Right then, big announcement time, I'm going to demake a hefty chunk of a game! If I had to put it as a percentage, it'd be about 25% of a game and will feel self contained.
25% might not sound like a lot but to use an analogy, if I were demaking Super Mario World for instance, that'd be about 18 levels/3 worlds or so. (I'm not making a platformer/SMW though haha, that's just an example!)
I'll be keeping the game I've chosen a secret/under wraps, better safe than sorry but I'm hoping it'll introduce some people to the series.
Due to this demake taking quite longer than simple demake mockups I have commissioned some music tracks for older demakes.
I'll be posting some of those to keep you sated until the big reveal!
Note - Patreon can't handle the size of the raw sheets so downloading the attached file to view is highly advisable.
Alternatively click on the image, then right click and open the image in a new tab to view in your browser.
Additionally - This sprite sheet is intended to be used as a learning resource/general look at behind the scenes and process of pixel art, game boy art and working with limitations.
Permission to use any of the artwork in personal non-profit projects is given and welcomed! (Just please mention/credit appropriately!)
Perhaps the easiest demake where not even a femtosecond was needed for me to know which song I needed SpagDev to cover. The one, the only, Jumper.
The Waterflame classic, just an absolute bop that I instantly associate with Castle Crashers, and many others associate with Geometry Dash. A double whammy of joy.
I really can't shake just how much there appears to be a jack o' lantern-esque face on the side of that ship.
Faces aside, one of the demakes where the carefree doodle nature felt very complimentary to the existing castle crashers style/flow. It kind of makes me wonder about making a game in the future where as an extra unlock/secret unlock is to be able to play the game with the rough doodle art of the game. I think that'd be neat, and also maybe terrible to play in terms of readability and contrast haha.
Actually does any game have that as a thing? Feels like a lot of work to basically swap out the entire game's assets all over just for it. With a game boy project, actually making an entire clone of the project, then replacing it would be how I would most likely go about it. Similar to how different language versions back then like german or french Pokémon are their entire own carts and specific roms.
Ramble aside, happy with how Castle Crashers turned out!
Not messed with it myself but I have seen quite a few Painter Boss Paradise creations and while it's only the character select portraits, if anyone could get use out of them thought I might as well upload them here.
I've included a transparent version an attachment too!
Right off the bat let's set the stage, let's set the mood, and listen to this.
If not familiar with the game Castle Crashers, that song should pretty much explain everything you need to know, and if you already know and haven't heard it, enjoy.
So yes, Castle Crashers! A game released in 2008 (so soon to be 20 years old! No I don't know where the time even goes but we still persevere!) A co-op beat em up that's wonderfully silly and perhaps the very first XBLA game I purchased? That or Super Meat Boy....and Shadow Complex? Good times. Even better because one of the rare ones that never experienced a RROD, fancy that!.
But for the demake, I said in the ROUGH Cuphead post, yeah I was pretty much more worried about capturing Castle Crashers art style more than Cupheads oddly enough. I feel on some aspect Cupheads switch from traditional to digital, felt like I could accept its being more adapted and changed. Crashers on the other end, it's digital to digital so feels less of a leap so less adaption goin' on.
None the less, quite happy with how the demake turned outl Even if this is another case where truly, this would make so much more sense as a GBC demake, but changing name now...ah...all my monogrammed towels!
Jokes aside, hope you enjoy the demake and will have an announcement to make once done posting the rom/doodle/raw sheet. Stay tuned, it'll be exciting!
Note - Patreon can't handle the size of the raw sheets so downloading the attached file to view is highly advisable.
Alternatively click on the image, then right click and open the image in a new tab to view in your browser.
Additionally - This sprite sheet is intended to be used as a learning resource/general look at behind the scenes and process of pixel art, game boy art and working with limitations.
Permission to use any of the artwork in personal non-profit projects is given and welcomed! (Just please mention/credit appropriately!)
Being spoilt for choice of what song to get a GB rendition of is par for the course at this point, ...and yet it never gets any easier!
From the wonderful samba sway of Floral Fury, to the wonderful jazzy and loungey Die House. Though to be fair the phrase "the wonderful jazzy..." goes for pretty much 80% of the Cuphead OST, but truly, inside me beats the heart of a ragtime gal and Funfair Fever was the way to go.
SpagDev did an absolute bang up job as expected and I think you'll agree, sounds spot on! I can't even begin to describe just how good it sounds coming out of an original GB speaker. If able to yourself, really do recommend it. If not able to, then you'll truly just have to take my word for it!
You know I'll have to remind myself to go into it a bit more on the Castle Crashers demake raw sprite sheet, that Cuphead and Castle Crashers as demakes pretty funny when you think about it.
Two games that are positively, and extremely connected to a very very specific art style, and then to demake that just, kind of removes it. It's like if Cuphead was 3D models, still a good game but so much is its an ode to the creators childhoods.
