HAL President Shares His Thoughts On The Company’s History And Future
In celebration of HAL Laboratory’s 40th anniversary, Famitsu recently sat down with HAL Laboratory president, Kawase Shigefumi.
Surrounded by familiar sights and sounds in the Kirby Café, President Kawase shared his thoughts on the history and future of the beloved game developer. First credited in Pokémon Stadium for Technical Support, President Kawase has helped build the modern HAL brand we all know and enjoy today.
As this feature was exclusive to the Japanese publication, we’ve gone ahead and provided a full translation of the interview for Nintendo Life readers.
President Kawase’s thoughts on HAL Laboratory’s 40th Anniversary
Famitsu: Congratulations on HAL Laboratory’s 40th anniversary. Could you walk us through the journey HAL has taken over these years?
Kawase: Within forty years, a child is born and then a grandchild is born next. During this time, we are sincerely pleased to report that HAL has continued with the strong support of each of our fans, despite being caught up in the hardships of the gaming industry.
Famitsu: HAL Laboratory has released a number of games over the course of the past 40 years, but this celebration illustration features an all-star lineup of games created by HAL Laboratory.
Kawase: I heard that the staff who drew the illustrations this time was a good mix of both veterans and young people, and they drew with excitement, saying “I had this title!” While it’s also our company’s culture, there are many staff who simply want to take the initiative in doing interesting and creative things. After this project was planned, many people gathered with the mentality of “let’s do it,” and we proceeded with that motivation.
Famitsu: How would you describe the corporate culture of HAL Laboratory, as you just mentioned?
Kawase: HAL Laboratory is a company where everyone is a creator and strives to create content. Beyond the game development staff, I also feel that all behind-the-scenes staff who do not directly create content are also creators. First, if we, the creators, can have fun, work, and create interesting things, we can be happy. And if you can deliver those elements in a product, customers will also be happy. In other words, HAL Laboratory has a company culture that is very fond of creating something interesting and new to make people happy. This is also linked to our corporate philosophy of “creations that lead to happy customers and happy employees, too.”
Famitsu: Earlier you had mentioned hardships in the gaming industry, and in fact, there was a time when HAL Laboratory may have closed in 1992.
Kawase: Although I hadn’t yet joined the company, I think it was a turning point for HAL Laboratory. After that, Mr. Iwata, who became president and CEO of HAL Laboratory, advocated for the current corporate philosophy and grew HAL Laboratory into a company that could make more and more fun games.
Famitsu: That’s the event that pivoted HAL Laboratory toward its current success.
Kawase: Of course, even before that, HAL Laboratory was always a company with a strong vision of “creating interesting things.” However, it was Mr. Iwata who made the philosophy more distinct and clear.
Famitsu: One could attribute HAL Laboratory’s ability to celebrate its 40th anniversary because you have kept that philosophy for such a long time. How did company policy change after you became president?
Kawase: I didn’t implement any major changes in company policy simply because I became the president. That said, I’ve been in game development for a long time, so I still have the mind of a creator. From that perspective, I would like to improve the company from various angles, such as our internal system and the environment of the development department, so that creators can work more easily and focus on creating even more interesting things.
President Kawase’s Thoughts on the Future of HAL Laboratory
Famitsu: Please share your thoughts on the future of HAL Laboratory.
Kawase: I believe being able to create is something that is simultaneously rewarding and difficult. It is an indescribable feeling when we deliver interesting and unique experiences to our customers and make them happy. I would like to continue to lead a company where creators who want to make such experiences can gather and make even more interesting experiences for a long time to come.
At HAL Laboratory, we believe the game industry is at a major turning point. It is impossible to know in which direction the industry will change in the future. Perhaps the future will be one where AI both announce and develop games on behalf of humans. However, creators will always create content. For a long time, HAL Labs has had the idea of having machines do what they are capable of and allowing humans to do things that only we have the ability to do. Therefore, even if such a future comes, I think that HAL Labs will be a company that will make good use of AI and exhibit creative power that surpasses the development potential of AI alone.
Famitsu: I see. So, no matter how the landscape of the industry changes in the future, the vision of HAL Laboratory will not change.
