[WINNER ANNOUNCED] SPRITE JAM: Maniac Mansion Restrain-ia

Eggie · Wed 09/12/2015 23:51:28

Your challenge is to create a sprite to the same specs Gary Winick had to work to when creating the very first versions of the Maniac Mansion cast.

Rules:

You must use exactly three colours or less not including the background

As the lovely Syd models for us here; technical limitations mean his hair, shoes and shirt all have to be the same shade of yellow and his skintone has to double up as an outline for his arm.

The colours must be in a similar range to this shitty palette:

I couldn't get a 100% authentic one but AGI's seems similar enough to my untrained eyes at least

The sprites must be usable for a 320x200 game with doubled-up horizontal pixels

Essentially Maniac Mansion is a 160x200 game that's been stretched out across the screen. You need to think of every pixel you put down as a rectangular block. You see how Razer's eyebrows have a subtle one-pixel slope in the version on the left? That effect's not possible on the right version.
EDIT FOR HOPEFULLY LESS GARBAGE EXPLANATION:

The guy on the left was drawn normally, a 1x1 grid of squares that make up an image. The guy on the right was drawn using a grid of 2x1 rectangles. In other words every 'pixel' he's drawn with is actually two pixels of the same colour placed side by side. I hope this makes it clearer what I'm going for?
If you don't get this rule please feel free to ignore it, stand strong with Grok, reclaim this contest for the people and overthrow my tyranny.

----

These limitations are a lot of keep in your head at once but a fantastic way of creating art like this is with AGI Studio, if you download that and click the 'new view' button then the colours and doublewide pixels will be set up for you and you can just focus on creating the most appealing sprite you can.
I've used it to make a bunch of goofy gifs and such this year and it's lots of fun. Promise!

Your sprite can be a Mansion Kid, Monster, Totally original character, Character from a different franchise, Inanimate object, ANIMATE(d) object, Whatever you like. No restrictions at all on theme or content. Just so long as you stay within the technical specs.

Winners announced on the 16th. Have fun with it, peeps!

selmiak · Thu 10/12/2015 15:09:18

Quote from: Eggie on Wed 09/12/2015 23:51:28

WTF!

This totally explains everything!

Amayirot Akago · Thu 10/12/2015 16:59:23

Weelllllllll now, here's a contest that's totally in line with my skills

I'll be sure to come up with something for this.

Grok · Thu 10/12/2015 19:23:54

[imgzoom]http://orig13.deviantart.net/aa31/f/2015/344/b/1/sprite_challenge_by_pekj-d9jo3kz.gif[/imgzoom]

Eggie · Thu 10/12/2015 20:05:24

Quote from: Grok on Thu 10/12/2015 19:23:54
[imgzoom]http://orig13.deviantart.net/aa31/f/2015/344/b/1/sprite_challenge_by_pekj-d9jo3kz.gif[/imgzoom]

Groook, that's so beautiful and you used the three-colours really well but it wasn't made with doublewide pixels.
Shit, I was really worried I hadn't explained that well enough. I've added a little illustration to the first post that might make it clearer but tbh if it's too hard for people to get I'm up for removing that restriction, especially if keeping it means losing the only entrant. How do people feel?

[delete} · Thu 10/12/2015 20:13:30

[imgzoom]https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vf5MTovbd8w/VnN27kNvwSI/AAAAAAAAAF8/DL20MCoUpiM/s1600/cat.png[/imgzoom]

Cassiebsg · Thu 10/12/2015 20:43:36

This sounds fun, count me in.

Grok · Thu 10/12/2015 21:52:24

Quote from: Eggie on Thu 10/12/2015 20:05:24
--- but it wasn't made with doublewide pixels. ---

Sorry. Apparently I didn't read the instructions well enough and hadn't any idea what doublewide pixels were anyway (I understand it now, but still don't get why anyone would want to do that.

Is there a technical reason for doing things that way?)

Any way I don't mind participating outside the competition.

Eggie · Thu 10/12/2015 22:14:44

Quote from: Grok on Thu 10/12/2015 21:52:24
(I understand it now, but still don't get why anyone would want to do that. Is there a technical reason for doing things that way?)

