Making Progress on Episode 1

Episode 1 is very nearly in the can.  It will be an extra-long episode (almost 15 minutes).  So, a lot of animation has gone into it.  The rest of the episodes will be shorter.

Sneak Peek

Here is a very short sneak-peek at some of the animation from Episode 1...

Color Palette

For this project, I am limiting myself to only these 24 colors:

I selected them out of the full range of colors that the NES could produce, because I really want to hold myself to many of the 8-bit rules.  I am cheating just a bit with this palette, however.  The NES could produce some of these colors only when a translucency of black was applied to the entire screen, darkening all of the on-screen colors.  But to achieve the mood I want this project to have, I wanted most of the colors to be muted, but still have the greens of the zombies and the blue of Jacob's hoodie fairly saturated.  So, I made the decision that, if the NES could produce the color at all, then it was fair game for my palette.

Other 8-bit rules concerning color that I am trying to obey:

1. Sprites can have no more than 4 colors. I have seen a few exceptions to this, like Megaman, which have five.  But in all of the examples I have found, the fifth color was white.  So, I allow white in a sprite if I need a fifth color.
   
    
   
   
2. There can be no more than 16 colors on the screen at one time.  Most games seem to have addressed this by limiting the palette for the game to only 16 colors.  I am not going that far, but I am working hard to keep the number of colors on the screen at any time as close to 16 as I can.  There are times when I go over, but my max is 20 colors.
   
   
   
   
3. Each 16px16p grid square of the background can have no more than four colors.  I have seen exceptions to this rule in my research, but I try to limit the number of times I break this rule.

The result, hopefully, is an animation that looks like a believable 8-bit NES game that you just never actually played.

UNDEAD CITY coming SUMMER 2015!

The People of Undead City

Here are some of the town-folk (and a couple of animals) that Jacob will encounter in Undead City.  Friendships, alliances, and discord are in store.  And, just in case you're wondering, the sprites that are lying down are sleeping, not dead.  I wouldn't give away those kinds of spoilers right away.

Remember: UNDEAD CITY COMING SUMMER 2015!