flickered color on sprites

[RevEng]

I started working on a WIP that uses flickering for color effects, but I'm a bit torn on the approach, so I was looking for opinions.

 

The game uses rotating sprites, so the usual line based color changes aren't really an option.

 

Instead I went with a flicker-based color approach... the sprite alternates between 2 colors each frame. The main body of the sprite is in both frames, so it winds up being a mix of the 2 colors. Details that are only in frame 1 or frame 2 show up flickered in that frame's color.

 

If the explanation is confusing, it's basically the technique I used in the yoshi color-by-flicker example in the Titlescreen Kernel thread.

 

Here's the WIP...

cywar60frames.bas.bin

 

The approach has some artifacts when the ship is in motion. The main artifact is the details "float" a bit at certain speeds. Is these objectionable? Is the "pro" of the color worth the "con" of the floating?

 

I tried out a variation where the ship position gets updates every other frame, to minimize the artifacts...

cywar30frames.bas.bin

 

But I think the loss of smoothness might not be worth it.

[+Random Terrain]

When moving, both versions kind of remind me of looking at an old 3D movie without the blue and red glasses on. Is there any other trick you can do to keep them lined up?

[RevEng]

When moving, both versions kind of remind me of looking at an old 3D movie without the blue and red glasses on. Is there any other trick you can do to keep them lined up?

I'm tapped. Maybe I'll remove the center window detail and just have the ship bodies and thrust flames, though they'll still do that fringe effect.

 

It's interesting that the 30 hz version does that. (it does that for me too)

 

If you move it frame by frame in stella you'll see that both frames always alternate on top of each other, even when the ship is in motion.

 

I guess our brains are confused when they see the color change but the intermediate ship frame hasn't travelled to where our brain expects it to be.

[+Gemintronic]

Both binaries just look like flickery sprites to me. Would be good for energy missiles or lasers. Not so good if the eyes have to focus on them for long periods of time. Is there a way to interleave colors instead of flickering them?

[RevEng]

Both binaries just look like flickery sprites to me. Would be good for energy missiles or lasers. Not so good if the eyes have to focus on them for long periods of time. Is there a way to interleave colors instead of flickering them?

If by interleave you mean something like the flickerblinds (like the 96-pixel wide bitmaps in the TSK) then that's possible, but it will introduce combing artifacts with moving sprites.

 

Thanks for looking at the binary and making suggestions guys. If anybody has more, keep 'em coming. I want to think about this before I tear out the flicker code and go with mono sprites.

[+Random Terrain]

If anybody has more, keep 'em coming. I want to think about this before I tear out the flicker code and go with mono sprites.

Instead of trying to mix 2 colors, you could have one color for the round ship and the other color for the middle and fire out the back. You'd go back and trim out any red that isn't for the back or middle. Then it would look good and not make people sick to their stomachs.

[RevEng]

Instead of trying to mix 2 colors, you could have one color for the round ship and the other color for the middle and fire out the back. You'd go back and trim out any red that isn't for the back or middle. Then it would look good and not make people sick to their stomachs.

I might not be understanding right - do you mean draw the ship body in one frame and the fire in the other?

 

In that case the body of the ship would flicker against the black background, which would make the flicker even more obvious.

 

Is the effect really "sick to their stomachs" bad? In my stella window the body of the ship doesn't look very different when phosphorus is turned on or off, at least when the ship is standing still.

[+Random Terrain]

I might not be understanding right - do you mean draw the ship body in one frame and the fire in the other?

 

In that case the body of the ship would flicker against the black background, which would make the flicker even more obvious.

Crap. Right. It would look worse.

 

 

 

Is the effect really "sick to their stomachs" bad?

All I know is when I run it and move the ship around at any speed, I feel like I'm going to puke.

Edited September 29, 2010 by Random Terrain

[RevEng]

All I know is when I run it and move the ship around at any speed, I feel like I'm going to puke.

Ok, so it is the color-movement thing then. I'll save the effect for my Splatterhouse port then.

 

Thanks for suffering for my art!

[yuppicide]

Out of the two I like the 60 better because the ship moved faster. I think it looked nicer on the eyes as well.

[RevEng]

Thanks yuppicide! I agree that the 30hz doesn't add anything.

 

Given the comments on the thread I pulled the flicker code. I'll need to think of more traditional ways to do the embellishments, like a ball flickered for both ship's thrust, etc.

 

I learned what doesn't work, so at least it wasn't a waste of time.

 

Thanks for your inputs, all. They've helped me greatly!

Edited September 30, 2010 by RevEng