As far as I understand it proper 320x200 just ate up too much memory.
And, uh, why would we want to do that? Because... it's... fun?? (I don't know, it's fun for me)

Kumpel · Thu 10/12/2015 23:05:41

That isn't right either then. Too many colors. But maybe you are just practicing?

I'm gonna try it too

[delete} · Fri 11/12/2015 04:21:30

[imgzoom]https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wlTM8x3elCI/Vnc_jY4ApzI/AAAAAAAAAG8/0G7YJKm5xlM/s1600/thewitcher_princessthule.png[/imgzoom]

Scavenger · Fri 11/12/2015 05:21:04

DID SOMEONE MENTION ULTRA-RESTRICTED SPRITING?

I'm on like Donkey Kong for that!!

[imgzoom]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/50882197/art/MM_Dai_Nell.PNG[/imgzoom]

3 colors + transparency from the EGA palette, doublewide pixels, big heads, I think I can deal with that. Wow, compared to the MM style, AGI's native stuff is downright generous in it's form. The only thing that this style has going for it is the fact that the sprites are about 32x72 pixels in size, so nice and big.

For anyone who's interested, Maniac Mansion was originally programmed for the C64, and they wanted scrolling rooms, but you can't scroll the high-res (single width, monochrome) graphics without the engine slowing to a crawl. So they opted for the 160x200 mode, which is hella ugly, but fast.

I may do some more later, if I can work out how to eke more out of this style.

Gilbert · Fri 11/12/2015 06:00:02

Nice topic! And quite creative in using an AGI tool for drawing original SCUMM sprites.

Unfortunately I probably won't enter as I'm too ~~lazy~~ busy ATM.

Anyway, lemme spam this space with some of my old joke images:

[imgzoom]http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr249/gilbot/bj5agi.png[/imgzoom]
[imgzoom]http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr249/gilbot/AGIOS.png[/imgzoom]
(They are, of course, not entries as they don't fit the SCUMM requirements, but they're genuine AGI projects, just without any interactions.)

Eggie · Fri 11/12/2015 15:48:34

AmÃ©lie your lil' Geralt is the cutest dang thing and Scavengeeer you followed everything, you did it all, you maniac! The Heatwave guys look amazing!

Grok · Fri 11/12/2015 18:41:40

Quote from: Eggie on Thu 10/12/2015 22:14:44
---
And, uh, why would we want to do that?
---

Well no, my question was intended as "why would they want to do that?". That is, what was the technical purpose of using that way of drawing.
I think I have figured it out during the day. The images are to be drawn at full width but at half height compared to how they are to be seen in the game. In game they are stretched out in the up/down direction and the double pixel becomes a four pixel square. Is that it?

Kumpel · Fri 11/12/2015 18:44:57

No, it was like Scavenger said:

QuoteFor anyone who's interested, Maniac Mansion was originally programmed for the C64, and they wanted scrolling rooms, but you can't scroll the high-res (single width, monochrome) graphics without the engine slowing to a crawl. So they opted for the 160x200 mode, which is hella ugly, but fast.

But does that mean, they had to draw it with normal pixels in 160x200? That must have been really tough to figure out the right width for each sprite/object/whatever...

Tabata · Fri 11/12/2015 21:47:05

I wasn't sure if you wanted any kind of character in the old style or a restrain from a known Maniac Mansion character (started before your last edit cleared this). But there is no way in not participating here because it was MM that triggered my addiction on p&c adventure games.

So â€" to be on a safer side â€" I chose our lovely Edna (the Edisons didn't even have their skin colour 'correct' back in the time).

sprites of Edna Edison
3 colours from the given palette
double pixels
fitting in game (hmm â€" should fit

)

[imgzoom]http://fs5.directupload.net/images/user/151211/duh4don3.png[/imgzoom]

Since her skin is not that nice/clear on our forums background colour I also added some backgrounds with it included.
Thanks to the nice colleagues from Maniac Mansion Mania and their starter packs (of nearly everything) I didn't need to search long.

