Playing with 16 colors

DontTreadOnMe · Sat 02/04/2005 11:57:13

Well ive just been playing around with the typical 16 color EGA palet to see what sort of things were possible ect. All this is possibly in preparation for this months MAGS.

So here it is, some of the dithering is a bit dodgey. (if i hear 1 comment about how the choice of colors is bad i will flip... ive been muttering this to myself all the time ive been doing this)

Really just looking at suggestions and ideas and any other crits.

Ive come to the conclusion that this isnt really the best style to go for as drawing pixel by pixel for dithering is quite time consuming.

Thanks - Rich

Privateer Puddin' · Sat 02/04/2005 11:58:24

much better than my attempts so far, that's for sure

Sam. · Sat 02/04/2005 12:00:59

All i would say is get rid of the turquoise(sp) in the sea and the dark blue at the top of the sky, then perfecto.(IMHO)

Ozzie · Sat 02/04/2005 13:14:43

Wow, great for just using 16 colors, but yeah, you should better leave the dark blue of the sky out and the white borders at the entrance of the hole doesn't fit either.

DontTreadOnMe · Sat 02/04/2005 14:18:11

The blue in the sky is a complete mess i agree, that was only there cuz i felt it needed a gradient, wich failed anyway. The turquoise(i think thats right) on the waves is also a little out of place so i will change that too. The white around the cave enterance im quite fond of, it was meant to give the effect of light reflecting of the damp rock around the enterance where there was most light. I quite like it, and without it the rocks look stupid as they need something to separate them from the ocean.

But over all im quite pleased with it, ill get those few thing fixed up and update it, it was only practice after all, thanks for your help and suggestions

Thanks - Rich

Sam. · Sat 02/04/2005 14:27:49

I too like the white on the cave, gives the impression of light and shade.

Mozesh · Sat 02/04/2005 14:59:43

Yes I'd say so too, keep the white at the beginning of the cave, but remove the dark blue pixels in the sky.

DontTreadOnMe · Sat 02/04/2005 17:20:20

Ok well... erm i fixed the dark blue in the sky and the turwoise in the sea and re uploaded the picture... but it wud appear that it now doesnt work.. ill look into that, thanks for all your help an suggestions all - Rich

Reptile · Sat 02/04/2005 17:58:36

Try to blend the right cave wall like you did on the left side. Looking good, you should think about doing low-res EGA artwork.

DontTreadOnMe · Sat 02/04/2005 18:07:54

You can see that? I can't! My computor wont show the image.

Anyway, your right, by the time i got to the right hand side of the picture i got lazy... it gets pretty monotonouse when your dithering EVERYTHING by hand, i tried makin a brush to do it... but it doesnt work too well, i think theres a way to do it automaticaly in photoshop, but alas i havent got that. Even PAINT had one but my paint has broken (wich sucks).

I really like EGA actually, it ahs a certain charm about it... alas i wasnt born in the golden age of real EGA graphics and never got to play any of the games.

Thanks - Rich

Evil · Sun 03/04/2005 06:58:14

Overall the color is nice, but the background itself could use some work.

I think when people haven't used 16 colors before they worry more about the color then the image, usually making the image as a hole look bad.

I've always done this, and its worked for other people I know. Take the opposite colors, and redraw the picture. IE, orange water, purple sand. It may seem a little alienish, but after you have the image looking perfect, switch the color.

Your drawing looks good for some of your firsts, just keep at it.

Mr_Frisby · Sun 03/04/2005 11:03:43

Excellent. 16 colours is a hard palette to work with but this is wonderful. Looking forward to anything else you put forward.

Trisk · Sun 03/04/2005 22:56:16

Hey! I really actually like this background alot! I WAS raised during the 80s, so I played alot of games that looked like this. I'll give you my two cents, see what you think of this, and if it makes sense to you:

Nowadays, when you go for a 16 color game, you obviously aren't trying for state of the art. I felt Sierra's graphics always looked best when they didn't dither so much. A little is good, a lot just makes the picture look dirty. I would suggest EMBRACING the 16 color pallete, and make the game look more flat and cartoony, just adding a bit of dithering to the sand to simulate...well...SANDINESS, and maybe a bit here and there on the rocks to simulate depth.

I honestly think that the cleaner 16 color artwork of Space Quest 2 looks more realistic than the dither-happy graphics of Quest for Glory 1 EGA- even though Space Quest 2 was a 160x200 AGI game. Another advantage of this is that you won't spend 10 hours per picture dithering by hand, and could spend that time adding little details like reflections in the water, clumps of grass sticking out of the cliff here and there, maybe even some shadows...and more crabs! I love crabs.

I dunno. Food for thought anyway...and I DO like the picture, and would love to play another EGA game with graphics like these!

Go for it!

Trisk