News

Early Winter Gift/tbt

12.17.2015

A surprise package arrived at the compound a few days ago. After it passed the security screening protocol, I was surprised to discover it contained a game I had worked on six years ago. Not only did Watermelon ship two physical copies of the game (Dreamcast and PC versions), but also they included a variety of merch and a hardcover, full-color strategy guide.

A spread featuring one of the bosses I made for Pier Solar.

Inspired, I cracked open the vault and dug through project archives for more images to showcase from the game.

This environment serves as a backdrop for battle scenes. While you observe a jungle, I only see a jungle of graphical restrictions.

Because the game was originally created as a Sega Genesis cart, I was limited to a 16-color palette (the pink designates transparency) with a 3-bits-per-RBG-channel color depth.

In addition, the background had to be built from 2 layers of 8x8 pixel tiles with a maximum of 255 tiles per layer. Fortunately, I was able to mirror individual tiles, which allowed me to get more mileage out of them and conserve the total tile count.

Layer 1 and its tile palette

Layer 2 and its tile palette

As a bonus, enjoy another battle background that my friend and former coworker, Andrew Bado, crafted for the game.

Play My Games This Thursday

12.08.2015

Don't miss the double header on December 10th, an opportunity to play two of my games! First, swing by the arcade at the NYU Game Center in Brooklyn to try the massively local multiplayer title, Pixel Prison Blues!

Feel free to choreography your own victory dance.

We expect over 700 attendees, so after a few hours of navigating the crowd, you'll probably need a drink. Join me at Solas Bar in the East Village, where you can sate your thirst and check out my secret project.

The Frogbird strongly recommends you buy me a drink.