[WIP] Curse of the Caves (EGA DOS game)

[surt]

The dark blue looks a bit too contrasty and textural.
It could also be that it's just too blue for my tastes.

Left large chunk swapped dark-blue for dark-grey (lessens blueness but doesn't increase intensity so much and might also help tie ice to rock).
Right large chunk what I originally meant.

[happymonster]

Here's my take on it (left), a darker version that uses a grey colour scheme while keeping most of the detail:

[Arachne]

It's been a while (actually, I had no idea it had been this long ), but I'm still working on this. I've had a lot of practice working with limited palettes in cramped spaces, so now I have a much better grasp of this palette as well.

I've decided to stick with rocks for tiles, but I'm going to try to add some variation with crystals, bones and the like. I might still need to adjust the tile crystals a bit for consistency.





Some of the items are supposed to be dark, but that also makes them harder to spot. My solution for now is to put them in open, uncluttered areas with a brighter backdrop. I've experimented with adding a cyan outline, but I would prefer a consistent style for all the crystals.



What do you think?

[skamocore]

Awesome that you're working on this again I love this mockup. It really shows how awesome the EGA palette can be when placed in capable hands (Actually, I think a lot of it comes down to responsible use of magenta...) Those shining crystals look great and I love the font.

But perhaps the text should be placed over some sort of background?
Maybe blacken the inside of the big monster's mouth, that would give it a bit more depth.
Also, have you considered using dark red for the stalagmites/tites? I think that could possibly push them into the background a bit more. Right now there's just a lot of blue going on.

[EvilEye]

Couldn't you change the EGA palette? I know it was like 16 colors but I thought you could change those 16 colors.

Looks really nice nevertheless. The rock platforms are impressive.

I think you should break up the straight lines on the waterfalls, the straight edges are killing them.

[Mathias]

Wow, time machine thread!

Looks awesome, Arachne. I was just thinking about you the other day wondering where you'd wandered off to, coincidentily.

Yes, EvilEye, it's a rather large 64 color palette. See an old but not yet extinct thread of mine to the see the palette. It's in the OP there. So, there are options.

[Ninja Crow]

Hi, I'm glad you posted some updates for this, because I've never seen it before, and it's really terrific!
I love how well you've used the palette (and even if you could change it, the restricted colours do seem to be challenging your creativity - and you are winning!).
I do like the rock tiles over the ice, if you can only have one or the other, but when I saw the ice, I assumed it would be from a second area.
If this underground world has relics in it, suggesting a lost civilisation, then it would be cool to have squares of cut stone, and leftover bits of wooden structures to also 'break up' the rock tiles.  Maybe carved faces, also?
I think the cyan outline looks fine, but if it isn't subtle enough, how hard would it be to make it fade in and out like a soft glow (stepping through darker colours, rather than an alpha, I assume)?
I've been staring at the reflection animation for your crystals with unblinking appreciation - it's amazing!  And is that a little page to fit into the diary - does it have game hints and story-advancing clues?  I wouldn't be able to wait to collect them, even over treasure!
Are you still going to have coins?  I think a stamped image in the center like an eagle or a fish would help them look flat (especially if they had a raised edge).
Is this going to be a mockup, or a working game? (looks pretty convincing atm!)
I like the idea of the alternate layer you showed in this post, which really gave a suggestion of depth and intricacy.

This not only looks really cool, it's also a great concept overall - I can't wait to see more!

[ptoing]

So, there are options.

Kinda. If you use the 640x350 resolution you can use 16 out of the 64 222 RGB colours. If you use the CGA resolutions 640x200 or 320x200 (which most people did) you are tied to the original 16 CGA colours, but you can use them all at once with EGA.

Actually I am not entirely sure. I just checked Wikipedia and the German and English entries kinda contradict each other here. Tho I personally never have seen ANY 320x200 game with other colours than the CGA ones and I see no reason why no one would have used it if it was possible to change colours. It would have allowed for much more varied gfx, esp if you change stuff per scene in an adventure game or something.

[skamocore]

So, there are options.

Kinda. If you use the 640x350 resolution you can use 16 out of the 64 222 RGB colours. If you use the CGA resolutions 640x200 or 320x200 (which most people did) you are tied to the original 16 CGA colours, but you can use them all at once with EGA.

Actually I am not entirely sure. I just checked Wikipedia and the German and English entries kinda contradict each other here. Tho I personally never have seen ANY 320x200 game with other colours than the CGA ones and I see no reason why no one would have used it if it was possible to change colours. It would have allowed for much more varied gfx, esp if you change stuff per scene in an adventure game or something.

Well actual CGA games almost *always* used the default black as the 4th colour (in fact it seems like most CGA games just used the magenta, cyan, 'dark white' and black palette) even though it was possible to pick any colour out of the available 16. And I would say that many games would definitely have benefited from using a colour other than black. So just because they didn't use other colours doesn't mean they couldn't. Anyway, in terms of this piece, I think it would ruin it anyway, if she could all of a sudden choose from another 48 colours.

[Helm]

keep in mind IBM compatibility was paramount for the people making those programs.