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What is Cava's Pixel Resources?
Cava's Pixel Resources is a personal font project by a graphic designer who recreates and expands pixel fonts from classic video games. The site collects these fonts for download, mostly under a non-commercial license, and notes that commercial use requires contacting the designer.
The fonts are reconstructions of bitmap typefaces that appeared in specific games, not original designs. Each set is expanded with extra characters—numbers, special glyphs, diacritics, and sometimes full Japanese kana sets—and shipped in webfont-ready formats such as TTF, OTF, WOFF, and SVG with CSS, so they can be used on retro-styled websites as well as in game mockups or fan projects.
Two examples on the page show the range:
| Font | Based on | Notable extras |
|---|---|---|
| Altima | Final Fantasy Tactics (PlayStation, 1997) | Full hiragana and katakana, Cyrillic base set, over 1,000 characters |
| Arcology | Shadowrun (SNES, 1993) | Expanded special characters and diacritic variants |
If you want to use one, check the license first: the fonts are free under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike, so a hobby project or personal site is straightforward, while anything commercial needs a separate license request. For a fan game or retro homepage, download the webfont files and credit the designer as the license requires.
Can I use these pixel fonts on a commercial project or website?
For a commercial project: not without permission. For a website: yes, if the site is non-commercial and you credit the creator and keep the same license on anything you build with the fonts. Cava's Pixel Resources states that its fonts are released under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license, and that commercial use requires contacting the designer for a commercial license Cava's Pixel Resources.
What each use looks like in practice
- Personal or hobby website: a retro-styled fan page or portfolio can use the webfont-ready files (the site says its fonts ship with TTF, OTF, EOT, WOFF, SVG and CSS files) as long as you attribute the font and share adaptations under the same terms.
- Commercial website or product: a client site, a paid game, merchandise or ad creative falls under the non-commercial restriction. The practical step is to message the designer through the site and ask about a commercial license before you build the design around a specific font.
- Modified versions: the ShareAlike term means if you extend or alter a font, the result should carry the same license rather than being sold or locked down.
A quick decision check
Ask two questions: does money change hands because of the project, and will you credit the source? If the answer to the first is yes, treat it as a licensing conversation rather than a download. If the answer is no, keep the attribution line visible, for example in the site footer or the font's CSS comment, and you are within the stated terms.
The fonts are recreations of typefaces from games such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Shadowrun, so a commercial project may also raise questions beyond this site's license. For open-licensed pixel fonts intended for commercial use, compare options at Google Fonts or Font Library, where the license for each family is stated on its page.
How do I download and install a font like Altima for use in my design software?
Download Altima from Cava's Pixel Resources, unzip the package, then install the font through your operating system or load it directly from the project folder.
Getting the file
On the site, find the Altima entry and use its download link. The package is a small archive that includes TTF, OTF, EOT, WOFF, SVG and CSS versions of the font, so you may need to unzip it first. For desktop design work, the TTF or OTF is usually the simplest choice.
Installing it
- Windows: right-click the TTF or OTF file and choose "Install" (or "Install for all users" if others share the machine).
- macOS: double-click the file and confirm in Font Book, or drag it into Font Book.
- Design software: restart the application if the font does not appear in the font menu. Some apps only pick up newly installed fonts after a relaunch.
If you would rather not install it system-wide, many design programs let you load a font from a project folder. This is handy when you want to keep a client project self-contained, though support varies by application.
A practical example
Suppose you are building a retro-style game menu mockup. Install Altima, set your text at its intended 16px base size, and disable font smoothing or anti-aliasing where your software allows it. Pixel fonts are designed for exact pixel grids, so scaling them to arbitrary sizes or letting the system blur the edges tends to spoil the crisp look. Export at whole-number scale factors (2x, 3x) rather than odd percentages.
Licensing to keep in mind
Altima is offered under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license, and the site notes that commercial use requires contacting the creator for a license. If your project is commercial, sort out that permission before you build the design around the font. Also credit the source as the license requires.
Choosing the right file format
| Situation | Suggested file |
|---|---|
| Desktop design app (Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma desktop) | TTF or OTF |
| A website or web prototype | WOFF (with CSS provided) |
| Legacy web contexts | EOT |
| Vector or embedded use | SVG |
For a first test, install the TTF, type a short sample at 16px, and confirm the characters render sharply before committing to a full layout.
