Commercial Critique Challenge - Pokemon Red/Blue

[Ryumaru]

Those screens are beautiful, but unfortunately they probably wouldn't have worked. Both the character and pokemon sprites are utilizing their transparency for a 4th color ( the white background). With your set up, Sprites would have to be added on top to make the white opaque and THAT would probably take up too much memory, be too cumbersome with all the characters and pokemon.

What you could do, is make a bigger white tree that is behind the sprites at all times.



It doesn't look nearly as good, but those are the restrictions. Also, the way sprites scroll into battle, any part of them that is white would show the background through on their way to these white backdrops. there could be a way to design more detailed backgrounds like this while not getting in the way of the sprite's transparency though.

[StevenM]

Those screens are beautiful, but unfortunately they probably wouldn't have worked. Both the character and pokemon sprites are utilizing their transparency for a 4th color ( the white background). With your set up, Sprites would have to be added on top to make the white opaque and THAT would probably take up too much memory, be too cumbersome with all the characters and pokemon.

What you could do, is make a bigger white tree that is behind the sprites at all times.



It doesn't look nearly as good, but those are the restrictions. Also, the way sprites scroll into battle, any part of them that is white would show the background through on their way to these white backdrops. there could be a way to design more detailed backgrounds like this while not getting in the way of the sprite's transparency though.

I should have known about the transparency trick! Thank you for telling me about that. On top of which the background would ultimately have to accommodate all 151 Pokemon, so there needs to be two 56*56 blank spaces on the screen - even those giant trees wouldn't be enough, width-wise. Which in theory would mean it would be extremely difficult to create good backgrounds (forest, building, gym, etc) that incorporate those blank spaces. Which in practice just makes me want to try and do just that.

Edit: some hashed-out examples! Tried using the white tiles as light reflection on the floor coming from the windows, so there's two three copies of the third image with and without that attempt.

[Ryumaru]

These are good! A little odd in their composition of course, but every little bit adds to the atmosphere. I gave some leeway with the width in my edit because I justified it in my head that perhaps most sprites would not have white inside them near their edges. Apparently each sprite is made of a collection of smaller 8x8 sprites put together. One should be able to designate some of those sprites having different palettes I would think- one where white was NOT the transparent color, and thus could show against a background.

[Gil]

These are good! A little odd in their composition of course, but every little bit adds to the atmosphere. I gave some leeway with the width in my edit because I justified it in my head that perhaps most sprites would not have white inside them near their edges. Apparently each sprite is made of a collection of smaller 8x8 sprites put together. One should be able to designate some of those sprites having different palettes I would think- one where white was NOT the transparent color, and thus could show against a background.

Maybe you can do even better and do palette swaps per scanline, but I'm not sure how the gameboy handles palettes and scanline interrupts. In any case, yes, it should be possible.

[StevenM]

The first four screens with intro, menu, attack menu and narration; a larger opponent Pokemon to demonstrate the necessity of the 56*56 blank space; the intro of a Giovanni battle demonstrating a different background entirely; the original background and battle menu style that had to be removed; a dark cave background. I changed all the sprites from the original games as well as the menu style, and I'm liking most of the changes, it gives me a strong Shining Force vibe.

EDIT: The two FOCUS ENERGY screenshots have different looks for Pokemon Trainer Red, I don't have a real preference between the two.

DOUBLE EDIT: I changed the Mewtwo sprite. I initially liked the idea of the semi-shadowy figure with his face obscured, but the weird contrast in lighting and dithering didn't save the picture. If you want to see the initial picture, it's here.

[Ryumaru]

Definitely the second trainer, gives him that ominous Red look. These are great attempts at adding backgrounds while still following how the game handles things, but some bits are just awkward and draw attention to themselves.

I would be interested in seeing a system created that split up the sprite in a way that the majority of it could use 4 colors, but in the right places it would allow for transparency and background behind it. I might even take a stab at it myself.

[DragonDePlatino]

Ohhh! I really like the direction this thread is taking! StevenM has a great, functional design I thought I'd tweak.



For the forest mockup I went ahead and added a canopy, moved around some grass and tweaked Charizard's wing and shadows. When it comes to working with a limited space, I'd advise against having long lines of pixels that touch the edge of the 56x56 box. It makes it obvious where the edges of the sprites are.

For the indoor mockup I made it a bit more efficient tile-wise and found a neat way to get Red's sprite working. There's a sort of white strip along the back wall which blends with the ground nicely. Not sure how to handle Giovanni's side and the door, though.

I also changed the cave mockup a bit. I went with some pillars of light to make the sprites less boxy and added some rocky background details. I bumped the stone platforms down a tile and tweaked the right side of Charizard's sprite a bit. What do you guys think?

[Ryumaru]

Ohhh! I really like the direction this thread is taking! StevenM has a great, functional design I thought I'd tweak.



For the forest mockup I went ahead and added a canopy, moved around some grass and tweaked Charizard's wing and shadows. When it comes to working with a limited space, I'd advise against having long lines of pixels that touch the edge of the 56x56 box. It makes it obvious where the edges of the sprites are.

For the indoor mockup I made it a bit more efficient tile-wise and found a neat way to get Red's sprite working. There's a sort of white strip along the back wall which blends with the ground nicely. Not sure how to handle Giovanni's side and the door, though.

I also changed the cave mockup a bit. I went with some pillars of light to make the sprites less boxy and added some rocky background details. I bumped the stone platforms down a tile and tweaked the right side of Charizard's sprite a bit. What do you guys think?

Yes. YEs. YES. This is great! You and StevenM really knocked it out of the park with this background stuff; it all looks really doable and gives just enough information to allow the viewer to fill in the blanks and create their own idea of how the world looks. ( which I think is a big component in creating charm, nostalgia, and strong attachment to the original graphics.)

 

[pokeglitch]

I agree with Ryumaru, those look great. They really fit in with the game.  Good work on them!  You've inspired me to fix up my battle screen with a more detailed background akin to those!

[Ymedron]

I made a slight edit to dragondedino's mockup - just widen the spotlights by one line on each side to clear the tangents.