Barajas_201
Member
OMG this looks so good. Any pixel artist/indie dev know how this is done? How does that level of transparency work?
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I love the look of PC98 games aka the Anime PC game machine
- Thread starter Trojita
- Start date
OMG this looks so good. Any pixel artist/indie dev know how this is done? How does that level of transparency work?
OMG this looks so good. Any pixel artist/indie dev know how this is done? How does that level of transparency work?
It's not transparency, the images are interlaced. The even field is of one image, the odd field is of another. It's just another type of dithering. The way artists would do stuff like this is with routines in art editors that would combine images this way. That way they could draw one image, then draw another, and have the computer handle the blend. It just looks like it's transparent because you're looking at it from far away, almost like taking in a pointillism painting.
If you zoom in and out with your browser, you can zoom in far enough to see the individual lines of pixels, and as you zoom in and out you'll get the tell-tale interlacing artifacts.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
The day more people learn about this game, and how singularly cool and unusual it was coming from a light novel writer and a few programmers who did a mech wargame previously, will be strange and hilarious. Naoyuki Kato's one of the best fantasy artists in Japan and no one seems to discuss his works, let alone Suemi's or Tanno's.
M0nochromatic
Member
God, it's all so aesthetically pleasing to me. I love it.
Azure Dream
Member
I miss the anime art style popular during that era. So much detail, rich colors that pop, character designs edging toward realism more while still being stylized...
"Remember me?"
"Remember me?"
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
Sharp X1 brought us some cool stuff.
Buuma (demos the X1's simple PCG (character generator) allowing for pseudo-sprites), Mukau (published by Pax Softnica years before they worked for Nintendo), X1, 1985
Produce (a distant precursor to the Deception series), dB-SOFT, X1, 1987
Parallel World Sophia, YMCAT/Dempa, X1, 1987
Buuma (demos the X1's simple PCG (character generator) allowing for pseudo-sprites), Mukau (published by Pax Softnica years before they worked for Nintendo), X1, 1985
Produce (a distant precursor to the Deception series), dB-SOFT, X1, 1987
Parallel World Sophia, YMCAT/Dempa, X1, 1987
Barajas_201
Member
Mind blown. I thought there were 3 layers of images but its just one :O
Digan no Maseki (1988) is a pretty interesting RPG with some great art.
I tried to play this when I was 9 years old and I was very, very confused a lot of the time. My reading level wasn't quite up to snuff at the time. I didn't connect it to GDLeen until much later, when I was going through my stuff and saw the logo on it (GDLeen was something I got into a fair few years later) and it's been on my list of games to revisit for quite a while.
MrCunningham
Member
OMG this looks so good. Any pixel artist/indie dev know how this is done? How does that level of transparency work?
By the looks of it, the transparency effect was done by interlacing the artwork together and by selectively using the right colours.
ThatsMytrunks
Member
These all LOOK amazing, but are any of them so incredible that they need to be played?
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
Enough that I get paralysis of choice thinking of which ones I can and should recommend. Go to Project EGG and look through its library for some idea, then sign up to download and legally emulate a ton of great Japanese PC games (on Windows, haven't tried using it in WINE). Keep in mind, though EGG's selection is limited.
Usually I make GIFs of the games I'm able to play a lot of with very limited Japanese language knowledge/experience, so I recommend looking at those to get an idea of the variety of games you can find and play.
cj_iwakura
Member
Policenauts goes without saying, but it's also on PS1.
Especially limited on the English site. Fortunately it's all one account for both English and Japanese and also for the rest of Amusement Center, like the ACMall and EGG Music.
KnightimeX_Legacy
Banned
The higher the resolution, the better the dithering effect.
I remember toying with dithering in Deluxe Paint 2.
Looked kind of terrible in resolutions lower than 640x480.
I remember toying with dithering in Deluxe Paint 2.
Looked kind of terrible in resolutions lower than 640x480.
All of Falcom's PC98 stuff is great.
Brandish VT intro shots:
The PC98 versions of Legend of Heroes 3 and 4 are also my favorites still to this day, although they don't have a lot of fancy full screen art, they're just nice looking games.
As for non-Falcom stuff, the PC98 version of Xak 3 also has the highest quality art portraits of all of the versions, which I think kinda goes along with this thread. It's a pretty great action RPG.
Trojita
Rapid Response Threadmaker
Man those LoH screenshots look so comfy.
ThatsMytrunks
Member
Funyarinpa
Member
Agreed, never did I expect to see it mentioned outside of VNGAF.