Which font should I pick if I want the Final Fantasy Tactics look versus a Shadowrun sci-fi style?
Pick Altima for the Final Fantasy Tactics look and Arcology for the Shadowrun sci-fi style; they are separate recreations, so choose by the game atmosphere you want rather than by a single "retro" label. Both come with expanded character sets and webfont-ready files, according to Cava's Pixel Resources.
How they differ in practice
| Use case | Altima | Arcology |
|---|---|---|
| Reference game | Final Fantasy Tactics (PlayStation, 1997) | Shadowrun (SNES, 1993) |
| Visual character | Mixed serif/sans-serif pixel text font | Futuristic sans-serif pixel font |
| Best for | Tactical-RPG menus, dialogue boxes, fantasy interfaces | Cyberpunk titles, HUDs, tech-themed pages |
| Language coverage | Includes original Japanese hiragana and katakana plus Cyrillic, per the site | Described as expanded with special characters and diacritic variants |
| License | Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike; commercial license by request | Same non-commercial license terms stated on the site |
A practical test: if your project has character names, item lists or narrative text that should feel like a strategy RPG, set a sample paragraph in Altima and check whether the mixed serif/sans shapes stay readable at your intended size. If you are building a title screen, button labels or a sci-fi landing page, try Arcology first, since its futuristic sans-serif forms suit short, high-impact text better than long passages.
Your next step is to download both sets and compare the same short sample—one heading, one menu item and one sentence—at the exact pixel size you plan to use. Keep Altima if the fantasy tone and broader Japanese character support matter; keep Arcology if the cyberpunk mood and clean sans-serif silhouette matter more. For either, confirm the non-commercial license fits your project before publishing.
Do the fonts include Japanese hiragana, katakana, or Cyrillic characters?
Yes—at least some fonts do. Cava's Pixel Resources says each character set has been expanded with extra special characters, and the site calls out Japanese kana and Cyrillic explicitly for individual fonts rather than promising them across the whole collection.
Where the site names them
- Altima (based on Final Fantasy Tactics): lists a complete Cyrillic base set and the complete original Japanese hiragana and katakana sets, plus many extra special characters and diacritic variants.
- Arcology (based on Shadowrun): described as expanded with additional special characters, diacritic variants and unique glyphs; the visible description does not name kana or Cyrillic.
What this means in practice
If you are building a retro-styled interface and need Latin text with occasional Cyrillic, Altima is the safer starting point because the site states the coverage directly. If you need Japanese kana for menus or dialogue boxes, Altima is the font to test first; the kana are drawn from the Japanese release, so they should match the game's original look. For any other font on the site, check its own character-set listing before committing, since the "expanded" wording is generic and coverage varies by font.
One trade-off: the fonts are recreations of original game typefaces, so glyph shapes follow those designs rather than a modern typographic standard. Test a sample of your actual text—especially uncommon kana combinations or Cyrillic diacritics—in a browser before layout work, because pixel fonts at their base size can render unevenly when scaled.
A useful next step is to open the Altima entry and compare its character set against the exact strings you need to display; if a glyph is missing, the site's contact option is the route for asking about additions or a commercial license.
How can I support the creator or request a custom font recreation?
You can support the creator or request a custom recreation by contacting Caveras directly through the contact link on Cava's Pixel Resources, and by making a donation if you want to support the work without a commercial need.
Supporting the creator
- Donate: The site says donations are welcome and provides a donation link. This is the simplest option if you use the fonts personally and want to support ongoing work.
- Follow the license: The fonts are offered under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. Keeping attribution and share-alike terms intact, and not using them commercially without permission, is itself a form of support.
- Request a commercial license: If you want to use a font in a commercial project, the site asks you to contact the creator to obtain a license.
Requesting a custom font recreation
The page describes the creator as a graphic designer who rebuilds fonts from old-school video games, adding special characters, numbers, and game-specific glyphs. For a custom recreation, contact the creator with:
- the game and the specific font or text screen you want recreated
- reference images or screenshots
- the character set you need (for example, Latin, kana, or special glyphs)
- whether the use is personal or commercial
- the file formats you need (the site notes webfont-ready files such as TTF, OTF, EOT, WOFF, SVG, and CSS for its own fonts)
A practical next step is to check whether a similar font already exists on the site before asking for a new recreation, then send a concise request with references and intended use so the creator can confirm scope, licensing, and timing.
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