Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Probo on November 04, 2017, 03:39:44 pm

Title: Cuphead on Master System
Post by: Probo on November 04, 2017, 03:39:44 pm
I made a mock-up of what a Cuphead Master System game might look like!

(https://i.imgur.com/JGdhO8t.png)


I'm nowhere near as familiar with the MS's limitations as I am with the NES's. As far as I know it can use one 16 colour palette (inc. one transparency) for all sprites, and one 16 colour palette for all backgrounds tiles. I used the MS master palette, and hopefully got the resolution of 256 x 192 right. Man, the Master System Palette isnt flexible! A lot of the colours are very similar, and then there's huge leaps between values. Found myself not having the colour I wanted a bunch of times.  I was also careful to leave lots of duplicate tiles in the image, I read that the MS does have some limit on how many unique tiles can be onscreen at once, like the NES.

So yeah, apart from the ridiculous amount of sprites on-screen here, I think this is within the hardware's ability? Maybe if Kasumi is around he'll tell me.
Title: Re: Cuphead on Master System
Post by: eishiya on November 04, 2017, 03:51:24 pm
You have to use the image URL in the IMG tags, not the URL of the webpage it's on:
Code: [Select]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/JGdhO8t.png[/img]
I feel like you've lost the cartoony, watercolour feel of the environment with those dirt tiles. They're also distractingly detailed, the characters easily get lost against the dirt. Cuphead's dirt is low-detail, mostly just what looks like a watercolour wash with a little shading. Try using tiles that are mostly a single colour, with just one darker colour for shading and no highlights. Instead of pill-shaped rocks, I think it'd be worth trying to make a more naturalistic surface like in the original game. The ground in that is mostly just vertical columns of brown. If there's no tile number limit, consider using adding a variant dirt tile to make it less repetitive.

I'm not familiar with the Master System's limitations and palette, but you've done a good job with those colours! I didn't realize how strange some of them were until I zoomed in.
Title: Re: Cuphead on Master System
Post by: Probo on November 04, 2017, 04:00:13 pm
Huh, I did that at first with the img tags and it didn't work, nothing appeared including text. I'll try again. Thanks for the feedback. Yeah I decided early on I wasn't going to try and emulate the water colour look, I wanted to inject it with Master System goodness, including weirdo rock formations and lovely blue skies. Considering the trouble I had with the palette, I'm glad I didn't try and keep the subtleties of watercolour!!!
Title: Re: Cuphead on Master System
Post by: eishiya on November 04, 2017, 04:02:09 pm
Your original tags had the page URL, not the image URL, that's why xP
Title: Re: Cuphead on Master System
Post by: Probo on November 04, 2017, 04:07:00 pm
Youre right! Turns out I also had tried the correct link, but when you press the copy button on imgur for the direct image link it doesnt give you the '.png', which stopped it working.
Title: Re: Cuphead on Master System
Post by: ptoing on November 04, 2017, 07:28:00 pm
Neat, this is looking really nice. :)

As far as palette restrictions goes you are almost correct. The sprites can only use 15 colours, as colour 0 of that palette is transparent. BUT the background tiles can use the sprite colours as well. The only thing I am not certain about right now is whether colour 0 of the sprite palette can be used on in the tiles or if that is always colour 0 of the bg palette.

And of course that is an either or thing, you can use the colours of one, not of both, per 8x8 tile.
Title: Re: Cuphead on Master System
Post by: Probo on November 04, 2017, 09:28:39 pm
That's really interesting, I didn't know that. I think I much prefer the MS's background and sprite palette system to the NES's, it's much more useful, but it perhaps doesn't always make up for the MS's awkward master palette. Apparently the MS can flip background tiles which the NES can't do, but the NES can flip sprites which the MS can't do. I think making games for this thing back then, the sprite flipping feature of the NES would be much more useful for most types of game!

Title: Re: Cuphead on Master System
Post by: ptoing on November 05, 2017, 05:41:05 pm
It depends, in some cases tile flipping is more useful. It depends on where you save more space.
The major drawback on the SMS is that you can not really design tiles in such a way to easily swap colours, and as such saving space on the rom. On the NES you can do that, because you got 4 bg tiles. From what I understand, if you made the same block 4 times, using different palettes. That would still take up space in one of the tables (nametable or something, Kasumi would know), but only 4 tiles in the tiles (assuming a 16x16 pixel block here, because of the tile colour attribute size)

If you wanted to make the same thing on the SMS you can have the colours to do that for sure, but it would be 4 times as many tiles, so quite wasteful in that sense.

For straight pixelling the SMS is probably easier, once you get a good palette from the 64 possible colours worked out. Though I have to say I personally find the NES a lot more interesting to work with. But then again I really like minmaxing palettes etc (which is really crucial on 16 bit systems like the SNES, MD, etc.)
Title: Re: Cuphead on Master System
Post by: Scuba Steve on November 08, 2017, 05:10:49 am
Totes adorbs.
Title: Re: Cuphead on Master System
Post by: Decroded on December 07, 2017, 07:12:35 am
I feel like you've lost the cartoony, watercolour feel...

Agreed.
I like the stuff but colours are too strong for the game's vibe
Title: Re: Cuphead on Master System
Post by: nmlstyl on January 04, 2018, 02:02:56 am
late to the party but this is really cool looking!  i wish this was real  :(