AuthorTopic: GR#066 - C64 Palette Platformer - Mockup  (Read 13404 times)

Offline moket

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GR#066 - C64 Palette Platformer - Mockup

on: July 09, 2011, 06:16:05 pm
Hi, I wanted to give a try at the C64 colour palette for a while, but was a bit intimidated by it.
I have to point that Ptoing's nifty document was the perfect companion since this palette so hard to understand.

8x8 tiles. I'm shooting for a 2x/4x zoom.
Must have a lot of issues there, feel free to point them.

mockup


tileset


player



canon round


EDIT
Current Underground Mockups

« Last Edit: August 11, 2011, 03:14:02 pm by moket »

Offline Phlakes

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Re: [WIP] Mockup platformer C64 palette

Reply #1 on: July 10, 2011, 03:03:18 am
I'm glad you have the high-contrast edges on the gray floors, and the brown-to-blue ramp on the metal(?) tiles looks very nice. I'm guessing the clouds and buildings are still WIP, so other than those, it looks really good. Some of the brown might need a bit of depth, though.

Offline moket

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Re: [WIP] Mockup platformer C64 palette

Reply #2 on: July 12, 2011, 05:09:59 pm
thanks Phlakes, good points.
Yep the background is still WIP but I would like to keep it simple, my main concern will be the readability of the foreground elements. It's supposed to be more of a square-ish mountain.
Wonder how to convey the scale, perhaps another layer in the back ? Perhaps adding flora to it ?
I did a super quick proto.
Arrows for movement,"X" to jump.
Hope it will help to test the graphics. I've added canon rounds because my tiles looked like the canons from Mario :)
« Last Edit: July 12, 2011, 05:46:58 pm by moket »

Offline pistachio

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Re: [WIP] Mockup platformer C64 palette

Reply #3 on: July 12, 2011, 06:23:42 pm
Nice mockup, but the character isn't really distinguishable from the background. (But at least it's readable.) How about having the outlines you had reserved for the "canon" rounds switched over to surround the character?

Offline Seiseki

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Re: [WIP] Mockup platformer C64 palette

Reply #4 on: July 12, 2011, 11:52:08 pm
Is that MR.T? :D
If so then awesome job on getting the right shapes at that resolution :D

Offline moket

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Re: [WIP] Mockup platformer C64 palette

Reply #5 on: July 19, 2011, 01:33:05 am
pistachio <> thanks, I tried an outline on all the foreground elements, a bit easy as a problem solver ... I think I was getting lost design wise.
If the game is scaled it makes more sense for me to go with plain shapes. I will make a "proper" game design document as a guide.
Seiseki <> hehe, not my intention but could be nice. The whole A-team would be a nice challenge !

Modified the platform tileset, and added some flames.
I picture the character running away from some cataclysmic event, thus the flames constrain him in the playfield.
He could be forced to run all the time as he's totally out of his mind. Perhaps running away from the flames if he gets to close to them.
Could be fun to draw and animate the FXs in such a setting.





Updated mockup.

also, started to work on a logo, mainly inspired by this piece by Helm.
While doing it I realized I didn't had the level to manipulate the color palette for complex stuff. Lots of cleaning ahead in order to make it fit :)
« Last Edit: July 19, 2011, 01:45:03 am by moket »

Offline PypeBros

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Re: [WIP] Mockup platformer C64 palette

Reply #6 on: July 19, 2011, 08:37:08 am
much improved character readability. Couldn't tell what the blocky obstacles on the ground are, though.

Offline moket

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Re: [WIP] Mockup platformer C64 palette

Reply #7 on: August 01, 2011, 01:20:39 am
Thanks, PypeBros. It was some random elements.
I worked on a speudo story/gamedesign, I hope it will help me design wise to have some kind of story telling going on.
So it's about a lost astronaut who explores a cavern on a far away planet. Mainly going down and vertical only scrolling. Metroid is THE big influence here and Portal regarding the evolving setting. 
I wanted to start with a rusty abandoned facility/laboratory and introduce more flora later gradually.
At the beginning most of the enemies will be the robots from the facility, lots of them are working or just passing by, a few will be security ones.
Each level will contain around 3/5 rooms. The player is spawing on a teleporter and has to reach the other one to continue to next level. 