Kawase: Indeed. This approach will be important. You see, the time and money required to develop video game software is always increasing. I don’t think this will change any time soon, and so, in addition to making big budget games, we have to make a conscious effort to develop interesting experiences. We do this by relying on the wisdom we have acquired over the past 40 years. Such development is not simply accomplished overnight. I want to plant the seeds of these future opportunities and encourage the growth of budding ideas as they blossom into entirely new experiences.
Famitsu: Is HAL Egg a part of that new branding?
Kawase: That’s right. Through HAL Egg, we’re launching new titles on smartphones and exploring new markets in order to develop content that is different from previous ventures, including in-house publishing. The design of the HAL Egg logo features buds sprouting from eggs. Starting with the already released Part Time UFO and Housuu de Shoubu! Kame Sanpo, we are continuing to put a major focus on growing these budding ideas.
Famitsu: Additionally, in recent years, projects such as the Kirby Café and concerts have also been planned and launched.
Kawase: These were projects, the likes of which we had never done before, we were thrilled simply to have the opportunity to develop, regardless of whether they would succeed or fail. Both were well received, and, through their success, we truly felt everyone’s love of Kirby.
Famitsu: Last, but certainly not least, could you share HAL Laboratory’s future ambitions with us?
Kawase: The other day, when I went to an acquaintance’s exhibition, I had the opportunity to talk with their daughter. She said that HAL Laboratory “makes my favorite experiences.” The games we make are, on a basic level, products, certainly, but I’m always moved when I hear people call them “experiences” and even their “favorite experiences.”
Well, I strongly believe HAL Laboratory is a company that says, “I just want to be myself.” HAL Laboratory is a company for creators, but we can only continue with the support of our fans. We will continue to create games, ideas and experiences that will remain in your heart, sticking with our philosophy to make “creations that lead to happy customers and happy employees, too.” We look forward to your continued support. Thank you.
HAL Laboratory hopes you can join them in celebration, and invites you to watch a special video and read the history regarding their history. You can check out their special 40th anniversary page here.
We want to extend our own, personal congratulations to HAL Laboratory as well, and hope to celebrate many more decades of fun. What is your fondest memory of HAL? Drop us a comment and let us know!
This interview was translated by Robert Sephazon for publication by Nintendo Life.
Streets of Rage 4, the long-awaited return for Sega's iconic beat-em-up series, is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on April 30. You'll be able to pick it up for $25 or via Xbox Game Pass.
Along with announcing the release date, developers Dotemu, Lizardcube, and Guard Crush Games also unveiled a new trailer showing off Streets of Rage 4's Battle Mode. The legacy mode--which is returning from Streets of Rage 2 and Streets of Rage 3--lets you fight against friends in eight disparate arenas. Battle Mode is available for up to four players locally or two players online, whether you want to compete in a free-for-all brawl or partner up for some team-based action.
It's been 25 years since the franchise's last mainline entry. We got hands-on with the game back in 2018 and found it to be a nostalgic return to form for the classic series. Axel, Blaze, and Adam return along with a cast of new fighters and a striking hand-drawn art style. Olivier Derivière also delivers an original soundtrack, including contributions from series composers Yūzō Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-19-2020, 11:28 AM - Forum: Lounge
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This Week At Bungie – 4/16/2020
This week at Bungie, we prepare for rivalry.
Announced earlier this morning, Guardian Games is fast on approach. Beginning April 21 at 10 AM PDT, the games begin. Titans, Hunters, and Warlocks will compete to prove which class is the most dedicated in Destiny 2.
Your entry into the competition begins with a visit to Eva Levante. Each Guardian will receive a class item to adorn while taking part in competition. Bronze, silver, and gold medals will be available to earn daily, each of which will focus on specific game modes. To earn medals, equip your new class item, defeat enemies, pick up laurels on the battlefield, and advance your quest for the medals you desire.
We fully acknowledge that class populations are a little lopsided. Hunters are so fabulous with their capes that there are indeed more of them than Warlocks or Titans. To help offset this (so Hunters don’t steal the show every day), medals will be weighted slightly per class to maintain an even playing field. We aren’t fiddling with the numbers to force wins on alternate classes – Hunters could still take this entire thing if they put enough effort in.
Now, about those class items. At daily reset, your Cloak, Mark, or Bond will update to reflect what placement your team has taken. As an example, if Titans took the “W” for day one, their Mark will update with a wonderful gold sigil. With Warlocks in second and Hunters in third, their class items would be updated to feature silver and bronze, respectively.
