Need some info about game resolutions

[Ghost]

hi, i have a small problem and would like to get some info from people who've tried the same... no screenshots yet to show, but here's the description.

I'm working on a game using the 320x240 resolution. i draw my backgrounds in photoshop: i draw them in 640x480 (or, if scroling, wider) using masks and pencil tool and then scale them down using BICUBIC mode.
now i've tried to use scans, and that looks better- i put the scan in a seperate channel, draw the pic, multiply the scan channel over it BUT when i scale the thing down it looks all blurry. using NEASREST PIXEL doesn't work very well, too, looks blurry AND leaves gaps between pixels.

I don't want to use a higher resolution to keep the game size more suitable for downloads, and yet i think there must be a way to get good results. maybe another program or another technique...
anybody out there, any idea?

[Bernie]

Fiddle with the sharpen filters in photoshop. If they sharpen your image too much, blend them to 50% or something. That works quite well for me.

[DanClarke]

i draw mine at 320x240 in PS, then apply a paint daubs filter (1,1) to sharpen it up when ive finished.

[Ghost]

after a bit of tinkering i found a (very obvious) technique that works fine; here it is if someone finds it useful.
i select and cut the scan, create a new channel, copy the scan image into it, then draw the pic, multiply the scan image over it (picture adjustments) and THEN scale it down- looks neat since the dark scan colours are then blended into the picture's colours.
thanks for the tips!

[stuh505]

ghost it sounds like you just described the exact same method both times

[Sektor 13]

you should draw pictures in resolution you want to use in game, it is easier to draw in smaller resolutions.

[aussie]

Color-indexing the large image before shrinking it down works ok for me. But it still needs some touching up afterwards.

Of course, it depends on how much detail you want to achieve.