Hi-res game visual concept

[dmlloyd]

Ive been thinking about starting working in earnest on a game (Ultima-meets-Final Fantasy-ish) which uses hi-resolution (ANTIC mode 2) imagery with PM underlays for color (I admit I was inspired by the dizzy 3 image on fandal's site, and the conversions of Knight Lore etc. that were recently done). I hacked up a simple scene (by hand, g2f doesn't work on my system), and this is what I came up with as a first "proof of visual concept".

 

 

I didn't use any DLIs in this example, but if I did this scene would require no more than 3 players or 2 players + 1 missle per scanline (depending on the scanline), leaving one whole player for doing an underlay for a 16x16 player, maybe a missle too. To compensate for the limited number of colors available I used a narrow playfield (so scrolling is probably out of the question, at least for now).

 

The end result of this exercise is, I really like the way the building looks. But maybe it would be better to go with ANTIC 4 instead, and get decreased complexity (at the price of resolution)? What do the experts think?

 

(Edited: changed image to an attachment)

Edited June 21, 2008 by dmlloyd

[Math You]

I like it

[Rybags]

Problem with Mode 2 is you have "decreased complexity" so far as the spread of objects and ability to colourise them.

 

Personally I prefer proper multicolour modes, and you can always use PMGs in them to give even more colours.

[peteym5]

mixing players missiles over mode 2 could work as long as you only draw a handfull of objects. If you need to split screen or have more objects, allow you to get more. Another trick is to flash players in alternate frames, switch during the VBI cycle. However I would rather step down to 160x192 res if the scenery get more complex. It all depends on how complicated the scenery has to be.