20XX is a fast-paced sidescrolling roguelike that's found an appreciative audience on Steam since it launched last month. It mixes a decidedly Mega Man X-esque play style with generated levels to constantly test players’ twitchy jumping and shooting reactions. That’s meant that the art and animation has been a very, very important part of the game.

20XX has always worn its inspirations on its sleeve, but there’s plenty beyond that that’s informed the game’s aesthetic. says Chris King, programmer and designer at Batterystaple Games, developers of 20XX.

While a Mega Man X aesthetic appeared due to its inspirations, 20XX looks like it does not just because of where the game came from, but because its ever-shifting level structure and enemy layouts require players be able to react quickly and decisively, reading information on-screen without having to focus on it.

More than just for visual appeal, 20XX looks like it does to help players succeed at its challenging roguelike play.

The Lilo & Stitch of Roguelikes

None of that is to say that the visual style doesn’t have an aesthetic appeal to its developer. 20XX’s art style isn’t just designed for readability, but also for that same reason any developer would choose a certain art style: because it looks good and suits the game they’re striving to create. Having sprung from a Mega Man X inspiration, this meant a futuristic, mechanical sci-fi appearance, but it’s one that has continually evolved over the game’s development.

“We’ve learned a tremendous amount over the past four years while making 20XX, and ‘How to make it look better.’ has been a pretty consistent part of that," says King. "We were new enough on the scene at first that the skills gained by implementing a given asset made us much more capable of fixing up older assets, which is a good bit of why we’ve iterated on the visuals so much.”

Part of that design process meant shifting art styles here and there, gradually changing the exact appearance of the game over time as they experimented with variations on the look they began with. They also simply learned more as they worked at the game over a four year span, growing in skill over that period.

This is part of what would lead them to the look 20XX has now – a growing skill and a slow honing of what art style felt right to the developers at Batterystaple Games. 

“Somewhere in the game’s second visual iteration it took on a very colorful, Saturday-morning-cartoon kind of vibe, which ended up working really well with the game’s quick pace and need for instant player reactions," says King. "Zach Urte’s style leans into the game’s rounded edges and smooth curves, and he definitely took a good bit of inspiration from Chris Sanders’ (Lilo & Stitch) work.”

“I guess what I strive for most is consistency and fidelity," says Urtes. "I want the game to be the best version of itself, and finding what that means has been an ever-present part of the learning process. Sometimes less is more; learning where to snipe quality and when to pull back’s been a big deal for us. On a personal note, I’ve just always wanted to make a game that feels like a colorful, exciting action cartoon. I think we’ve done that here.”

That ‘action cartoon’ style was not just the result of the developers feeling their way toward the art style that felt right for 20XX, but also a way they could work on the important features of readability and reaction.

Parseable at a glance

That vibrant, rounded Saturday morning cartoon style was the final step in the