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Carnivac's CPC pixels

Started by Carnivius, 12:14, 03 June 12

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Carnivius

Did this little mock up before christmas and then for some reason totally forgot about it.  I got Count Duckula DVDs from a friend and was enjoying them and then recalled the computer games looked like junk especially the infamous Count Duckula 2 so I spent about an hour just doing a quick mock up of how a Duckula game could have looked on CPC.   Like I said I then forgot about it (had a lot going on at the time) and never finished it so that's why the status bar is so basic and the general image looks a bit work in progress and so on.  And yeah I imagined it somewhat resembling Castlevania in some ways.  Never understood why the real games failed to make the most of the idea of the huge Castle Duckula to explore in and also it's ability to teleport to different locations.

I'm not quite sure what's happening in this mock up but I think the point was Igor emerged from that 'secret' passage of the gray wall to give some information and help to Duckula and then disappear through the wall again.   Duckula seems to have lost a health heart so best go nab that brocolli sandwich before he goes.

Anyways I'm just posting it here now I've come across it on my hard drive, in case anyone would like to see it seeing as it's CPC style.  And below are the Duckula and Igor sprites from the mock up so you can see them clearer and also the front view of Duckula that's not used in the mock up (I always do front and usually back views for when a character turns round in a game, simple flipping from left and right always bugs me).

Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

Cholo

That does look ridicuolus better than the original. Love the little details like the "fading" old drapes and the duck-head-bust-statue-whatyoucallit. Of cause just having a background is a huge difference when i think back to the original empty-odd-block-world game.

MacDeath


Carnivius

Ok, well as long as it don't look like Count Duckula 2 I'm fine with that.
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

MacDeath

Nice to see you again here Carnivac...

Devilmarkus

When you put your ear on a hot stove, you can smell how stupid you are ...

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Carnivius

Cheers.

I just had a look at the Addams Family game and yeah there are similarities.  Haven't seen it in a long time but the memory was probably there in my mind somewhere inspiring me cos even has large chunky hearts for it's health like I did too.  Ah well, like I said this was unfinished.  My 'finished' works usually go through a load of revisions and revamps before I'm actually happy with them so things tend to change. 
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

MacDeath

#7
How did you do this mockup ?

Was it a "port" from 16bit or other (C64) version of the same game or something from scratch ?


you can actually rip the graphics from the speccy port thx to Winape, the option find graphics.

as this is speccy "shitty" port, you will easily find the tiles and sprites in "mode2" (1bpp graphics).

then you can copy-paste those tiles into any graphic program (on your modern PC) and use them as a frame/model to re draw in mode0.


Sad part with "Duckula 1"... the sprites are masked, so could have been in direct mode1 and used different colours from the background (see Strider for such example)


Anyway this mock up looks great, nice use of the grey+purple and dark blue.

Just a slight complaint : the sprites use a bit too much the same colour as the background (Dark blue and black so in a real game they would blend a little bit too much with the background.
look at "igor" the butler...Count duckula on the other hand has a lot of extra colours so it is good anyway.

Also, good old CPC palette lack the few extra shade needed to get this background more properly separated anyway.

QuoteI just had a look at the Addams Family game and yeah there are similarities.
actually the "mansion" setting is a part of the similarity.

Basically those games are Jet Set Willy clones.

Carnivius

#8
Quote from: MacDeath on 06:44, 04 June 12
How did you do this mockup ?

Was it a "port" from 16bit or other (C64) version of the same game or something from scratch ?

From scratch.  I don't do 'ports'.  Even past Bubble Bobble, R-Type and Switchblade Mode 0 mock ups I've pixelled it mostly all from scratch just using the originals as detail references to to make the most of the CPC resolution and colors.  A couple of the tiles are based on previous projects of mine.  Also used a lot of reference screenshots from the TV show itself for the characters and some other tiles.

Quoteyou can actually rip the graphics from the speccy port thx to Winape, the option find graphics. as this is speccy "shitty" port, you will easily find the tiles and sprites in "mode2" (1bpp graphics). then you can copy-paste those tiles into any graphic program (on your modern PC) and use them as a frame/model to re draw in mode0.

Wouldn't waste my time ripping crap graphics and I prefer doing everything myself anyways.

Quote
Anyway this mock up looks great, nice use of the grey+purple and dark blue.