Had to use a black background, couldn't figure out something for it :/

Offline PypeBros

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Re: [WIP] Mockup platformer C64 palette

Reply #8 on: August 01, 2011, 08:46:22 am
I worked on a speudo story/gamedesign, I hope it will help me design wise to have some kind of story telling going on.
So it's about a lost astronaut who explores a cavern on a far away planet. Mainly going down and vertical only scrolling.

Going deeper and deeper up to the point they've awaken forgotten things that should have been kept sleeping for eternity... familiar ... and that makes me eager to try esp. in a scifi setting.

As for the black background, I'd suggest you "spice it up" will low-contrast details such as pipes and similar tech things. Arne's mockup of a revived version of Manic Miner Jet Set Willy could be inspiring (that's what I'd have in mind as reference, at least).

Offline moket

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Re: [WIP] Mockup platformer C64 palette

Reply #9 on: August 01, 2011, 10:42:44 pm
hehe, perhaps, who knows ? I'm not a coder but I will try to build a basic proto to test the graphics.
Good point with that image. Tried something for the background, went a bit to far perhaps, now onto the background/foreground connections.

Offline ptoing

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Re: [WIP] Mockup platformer C64 palette

Reply #10 on: August 02, 2011, 03:41:32 am
I like this, the background works well in that last mockup.

But I think you are using too many colours just because you can and stuff ends up looking noisy and unfocused.
I would try and cut down on putting lots of single pixel colour detail all over the place. Things get grainy fast.
A cleaner look would work better for this I reckon.

Very charming tho.
There are no ugly colours, only ugly combinations of colours.

Offline moket

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Re: [WIP] Mockup platformer C64 palette

Reply #11 on: August 02, 2011, 04:55:59 pm
Yes it was not far from the infamous rainbow effect.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Hope it will disappear as the location makes more sense to me now.
I've reworked the tileset and the background a bit. I would like to introduce special background tiles for the objects (doors, teleporters).
I liked the bulky aspect of the previous ground, the new one is perhaps a bit to square.

Offline moket

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Re: [WIP] Mockup platformer C64 palette

Reply #12 on: August 03, 2011, 02:27:43 am
worked more on the tileset and began to unify the rendering of the metallic elements (doors, robot dispensers).

Offline PypeBros

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Re: [WIP] Mockup platformer C64 palette

Reply #13 on: August 03, 2011, 11:57:57 am
Yes it was not far from the infamous rainbow effect.
I wonder to what extent it's due to the fact you're using grey as your #1 shade. Grey work well for secondary tones as one will not note that you dropped the hue, but if you have no hue as the start, the eye becomes more sensitive to hue changes where there is some hue to look at.

does it makes sense ?

Offline Fickludd

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Re: [WIP] Mockup platformer C64 palette

Reply #14 on: August 03, 2011, 08:07:22 pm
I think you're doing great work with this. It actually amazes me that you pull off having so many colors in the floor/wall/roof tiles. BGs are looking good and units and portals as well.

What I think would be an idea though is to reduce the amount of colors used in each element to increase contrast and readability. Although most stuff looks good on it's own it's sometimes hard to tell what's what. Maybe you could try to knock back the floor each one level in value to better separate it from the units and objects?

Offline moket

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Re: [WIP] Mockup platformer C64 palette

Reply #15 on: August 11, 2011, 02:57:14 pm
PypeBros <> interesting point there, I will try to add some details to the grey walls or shadows. In game it's a bit better as you don't see so much of the level.

Fickludd <> thanks. Sadly I didn't want to add colors for the sake of it, I started this "project" to improve my pixel art skills.
With this limited palette you're forced to mix colors in order to reach the desired contrast. I failed somehow so it's noisy but I hope to fix that.
Still I like the vibrance in the floor tiles and I hope I will be able to adjust it against the new elements.
It's interesting to see how each color is almost willing to interact with the others creating some sort of halos or hard edges.
If I had to pixel this with a deadline I would go for more down to earth methods but this time it's more about going out of my comfort zone and having fun playing with colors.
I will place backgrounds mostly on ceilings so the player isn't obstructed too much.

Did a mockup for a Boss/Power Up Station, could be a starting point for a new tileset aswell.
Lots of things to fix but I was procrastinating on it for too much time. Thanks to Procrastitracker for the evidence.