Sprite interpretations

[Arne]

Hard and Heavy was originally a Giana sequel. Due to Nintendo's objections, the game was
probably reshaped a bit. Still, you'll be able to spot quite a bit of stolen sprites and tiles in
the game (Metroid, Kid Icarus, etc.). It would be neat to merge the two settings and add a
'Magical Girl' element.



Sprite ref  - I only ripped a few. Interesting combination of 1bp squarepixels and 2bp widepixels. The cover has some enemies featured on it.

My old Giana Sisters art. Some of it may be salvageable. I want to breathe life into the setting
like Miyamoto did with the anthropomorphic (later walking) Koopas. The items might be alive too,
like the Miyaeti (small Yeti) which is my take on the ball which gives you fluffy hair.

[0xDB]

For some reason, I never managed to develop the same love for Hard N' Heavy as I had for Giana. Maybe it was because I found HNH too hard to play after Giana (I used to be able to beat the whole game without dying while still getting most of the diamonds and items and killing almost every killable critter) or I just couldn't find as nicely flowing run patterns through the levels as in Giana. Or maybe it was the music... I don't know, never finished HNH, maybe I should replay it some time.

I really like those Giana drawings of yours and the way you made everything look so cute. Also for breathing life into it, I'm starting to feel that the most effective way to do that is to have character interaction in a drawing (like you did with Giana patting the little eyeball and the eyeball riding that gun-droid).

Meanwhile I've finished the other monsters (even tried the 'lion' ) from Giana and I'm having quite a few ideas for some interaction drawings(1). But currently I'm still struggling with constructing (reference used) a Giana version which does not look too cute/cartoony but also not too sexy/realistic as I want her to look innocent and love-able and not like a porn doll (Giana has never been a sex symbol to me, which is why I also never liked the original cover art very much which is trying too hard be sexually appealing imho but I'm rambling..)

rough ideas(1)

• giana huggleing and snuggling/squeezing a surprised owl almost to death while she herself smiles very innocently and satisfied rubbing her cheek against the owls cheek
• giana throwing a ball at the eye, eye closing in pain, ball bouncing off to the side
• giana glowing in mid air / hair growing out, ribbon exploding off, arms in a strong "I'm the one! (kind of Manowar-ish) pose"
• power jump through stone block, spikey hair turning stone into dust, pieces of crumbled stone flying off in all directions
• giana sweating, trying(partly failing) to carry as many diamonds as possible in a really awkward pose with an embarrassed smile on her face (supposed to be a funny remark on how it would actually be impossible for her to grab and keep all those diamonds)
• giana elegantly jumping up, focusing power in air, forcefully trampling down on the crab (we see the crab with those cartoony crossed out eyes, legs up in the air, tonge hanging  and jumping off
• a full featured hardcore lesbian scene between giana and maria and maybe a couple of eyes and worms involved (heh, just kidding...plus someone probably already did that)

Before I can do those though, I need to work more on building a bridge over the huge gap that spans between what I have as blurry images/rough ideas in my head and what I'm currently capable of rendering on paper (need a lot more construction practice and to develop a feeling for what looks right).

[Arne]

Here's some Marathon stuff. It used large hand drawn billboard sprites, unlike most other Raycasting games which mostly used... I guess physical sculptures. Marathon later had some prerendered 3D model sprites, but the earlier colorful hand drawn style is pretty distinct and differs from other hand drawn billboard sprites.

[Arne]

Moonstone roughs. Apparently the game proved difficult to dump/rip, since the frames have different dimensions. I'd guess there's a table for it somewhere though, but I'm guessing the data is compressed on disk (the game does a lot of loading), so you'd have to dump from a save state of each enemy encounter. Anyways, I couldn't find any good sprite sheets / refs.

[Helm]

That sounds about right as far as compressing/loading the art on Moonstone on the Amiga. However there's a PC version that might be less packed, did you check that one out? It's buggy but playable. Well, Moonstone on the original Amiga was buggy too, the game was never very stable. But oh, so fun.

[Arne]

It's possible that it's easier to dump... I didn't really know there was one. However, now I have moved on to other projects.

Dragon Slayer 1. I've also dumped a few sprites from Xanadu (DS2) and added a few to my comparison sheet on my Hydlide page.

I also ripped the very nice mech sprites (Map 4) from Lord Monarch (of which there's a free Windows version). Not gonna plug that here though because it's not complete and kind of sloppy. I actually failed to properly dump the sprites as they were compressed . Too bad. It's a game which would be fun to mod graphically.

[L___E___T]

Hey Arne, I have a metroid book on the way with exactly this - old 80s sprite interpretations

If you want, when it arrives I am willing to scan it for you, I thought it might be interesting for you to see (though yours are better)

[Arne]

That would be great

[SwapBrain]

I also ripped the very nice mech sprites (Map 4) from Lord Monarch (of which there's a free Windows version). .

I am kindof amazed someone else knows about this - I mean I shouldn't be I guess, it is the internet after all... I thought this game was fun until I realized that you win every map with the cheesiest strategy imaginable, mooting things like taxes, etc. Anywho.

[happymonster]

I also really like your art pages and the great designs. Have you done any original sci-fi character drawings or sprites that you are happy for other people to use btw? I've still got a turn based sci-fi game that needs good designs and sprites!