[imgzoom]http://fs5.directupload.net/images/user/151211/dublt2oq.gif[/imgzoom]

Cassiebsg · Fri 11/12/2015 23:39:02

Here's my Colonial Warrior, from original Battlestar Galactica... always wanted one!

[IMGzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Misc/spritejamagi.png[/IMGzoom]

Jim Reed · Sat 12/12/2015 00:28:11

Pighty Mirate!

EDIT: Edited the image. Now it's edited.

Eggie · Sat 12/12/2015 01:14:12

You guys are blowing me away over here!

Kumpel · Sat 12/12/2015 03:47:57

Here's my entry. Dott-Tentacle going retro in ultra-restricted spriting

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/sIBA63R.gif[/imgzoom]

Cassiebsg · Sat 12/12/2015 06:25:09

Nice Kunpel!

You did forgot the "double wide pixel" rule though. So you competing with Grok in the single pixel wide competition.

[delete} · Sat 12/12/2015 09:49:06

Lovely purple tentacle! Both in sizing to a character and in it's attack animation. And of course it's doublewide!

Kumpel · Sat 12/12/2015 18:31:56

@Cassiebsg: AmÃ©lie is right, I did. The only thing not double wide is the speech font

Mad · Sat 12/12/2015 21:13:04

Man, this is hard...

Alas, that's what I came up with:

[imgzoom]http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab12/Mad1978/MasterChief.png[/imgzoom]

Hope it's recognizable.

If I find some more time, I'll try and animate him...

Cassiebsg · Sat 12/12/2015 21:23:46

Geez, you guys make me want to stuck my head in the sand...

Awsome work.

Sorry Kumpel, those arm lines looked like single pixels in my eyes...

Amayirot Akago · Sat 12/12/2015 21:47:24

Quote from: Cassiebsg on Sat 12/12/2015 21:23:46
Geez, you guys make me want to stuck my head in the sand...
Awsome work.

You're telling me

Mine is taking a bit longer to put together than expected, if it gets done at all, and it looks like crap right now compared to what the others have posted so far.

Amayirot Akago · Sun 13/12/2015 16:17:10

Well, given the time allotted I figure this is as good as it's gonna get. Might've picked too tricky a subject to attempt for this but whatevs.

Eggie · Sun 13/12/2015 22:41:55

Okay but now make them fight!

Eggie · Thu 17/12/2015 14:16:01

JUDGING
DISCLAIMER: All the entries were amazing. This was horrible and I did not want to do it.

THIRD PLACE For sticking beautifully to the restrictions and giving us a chaacter we can instantly rcognise: MAD

SECOND PLACE For sticking beautifully to the restrictions, for using the available colours in an innovative way and recreating two perfect OC babus we can all recognise: SCAVENGER

FIRST PLACE For the added chutzpah of taking on a character actually FROM Maniac Mansion, sticking beautifully to the restrictions and ending up with something that, in my opinion, improves on the original: TABATA!!!

So take it away, Tabata. This decision was rough on me and I'm going to go and cry now

Tabata · Thu 17/12/2015 16:18:04

What the â€¦? Eggie, what did you do?! I can't believe it!

With such a lot of really good entries I didn't even think to be placed near the stairs
and now this (no wonder you went to cry after posting)

But nonetheless: Thank you veeery much

Now I'll try to find a new theme for the next round

Amayirot Akago · Thu 17/12/2015 16:46:30

Congrats to all the winners

You did great.

Scavenger · Fri 18/12/2015 06:04:48

Aw man, I wasn't expecting to be in the running for winning! Everyone's entries were SO GOOD! You all did really well! I will wear my trophy with pride.

Tabata's entry really was stellar, they should have definitely done the art for the original Maniac Mansion. It looks too good to be using such a restrictive form!

Mad · Fri 18/12/2015 07:21:49

Somehow failed to notice the lovely entries from Tabata and Jim Reed. Probably was too busy posting my own crap...
Great stuff all around.

Congrats to the very diserving winner!

Thanks for this great jam, Eggie.