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Being a programmer doesn't stop me from making game art assets. If you go for a minimalism style and use good colors that fit well together you can make a game look good. By using simple art you focus on making the gameplay great. In the end, it’s not about the tools you use but the creativity and time you put into projects. With only simple shapes like rectangles and triangles, you can come a long way with minimalism. For Super Blue Boy Planet I used Photoshop and Pixel Edit but for pixel games and especially animations I rather use a dedicated sprite app.