Mockup Frenzy #3: Game Boy De-Makes!

[AdamAtomic]

Mockup Frenzy #3: Game Boy De-Makes!



Resolution: 160x144
Colors: 4 (see images below for examples)
Theme: De-Makes
Start Day: September 17th, 2007
Deadline: September 30th, 2007
Notes: To sum up, de-makes are the inverse of the "next-gen" game update.  Take a new game, and roll it back to an older piece of hardware.  Only we're going to be rolling it WAY back; all the way to the original Game Boy!  Goldeneye 2D is a perfect example, and the inspiration for this theme!  To help you get started, I've included a few choice screens from the better-looking GB games of the past.  Feel free to use any of the palettes in these images, or invent your own 4 color monochrome ramp!


(Castlevania II, Spiderman 3, Tiny Toons, Trip World, Universal Soldier)

You're welcome to follow the strict Game Boy spec, but it is not a requirement for this competition.  The basic specs for the system are as follows:

• 2-bit color (black, dark grey, light grey, white)
• 8x8 tiles
• 8x8, 8x16 and 16x8 sprites
• 1 4-color bg palette
• 2 3-color sprite palettes (that must choose from same 4 colors as the bg)
• Background tiles each get a foreground/background flag
• No more than 10 sprites per scanline on the raster

Is this your first Mockup Frenzy?  Why not check out the rules & results from Mockup Frenzy #1: Mobility! and Mockup Frenzy #2: Ninjas!


RESULTS:

Lackey, Lackey, Lackey, AlienQuark, AlienQuark:


CroM, Helm, HMC, Radek Smektala, Ego:


.TakaM, .TakaM, KhrisMUC, KAT, infinity+1:


am_pm, Judas, Judas, Judas, telecommtubbie:


Arachne, vpk, Arne, mattness, opacus:


Quicksilva, Greenwing, D.W., D.W., D.W.:


Doppleganger, pkmays, Jad, kite, KAT:


KAT, robotriot, baccaman21, MaDsk8tard:


Arachne, Arachne, Rydin, Schu, Schu:


QuickSilva, Bouzolf:


HOLY CRAP.  47 ENTRIES!  YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!

[AlienQuark]

Hey Adam, could you clarify for me the Gameboy restrictions? It's a little bit complicated/confusing for me to understand, specifically the whole character sprites being on the same raster or what have you. Examples would probably work best, like just describe for me a no-no situation.

I wanna try and stick to the strict rules. Give myself a real challenge, so the sooner you help me out the better! 

[AdamAtomic]

the raster rule is basically this.  the gameboy screen is 144px tall, so it has 144 raster lines, or lines of pixels that the hardware blits.  Not sure the exact specifics of why, but you may only have up to 10 sprites overlappign the same raster line.  So if you have ten sprites at 8x8 whose upper left corner's Y value is between 136 and 144, then the hardware will start to have some troubles.  Lots of games get around this by keeping track, and flickering sprites that occupy the same space.  Unfortunately, for mockup purposes, flickering doesn't matter much!  If you want though you could make an animated .gif that featured flickering assets to preserve the 10 sprites per line rule

Lemme know if that makes more sense!

As for the other somewhat confusing specs:

Background tile palette: every background tile can use any of the 4 colors.
Background tile priority: each tile has a 0 or 1 that determines whether or not it is drawn in front of or behind the sprites.  This doesn't matter a TON for mockups either, but still interesting!  However, I believe it works across whole tiles; so you couldn't have half a tile covering up part of a sprite, or something, because tiles don't have transparency.
Sprite palettes: this one is pretty weird, even I admit that, but it does actually make sense.  Since the GB only has 4 colors, and sprites need at least 1 color slot for transparency, the GB lets you use up to 2 different palettes for your sprites, each (one would assume) indicating a different color for transparency.  E.g. palette one might mark black as the transparent color, for bright sprites on a dark background, while palette two might have white as trans, which would be good for making dark sprites over a light background.  If you look at each of the screenshots above you'll see that nearly all of their sprite palettes drop one or the other of the grays, to keep sprite contrast high.

Lemme know if you have any more questions!

[AlienQuark]

Ok one last question and then I believe I'll be fully ok for my mockup, which I have now started....

Can character sprites be composed of more than one actual sprite? because those ones look bigger than 8x16 OR 8x8, so I'm assuming you can stack sprites to make a bigger hero/ enemy, as long as no more than 10 of them overlap? Am I getting that right?

Anyways, I think I'll try my best to stick to restrictions, but if i mess up, oh well, this is my first time working in only 4 colours. Expect an actual screenie soon!

[AdamAtomic]

Yes absolutely.  Very common practice for what we perceive to be 1 sprite to be made up of anywhere from 2 to 8 sprites, lots of NES games did this too!

[Faktablad]

So are these raster lines horizontal, vertical, or both?

[Lackey]

Woo, first 



I assume unlimited tiles and sprites for these, I would of course optimize if I were to actually put this on a Gameboy.  I used my own radioactive spinach palette which I eyeballed from pictures of an actual Gameboy.

[AdamAtomic]

And the gauntlet, my friends, has been thrown.