Just a slight complaint : the sprites use a bit too much the same colour as the background (Dark blue and black so in a real game they would blend a little bit too much with the background.
look at "igor" the butler...Count duckula on the other hand has a lot of extra colours so it is good anyway.


Not a big problem when animated and moving about the screen and Duckula's the focus anyways.  Also there were other colored background tiles (I had a green room that was not finished enough to be presentable).

QuoteBasically those games are Jet Set Willy clones.

I had a go on Addams Family last night and it's quite good fun.  I dunno if I'd call it a Jet Set Willy clone.  Feels very different and I loathed JSW and Manic Miner.
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

MacDeath

QuoteI had a go on Addams Family last night and it's quite good fun.  I dunno if I'd call it a Jet Set Willy clone.  Feels very different and I loathed JSW and Manic Miner.
Well, the Jet Set Willy aspect is concerning the fact they have no scrolling... and you have to explore a huge "mansion/castle" map and collect items.

Of course Addams Family is more modern in every way, having too some Mario Bros aspect (except for the scrolling perhaps) and feeling.

TotO

Lovely Duckula mock-up ! :)


Quote from: Carnivac on 09:23, 04 June 12From scratch.  I don't do 'ports'
Even past Bubble Bobble, R-Type and Switchblade Mode 0 mock ups I've pixelled it mostly all from scratch just using the originals as detail.
Wouldn't waste my time ripping crap graphics and I prefer doing everything myself anyways.
Your R-Type mockup was an arcade fast-resize with color decrease and cleaning pixels. Only the "score/beam" bottom part was full done.
Is that "using the originals as detail" and not a port?

By the way, I love your from scratch works and the famous "BATTLE OVER CYBER CITY" make me dream always today.
Waiting the game since...  ;D
"You make one mistake in your life and the internet will never let you live it down" (Keith Goodyer)

Carnivius

#11
Quote from: TotO on 11:36, 04 June 12
Lovely Duckula mock-up ! :)

Your R-Type mockup was an arcade fast-resize with color decrease and cleaning pixels. Only the "score/beam" bottom part was full done.
Is that "using the originals as detail" and not a port?

Was some time ago (November 2005) but I remember crafting most of that from scratch while looking at a screenshot of the arcade game as reference (particularly the R-9 ship cos I had several different versions I did of that, some of which were resized from the original but I wasn't happy with how they looked so I just crafted it from scratch).  I prefer working from scratch as I enjoy the technical aspects of creating a sprite to suit the system requirements and find it extremely messy to just quickly convert someone else's sprites that were intended for a completely different system.  The only 'fast-resize/cleaning up' I recall doing was on the red enemy ships cos they were all seperate frames of 'spinning' and gave me a bit of a headache to do those accurately.  And I think possibly the explosion but I was never happy with that (or the large powered up beam sprite which I did from scratch) and was going to redo those but didn't get the time.  No point these days what with the lovely R-Type CPC remake.  I find it amusing that I did mock ups of R-Type and Bubble Bobble and now in 2012 we actually have fantastic remade versions of those games available on CPC.  I wish I'd had a hand in them.  I did get an email about R-Type back when that project was in it's infancy but I didn't have the time and felt I wasn't needed cos the sample shots I saw already looked far better than what I could do.  :)

Quote
By the way, I love your from scratch works and the famous "BATTLE OVER CYBER CITY" make me dream always today.
Waiting the game since...  ;D

I just came across that screenshot a few weeks ago while putting a portfolio together.  I felt it good at the time but I think it's been bettered by the recent CPC shoot 'em ups which are REAL games such as the ones by Axelay and also the aforementioned mighty fine R-Type remake.   :)


I just noticed the R-Type link in your sig and the 'Easter Egg Designer' bit on the left?  You're part of that team?   Great work.  Really great work.  I just wish you guys could have done that back in the late 80's.   :D

EDIT: Just found that old email from September 2010 and yup, your username is mentioned in it.  Heh.
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

TotO

Hehe. Yes, it's me who have sent you this email for working on it. :)

I thing that your Bobble Bubble and R-Type mock-up tempt to make the games ; "thank you".
To be onest, I have tryed to make the first stage by starting from your mock-up. :D

And, after using the arcade GFx, my ports look like your work (around 75% common pixels with fast resize)
The biggest effort was to do it clean... And finaly I change the palette for all blue, then "champagne".


