"Secrets of the Acropolis", a GameBoy mock-up

[skw]

Hi!

Though I`ve seen lots of hoaxes based upon the GameBoy restrictions lately on Pixelation, I decided to put here my own, which is, in fact, my first completed "serious" piece. I was working on it since June, but actually, it were a few days of MS Paint work stretched in time.

Four different "LCD shades" palette taken from the "NO$GMB" GameBoy emulator.



(These oval thingies meant to be olives.)


"SECRETS OF THE ACROPOLIS" for GameBoy Classic
(a game screen mock-up, v. 2.766*)

THE SHORT STORY:

"Once upon a time, long, long ago, when there were no such things like the television or a pixel, the city of Athens stood firm under the reign of Olympic gods.

And once upon that time, there was a quarrel in heavens. Somebody stole the never-ending goblet of ambrosia, which for eons had belonged to Dionysus, the god of wine! Everyone was accusing each other, shouting and shrieking louder than you can imagine! And at last, Zeus, the god of all gods, went really furious! "Enough! Enough, my dears! You are acting worse than children" - he yelled over them, while throwing thunders down the shaking earth.

And after the noise calmed down and poor Dionysus gathered his wits, it has been decided, that one of the younger satyrs, [name], will be send out of the Olympus to look over the whole thing. There was only one trail left by the thief and it led to the dark realm of Hades, ruled by the wicked lord of the dead, where only souls can reside.

Once there was a gossip about a passage under the Acropolis hill…"


Maybe it`s too much as for a single small piece, but it was fun to write a story like that. Someday I will return to the theme, for sure - there are "Legends--" and "Ruins of the Acropolis" mock-ups for different systems planned in the near future.

Okay, enough talking. What do you guys think of it? Please C&C. Thanks!

---
* There were plenty of changes during that long period, since I haven`t started from a sketch and was working on it by heart.

[BadMrBox]

I think it look's smashing really. GB restriction's must be a pain to work with but the result's are so impressive.

[Gunne]

in one word just lovely ! man the style is really beautiful! Only crit is the reflection on the water(?) of the mountains, but I guess it has to do with the restrictions of the GameBoy. I really love the cloud and the satyr!

also cool prologue!

[Ryumaru]

the sprite, has more colors than usual. its possible for a sprite to have an overlay sprite, but that usually is not used in main char sprites.

[AdamAtomic]

wow!  the light outlines do wonders to help the graphics stand out better, great stuff.  My only crit is the satyr looks kind of like a Cthulhu squid monster to me.  hotness otherwise!

[ndchristie]

ryu is right, the character can only be 3 colors + trans in most situations.  however, that really doesnt take away from the badassness that is this piece.  never seen a gold gameboy screen, these colors look much nicer than anything else ive seen.  your characters will actually most likely benefit from having just 3 colors, it is worth a try

overall, love the presentation

[dyuaru]

This is really nice  The dithering on the mountains and the reflections look really smooth and dont draw too much attention from the focal point of the scene(the character), which is good. Not sure what to critique on this as it is truly a wonderful piece. One small point, might be just me, but the lone cloud there looks just a bit strange and kind of distracting. Either way, great piece 

[Conzeit]

Nice thing you got going there, you got a good sense of focus points and composition, I like the way you added detail in the middle of the screen mirrored vertically, gives it a very rich look whitout calling too much attention to the BG, the dithering is very tasteful too.

As has been said, the sprite is the weakest spot, you should probably simplify him, remember GB actually displays things pretty small, not zoomed up as your characters seems to have been designed.

http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=1728.0 check this thread for GB techs related badassery by the one and only Baccaman (where oh where are you?)

Also, just wondering, do you know about marmotte's pixelboy? I thought it'd be of interest. http://www.dot-invasion.com/pixelboy/

[skw]

Okay, LOTS of thanks for the C&C! That`s really helpful!

I`ve tried to simplify the satyr sprite, as you suggested; now it has only 3 colors. I hope he didn`t lost his personality.


< BEFORE (2.766) & AFTER (2.80) >

Well, how is it now? Isn`t that a little too dark?

• @ Ryumaru:
  You meant the character`s outline by saying "an overlay sprite", didn`t you? I was taking reference from "Warioland II", where the main character was outlined while in shadow. I`m also almost sure there were a few other games with such things.
  
  Elsewhere, sorry for the misunderstanding.

• @ dyuaru:
  It might be because of the amount of colors used by the cloud, since it`s the same as of the whole background piece. Three.

• @ Conceit:
  Good reading on that Baccaman. I didn`t realize such strict limitations of the DMG, to be honest. In that case, it`d be rather impossible to run my game on a real console. I`ll think of it next time.
  
  Thanks also for the PixelBoy link; haven`t heard of it before.

• @ KilledBySuicide:
  Yep, you`re right; after all it`s only a 4-color palette.
  
  As for the water surface, I wanted something more detailed than just a few lines here and there, like in e.g. "Donkey Kong Land 2" (see the screenshot below). Unfortunately, as known already, it`d be too much for a simple system like the GameBoy, if speaking of hardware restrictions.
  
  
  
  ^ However, it`s probably the most detailed GB game I`ve ever played.

Keep on posting!

[robotriot]

Great mockup! However, your new sprite still has 4 colours + transparency (the bright outline).