Hi to all cpc lovers!

[Kel]

Hello to all members. Im new to the site, been observing in till today that I registered.

I was grown up with a zx and later with a cpc 464 green monitor. This was the most extended case in Spain, as you know the color monitor was prohibitive back then. Im so used to green monitor, that I enjoy games more they way I used to play them, with green monitor emulation.

I have very fond memories of the amstrad, Passed my preteen years playing amstrad 6128 and 6128 plus at some of my (amstrad owners) friend's place. My friends used to play burnin' rubber on the plus, bubble bobble (btw love the magister version of Cngsoft), monthy python FC, dragon ninja, and all those old arcade conversions (shinobi, karnov, etc).

I love the speccy, but Half of my childish times were with and amstrad so I loved them both. Happy to be here.

I see a lot of games at the time were done in a hurry with poor treatment at the code or the graphics. Im no programmer, but I see some of them should be remade just to give some decency to the bad treatment they received. Sometimes victims of the poor zx-amstrad conversion effect (that is without using the amstrad capacities at full). What I do as a hobby is pixelart graphics, (my professional work is 2d/3d and sound design) and I tried to remake some graphics of poor conversions, maybe it would be cool to make a thread.

So... Cheers to all, and happy to be part of the community (a bit late, though).

[keith56]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Interesting to read your memories of green screen computers! I never knew anyone with a CPC PLUS when I was a child - all we had was a 464, one of my friends had a 6128

I'd for one would be interested to see your Amstrad pixelart! I need to learn to do good pixelart - so maybe I could learn a thing or two!

[Kel]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Interesting to read your memories of green screen computers! I never knew anyone with a CPC PLUS when I was a child - all we had was a 464, one of my friends had a 6128

I'd for one would be interested to see your Amstrad pixelart! I need to learn to do good pixelart - so maybe I could learn a thing or two!

Thanks Keith56.

Well those were the very last times of the 8 bit computers. I think It could be about 89 and first years of 90's decade and the gx4000 was the new amstrad console but I never saw one, just amstrad plus of two of my friends as the others had 6128.

As an example. Here I attach a cleaner version of double dragon 2 sprite done more or less to the size of original amstrad game screen(well a bit stylized because I made it from scratch). They did a good game ( a bit slow), but I think the sprites look not very clean with a lot of stray pixels as they rushed to get the game finished and the graphics of the sprites could have way more cleaner.

I tried to clean it up and this is the result, as I would like to see it on the amstrad. I still dont understand how games look more wide in mode0 on real games as I usually work at 160x200 (16 col. and cpc palette, etc). May be If people like it I will post more stuff in another thread, cheers.

[keith56]

Nice! I like the White/Yellow/pink highlight-shadow for the skintones - I wouldn't have though of that!

I'm always in a bit of a quandary about how to deal with the skin colors. I think the 27 color CPC palette is probably the best of the 8 bit era, but only having one shade of 'pink' makes it difficult to know what to do for the best!

I'd love to see a pixel art thread - maybe I can learn a thing or two!

[Kel]

Well the good thing of the amstrad is the lack of colourclash, so you can do pretty backgrounds.

Yes the palette is some of the best of 8 bits, but it lacks variety of grays or pure brown (correct me on this). For things like skin tones, sometimes you must foul the eye, original dd2 sprites use white and clear yellow for skin to trick the eyes. I Added bit of shades here and there .

I learned pixelart using NES restrictions, and its not so much difference as Nes cant handle more than 3 colors per sprite usually without tricks. The amstrad can put all 16 colors at the same time and that is some of the powerful features, as you will know. On limited system palettes the best is to avoid complexity to the eye, like dithering too much or putting too much detail, that is why I always go for cleanness.

I may open a thread later, Cheers.

[Gryzor]

Welcome!


I used to have a green monitor with my 464 and (later) 6128 as well. Even though the first time I connected my CPC to the TV through SCART I was mesmerised by the colours, I still have a soft spot for all the greenery