Cool deal, it seems that there was still lots of things that could be done, at least sprite animation wise on the system. I've been trying to hunt down games on it with top notch sprite animations.
Title: Re: a question about sprite animation and the PC-E
Post by: Black Tiger on March 12, 2012, 06:11:04 AM
Cool deal, it seems that there was still lots of things that could be done, at least sprite animation wise on the system. I've been trying to hunt down games on it with top notch sprite animations.
The PCE is supposed to be technically faster than both the SFC and MD at animation. Just play through Sapphire to see sprites with 50+ frames which cover up to half the screen. Dracula X also has some of the highrst amount of animation of the generation.
You can see some crazy sprite sheets in the PCE, SNES & Genesis screenshot comparison thread.
Title: Re: a question about sprite animation and the PC-E
Post by: fragmare on March 12, 2012, 07:05:22 AM
Cool deal, it seems that there was still lots of things that could be done, at least sprite animation wise on the system. I've been trying to hunt down games on it with top notch sprite animations.
Yea, pretty much anything, as far as sprite animation, that could be done on the Genesis/SNES could just as easily be done on the TG16. All 3 systems had the same amount of VRAM, 64KB.
Title: Re: a question about sprite animation and the PC-E
Post by: touko on March 12, 2012, 07:12:35 AM
SNES has 128 kb of vram .
Title: Re: a question about sprite animation and the PC-E
Post by: nodtveidt on March 12, 2012, 07:58:09 AM
touko, the system can address 128KB, but only 64KB is actually installed. The PCE is the same way. Only the SGX has 128KB, but it's split 64KB+64KB.
Title: Re: a question about sprite animation and the PC-E
Post by: Nando on March 12, 2012, 08:35:46 AM
Thanks guys!
Any games you all recommend looking at for walk cycles and character animations?
Title: Re: a question about sprite animation and the PC-E
Post by: Black Tiger on March 12, 2012, 08:44:22 AM
Not only does the SNES have 64k vram, it's strictly banked and segmented, unlike the PCE and Megadrive.
Am I missing something? Is there something special in Magical PoP'n that I didn't see?
Title: Re: a question about sprite animation and the PC-E
Post by: Nando on March 13, 2012, 02:59:43 AM
Thanks Black Tiger!
Bonknuts: I could have written the same question using any number of Genesis games as well. Magical just happened to be on my radar at the time. I think Magical has fantastic main character animation, lots of bounce and stretch and secondary animations to really bring it to life. As of yet I hadn't seen anything as cartoony animated on the PC-E; but please bare in mind that I am still new to the PCE/Turbo scene, and why I was asking. I kinda figured it could.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Kaze Kiri has great character animations... imho, at least.
Holy crap, it's like Ninja Strider...
I did see this thread and on the color dept and art direction, it seem that the console can more than kick ass. Comes down to the patience of the pixel artist and knowing the strengths of the machines color palette; and obviously a solid color theory foundation http://forum.frozenutopia.com/index.php?topic=176.0
Title: Re: a question about sprite animation and the PC-E
Post by: Nando on March 13, 2012, 03:49:10 AM
Are the Rondo sprites 32x32?
Title: Re: a question about sprite animation and the PC-E
Post by: touko on March 13, 2012, 04:13:45 AM
I must have missed the snakes! lol hahah too funny Kung Fu Master FTW!
Title: Re: a question about sprite animation and the PC-E
Post by: SignOfZeta on March 13, 2012, 06:41:48 AM
While Dracula X does have a lot of animation, a high number of frames isn't the only thing needed to make "good animation". The biggest letdown in that game is Rhicter himself, who is a pretty horribly drawn sprite, as were all CV game main characters up until that point. They walk like they've been holding a huge shit for the last 6 hours. Its kind of depressing really, since almost every other thing in the game is amazingly good.
A side note: regarding the SNES's 64/128kb VRAM limit. I think there was some way around that, and I think Doom used it. Yeah, Doom. Kind of a waste. Maybe they added VRAM to the cart, perhaps? I don't know. I remember reading something about it when the game was new.
Am I missing something? Is there something special in Magical PoP'n that I didn't see?
From a technical perspective the number of frames and sprite sizes are probably the same or less than PCE/MD, but the end product is pretty slick thanks to the artists. You'd probably have to be non-autistic to see it though since it has nothing to do with RAM, sprite size, who made the machine, etc.
Title: Re: a question about sprite animation and the PC-E
Post by: Nando on March 13, 2012, 07:42:04 AM
You'd probably have to be non-autistic to see it though since it has nothing to do with RAM, sprite size, who made the machine, etc.
LMAO!!!
I can see what you mean about the walk cycle, maybe it was a gameplay based decision? There are some really cool Sakuga type animations in the game overall.
Title: Re: a question about sprite animation and the PC-E
Post by: Keranu on March 13, 2012, 10:04:24 AM
From a technical perspective the number of frames and sprite sizes are probably the same or less than PCE/MD, but the end product is pretty slick thanks to the artists. You'd probably have to be non-autistic to see it though since it has nothing to do with RAM, sprite size, who made the machine, etc.
Haha touche. This is what I'm trying to achieve with my animation in Jungle Bros. Granted there are a lot of frames in JB, but even with just 2 or 3 frames of animation you can make something look really cool and smooth.
Title: Re: a question about sprite animation and the PC-E
Post by: Black Tiger on March 13, 2012, 01:17:36 PM
You'd probably have to be non-autistic to see it though since it has nothing to do with RAM, sprite size, who made the machine, etc.
LMAO!!!
I can see what you mean about the walk cycle, maybe it was a gameplay based decision? There are some really cool Sakuga type animations in the game overall.
It's very well animated. The game was honoring the series' heritage while bringing it into the modern age (Drac X's style is the template for the series to this day) and tied it all together. It's no different than giving nice animation to something as hideous as the characters in Donkey Kong Country. The fact that they were able to smoothly animate a traditional Castlevania walk cycle while transitioning it into other animations is very impressive. The pose may be ridiculous, but the whole concept of Castlevania is ridiculous. Just compare Richter's walk cycle to any other version up to that point, including the X68000. Richter looks like a believable animation of a person moving that way. The rest are broken or barely animated at all.
From a technical perspective the number of frames and sprite sizes are probably the same or less than PCE/MD, but the end product is pretty slick thanks to the artists. You'd probably have to be non-autistic to see it though since it has nothing to do with RAM, sprite size, who made the machine, etc.
Haha touche. This is what I'm trying to achieve with my animation in Jungle Bros. Granted there are a lot of frames in JB, but even with just 2 or 3 frames of animation you can make something look really cool and smooth.
Jungle Bros has some very impressive animation, both from a technical standpoint and (especially) artistically. The characters look very cool in still frames, but they really come to life and exude personality through their various animations. It's going to be one of the game's hallmarks that will leave an impression on people. Also, it will fill the void of cute platformers with nice animated sprites which the PC Engine is lacking. :)