Questions on graphical capabilities
Posted: Mon May 09, 2016 9:18 pm
Hello, I am new here!
I'm an artist, and recently I tried to make graphics for a computer game, and decided I'd do it following the capabilities of my favorite console. This is where things get tricky. I was hoping if some of you can help me to clear up some difficulties that I ran into. If I happen to get enough information, I will cross post the essentials here too: http://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=1 ... #msg115062
Please bear in mind my point of view here, I'm not a coder but an artist. Also this is only referencing the genny, not the cd or 32x addons.
320px mode:
resolution - 320x224
sprite pixels per scanline - 320
256px mode:
Resolution - 256x224
sprite pixels per scanline - 256
Palette: 512 colors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_m ... #9-bit_RGB
4x16 palettes available
1 palette for BG layer A
1 palette for BG layer B
2 palettes for sprites
index 0 of each palette is the transparent color.
BG layers scrolling:
horizontally per scanline (1 px) or tile (8px)
vertically in 2 tile increments (16 px)
Layering:
BG layers A and B can have a priority flag set/unset thus can be displayed behind/infront of each other per tile basis. Sprites have this flag also, but a lowest priority sprite will still be displayed over the lowest priority BG layer. (not sure about this last one)
GFX storage: (found somewhere on the forums)
system tiles = 0x0000 (16 plain tiles used which can be used for fast fill operation)
user tiles = 0x0200 (1296 tiles)
font tiles = 96 tiles = window map address - 0x0C00
window map = 0xB000
H scroll table = 0xB800
Sprite table = 0xBC00
B Plan map= 0xC000
A Plan map = 0xE000
Extra features:
shadow and highlight mode
interlace mode 2
Notes:
TV viewable area is slightly smaller due to PAL/NTSC and different TV manufacturers. Safe bet is to not use the top and bottom tile rows for anything vital, and not use the first and last two tile columns for anything vital.
---
Questions:
Sprites
What are sprite sizes?
Is it allowed to mix sprite sizes?
How many sprites and of what size are allowed on screen at once? (without multiplexing)
Resolutions
What are the limitations and considerations of interlace mode 2?
How does interlace mode 2 affect other graphics like sprites and the window plane?
What other modes are available for the system?
Scrolling
How costly is to use scrolling effects, and how costly is to have large 8 way directional scrolling maps?
GFX storage
How configurable is the VDP ram for gfx storage?
Are system tiles are always full color tiles, and if not, how else can they be used?
How much space is there for tiles for the window layers and sprites?
How costly is to load new tiles for animation and such purposes?
How costly is to load new plan map data to get larger non repeating maps?
Shadow and highlight mode
How does this actually work?
How costly is to use shadow and highlight?
Does it work per tile or pixel basis?
Does it affect sprites, and in what way?
Misc
In case of TV signal moving the picture what is the color that is shown beyond the renderable resolution?
Is this "border" color editable?
Do sprites render off screen or do they pop in when their mid point reaches the renderable area?
What is the color that is used if all pixels on a certain part of the screen use the 0 index (transparent color) and is it editable?
What are some common cartridge memory sizes and how does this translate to available memory for gfx?
I an ordinary game, how much of the cartridge size is used for sound/gfx/code?
If I made any mistakes, please correct my ignorance. If I forgot to ask anything that affects graphics, and you think it would help, please do write it down, or point me with a link. I tried gathering as much data as I could, but no one is perfect and the gaps in my knowledge of the system graphical capabilities is very large.
Thanks!
BTW, if you are bored by all this text, please click and see some of my art:
http://s32.postimg.org/vwuutxqf9/image.png
http://s32.postimg.org/x16jgcjd1/all.png
http://s32.postimg.org/buuv9p8g5/shump.png
http://s32.postimg.org/sdnnzn285/Copy_of_Flips.png
http://s32.postimg.org/8si15sa9x/Copy_of_minimap.png
http://s32.postimg.org/3yha42z29/image.png
http://s32.postimg.org/47jwr4i6d/PC_BG_2.png
http://s32.postimg.org/vai1lwr2d/image.png
http://i.imgur.com/20eqjKb.png
I'm an artist, and recently I tried to make graphics for a computer game, and decided I'd do it following the capabilities of my favorite console. This is where things get tricky. I was hoping if some of you can help me to clear up some difficulties that I ran into. If I happen to get enough information, I will cross post the essentials here too: http://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=1 ... #msg115062
Please bear in mind my point of view here, I'm not a coder but an artist. Also this is only referencing the genny, not the cd or 32x addons.
