Adapting loading screens that sucked.

[6128]

Phantom Club, please. The original loading screen is awful. 

[Brundij]

I got one in mind to work before but I'll add it to my list. I'd dare to bet the game cover composition was taken from a cover of The Phantom, since Wakelin did the same with Rastan and "borrowed" from a Conan cover.

[skylas]

Done

Thats fantastic!

[dodogildo]

and "borrowed" from a Conan cover.

Yess. And one of the best Conan stories ever. Tower of the Elephant.

[Brundij]

It's been a while again.
I wouldn't say the original loading screen sucked, but felt a bit uninspired. I adapted Savage's C64 loading screen to the CPC the best I could and knew. It's been a pain due to the lack of grays and skintones of the CPC palette but I think the result is fine.

[Brundij]

I had this one in the previous batch of screens I made, that for some reason I didn't post here.
Since the cover of the game is not very good if not awful, It's a modification of the original loading screen, which was a version of the Spectrum one stretched out and recoloured. I simply put it back to it's original size and recoloured it and used some patterns and textures to make it look a bit better. The .scr file is not modified to fit in a 256x200 screen because the automated action to do it I had in my other computer version of Photoshop is not compatible with the one I have here. So I got to do it yet. But if someone want's to use it for any reason I made a 320x200 .scr with it.

[rexbeng]

I needed a break from other things, so I decided to share some thoughts on those Savage remakes.

First, the CPC loading screen is far better designed than the C64 version. The composition on the C64 one feels off—the main character's legs are cut awkwardly, the Buddha statue is hidden behind an elbow, the eagle is crammed into a corner, and there's little sense of depth. It seems like the focus on creating an overly dramatic image ended up making it feel cluttered. But hey, that was the 80s for you.

In contrast, the CPC version nails the composition. Everything fits neatly within the frame, the protagonist—though smaller—is cleaner and more representative of the in-game character, and there are even flames (even if they look a bit like Play-Doh). The Savage logo is also far more striking here. Sure, not as dramatic as the C64 one, but, hey!

As for color choices, sticking too rigidly to "traditional" gradients (where you must transition from white through yellows to dark reds or light cyans to dark blues and so on) often makes objects look unnaturally bright—almost "radioactive." This is especially true in C64 conversions, where attribute limitations and the frequent use of grays as mid-tones can easily lead to oversaturated results. The CPC palette, on the other hand, includes more natural grays and skin tones than people believe. The key is realizing that shading doesn't always mean just using a darker version of the same hue.

That said, both versions could benefit from some re-pixeling to refine details, shades and fix certain shapes.

[Brundij]

You're right that mine looks like some sort of radioactive hero and your recoloring looks more akin to the original work, and got a point about the gradients, but still at least my impression is the result ends being too cold for the scene that's portrayed. That pink being the reflection of fire doesn't work for me, too pale. Remember that there was an excess of oil on bodies in the 80's , maybe a mix of yellow (23) and white would work better instead. A pattern of yellow and white works as the pale bright yellow (24) in the eye and would allow to keep the yellow for the fire and other things while allowing the use of another extra color.
This one was more of a challenge for the skin tones rather than an attempt to make a suitable loading screen which clearly could have been done better as you have shown.

The C64 screen gets points according to my criteria for attempting to make a rendition of the game cover even if the author had to cram everything in the frame. I don't mean by this that a loading screen is better for the simple fact of being similar/equal to the game cover of course, but the CPC one looks simply correct and dull. Too horizontal. The C64 being more dynamic with the use of perspective and diagonal lines.

Thanks for your advice and insight.

 

[Brundij]

Something like this and then recolour with a new mindset, but I'm done with this one at least for now. Maybe I'll get it up some other time.