TOOLS

Tools guide

PIXEL TOOLS ON PIXEL GAME

How Pixel Game’s pixel art tools split the work — Pixel Character Maker builds a full-body sprite, Square Face Generator makes a PFP, Photo to Pixel converts photos, Pixel Palette stores palettes.

WRITTEN BYAlex Morgan · Game Operations

Pixel Game is still a place to play free browser pixel games. The Tools section adds a creation side for pixel game art: small utilities with one job each.

Why tools live next to games

Playing pixel games and making pixel art share the same visual language — limited colors, readable shapes, and blocky charm. Tools make that language interactive on this site, so the catalog is not only embeds and short blurbs.

Who does what

  • Pixel Character Maker — free full-body pixel characters. Mix body, hair, clothes, and colors, then download a PNG.
  • Square Face Generator — free pixel square-face avatars and PFPs. Mix parts or use Random, then save a PNG.
  • Photo to Pixel — convert a photo and switch color schemes. Photo rebuilds colors from the image. Other schemes apply palettes you already stored.
  • Pixel Palette — store those palettes in this browser. Name them, order them, export .hex / .gpl. It does not pixelate pictures.

The palette tools handshake through the local library. Pixel Character Maker and Square Face Generator are separate: they draw original characters and do not use stored palettes.

Reducing colors (2–64)

  • Photo scheme — the Colors slider rebuilds a new set from the image.
  • Saved scheme, no limit — use the whole stored palette group.
  • Saved scheme, with a limit N — each palette stores its own N. The converter keeps the first N colors in that group and drops the rest from the end.

Put the colors you care about at the front of a saved palette.

Pixel size vs. colors when switching schemes

  • Pixel size is a global setting on Photo to Pixel. It does not change when you switch schemes, so every palette is compared at the same block size.
  • Colors is read per scheme: a fresh count on Photo, or the saved palette's own limit on a stored scheme. Switching schemes never overwrites another scheme's value — Photo keeps its last count, and each saved palette keeps its own limit.
  • Editing a saved scheme's Colors on the converter changes that palette's stored limit, so the same limit shows up back in Pixel Palette.

How to use tools with the catalog

  1. Play a few titles in Games to feel the aesthetic
  2. Build a full-body sprite in Pixel Character Maker if you want a character, or a square-face PFP in Square Face Generator
  3. Convert a still on Photo, or switch to a saved palette in the same mood
  4. Export a PNG and, if you need the hex list in an editor, download it from Pixel Palette

What tools are not

Tools are not a full game engine or a replacement for Aseprite. Pixel Character Maker and Square Face Generator are sprite / avatar makers. Photo to Pixel and Pixel Palette are lightweight helpers: preview a conversion, keep palettes on hand, then take the files into a real editor.

For a longer walkthrough of the full-body maker, read Pixel Character Maker Online.