320px mode:
resolution - 320x224
sprite pixels per scanline - 320
256px mode:
Resolution - 256x224
sprite pixels per scanline - 256
Palette: 512 colors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_m ... #9-bit_RGB
4x16 palettes available
1 palette for BG layer A
1 palette for BG layer B
2 palettes for sprites
index 0 of each palette is the transparent color.
BG layers scrolling:
horizontally per scanline (1 px) or tile (8px)
vertically in 2 tile increments (16 px)
Layering:
BG layers A and B can have a priority flag set/unset thus can be displayed behind/infront of each other per tile basis. Sprites have this flag also, but a lowest priority sprite will still be displayed over the lowest priority BG layer. (not sure about this last one)
GFX storage: (found somewhere on the forums)
system tiles = 0x0000 (16 plain tiles used which can be used for fast fill operation)
user tiles = 0x0200 (1296 tiles)
font tiles = 96 tiles = window map address - 0x0C00
window map = 0xB000
H scroll table = 0xB800
Sprite table = 0xBC00
B Plan map= 0xC000
A Plan map = 0xE000
Extra features:
shadow and highlight mode
interlace mode 2
Notes:
TV viewable area is slightly smaller due to PAL/NTSC and different TV manufacturers. Safe bet is to not use the top and bottom tile rows for anything vital, and not use the first and last two tile columns for anything vital.
---
Questions:
Sprites
What are sprite sizes?
Is it allowed to mix sprite sizes?
How many sprites and of what size are allowed on screen at once? (without multiplexing)
Resolutions
What are the limitations and considerations of interlace mode 2?
How does interlace mode 2 affect other graphics like sprites and the window plane?
What other modes are available for the system?
Scrolling
How costly is to use scrolling effects, and how costly is to have large 8 way directional scrolling maps?
GFX storage
How configurable is the VDP ram for gfx storage?
Are system tiles are always full color tiles, and if not, how else can they be used?
How much space is there for tiles for the window layers and sprites?
How costly is to load new tiles for animation and such purposes?
How costly is to load new plan map data to get larger non repeating maps?
Shadow and highlight mode
How does this actually work?
How costly is to use shadow and highlight?
Does it work per tile or pixel basis?
Does it affect sprites, and in what way?
Misc
In case of TV signal moving the picture what is the color that is shown beyond the renderable resolution?
Is this "border" color editable?
Do sprites render off screen or do they pop in when their mid point reaches the renderable area?
What is the color that is used if all pixels on a certain part of the screen use the 0 index (transparent color) and is it editable?
What are some common cartridge memory sizes and how does this translate to available memory for gfx?
I an ordinary game, how much of the cartridge size is used for sound/gfx/code?
If I made any mistakes, please correct my ignorance. If I forgot to ask anything that affects graphics, and you think it would help, please do write it down, or point me with a link. I tried gathering as much data as I could, but no one is perfect and the gaps in my knowledge of the system graphical capabilities is very large.
Thanks!
BTW, if you are bored by all this text, please click and see some of my art:
http://s32.postimg.org/vwuutxqf9/image.png
http://s32.postimg.org/x16jgcjd1/all.png
http://s32.postimg.org/buuv9p8g5/shump.png
http://s32.postimg.org/sdnnzn285/Copy_of_Flips.png
http://s32.postimg.org/8si15sa9x/Copy_of_minimap.png
http://s32.postimg.org/3yha42z29/image.png
http://s32.postimg.org/47jwr4i6d/PC_BG_2.png
http://s32.postimg.org/vai1lwr2d/image.png
http://i.imgur.com/20eqjKb.png