[Helm]

I will... DEFEAT YOU.

[So-lou]

Looove the alien in the second one 

[AlienQuark]

I think i broke restrictions...

[CroM]

great entries so far...

here`s my try on a demake





CroM

[Dusty]

Hmm, I think people should post what game they're de-making. While some are quite obvious, others aren't.

Also, I just noticed the news box art up there, great job doing God of War, whoever did it! Despite being so small it reads so easily and just screams GoW.

EDIT: I was gonna post about a lot of games already having GB iterations, but I guess in the end that doesn't really matter as long as we don't rip from them. I was gonna do SotC but I don't think I'd be able to do the Colossi with the sprite limitations, even though I had a pretty good idea for how to do it.

[Helm]

Fight Night GB!

Mostly based on the old Cinemaware title 'TV Sports Boxing' for those that know their old games. Not sure if it's technically very possible. The dynamic ropes will be simple vector haxx. The character bodies would just be tiles that change, only the gloves (and parts of the extended arms) would be sprites so there's transparency where they have priority over the other body.

[baccaman21]

you make it sound so simple helm...  If only it were as easy as that on DMG GB's...

I don't think it is possible. You'v only got the one playfield to upload characters to so no overlapping the boxers bodies, they'd get to a certain distance and then have to stop... hence the notion of sprites for arms... hmmm... that may work I guess.... but the boxers would have to move in character jumps (8 pixels a time) ... not sure about the ropes too... due to that one playfield limit you've got no where to write the graphic to so the boxers could overlay them? (same true about the camera flashes)

(PS. I count four colors in those fighters... <think> where's the mask color come from to set your priorities?)

Having said all that... nice idea.

[AdamAtomic]

Hmm, I think people should post what game they're de-making. While some are quite obvious, others aren't.

Also, I just noticed the news box art up there, great job doing God of War, whoever did it! Despite being so small it reads so easily and just screams GoW.

EDIT: I was gonna post about a lot of games already having GB iterations, but I guess in the end that doesn't really matter as long as we don't rip from them. I was gonna do SotC but I don't think I'd be able to do the Colossi with the sprite limitations, even though I had a pretty good idea for how to do it.

So far its been Stalker, FFXII, and Bioshock   Though FFXII took me a second to pick out!

And thanks   It was fun!  Though the flames are a bit repetitive...anyone know if the GB could do the little sine transforms for the fake water/fire effect on bg tiles?

If you think you know how to pull off SotC i say go for it!!  That's what I wanted to do for the banner but I couldn't figure out how to make it work...

[baccaman21]

Excuse my ignorance... SoTC? 

PS. Raster interrupts were possible on DMG GB...

<EDIT> AH SHADOW OF THE COLLOSUS!!

I's get ya!

I'd be curious to see Katamari Damacy...? (over to you ptoing)

[AdamAtomic]

PS. Raster interrupts were possible on DMG GB...

That is hot.  I was definitely born about 10 years to late!!  *mourns the missed opportunity to work on these amazing old systems*

[Schu]

I totally thought that was Gun Smoke when I looked at it quickly XD Maybe it's just the cacti...
------
Schu

[1st]

1. Can we make own 2bit colors or it's already done ( please show them if it's already 2bit colours )
 2. Should make own games in gameboy style or GBA games for an example?
3. Sorry my english : D

[AdamAtomic]

Feel free to use any of the palettes in these images, or invent your own 4 color monochrome ramp!

Also, Game Boy Advance games would violate both the resolution and color requirements, to say nothing of the optional strict GB rules!  That is to say, This activity is about Game Boy style games, not GBA (despite my many typos in the original draft of this activity!).

Good luck on your entry!

[1st]

can we use our own fantasy to make the games or it need to be mario / pokemon w/e, u know what i mean i believe

[Helm]

Actually you are very unclear. This is about de-making a recent game. If it's a recent Mario game, that's fine, but you should probably avoid franchises that have already existed on the GB since (barring cleverness) ... where's the point in that.

[am_pm]

great entries so far...

here`s my try on a demake





CroM

Bioshock = Win

[HMC]

Psychonauts:


Boyd looks kinda funky, but oh well. :\

[Radek Smektala]

Yep.

Sorry for wasting your time 

I just wanted to see how it would look. I don't consider myself a pixel artist - as is apparent from the above piece (mostly a re-coloring), I couldn't pixel to save my life - but this thread inspired the curiosity I mentioned and I thought I'd share the result.

@ Helm - I was keeping my thumbs up for Flashback Of course, that would hardly be next-gen.

@ CroM - I would be willing to inflict a bodily harm upon myself to play a four color "metroidvania" Bioshock.

[Ego]

Originally started to be elebits-ish, but the result is a little strayed. I might try another, cuz that was fun.

[seankulbeth]

WIP C+C Welcomed and Needed.



My first pixelation attempt, just had time for the menu at the bottom tonight, and a small bit of the course, so it lacks detail. Ill try to get it a little detailed tommorrow. (Its Hot Shots Golf by the way). I've got a few problems I can point out but can't fix, like the power bar doesn't seem to be very user friendly (in viewing, not in game), the Golf Selection Text (Putter), not being very readable, and it just kind of looks boring altogether. Mabey once I get the actual screenshot done it will look better? Allright, will post updates as available, and will try to use all criticism.