Epilogue was the best damn part of the game though
Lol
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
The original Brandish is easy to understand if you experiment with keyboard controls and don't fret over what the shopkeepers are saying (I had to look up Japanese text transcriptions of puzzle hints to proceed though, look here when you need them). You'll have to find the best way to use mouse for certain actions while moving/strafing and attacking using the keyboard, but it's not a hard game (nor easy). Tons of great arcade shooter games came out for J-PCs, usually on the Sharp X68k but also on PC-98 and earlier. I bet a number of dungeon-crawlers are playable too. Overall getting into J-PC games w/o Japanese knowledge has already barred VNs and xRPGs off from me, at least until later, which means I have to investigate more often.
Hyakkimaru's character art for this and Illusion City is awesome. Micro Cabin lived the dream back in the early-1990s, starting with Xak and continuing with stuff like NIRGENDS and Riglord Saga.
Funyarinpa
Member
YU-NO. It's translated. A VN-point and click hybrid, amazing stuff. One of the best games I played last year, I ended up clocking 10 hours daily on it.
I loved it. But it definitely isn't for everyone. Was a bit bothered that just about every scene with a female has an upskirt shot. But the game is still overall great.
Funyarinpa
Member
Eh, didn't bother me too much since I just ended up crediting it to the game's art style (and I really liked the art to be honest lol).
Whimsical Phil
Ninja School will help you
People say FMV games suck, but not this one.
Hate Punishment! 2, Honwaka Soft (doujin), PC-98, 1992
This reminds me of the Dare to Be Stupid music video somehow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMhwddNQSWQ&feature=youtu.be&t=1m38s
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
Exactly what comes to mind. A game that actually looks and feels like that music video would have the best aesthetic.
This thread reminds me of the Enix adventure/visual novel games. It's a real shame S-E acts as if they never existed and don't release them on EGG even though there's already the arguably inferior Square's attempts at the genre (Death Trap, Will, Alpha).
Some examples:
Zarth (1984)
JESUS (1987)
Angelus (1988)
Burning Point (1989)
Misty Blue (1990)
It's a very ambitious game but, unfortunately, it also feels very small in scope and lacks any sort of polish. What I do find fantastic is the work done on the setting and this game only scratches the surface of it. There's also GDleen, as you said, but the meat of the overall story is in the novels, which are hard to find sadly.
Some examples:
Zarth (1984)
JESUS (1987)
Angelus (1988)
Burning Point (1989)
Misty Blue (1990)
Yep, I especially love Jun Suemi's illustrations. I wish this meticulous, more realistic style was still a popular thing in Japan nowadays.Dragoon En Regalia said:
Honestly, it's not a fun game, but a really interesting one in how different it is compared to traditional RPG: you can ask any NPC about a multitude of topics, you have to work part-time to get money, you have to deal with tiredness, hunger, diseases and wounds, etc.
It's a very ambitious game but, unfortunately, it also feels very small in scope and lacks any sort of polish. What I do find fantastic is the work done on the setting and this game only scratches the surface of it. There's also GDleen, as you said, but the meat of the overall story is in the novels, which are hard to find sadly.
How About No
Member
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
It's easier to find the dumb OVA and SFC game than GDLeen LNs, which is a shame. These days Yuto Ramon does alternative history stuff to make his living (aka WWII otaku fantasies), so he clearly trades niches and has never broken out into the limelight. Minelvaton Saga and its lineage did better on console than Digan no Maseki, Dark Wraith, and King Breeder on NEC PCs.
Looking at the Misty Blue screens reminds me that Naoyuki Onda (game's character designer) was somewhat prolific, doing similar work on an OVA called Nineteen 19 which feels like a mix of To-Y and Misty Blue with its dreamy music-video appeal.
Dithering would have been present and felt but less noticeable until you looked closer.
Dr.Sanchez
Neo Member
Man, these are some amazing looking images.
Mental Atrophy
Banned
PC88 and PC98 games had cool music too. Does anybody know much about the video specs of your usual PC98 computer? Quite high resolution for the color depth and I'm wondering if it had a composite/NTSC mode. I've only seen it on emulators.
Yep.
Revival Xanadu 2 Remix - La Valse Pour Xanadu ~Resistance~
Revival Xanadu 2 Remix - Level 7
Revival Xanadu 2 Remix - Level 8
Revival Xanadu 2 Remix - Level 10
Revival Xanadu 2 Remix - Ending
Star Trader X68000 - Launching
Star Trader X68000 - Ugly Beauty
Star Trader X68000 - The Logic of Shooters
Some of those games in the OP look really interesting. Would love a chance to play them.
What game is this?
Possessioner.
Aleste 2
Nice! I have both Aleste and Aleste 2 on my MSX. This is the PC98 version??
N..no I thought the thread pseudo transformed into scanline porn (._, )
Trojita
Rapid Response Threadmaker
It can be!