So, what’s the ultimate prize? At the end of the event, your daily placements will be combined for a final score. Depending on your team’s standings, your class items will be locked to their respective placements for the remainder of the year.
If you’re looking for more ways to represent your class, Eva has you covered. Each week, you’ll be offered a free quest to earn an Exotic Ghost Shell, one themed to each Guardian class. Complete this quest every week to collect all three!
Additionally, a new Exotic Machine Gun will become available during this event. We look forward to seeing what mayhem this tool of destruction will inspire when you get it in your hands.
Eververse will also have some items in store for the event. A single Finisher will be available for Silver only, while all other items may be purchased with Bright Dust as they appear on the storefront. As a note, all Guardian Games weekly/repeatable bounties will grant Bright Dust to match previous Seasonal events.
Guardian Games begins upon the weekly reset – this Tuesday at 10 AM PDT. Make sure to launch your game a little early to grab the required Update 2.8.1. More on that in the Player Support Report below!
Guardian’s Heart Update
For those that may not be up to speed, for this fundraising effort we’ve partnered with Direct Relief, who will work with a network of providers across the globe to deliver the supplies that healthcare workers need. This includes basic personal protective equipment, including gloves, masks, gowns, and face shields. The hospitals where they work will also receive food covers, prescription medication, portable oxygen concentrators, ventilators, and other intensive care unit equipment.
To help raise awareness and share some of the community action, we’re hosting a series of Bungie Bounties for as long as this fundraising initiative lasts. This isn’t restricted to North American Guardians, mind you. This is a worldwide effort, so we’ll naturally have some international bounties for you to chase. We’re getting some final details together for the full calendar. Stay tuned to find out who you’ll be chasing over the next week.
We’re also partnering with Guardians around the world to host a variety of Destiny streams that feature raid challenges, dungeon runs, and more. If you’d like to show your support and host a stream for this initiative, get in touch with us.
It seems that Guardian Games kicked off a little early for some Exotic items in our game, in terms of competition. Telesto, Winter’s Guile, and Wormgod Caress are eyeing the top spot for “biggest problem child” in our sandbox. The Destiny Player Support team has an update on their standings.
This is their report.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN
Next week, Guardian Games kicks off with the release of Destiny 2 Update 2.8.1. Please see below for the rollout timeline.
9 AM PDT (1600 UTC): Destiny 2 service maintenance begins.
9:45 AM PDT (1645 UTC): Destiny 2 is taken offline on all platforms.
10 AM PDT (1700 UTC): Destiny 2 Update 2.8.0 begins rolling out across all platforms and regions. Players will be able to log back into Destiny 2 at 10:01 AM PDT.
10:01 AM PDT (1701 UTC): Destiny 2 is back online on all platforms; Guardian Games begins.
11 AM PDT (1800 UTC): Destiny 2 service maintenance concludes.
During the team’s investigation into BEETLE errors, it was discovered that players who were in Towers with more than 13 people would get BEETLE errors at a higher rate. As a temporary workaround, we have changed the number of players who can be in the Tower from 26 to 12 until a more permanent fix can be deployed.
UPCOMING RESOLVED ISSUES
Below is a list of issues that will be resolved when Guardian Games and Update 2.8.1 becomes available on April 21:
Ward of Dawn will now correctly generate Orbs of Light.
Fully upgrading any bunker will now unlock the associated Warmind Security Triumph.
Interacting with the statue of Sjur Eido for the Wish Ender quest in the Shattered Throne will no longer crash the game.
The Level 32 PDS upgrade can now be used to clear the bunker by any character.
Rasputin’s Daily Seraph Weapon can now be claimed on any character.
Players who’ve completed the Forsaken campaign will find The Lawless Frontier lore book entry “By Thy Tongue Be Damned” completed and available to claim.
Friends listed in a player’s Roster should no longer show up as black nameplates with zero Power.
CURRENT KNOWN ISSUES
While we continue investigating various known issues, here is a list of the latest issues that were reported to us in our #Help Forum:
The Winter’s Guile and Wormgod Caress Exotic gauntlets are retaining increased melee damage after their intended timer cooldowns. They have been disabled until a fix can be deployed at a later date.
The engram from the Trials Flawless chest will disappear for players who have earned all available Trials rewards.