And mabey I should explain the mechanics, as they're a bit different from the actual Ps2/3 versions. The top bar sets power, middle sets speed of swing, and bottom sets control. You want to hit either in the middle (perfect, demonstrated in bottom), or near the edge but not to close (Ok, demonstrated in top), and hitting within three pixels of the edge results in a horrible shot (demonstrated in middle). Appropriate messages will display. Thats about it.

[.TakaM]

Yoshi's Story

Not sure how faithfully followed the restrictions, but whatever

edit-
made another one, animal crossing:

not entirely happy with how it turned out.

[CroM]

@ am_pm: the game, definitelly...my piece not so much ;O)

@ Radek: Another World NEVER is a waste of time  . I thought about demaking Heart of Darkness.
and yes, the Bioshock demake would have to be a "metroidvania" style game, allthough I think topdown zelda like would do it more justice(evading, and more environmental possibilities).


CroM

[Helm]

I was keeping my thumbs up for Flashback Wink Of course, that would hardly be next-gen.

Yeah that was the first thing I considered as well, but as you say, hardly next-gen.

[KAT]

OMG! Another World... that was my idea to draw it ;P hehe Ok, you are first So i will try to draw flashback...

About your pixelart: Nice work, i like it... its very similar to original. Good job!

[Souly]

Psychonauts:


Boyd looks kinda funky, but oh well. :\

I loved Psychonauts.

His arms looks much too long and way too lanky.


Here's an edit to show you what I mean.
Might have overdone some details on the character.

[HMC]

He did kinda have some long arms, though.

[KAT]

OK, here is my WIP Is it good?

[Helm]

Too noisy. Avoid dithering, I'd say, especially on the background building plane. Simplify for smaller res, don't try to push in detail. Flashback mainly utilizes flat planes with disparate detail to draw the eye.

[baccaman21]

@ KAT - I've not checked but I think your screen res is out too... I looks a bit on the small side?

[AdamAtomic]

yea proper res is 160x144, not 128x128   but its still a wip!

[KAT]

UPDATE TIME!

Background with dithering:


Beckground without dithering:


I think now its better Thanks for advice, you rox guys ;P
Critics are welcome.

Oww, one question: Version without dithering is better than version with dithering?
I think better is with dithering.

AdamAtomic: Damn! OMG! I was thinkig (dont know why...) it must be in 128x128. Grrrrrrrr....

[AdamAtomic]

good progress!  work on dividing the planes more though.  That's the big challenge for this activity; keeping foreground separate from near bg separate from far bg.  I'd continue to simplify and eliminate outlines!

[KhrisMUC]

Been a lurker for some time now and finally decided to contribute:

Sam&Max



reference

[AlienQuark]

I made a second one (still FF12):


Woop woop! I had a third, but my pixel program totally obliterated it and erased the entire thing, and i was well over half done 

[ndchristie]

looks great everyone!

might find time this weekend to join in

someone should try okami

[KAT]

PROBABLY FINAL VERSION:



Its 128x128... Will my mockup be accepted? I have no idea how could i miss correct resolution :\


OK Here is version with good resolution

[Feron]

make the canvas bigger...

[infinity+1]

all this talk about shadow of the colossus makes me want to do an Ico one. so dibs. give me a few hours, and i'll see what i can come up with.

[AdamAtomic]

Just wanted to tell everybody great job, these are coming along great, and don't be afraid to do a second one if you have a good idea for it   Also, Goldeneye 2D is available for download and is pretty sweet.

[infinity+1]

a little bit of progress on my wild claims about making an Ico de-make.
i have a lot of work to do concerning the background. this will be one of those projects that makes me a better pixel artist, because i'm having one hell of a time working with four colors. 

[baccaman21]

a little bit of progress on my wild claims about making an Ico de-make.
i have a lot of work to do concerning the background. this will be one of those projects that makes me a better pixel artist, because i'm having one hell of a time working with four colors. 

yep it's quite  a challenge. Glad to see people are doing such great submissions.

1 point that most people seem to forget though... even though you've only got 4 colors to play with overall with the backgrounds; when it comes to making the sprites you should be playing with 3 colours, as 1 of those colors is dropped in favour of the mask... so sprites should actually be 3 colors only... (IF you want to be true to DMG GB) [have a look at those first four samples from genuine GB games and count the colors in the character sprites... everyone is 3]

Tis up to you though, if you fancy upping the challenge? No need to tho as adam says in the challenge rules - it IS optional.

[Helm]

1 point that most people seem to forget though... even though you've only got 4 colors to play with overall with the backgrounds; when it comes to making the sprites you should be playing with 3 colours, as 1 of those colors is dropped in favour of the mask... so sprites should actually be 3 colors only... (IF you want to be true to DMG GB) [have a look at those first four samples from genuine GB games and count the colors in the character sprites... everyone is 3] Cheesy

the thing is, can't you overlay a different sprite on a three-color sprite for the extra color on the gameboy?