Topic: Some feedback for an idea, please. ^_^

[crims0nf0rtune]

Hmm... Do you think it would slow down too much if there is a single, main sprite on the bottom and just one overlapping?

[Inccubus]

Umm... 8 bit?  Sure

Oh, and a couple questions... What style Simon?  And also, could you show me what the NES' palette looks like?
Thanks

Could you do one of each of these? NES/MSX style, SCV4 style, and Upgraded Chronicles style. I'd like to give the player a choice in the options.

@Uzo: Thanks for providing that info in my absence. ^_^

About the 16 color thing in Megaman games. I believe the reason they stick to 16 or 17 colors is because of the art style they use. All the sprites use outlines which limits them to just 2 colors +black each and the bg's use 3 each. So they end up with 12 colors max for the background, 4 sprite colors for enemies, and 4 for Megaman at any given time. It should also be noted that the NES can't use more than 8 palettes at once.

[uzo]

I found the answer, after hours of research. Megaman games use 25 colors. "Wait what?!" is what you're thinking right? There are many opinions on the internet about the NES's color limits, and most of them are dead wrong.

Here is the truth I discovered.

The NES has 8 palettes total. Period. There is no way to increase this number, not even with extra chips in the cart.

Each palette consists of four colors. Only THREE are visible. There is NO exception to this rule either. There are four background palettes, and four sprite palettes.

(4 background palettes) x (3 visible colors) = 12 colors
(4 sprite palettes) x (3 visible colors) = 12 colors

12+12 = 24 colors

But wait, that's not 25! You're right. There is one more color, that is the full screen background color. Usually it remains black, giving the background the illusion that there are four colors per background tile.

So, that makes up the full 25. So why do Megaman games usually have 17 colors or less?

Sprite Palette #1 (Megaman's body)
(transparent) (black) (blue) (light blue)

Sprite Palette #2 (Megaman's face)
(transparent) (black) (skin) (white)

Sprite Palette #3 (Enemy 1)
(transparent) (black) (color1) (color2)

Sprite Palette #4 (Enemy 2)
(transparent) (black) (color1) (color2)

Notice that black is in every palette. Anything that uses these palettes needs to be outlined, right? Well, that's 4 colors right there. Even though they're duplicates, it counts toward the 25 total. This is how Megaman games don't get above 17. Its not that they decided not to, its that they really couldn't. A lot of enemies and effects reuse Megaman's face palette. No enemy uses Megaman's palette though, because it changes with weapons and charging.

This example is ditto for background palettes. The same logic applies.

Depending on what enemies are on screen, and between rooms, these palette do change, and they change very often.

So, that's mystery solved.

[X]

I guess that's why they call it 8-bits cause it's 8 pallettes of colors. Now the SNES has double that amount and the list goes on. Good research there uzo, I wouldn't have guessed.

-X

[uzo]

I guess that's why they call it 8-bits cause it's 8 pallettes of colors

Completely wrong. It has to do with the hardware. "8-bit" in terms of graphics is a complete misnomer when concerning game consoles. An image that is 8-bit has 256 colors. The NES has 2bit images, and the SNES has 4bit images.

[crims0nf0rtune]

Ok, I have a little concept here with just 3 colors, nothing too complicated yet.  Tell me what you think.

[X]

$#%T! They couldv'e used that in the original castlevania! Good spriting job crims0nf0rtune. 

-X

[Inccubus]

Very nice! That's just the kind of thing I had in mind. ^_^

[crims0nf0rtune]

Thanks, I put together a CVIV-esque sprite using 6 colors... Don't be afraid to tell me if it looks too busy or anything.  



Also, I separated the two sprites to demonstrate how each has 3 colors.

[uzo]

Check again. There are 8 colors total.

[crims0nf0rtune]

****! The transparency!  Hahaha, knew it was too colorful to be true.... I'll fix it next time I have the time.

[uzo]

No. The transparency makes it 7. That is fine, since only 6 colors are visible.

[crims0nf0rtune]

Hmm... I'm a little lost here as to what the eighth color is.  Mind explaining to me a little more?

[uzo]

Give up? You have two blacks. 0,0,0 and 2,2,2.

[crims0nf0rtune]

Really, I thought I only used one source for the black... In any case, the rest is fine though, right?