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8 Bit & '8 Bitish' Graphics-Outside the Box

GDC Festival of Gaming13 HN recommenders · recommended in 17 months, 2018–2026
YouTube
talk · intermediate · evergreen · 2018–2026 on HN

Mark Ferrari, the LucasArts background artist, explains in a GDC 2016 talk how he draws 8-bit graphics. He covers color cycling and palette shifting to create complex animated scenery without frame animation.

HN repeatedly recommends it as a master class in limited-palette pixel art and palette cycling, from an artist behind Loom and Monkey Island.

12 comments from Hacker News

@corysama2025-01 · in “A Pixel Parable”

Mark was nice enough to invite me to his home studio when I was a new high school grad to talk working in games as an artist. He told me the story of the fight over dithering. I give him strong partial credit for ending up a game engine/art pipeline coder instead and got to thank him after his most excellent GDC presentation on the lost power of palettized textures ▶ this video You can see that power in action here link (Hit show options) link BTW: Deluxe Paint has been remade in Python if you want to give it a try link

Strongly recommends View on HN
@chongli2024-02 · in “How video games use lookup tables”

He gave one of my favourite GDC talks of all time [1]! I recommend this talk to anyone who is interested in the details and history of working on limited colour palette games! [1] ▶ this video

Strongly recommends View on HN
@imachine1980_2022-05 · in “Living Worlds: 8 Bit art animated with palette cycling (2012)”

this is incredible talk form the Background Artist of monkey island, about 8 bit and explain in details how palette cycling works, and modern way to doing the same more efficiently for modern games. 8 Bit & '8 Bitish' Graphics-Outside the Box ▶ this video

Strongly recommends View on HN
@Macuyiko2021-03 · in “Loom EGA/VGA Comparison”

> The original EGA background art for Loom was made by Mark Ferrari Obligatory recommendation for this talk by Mark Ferrari: ▶ this video - truly an artist

Strongly recommends View on HN
@corysama2019-05 · in “Making a Game Boy Game in 2017”

Every Deluxe Paint fan out needs to watch this video of the master of that tool explain his craft Mark Ferrari: 8 Bit & '8 Bitish' Graphics-Outside the Box ▶ this video

Strongly recommends View on HN