Friday, April 3, 2015

16 Colours of Light

Click image to enlarge and see gorgeous pixeltude.

I love the classic 16-colour EGA palette. I don't know why, but making teeny checkerboard patterns out of two of the colours (aka dithering) to make a third colour gives me just about the tamest thrill imaginable.

I'm planning on having day/night cycles in my game. At first, I thought there'd be one "day" version and one "night" version of each background, but I got carried away playing with all the colourful little pixels and here are a bunch of attempts at creating different lighting conditions using EGA.

If this was boring ol' 256 colour VGA or whatever else the kids are using nowadays, all I'd do to make a scene lighter or darker would be to slap a transparent layer of that colour on top and call it a day. YAWN. Or maybe edit the actual light source if this was one of those terrifying 3D games.

I'm much happier picking away with my digital cross-stitching :P.

-- Julia

Here's my other game art.

Portfolio site
at

14 comments:

  1. UnknownApril 3, 2015 at 10:07 PM

    Great stuff! I love to see these kinds of projects.

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  2. Julia MinamataApril 3, 2015 at 11:12 PM

    Thanks, Tom! I know some folks feel like the retro-looking thing is played out but the EGA stuff is my favourite :).

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  3. AnonymousApril 4, 2015 at 12:40 PM

    Looking awesome Julia!

    I really like detail like this

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  4. UnknownApril 4, 2015 at 2:56 PM

    Wow! Awesome colour-combos. Gonna show my kids this, we were having a conversation the other day about what colour a shadow is. My 7yr old has already succumbed to using his brain instead of his eyes, with the automatic response "black or grey" whereas my 5yr old is much more open to "purpley bluey" LOL.

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  5. BothEyesShutApril 4, 2015 at 3:50 PM

    Making games in EGA isn't "played-out." It's an artistic method. I think if anything has gotten old and tired, it's the term "retro." Pretty soon it will go away. Is oil painting retro? Jazz? "I want a flat top haircut." "OOoh, retro!"

    Cheers to you. Looking forward to your game.

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  6. Julia MinamataApril 4, 2015 at 3:56 PM

    Thanks, folks! Good points, BothEyesShut. EGA really is my passion :).

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  7. Matt HammillApril 5, 2015 at 12:47 PM

    This looks awesome, Julia! If you ever need a beta tester... :D

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  8. Julia MinamataApril 5, 2015 at 1:05 PM

    Hey, Matt! I haven't forgotten your offer -- You better believe you'll be one of the first :D.

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  9. JeevesMay 17, 2015 at 5:48 PM

    I keep checking back on your progress, I love the look of all of your screens!

    As a Photoshop enthusiast, I've been toying around with the idea of giving the EGA-look a try, but every time I start it's never quite right.

    I'd love to know your basic workflow, or even any tips you might be able to offer.

    Cheers and I look forward to the next update!

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  10. Julia MinamataMay 18, 2015 at 12:38 AM

    Thanks so much Jeeves! You can find the palette here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_Graphics_Adapter, and I use the pencil tool in Photoshop at a 1 pixel size (my screen size is 320x200). I also create layers of checkerboards in all sorts of colours and layer masks for them.

    I keep a file open of the EGA palette and then I use the eyedropper tool to sample the colours easily when I'm drawing a background.

    Clicking and then shift+clicking using the pencil tool will create straight lines, which is also helpful!

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  11. JeevesMay 18, 2015 at 9:52 PM

    Thank you so much for breaking that down for me! It helped a lot! I can't wait to give it a shot. It was always the dithering that I couldn't get right. Your idea makes so much sense. Thanks again!

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  12. Julia MinamataMay 19, 2015 at 1:24 AM

    Glad I could help out, Jeeves! I'd love to see your EGA art when you put it all together!

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  13. persiflageAugust 4, 2015 at 9:45 AM

    I want this gaaaame!

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  14. Julia MinamataAugust 4, 2015 at 1:52 PM

    Hehe thanks, I want it to ;).

    Julia

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