For a full list of emergent issues in Destiny 2, players can review our Known Issues article. Players who observe other issues should report them to our #Help forum.
Straight to Home Video
With more time at home, we’re finding ourselves able to watch a few more movies. Our daily binges of Netflix can only carry us so far, but thankfully we have some awesome Destiny content to watch on the Creations page.
Movie of the Week: Fourth Horseman Rides Again
Honorable Mention: 200 IQ Tether
If you’re a winner, make sure that your Bungie.net profile (and any profile of someone that contributed) is included in the description of your video. Without that key piece of information, we’re unable to slap that rightfully deserved emblem on your collections tab.
So, we come to a close on another TWAB but we understand that there are some topics that weren’t covered on here that you may have strong desire to know more about. Eververse, Trials improvements, our plans to address FOMO, tackling the bounty problem, and more. There are also questions like “What about feeling like players can’t play their way? What about Ritual weapons, anti-cheat improvements, etc?” .
We’ve been having frequent syncs to talk through these issues and more. Many of them require a long-term plan with short-term mitigation to help ease the pain. The last thing we want to do is over-commit to changes that ultimately may be reversed, or sign the team up for work that leads to crunch. We don’t want to make promises we know we can’t keep, so to speak.
Over the next few weeks, we hope to solidify some plans and get them communicated out. We’re looking at what can be accomplished in Season 11, which is coming much faster than many of us can believe. Some topics will be tackled in Season 12, as they’ll require larger scale systematic changes.
Thank you again to everyone that’s been giving feedback on Destiny over the years. This train never stops, and we hope to share our next steps with you soon. Until next time, we’ll see you out there in the wild.
Pokémon Sword And Shield Wins Famitsu Dengeki 2019 Game Of The Year
Pokémon Sword and Shield has taken out the game of the year award and best role-playing game of 2019 during a livestream award ceremony held by Famitsu and Dengeki.
Apart from this, Nintendo’s exercise game Ring Fit Adventure tied with Square Enix’s mobile title Dragon Quest Walk for the Special Award, and the best rookie title went to the PlayStation 4 title, Death Stranding.
Below is the full list of winners and nominees, courtesy of Japanese Nintendo and Siliconera (winners of each category are highlighted):
2019 Game of the Year
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (Atlus)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (FromSoftware)
Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)
M2 Is Making A Stupidly Expensive Shooter More Affordable On Home Consoles
A while back, emulation expert M2 announced that it had acquired the rights to bring a bunch of classic Toaplan shooters to home consoles. Toaplan – famous for hits such as Hellfire, Zero Wing and Snow Bros. – folded in the mid-’90s but would spawn Cave and Raizing, as well as other shooter companies.
M2 plans to bring every Toaplan title – with the exception of Mahjong Sisters and Enma Daiō – to consoles as part of its M2 Shot Triggers x Toaplan series, and has now revealed the first few games. Soon, we’ll be able to play Twin Cobra (1987), Flying Shark (1987), Out Zone (1990) and – perhaps most exciting of all – Truxton 2, also know as Tatsujin Ō in Japan.
This 1992 blaster is considered to be something of a genre classic but was only ported to the FM Towns. That version – which wasn’t quite arcade perfect – now changes hands for well over a thousand dollars on the secondary market, often more, and the original arcade PCB is also very expensive these days.
M2 hasn’t confirmed which platforms its Toaplan titles will be coming to, but given that it has chosen to support Switch with ESP.Ra.De Psi, there’s a good chance we’ll be playing these games on your favourite hybrid console – and when you consider you can run titles in TATE mode with the Flip Grip, it could be the best platform to rediscover these classic titles on.
No release date has been confirmed, either, but M2 has revealed that it’s all-new shooter Senjin will hit Japanese arcades later this year.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-19-2020, 11:27 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Video: Less stressful game development via DevOps
In this GDC 2020 virtual talk Butterscotch Shenanigans’ Seth Coster walks through how his team learned to use DevOps to get more done while working less.
It was an entertaining look at how DevOps practices were used to reduce bottlenecks and waste at Butterscotch Shenanigans, and Coster packed his talk with lots of practical takeaways other game makers can use to improve things for themselves and their team.
Coster’s talk was great and deeply relevant to the realities faced by today’s game developers, so if you missed seeing it live take advantage of the fact you can watch it now via the official GDC YouTube channel!
