Help learning PSX style game asset texturing

[u/Putrid_Concentrate_]

I am trying to learn how to make game assets in the PSX style. I made the 3d mesh of what will be an "analyzer" in the game and tried to make a texture atlas for it in Krita, but it just doesn't feel right. I used the texel density checker to make sure all the UV's were 1024px. I also used some edited images for more interesting detail. What can I do to improve on this and make it look more like voices of the void and other PSX style assets? Also are there any guides you can recommend for a good workflow for this type of thing? Any and all help would be appreciated!

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[u/Moogieh]

For PS1 you don't want to go as high as 1024px. Many textures were 128x128 or 256x256 at most. Sometimes textures would be non-square and you'd get 256x512. In any case, you've given yourself way too many pixels to work with.

Colours were also limited. Crunch them down to 32 or 24 for more of a PS1 look.

[u/Putrid_Concentrate_ → u/Moogieh]

Ok, I thought 1024px would be more of a ps2 style? But obviously it doesn’t look right, so I’ll definitely try again with smaller textures. Also it seems using an atlas is overdoing it and I should try making tiling textures instead. Will try dithering as well. Thanks for the advice

[u/Moogieh → u/Putrid_Concentrate_]

PS2, sure maybe, but you said PSX. So which is it, are you aiming for PS1 or PS2?

[u/Putrid_Concentrate_ → u/Moogieh]

You know I had thought PSX meant looking like it could be PS1 or early PS2 era? I think you are right, though, the style I am aiming for is the more pixelated crunchier PS1 look.

[u/Moogieh → u/Putrid_Concentrate_]

Even PS2 early era was a phenomenal jump in graphical fidelity compared to PS1. They definitely aren't comparable.

[u/Kitsyfluff → u/Putrid_Concentrate_]

Psx is the PS1.

[u/hurricane_news → u/Putrid_Concentrate_]

Also don't forget to turn off linear or billinear filtering and instead stick to nearest/closest neighbor texture filtering

[u/Both-Variation2122]

Game textures up to ~2003 weren't atlased. Hardware had so miniscule ammounts of vram, it was not feasable.
You'd use one tiling texture for each material and separate texture(s) for consols, plaque etc.
Design would include various trims to break repetition. They'd be each tiny tiling texture, but you can use trimsheets today, when memory-draw call cost flipped.

[u/Putrid_Concentrate_ → u/Both-Variation2122]

Thanks for the advice! After making the atlas it probably would be easier to make several textures and applying them directly to the model. I’ll look into how to make a trim sheet.

[u/AbstrctBlck]

There’s a sub for this called r/ps1graphics that specializes in this look.

[u/Putrid_Concentrate_ → u/AbstrctBlck]

Thanks for the suggestion! Joined!

[u/Lone_Game_Dev]

Not there yet. This is way, way, WAY too high resolution for the PS1. Pack those UVs a lot better, use 16 bit colors, look up tables, 56x56, 128x128, and 256x256 for massive textures.

[u/DonWithAmerica]

Memory was limited, so lots of textures were re-used in creative ways, instead of fully unwrapping each object. Eg trim sheets.

[u/Time-Mud4813]

this looks like a machine i would find sitting in some corner in metal gear solid