Sprite/Background Colour Pallet Choice

[cedega]

So I've begun work on a game, and almost have the main sprite done.

However, now that I'm about to start creating levels, what should I do with my colour pallet?  I know that the colour pallet should be kept small as to promote the reuse of colours, but I also know that there needs to be a distinction from the sprites and the backgrounds.

My question is, what should I be doing with my colour pallet?  Should I sit down, create one with ~40 colours and then start creating backgrounds / additional characters?  Or should I just add colours as I go, reusing as I see appropriate?

Additionally, should my character sprites and backgrounds share the same pallet? Or should they be different pallets as to promote distinction between the sprite and the background?

I would love some advice / personal experience

(Currently at 10 colours, most of which are a purple-ish colour)

[yrizoud]

If you're still experimenting, I'd recommend you reserve a group of colors for backgrounds  (for example 0-127) and an other for sprites (128-255). This way, even if/when there happens to be duplicates, you can easily tweak the colors any time without affecting the other category.

[Polioliolio]

If you're still experimenting, I'd recommend you reserve a group of colors for backgrounds  (for example 0-127) and an other for sprites (128-255). This way, even if/when there happens to be duplicates, you can easily tweak the colors any time without affecting the other category.

That's a good idea.

Are you also implying the palette should be upward 256 colors?

[yrizoud]

Probably not. But painting programs that propose an indexed color mode usually go up to 256 colors.

[Polioliolio]

Do you have a recommendation for the scope of a palette?

In my case, I'm interested in duplicating an SNES sort of look..  but when sampling a screenshot of a specific game, I was surprised to find there were over 100 colors in that single screen!
Would you say that's overkill? Or perhaps just about right?

Maybe 64 colors for backgrounds and 64 for foreground sprites?

[cedega]

If you're still experimenting, I'd recommend you reserve a group of colors for backgrounds  (for example 0-127) and an other for sprites (128-255). This way, even if/when there happens to be duplicates, you can easily tweak the colors any time without affecting the other category.

That's probably a safe way of doing it.  Thanks for the guidance