In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.
Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-19-2020, 11:27 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Don’t Miss: Doing an HD remake the right way: Chrono Trigger edition
The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutras community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
This is not to say that I think my own games’ art styles are unimpeachable or that I’m so great, (far from it), just that no matter how small your budget or simple your approach, there are some well established best practices for presenting classic games in the best possible light, regardless of the player’s subjective personal taste.
These techniques are cheap, straightforward, and easy to implement, and I’m giving them away for free!
But somehow, Square Enix, despite their comparatively unlimited resources and rich collection of history’s most beloved RPG’s, isn’t getting the message.
Now available as a version upgrade! – Updated graphics and sound. – Improved controls and screen layout. – Compatible with Apple TV. – Compatible with gamepads. – New autosave function. – Compatible with cloud saves. – New achievement function. *Upgrade available free to customers who purchased the previous version
Which seems to be the same set of graphical “upgrades” that match the day-one Steam version.
Okay so, this is quick and dirty, and with the proviso that the original mobile version didn’t look fantastic itself. But here are a few comparisons of the iPhone CT and the new multi-platform CT.
In other words, at least as far as graphical presentation is concerned, the team that made the original mobile port may very well have had nothing to do with this. It’s entirely the fault of whoever directed these most recent changes, which follow a clear pattern set by the FFV and FFVI HD remakes also released on Steam.
Shall we begin?
IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you’re reading this on a phone, images might not be at the proper scale for you, making some of the points the article makes harder to grasp. Each image can be clicked for a full resolution version.
1. Thou Shalt Not Apply Filters Inconsistently
Those of you into the emulation scene might know about upscaling filters. I talked about them in the previous articles.
So on the original SNES, Chrono Trigger looked like this in terms of pixels sent to your TV:
Of course, that’s not exactly how you would have remembered seeing it. It’s a matter of subjective taste whether you prefer 1:1 upscaled blocky pixels or whether you prefer the “classic look” with simulated scanlines, CRT color bleed, and even screen curvature. But we can leave that aside because instead of opting for either of these techniques (or even better: letting the user choose), they’ve again opted for the worst of both worlds.
Here’s that detail shot again, from the Steam version’s opening cinematic. And even though this is a cropped detail shot, this is not shrunk or scaled, these are the exact pixels on your screen:
Some elements are fully pixelated (the boat, the seagulls), some have an upscale filter applied (the houses in the village), and some are pixelated with a bilinear filter slapped on top (the clouds, which are transparent to boot). To top it off, scaling is inconsistently applied at a non 1:1 ratio – at 1080p resolution, the boat features pixels variably scaled at 7×5, 6×5, and 5×5.
Absolutely none of this is consistent, and does nothing to make the art look better than the original, regardless of one’s taste.
Here’s the boat from the SNES version, sized up to match. It’s not a 1:1 comparison because the color model is slightly different, the birds and clouds are in a slightly different place, but you get the idea.
Option one is to just leave everything as-is. Granted, blown up on a huge monitor this doesn’t look exactly fantastic — pixels really weren’t designed to be viewed at this scale. Here’s a wider shot at 2:1 pixel scale, which depending on your device is probably a bit closer to how it appeared on an old 13″ TV from 10 feet away:
So. Let’s try some filters!
Here’s the XBR 4x filter:
Here’s the HQ 4x filter:
Mmmm, okay. Admittedly not great. But at least they’re consistent.
These filters top out at 4X scale, so to get to 1080p you’d have to scale again, or you could just leave the screen with black borders. (Options are always good)
The trouble with filters is that there’s only so much they can do. If you’re upscaling anything beyond 2X, you really start to tear at the fabric of the original pixels. Still, I personally think that picking one filter, and applying it to the entire screen, looks better than haphazardly applying different styles to different elements within the same scene:
Ideally, the game would provide a solid options menu full of choices for pixel filtering style, scaling, scanlines, etc, but instead this is all we’ve got:
But the real tragedy here is that until someone makes some mod tools to undo some of this stuff, users cannot fix this themselves. I can’t even run the game’s raw pixel output through a 3rd-party visual tool to do custom post processing, because the output is corrupted with these artifacts.
But this is about a lot more than just filters. Once again, it looks like Square has been applying upscalers to the tile sheets themselves rather than the final output.
