I always wondered - what program did they use for graphics?

[Sonikku]

So while I'm playing all these video games, 16 bit glory, I always keep wondering - what program did they use to illustrate?

Back in those early 90s I'm sure Photoshop wasn't used...

For instance, what program did they use for...this?

http://i42.tinypic.com/m7tez4.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/2gt7xn4.jpg

It looks and I'm sure it is complicated to do...


Is the program or programs that they've used most for these illustrations known to general public now? Is it available somewhere?

Thanks

[CosmicMonkey]

I know that a lot of Megadrive development was done using the Amiga. Dpaint for graphics and the Cross Systems dev cart hooked into the Parallel Port.

[Sonikku]

Great!

So, they did sprite animating basically in those programs?

Were there some drawing tablets available for Amiga?

[jb143]

Back in those early 90s I'm sure Photoshop wasn't used...



Actually, photoshop has been around since the late 80's.

[tomaitheous]

I know that a lot of Megadrive development was done using the Amiga. Dpaint for graphics and the Cross Systems dev cart hooked into the Parallel Port.

I highly doubt that for Japanese games. Amiga was pretty much non-existent in Japan. More like sharp X68k or the NEC line of PC's.

[playgeneration]

Indeed Amiga's and Deluxe Paint was used extensively in game development at the time, by European developers in particular. Is such an easy to use programme, yet still packed with lots of features. Deluxe Paint was even used for graphics work on subsequent consoles, the textures for the original Wipeout game were created with it for instance.

[AB Positive]

Cross Systems dev cart hooked into the Parallel Port.

I need one of these for my Miggy. Eheheheheh...

[BydoEmpire]

Deluxe Paint (PC) was popular, and there were a lot of custom tools as well. I'm trying to remember what 3D package was used at Midway back then... it's been a long time. I want to say 3D Studio Max, but I could be wrong.

[ProgrammingAce]

I would imagine the NBA Jam logo was rendered on an SGI workstation

[robotriot]

Great!

So, they did sprite animating basically in those programs?

Were there some drawing tablets available for Amiga?

I'm not aware of any tablets for the Amiga, but pixel work like the SOR screen is done with the mouse anyway. It's possible that early handscanners were used sometimes to scan a pencil sketch and work from that, but I don't think it was used that often.

[Jorpho]

I would imagine the NBA Jam logo was rendered on an SGI workstationWell, there's nothing an SGI could do that a regular machine couldn't also do - just much, much slower. Right?

I know POV-Ray has been around for a very long time. Given the simplicity of the logo, perhaps that's what was used.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POV-Ray

[Sonikku]

Hell, I would LOVE to see some 16 bit game designer talking about the workflow and hardware that they've used in those days...

I wonder how many hours did it take to make something like this

http://www.whipassgaming.com/images/genesis/segalogo/segalogo_nbaaction.gif

[tom]

mostly C++

[ccovell]

I don't know what the Japanese artists used for 16-bit games, but in the Famicom era, a lot of them used graphics editors running either on the Famicom itself (saving to FDS disks!) or on PC "graphics" workstations. Here's an example:
http://www.disgruntleddesigner.com/chrisc/1980s/FCJump-Dev.jpg
Think the rudimentary tools of tile editors, and you wouldn't be too far off.

More here: http://www.disgruntleddesigner.com/chrisc/secrets1980.html#ryoma

[Ed Oscuro]

It really depended on what tools the people had available. I imagine in the VCS days programmers defined little 8x8 (or whatever) matrices by hand.

I've been playing Secret of Evermore recently so I found out what they used to make the game. Not budget-breaking but still pretty decent. From Wikipedia:

"Using computer software, including [low-end] SGI Indy II and Alias workstations, the game's artwork and design were mapped out by three animators, four background artists, and a 3D rendering artist. It was put together using the company's SAGE (Square's Amazing Graphical Editor) program, led by programmer Brian Fehdrau. Rather than having to hand off their work to the programmers, the artists and designers were able to test their ideas directly using the SAGE program. Using another company program, SIGIL (Square Interpreted Game Intelligence Language), Secret of Evermore was made into a final product."

Of course, as Bratwurst can tell you, no amount of fancy rendering can replace careful hand-arrangement of graphics tiles and prerendered (or scanned) images have to be retouched by hand as well.

[Cryomancer]

More here: http://www.disgruntleddesigner.com/chrisc/secrets1980.html#ryoma

The stuff on the software used in that article is very interesting indeed. I am pretty impressed by your site man, thanks for scanning a bit of that Jerry Boy manga especially. I'll assume no, but do you have any interest/intent of fulling scanning any of those game mags? Or covers maybe? I'd really really like to see Japanese retro game mags hit the internet someday.

[ccovell]

Thanks. I'd like to scan full magazines, but my free time's a bit limited, so I concentrate on unreleased/beta games for now.

[Ed Oscuro]

Wow, Ninja Gaiden was originally...Ninja Gaiden! That's pretty hilarious. Score one for US markets.