All of that to say is, Cuphead was rather straight forward as a demake. I mean sure the usual inclinations of doing something justice rises its head, but cartoony styles tend to be quite easy to pair with pixel art, let alone black and white cartoons on a monochrome system?
Perhaps ironically, I'm more worried about Castle Crashers than Cuphead haha. But we'll see how it goes. Nothin' ventured, nothin' gained!
Man I can't believe Cuphead came out nearly 10 years ago! And the first time I did a mockup of it was 7 years ago.
Needless to say, thankfully come a decent way from then and with this demake it can boast, truly, finally, I did a sprite of Cuphead with 3 colours and not 4 colours. Haha!
What can be said about Cuphead that hasn't been said before, an absolute love letter to 1930's rubber hose animation and is just...it gud. It's just so good. The music, the charm, the soul, it's all there. There's something in the game that WILL be a reference and tickle your nostalgia bone, (for me it was Brineybeard making me remember watching Popeye vs Sinbad 22 times a week as a kid, ah good times).
Truly I was spoilt for choice, I opted out from doing one of the run n' gun stages and like I think many associate with Cuphead, it really is about the bosses. As such I went with Grim Matchstick as, unsure if just a personal thing (though in the grand scheme most bosses COULD be anyone's wall/hurdle) Grim was mine for a while.
And as for what other boss, I knew I had to do the gunner/shooter type bosses and Cala maria's design is just, so good. The medusa turn is just the cherry stone atop the concrete cake.
As always hope you enjoy the demake, and I'm looking forward to Castle Crashin'!
Absolutely positively steam-boat-willy-nilling ahead is none other, than Cuphead!
Will be quite interesting to return to Cuphead because it's actually something I dipped my toe into demaking 7 years ago! I don't tend to redraw many things, so this will make for a different pace. One would hope my skills have been honed over the near decade since then haha!
After Cuphead, as you expect Castle Crashers will get demade too! And then after that....well.. I may very well start thinking about doing a proper big playable demake, but will play it by ear!
Have finally gotten around to fully updating the demake master list along with fully updating the .gb/rom and .pocket zip files.
You should now find every demake is in the zip and if there's anything wrong with them, just give me a shout!
I do hope to get some of the older demakes some accompanying chiptunes added to them to make them feel more like a complete package, so keep your ears open for that!
And of course, thank you for your continued support.
Ah the (Nintendo) 64th vote, where does the time go? Well it goes into demaking more things, and this I feel is quite a fun one!
Two juggernauts that are bastions and stunning examples of their respective mediums. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cuphead This 2017 run 'n gun with a heavy emphasis on boss fights! With its wonderful hand drawn 1930s cartoon style and rubber hose animation, it's quite the love letter to animation of old!
VERSUS
Castle Crashers The 2008 four player co-op beat em up that has you and friends travel across the land to save princesses and punch an evil wizard in his stupid evil wizard face. Castle Crashers is the poster child for newgrounds and the flash animation movement that was truly in its hey day!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Voting will end Sunday 24th of August!
Small note - I'll be updating the big rom pack/pocket pack and the big pinned list. Sorry for the delay in this, been a little swamped but expect a post when it's done!
Note - Patreon can't handle the size of the raw sheets so downloading the attached file to view is highly advisable.
Alternatively click on the image, then right click and open the image in a new tab to view in your browser.
Additionally - This sprite sheet is intended to be used as a learning resource/general look at behind the scenes and process of pixel art, game boy art and working with limitations.
Permission to use any of the artwork in personal non-profit projects is given and welcomed! (Just please mention/credit appropriately!)
The OST to Blasphemous is...well, haunting, chilling, grandiose, bombastic, and just around all a really emotionally heightening score that works in tandem with the world and themes of Blasphemous.
All of that to say, o it gud, it slaps baby. So when I was relistening to the soundtrack, a track I think would really work well in the demake (and the Game Boy soundchip) was the track Gelida Expiracion. A haunting, more sombre track and one that SpagDev absolutely nailed.
As always, would have loved to commission more tracks but have to spend your pledges wisely and spread them out to each demake! Hope you enjoy the tune!
There's a popular mindset/mantra that's been around for a while but has been seeing a resurgence. The notion of make it exist first, you can make it perfect/better later.
As many of you know, I'm a big ambassador and preacher of this, and perhaps more so if you can make it exist first hey, come on, why not make it just a little bit silly.
I'll admit I was quite hesitant going into Blasphemous if I truly could do the source justice, which a lot of the times I'll go through but with especially more realistic proportioned characters it comes out in fuller force. I do tend to prefer a cartoony chunky style, which is most evident in how I originally had the pentient one be quite a lil chunky lad.
But glad to have gotten more comfortable/outside my comfort zone of super duper chibi/cartoony characters. I still think I could have gone further, but honing a skill takes time!