2. Thou Shalt Not Exacerbate Tile Boundaries with Upscaled Assets!
I talked about this in the original article, concerning artifacts like this in Final Fantasy V:
This problem is caused by two things — 1) upscaling tilesheets before you compose them, and 2) the insecapable nature of pixel art itself.
Compose your tilesheets before you scale them
What do I mean by this?
Here’s a tilesheet dump from Chrono Trigger. Probably not exactly like the one Square used in this remake, but surely they had something similar:
Now let’s run it through some random upscaler. It looks like Square used something like the HQ 2x filter, which will be close enough for this example.
Okay, maybe not perfect (I’d have preferred HQ4x or XBR myself), but pretty good, right?
Well, not exactly. You see, upscalers look at neighboring pixels to decide how to draw things at a higher size. And when a tilesheet is all compacted like this, tiles inevitably get placed next to ones that they would never border in the actual game, yet those “false neighbors” will influence how the upscaled tile gets drawn. I’ve highlighted a few such locations below:
So in the game you have grass that looks like this:
And the seams stick out pretty clearly:
These seams don’t have to be there, even with upscaling. The key is you need to take your tiles and put them in a natural mockup image with their true neighbor tiles, scale that as a finished image, extract tiles from that finished image, and piece them back into the compacted format so that the edges line up properly. This may sound like a lot of tedious Photoshop work, but any competent programmer can automate it with a script that an artist can operate with one button.
Some seams are a bit trickier, however. Algorithms can’t do everything.
The nature of pixel art
Let’s look back at our detail image. Here we’ve got a pretty egregious tile boundary break:
A keen observer will point out that the original game had this issue as well:
FFV and FFVI had this problem too. The thing is, these tiles were originally designed for lower resolution, so these sort of little discontinuities were easier to fudge. Particularly because every single visual element was confined to the same pixel grid, the entire image was effectively a mosaic and it was much easier to “hide the grid.”
When you scale tiles up without adapting to them to the larger viewing size, and especially when you apply scaling filters, these kinds of problems just get worse. Before, you could count on the pixel grid to obscure the boundary grid between tiles, but the smoother (and smudgier) things get, the harder it is to hide those sharp lines.
As long as you’re just automatically upscaling source art 1:1 without adapting it for a larger resolution you’re always going to be vulnerable to issues like this, but you can at least mitigate the issues by composing your tilesets before upscaling.
3. Thou Shalt Not Pollute The Screen With Mixels!
Ideally, pick a single pixel scale and stick to it everywhere.
Of course, sometimes art choices or limitations might call for e.g. showing some things at double scale, and others at single scale. There’s good and bad ways to do this.
The original freeware PC version of Cave Story is a good example of properly handling so-called mixels:
Every pixel in the entire game is the exact same size, except for the pixels used to render text. This is acceptable because the text appears by itself and therefore clashes less with the larger pixel grid, and there’s a practical need for it — it’s easier to read high resolution text than pixelated text.
Celeste is similar:
Here, both the text and the portrait use the smaller pixel scale. In general, if you have to use mixed pixel scales, overlays and UI elements are the best candidates for it, and the more you can visually separate them into their own hierarchy, the better.
Absent that, at least make sure to align all elements to the same underlying grid, and pixelated images should ideally be scaled at whole-number ratios.
This is a good example of how not to do things (click through for fullscreen to get the full effect):
The backgrounds for the buttons are needlessly noisy and pixelated here — even if they’re styled after the original game’s UI elements this would have been better just being drawn at the same resolution as the text. It’s especially confusing contrasted with the high resolution icons, background image, and gamepad button overlays.
In game it’s worse. Going back to that boat scene again:
Because they upscaled some of the tile assets, but not all of them, now we’ve got mixels all over the place.
4. Thou Shalt Respect The Work Thou Art “Improving”
Now, I know what a lot of you are thinking. Square Enix should have just made a proper, high-budget remake, something like this, maybe:
That’s just not in the cards, from the looks of it.
This is the Gold Standard — delicious high-res visuals, properly executed, and the ability to swap back to the old audio/music at any time. And nearly a perfect reproduction of the original underlying gameplay, but with modern tweaks such as 16:9 resolution support.
Let’s not pretend this is easy. You need top tier talent, a good budget, and most importantly, a cohesive, committed vision. Wonder Boy is what happens when you hit all the high notes.
Now let’s be fair. I own the remake (thanks for the gift, Kjell!), it can’t be denied that a lot of effort went into it, and some people really, genuinely, like it. Sure, it had some questionable decisions, and even more clearly it didn’t get the proper resources and support from Square, but dangit, remaking a classic beloved game and living up to people’s standards is tough, hard, nigh-impossible work, even when you’re actually trying.
So sometimes, the best answer is not to try too hard.
The original game already exists. People love it. People would like to pay money to play it. The emulation scene has already come up with fifty thousand different ways to stretch, scale, and shade the visuals in any possible configuration you could dream up. ROMHackers by the plenty have dumped the game, documented its every nook and cranny, fixed bugs, and even created their own editing tools.
This is your game, Square! You can take all these efforts (provided you properly comply with all the open source licenses), repackage them and sell it all back to the community, and the fans will thank you for it! And you know, you could always just hire these emulation scene people directly.
(In a perfect world we’d have a more lenient copyright system where games wouldn’t be locked up forever and handed down between random horse-traders until they’re finally discarded and melted down for glue, but that’s another story…)
I mean, that’s what the MegaMan Legacy collections did, and they’re fabulous!
Make HD remakes if you like. But give us a legitimate way to experience the original version of games, too. This is why when I did my own HD remake of Defender’s Quest on Steam, I included a copy of the original low-res Flash prototype for free. It still exists, jank and all, and people who want that can still experience it.
5. Thou Shalt Not Poop All Over The Name “Emulation”
Let’s get this one out of the way. It’s pretty clear that you, Square Enix, care less about the legacy of your own products than the community does. The digital dark age is coming. We are losing our history.
It’s a good thing we have people in the emulation scene meticulously dumping and archiving ROM’s, because our fancy digital media is falling apart:
Also have a listen to this excellent rant by Jason Scott:
BUT! I’m about to go in a LOT more directions with this, so if you are in some way enraged, curious or weirdly concerned about this whole Chrono Trigger thing, please allow me to pull back the curtain right now on all the related items. No! Pay attention! CHRONO TRIGGER pic.twitter.com/enGZdISqJQ
Publishers need to embrace emulation, not demonize it.
First, emulation is not a codeword for “piracy,” and NO, EMULATION IS NOT ILLEGAL SO STOP PRETENDING LIKE IT IS.
Second, although I don’t condone piracy in any way, if you are at all concerned about it you have totally failed at your job as a competent business person and you are worried about all the wrong things. For more on that, read Piracy and the Four Currencies.
A few years from now, when studio closures, bitrot, failing hard drives, and the industry’s own advocates have taken their full toll, it’s going to be thanks to the efforts of the emulation community that companies like Square Enix have any digital legacy to preserve at all.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-19-2020, 11:27 AM - Forum: Lounge
- No Replies
AGDQ's Corona Relief Done Quick Ends Today: Schedule And Biggest Games
In late March, the Summer Games Done Quick organizers were forced to postpone the event because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, because the speedrunning event moved to August, the Corona Relief Done Quick charity stream is taking its place. It is live now, and all proceeds are going to the humanitarian aid organization Direct Relief.
Beginning with Donkey Kong Country at 9 AM PT / noon ET, Corona Relief Done Quick schedule features a series of difficult games played by experts. Several of the segments will focus on beating the games as quickly as possible, while others will include a variable such as a randomizer or a particular challenge.
Direct Relief features a donations tab on its website, and it aims to provide aid such as medical supplies and protective gear to health workers and patients. The organization says it has provided more than $1.5 billion in medical aid to date.
Scratchy Spring Sale Day 4: Paradox Spring Sale, up to -80%
[www.indiegala.com] Be on the look-out for some huge discounts on your favorite games + a Scratch Card with a FREE secret Steam game for every store purchase.
The list is really long, with such games as Age of Wonders: Planetfall Premium Edition (60%), BATTLETECH Mercenary Collection (75%), Cities: Skylines (80%), Prison Architect (80%), Shadowrun Returns Deluxe (75%), Imperator: Rome (50%) & many more, so here's a full spreadsheet.
We are welcoming everyone to join our discord[discord.gg]. We are more active there on finding giveaways, small or large, and there are daily raffles you can participate.