QuoteI just wish you guys could have done that back in the late 80's.
Sure... But I only got 13 years when released. :D
It's a revenche, because I bought it and the floppy only work during 1 week... :(
"You make one mistake in your life and the internet will never let you live it down" (Keith Goodyer)

Carnivius

Quote from: TotO on 13:07, 04 June 12
I thing that your Bobble Bubble and R-Type mock-up tempt to make the games ; "thank you".
To be onest, I have tryed to make the first stage by starting from your mock-up. :D


If that's even remotely true about either of those games then I'm tempted to see what other disappointing conversions to the CPC could use a mock up to inspire some talented game creators to produce a quality remake.   :)
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

mr_lou

Quote from: Carnivac on 16:27, 04 June 12
If that's even remotely true about either of those games then I'm tempted to see what other disappointing conversions to the CPC could use a mock up to inspire some talented game creators to produce a quality remake.   :)

I have to encourage all graphics artists, musicians and coders to focus on creating new games for the CPC, rather than remakes.
Remakes are great, but new games are greater.

Carnivius

While I agree new games can be nice too I wouldn't want to 'encourage' anyone to make anything other than what they'd want to make whether it be a new game or a remake. 
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

Gryzor

Totally agree with Carnivac (hello mate! Nice to see you again!). Some would prefer new games, some would prefer proper remakes, but why try and shoehorn any development that might take place? Just let anyone do whatever they can/want... we'll be more than grateful.


Oh, also, this thread is a nice reminder that dreaming, and just discussing about this or that and offering mockups and whatnot may have some real-life effect after all :)

Carnivius

Yeah.  Always keen to see new projects appear on CPC even if they're not my kind of genre or whatever, I just like that there's still creativity being used on a classic computer. 

The remakes though please me in a sort of "Quantum Leap" way of righting what once went wrong  :)    At least now when other 8 bit computer fans slag off the original CPC ports of R-Type and Bubble Bobble we have real working remakes of them that show that actually there was nothing wrong with our favourite old 8 bit computer at all and these are what could have happened if the original game developers actually spent a bit more time and thought in really exploiting the advantages and strengths of the CPC.
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

MacDeath

Count Duckula wouldn't really be a remake but a re-use of an existing franchise.

Having it to be properly CPC games just could not use the existing Speccy engines, it would be so bad.

Getting an engine CPC specific would enable some decent sized screen (128x256 or 160x200... mode0) and would enable CPC specific code optimisation.

for the game itself, if it is a Jet Set Willy "styled" game, so a platformer with no scrollings in 6128 config... CPC can do it well.

But a few scrollings could be nice too.

A bit the way Titus the fox was... except that Titus the Fox (or Moktar's adventure in France) had a lot of bugs and was a bit slow.

titus (company) often managed nice graphics but did mostly shitty games IMO.
Especially on CPC.

Blues Brother is awfully bad on CPC.


anyway, remakes are nice in that most of the job is already done, the same with existing franchises...

To start a brand new thing from scratch is more demanding in the artistic way.

Sykobee (Briggsy)

I like the mockup, it makes full use of the CPC's warm palette. I missed the original game though, but it does look like a game in the style of Addams Family or JSW (flip-screen, side-on, platforms).


I'd still like to see the "green room" mockup, even if it's not ready :-)

Carnivius

Yeah, maybe I'll fix that room up at some point.  At moment though I've been tinkering with another CPC project and getting some advice on how to make it a reality.  Oh and I found another old CPC mock up of mine from about  August 2005 I'll fix up soon too.
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

arnoldemu

Quote from: Carnivac on 00:40, 07 June 12
Yeah, maybe I'll fix that room up at some point.  At moment though I've been tinkering with another CPC project and getting some advice on how to make it a reality.  Oh and I found another old CPC mock up of mine from about  August 2005 I'll fix up soon too.
is the project I was going to help you with?
My games. My Games
My website with coding examples: Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource

Carnivius

Quote from: arnoldemu on 09:11, 07 June 12
is the project I was going to help you with?

I think that was the Mode 1 platformer with the teenager in the hotel wasn't it?  So long ago now.  I would like to make something of that but no it's not that I've been tinkering with lately.
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

Gryzor

That reminded me of Billy La Banlieue... (Must have been among the very few people outside France who had it?)

SyX

Quote from: Gryzor on 12:18, 08 June 12
That reminded me of Billy La Banlieue... (Must have been among the very few people outside France who had it?)
In Spain was officially distributed, and the second part too. I bought both, because i loved french games  :D

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