook: “The Buried City” from Destiny, developed by Bungie and published by Activision

Nick Thornborrow and Matt Rhodes: “The Chant” from Dragon Age, developed by BioWare and published by EA

Brian Thompson: “Dark Ages” from FETCH, developed by Big Fish Studios and published by Big Fish

Reece Millidge: “Schemes Collage” from Icycle: On Thin Ice, developed by Damp Gnat and published by Chillingo

James Paick: “Freljord” from League of Legends, developed and published by Riot Games

Michel Ancel, Jean Christophe Alessandri, Lu Yang, Christophe Messier, Jean Brice Dugait, Simon Quemener, Sebastien du Jeu, Christophe Villez, Anthony Le Du, Jean-Baptiste Rollin, Benjamin Mouret, and David Garcia: “Castle Siege” from Rayman Legends, developed by Ubisoft Montpellier and published by Ubisoft

Jeff Chamberlain, Anthony Eftekhari, Ray Chih, Yong Hyun Kim, Kirti Pillai, Laurent Pierlot, Takuya Suzuki, Fausto DeMartini, Vitaly Bulgarov, Chris Yang, Mike Kelleher, Sada Namaki, Shawn Liang, Jim Jiang, Seth Thompson, Bill LaBarge, Hsuan (Steven) Chen: “Last Stand” from StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment

Mike Nguyen and Vic Nguyen: “Super Summer Vacation Force” from Super Time Force, developed by Capy and published by Microsoft Studios

John Sweeney: “Remembering” from The Last of Us, developed by Naughty Dog Incorporated and published by Sony Computer Entertainment America

Jen Zee: “Cloudbank” from Transistor, developed and published by Supergiant Games

Daniel Dociu: “Crossroads” from an unannounced title, developed by Arenanet and published by Ncsoft

Tyler Schatz and Christina Faulkner: “Three Blind Mice” from Wonderbook: Digg’s Nightcrawler, developed by SCEE London Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe