How to choose palette and attribute table data?

Rid · Post by **Rid** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 1:17 pm

Hi,

I'm working at the translation of a japanese game. One of the things to do, is create a new title screen, with different colors and tiles.

Concerning tiles, the jobs is done :

As you may have seen, colors has to be set. And actually, that's my problem cause the final objective is to create this:

Is there a efficient technique that leads to the creation of palette data and attribute table data?

Thanks for your answer

Post by **tepples** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 1:58 pm

Each background palette line will take the form:
0=background
1=black outline
2=one color
3=another color

The opening credits spell it "SAM/UR/I", showing one syllable at once, but the DVD box spells it "SAMURAI". As far as I can tell, it's "SAMURAI" when written on one line and "SAM/UR/I" when each syllable fills the screen. But the logo resembles that of Super Mario Bros. 3 and might not even need colors per letter to look good.

tokumaru · Post by **tokumaru** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 2:33 pm

tepples wrote:0=background
1=black outline
2=one color
3=another color

Yeah, if you arrange a few background palettes like that for the most common pairs of colors (such as orange/green), the colors that aren't used much (like blue) could be done with sprites.

This sort of thing requires a lot of planning, and if you made the tiles without the colors in mind, you are gonna have a harder time squeezing all of them in.

And I must say that it's really weird to see SAMURAI written without the second A...

Rid · Post by **Rid** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 4:32 pm

tepples wrote:The opening credits spell it "SAM/UR/I", showing one syllable at once, but the DVD box spells it "SAMURAI". As far as I can tell, it's "SAMURAI" when written on one line and "SAM/UR/I" when each syllable fills the screen. But the logo resembles that of Super Mario Bros. 3 and might not even need colors per letter to look good.

You're right tepples.
I used the opening credits to create this title, but I didn't thought how weird the result will be in one word.
Anyway, once I will correctly set color data, it wouldn't be a big deal to add an A.

Thanks for your answer.
Concerning the black outline, which value shall I use ? : $0D, $0E, $0F ?

Post by **tepples** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 5:05 pm

The most common code for black is $0F. The color code $0D actually outputs a negative lightness value that a few TVs have problems with.

Here's a 3-color logo that might pose fewer problems. The shuriken could be a sprite.

tokumaru · Post by **tokumaru** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:11 pm

tepples wrote:Here's a 3-color logo that might pose fewer problems. The shuriken could be a sprite.

But that's ugly, looks like it was made with MS Word or something.

Rid · Post by **Rid** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 2:21 am

Yeah, this new logo seems to be easier to treat than the first one.

But, to be honest, I prefer the first one cause it is the original

If I couldn't realize what I want with the first one, I'll pick the 3-colors one...

Rid · Post by **Rid** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 11:29 am

tepples wrote:Each background palette line will take the form:
0=background
1=black outline
2=one color
3=another color

Does it mean that the background palette will be something like that ? :
00=background color
01=black outline
02=one color
03=another color
04=background color
05=black outline
06=another color
07=another color
08=background color
09=black outline
0A=another color
0B=another color
0C=background color
0D=black outline
0E=another color
0F=another color

Or like that :
00=background color
01=black outline
02=one color
03=another color
04=another color
05=another color
06=another color
07=another color
08=another color
09=another color
0A=another color
0B=another color
0C=another color
0D=another color
0E=another color
0F=another color

tokumaru · Post by **tokumaru** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 11:53 am

The first option.

As you can imagine, 4 pairs of colors will not be enough to represent all the colors that "touch", so you'll need to use sprites to cover up a few glitches.

Guido Anchovy · Post by **Guido Anchovy** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:41 pm

tepples wrote: The opening credits spell it "SAM/UR/I", showing one syllable at once, but the DVD box spells it "SAMURAI". As far as I can tell, it's "SAMURAI" when written on one line and "SAM/UR/I" when each syllable fills the screen. But the logo resembles that of Super Mario Bros. 3 and might not even need colors per letter to look good.

Yeah, it looks weird but that's the official logo from the show. Even the credits have no mention of the correct spelling anywhere. I guess adding an A wouldn't hurt, though.

Rid · Post by **Rid** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 5:09 pm

Well, I'm not really good at pictures editing stuff.
Hopefully, Gimp has helped me to edit the original logo into a french new one.
In french Samurai is spelled Samouraï (note the trema upon the i).

This is the resulting screenshot :

To finish my job, I have to set colors.

There is two choice :
1- I use 2 to 3 colors, which is the easy way and can leads to a nice result
2- I think hard to set various colors, which is good for my learning, but could lead to an ugly screen title (don't like the title with many colors...)

Rid · Post by **Rid** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:52 am

Quick update to inform you that my translation goes quite well (managed to add 8ko of CHR, and planning to add 16Ko of PRG, ...)

Here is, the actual french translated screentitle :

Kit Sniper · Post by **Kit Sniper** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 1:41 pm

Um... I think I shouldn't have procrastinated so much now.

I'm translating this same game, but to English. And well, your title screen is pretty damn good! MottZilla helped me with some technical things, and I've got a translated script, but I haven't started work on the title screens. I am damn impressed at your work here.

I'm almost tempted to use it.

Rid · Post by **Rid** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:28 pm

Well, actually, it's just a picture

Technically, it will be quick to insert it into the ROM file cause I've managed to locate the screentitle display routine, and to expand the ROM CHR adding 8ko).

If you're interested by the picture, I can mp you the xcf file (GIMP format)...

Kit Sniper · Post by **Kit Sniper** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 9:05 pm

I do things the hard way. I don't hack any ... routines, I just make my title in paint shop pro 7, edit it so it uses the least amount of tiles possible, add the tiles to the rom, edit the in-game tilemap (easy to do with a hex editor), and I'm done. Well I still have to change the attribute table, but that shouldn't be an issue. I already figured out the title screen a while ago.

And I can't even code 6502 at all.

So you'd be fine with me using this title screen, then? I'll take out the extra O, but I'd probably keep the rest intact.