PyxelEdit Portable

Pixel Edit Portable is a photo editing tool built to help artists draw 2D background images in retro indie games. The app is especially designed to allow users to quickly create pictures using repeated shapes.

Being portable, it helps users carry it with them anywhere on a USB stick and fire it anytime they find a suitable computer.

Similar to other popular image editors, this little app provides all the features other bigger and much more complex programs usually offer. It comes with the typical layout of multiple panels and allows artists to begin new projects separated from the old ones using the same editing window.

Users can start building new documents from scratch and enjoy features like layers, basic drawing tools, and a tileset preview that helps them add or retract the number of tiles allowed on the main canvas.

This utility was built to draw 2D simple images using preset photos. Picture importing and exporting features are pretty impressive. Pixel Edit Portable supports images in GIF, PNG, and JPG format, which can be modified in the editor later on. Users can also import colors from custom images and even add popular retro presets from old consoles and computers, like Commodore 64, Game Boy, or Arne 64.

Every time an artist finishes his job he can export the tilemap either to plain text, XML, or PNG file format. Users can save them to PYXEL files and later come back to them, and make additional adjustments.

Pixel Edit Portable is an excellent application designed mainly for gaming background artists. It comes with some very popular retro console templates and works with all mainstream picture formats. Artists can later export photos or art made in Pixel Edit Portable and add their last touches in Photoshop before having them implemented in a game.

Overall, this is a great tool that helps users avoid appealing to weird or costly plugins, and just do 2D art whenever they see fit.