Cross stitch pattern of Niko from OneShot. Thanks to kendotlibero for the sprite. Download the PDF here: Niko Pattern

Grid Size:134W x 100H
Design Area:9.57″ x 7.14″ (134 x 100 stitches)
Colors: 19

Did you know my Patron, Kenzi B, is a subway maintenance robot? They have a wheel that lets them zip along the tracks and a bright light so they can easily see cracks and rot. Kenzi B takes meticulous notes on every repair so that the other Kenzis know where there might be a fault soon. Better to catch it now before it becomes a big problem.

You would think it would be easy to transform OneShot pixel art into cross stitches, but a lot of them have lighting effects that boost the color count higher than you would expect. It’s a little tricky to get light sources to look like they’re glowing without adding a hundred thread colors.

Make sure to double check your thread colors on this one. I can never be sure that the colors that show up on my computer are the same colors that you’ll see in real life. Gradients can be especially awkward and I’m still learning how to best do color matching.

Actually, that goes for all of my patterns. If you see a color that you think will look better. Do it. Cross stitch patterns are just a tool to get you started. If you want to go in and add some backstitching in gold thread, go for it!

To go back to a point I made earlier, there’s this trend in gaming to use pixel art as a style but without staying faithful to the limitations of the time period. Shovel Knight is a good example of faithful pixel art. It has limited colors, a pixel grid, handmade sprites, and tileable environments. It’s just like old times. Even in that campfire scene, you can easily see the distinct colors in the glow of the fire. Mwah, It just so good.

Then you get flexible pixel art games like Oneshot, the game stays on a grid for the most part and uses sprites and tiles, but you get way more colors than would be possible back then and there are distortions. But still it’s better than Stardew Valley where pixels are different sizes for different items and the pixels rotate at times like when you chop down a tree. It makes me die a little inside.

And that’s not even the worst offender! There are games that just scale down pictures and call it pixel art, “Because you can see the pixels”. That’s not pixel art! And as much as I love A Short Hike, you can’t just put a pixelated filter over your 3D game and call it pixel art.

Guys, come on. No.

Ugh.