Pixelblog 62: painting landscape backgrounds with 16 colors or fewer
Pixelblog 62 is about landscape backgrounds, and it makes a point I agree with: backgrounds should not sit at the back of your production priorities. They establish the setting and pull players into the world, but they also have to serve the gameplay. In platformers and shmups they may need to be muted so sprites stay readable, while in turn-based RPGs they can be rich and immersive.
For this lesson Raymond Schlitter focuses on the battle scenes of an imaginary turn-based JRPG, taking inspiration from Dragon Quest and Phantasy Star 4, with space left at the bottom for heroes seen from behind. The challenge he sets is a convincing sense of depth using 16 colors or fewer.
He picks a 192x144 canvas. It has a 4:3 ratio, fits within common 8-bit and 16-bit console resolutions, and divides well if you want pixel-perfect parallax scrolling later. The process begins with solid horizontal bands of colour that define the horizon, and then the ground and sky are split into more bands. His key point is that depth comes mostly from colour choice, following atmospheric perspective: the nearest plane is the most saturated with the strongest contrast, and each receding plane loses saturation, gets lighter and shifts its hue toward the sky colour. In a clear blue sky the closest grass is warmest and the distant planes drift toward blue.
After the colour planes he adds two mountain layers, reusing colours from the sky bands, and then gets into details. The grass is made of many short single-pixel vertical streaks, and the key is consistency in clustering and scale. He includes every step as a separate image so you can follow at your own pace. It is a helpful read if you struggle with palettes that feel flat.
Source: SLYNYRD
For this lesson Raymond Schlitter focuses on the battle scenes of an imaginary turn-based JRPG, taking inspiration from Dragon Quest and Phantasy Star 4, with space left at the bottom for heroes seen from behind. The challenge he sets is a convincing sense of depth using 16 colors or fewer.
He picks a 192x144 canvas. It has a 4:3 ratio, fits within common 8-bit and 16-bit console resolutions, and divides well if you want pixel-perfect parallax scrolling later. The process begins with solid horizontal bands of colour that define the horizon, and then the ground and sky are split into more bands. His key point is that depth comes mostly from colour choice, following atmospheric perspective: the nearest plane is the most saturated with the strongest contrast, and each receding plane loses saturation, gets lighter and shifts its hue toward the sky colour. In a clear blue sky the closest grass is warmest and the distant planes drift toward blue.
After the colour planes he adds two mountain layers, reusing colours from the sky bands, and then gets into details. The grass is made of many short single-pixel vertical streaks, and the key is consistency in clustering and scale. He includes every step as a separate image so you can follow at your own pace. It is a helpful read if you struggle with palettes that feel flat.
Source: SLYNYRD
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