Ah, the metroids, the vanias, the wonderous portmanteau that is the metroidvania. (Or Search-em-up-like-lite to those inclined.)
A very solid hacky, slashy, sprawling game with an aesthetic, theming, artstyle, musical score that really truly sets itself apart from its contemporaries. Checking my steam account I beat the game in around 15 hours, and 19 hours for the sequel.
I'd truly only say Blasphemous's's's downfall is going back to it after playing the second installment, which to be fair is a kind of "oh no...they made an even better game!?"
As for the demake, I think it was a real fun challenge. I go into it in the raw sheet a lot more in depth but this would be about the 5th or maybe even 6th Blasphemous Game boy demake. A fun challenge to try and still bring my own spin on it, and also of course fun practice to go from the super saccharine Hello Kitty cute style, to something more super serious/gritty.
Ending thoughts, well, perhaps cliché as it may be, if you're a fan of dark souls/hollow knight/and just, metroidvanias, check out either two games.
Note - Patreon can't handle the size of the raw sheets so downloading the attached file to view is highly advisable.
Alternatively click on the image, then right click and open the image in a new tab to view in your browser.
Additionally - This sprite sheet is intended to be used as a learning resource/general look at behind the scenes and process of pixel art, game boy art and working with limitations.
Permission to use any of the artwork in personal non-profit projects is given and welcomed! (Just please mention/credit appropriately!)
Now if you don't think listening to Environment and being magically whisked away to Delaware a beautiful summery english garden drinking tea from quaint teacups and eating elderberry jam on honey scones, then I don't know what to tell you.
Except I think as usual, Beatscribebe that scribe of them BEATS. Some real Beethovenny, classical stuff going on (as perhaps cliché that comparison maybe, but hey I'm a layperson!).
Front facing Pompompurin isn't real and can't hurt you.... front facing Pompompurin (• ﻌ • )
Soul staring gazes aside, truly over the years of doing pixel art I learn that top down really ain't all that bad! 16x16 characters in top down? Ok yeah that's still really not my favourite.
It's funny even just a few extra pixels, like 20 tall is much much nicer to work with. Don't even need a whole sprite tile increase in the height, just half n' half that much really. I mean 22 would be nicer of course haha.
But overall, more top down practice is always good. Does make me wonder about doing a top down asset pack at some point for larger characters. Hmm...
The only thing bigger than the big city....is Hello Kitty's Big City Dreams!
A game I have absolutely no connection with, I've never played it but me and my wife have been playing Hello Kitty Island Adventure a bunch which got me thinking about highly regarded Hello Kitty games.
I've said before no doubt, but to say again, I'm quite passionate about tie-in games to non-game IPs. I find them quite fascinating! Hello Kitty Big City Dreams being no exception, as I saw a youtube video entailing it's quite the fan favourite/hello kitty fans really have fond memories of it.
Maybe it would have been better popularity wise to strike more on a Island Adventure demake, but ah you know me, I just follow my gut and demake what I feel is most fun for me (and hopefully you!)
Will be fun to go from this to Blasphemous that's for sure! Hone the style skills, push myself to all sides of the art world!
Just a quick update to explain the Hello Kitty/Blasphemous demakes have been delayed a bit by getting Covid (for the first time, alas!) which had put me out of commission for a week.
But thankfully back on the road to recovery, am feeling 80% back to normal so with fingers crossed, should be releasing the Hello Kitty demake next week.
Well well well, with an early lead Hello Kitty Big City Dreams really secured its big dream... of getting demade first!
Will try and pull out all the stops and try some new techniques with this little mockup, that I hope to utilise in a future full legit demake of an actual chunk of game, so keep yer eyes peeled for that!
And of course, the Blasphemous demake will be done after!
With the last poll being so vague let's flip flop it back to just telling you exactly what the games will be! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hello Kitty Big City Dreams - A mini-game filled adventure with Hello Kitty and friends. You know them all, Chococat, Pompompurin, Cinnamoroll, and more! (Though oddly no Kuromi!)
Released for the DS in 2007 it's a fan favourite and nostalgic game for many.
OR
Blasphemous - A hack n' slash Metroidvania that sees The Pentient One exploring Cvstodia on a pilgrimage! With many a powerful boss and a huge sprawling world to explore, powerups to obtain and side quests to finish, it packs quite the bloody punch!
Released in 2019, the game was quite the hit and had a sequel released in 2023!
As usual, winner is demade first, runner up gets done after! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Voting will end Wednesday 2nd of July!
Note - Patreon can't handle the size of the raw sheets so downloading the attached file to view is highly advisable.
Alternatively click on the image, then right click and open the image in a new tab to view in your browser.
Additionally - This sprite sheet is intended to be used as a learning resource/general look at behind the scenes and process of pixel art, game boy art and working with limitations.
Permission to use any of the artwork in personal non-profit projects is given and welcomed! (Just please mention/credit appropriately!)
