November 10th, 2011

Just in case you haven’t heard elsewhere, the man behind these graphics…

… and this incredible MUGEN stage for the classic Tower of Omens from ThunderCats…

… finally has his own pixel art website with a very appropriate title.

2D Will Never Die

You’ll find some beautiful pixel art, tutorials, tips, links and some excellent articles about 2-D gaming. Those who are as inspired by Kiwi’s work as I am (hint: A LOT) should bookmark the new site and follow the site’s account on Tumblr to see pixel art from Kiwi along with many cool pixel art reposts. Those of us who know Kiwi have been hoping that he’d make a site like this for a long, long time and we knew he wouldn’t disappoint. He did a great job and I can’t wait to see what else he has planned for this site after an amazing start like this.

Categories: MugenBoss Updates, ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp

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October 27th, 2011

This is the last of the “unpause” updates Check it:

GFX Generators – The main engine for this was upgraded a lot since the last update. The picture style options have been upgraded so much that a lot of separate picture styles that were almost the same (like the various 160×196 box/art/poster tributes)are now in one choice slot on the first menu. The engine is getting close to what I’d call version 1.00 but I still have many small things to iron out. Let’s get to the content.

New chars: Andy Bogard, Billy Kane, Blue Mary, Duke Edwards, Fio, Genjuro, Marco, “(more) Metal Slug characters,” Leona, Maxima, Rocky, Robert Garcia, Sie Kensou for SNK. Anakaris, Baby Bonnie Hood/Bulleta, Firebrand, Huitzel/Phobos, Lilith, Rikuo/Aulbath, Q-Bee, Sasquatch, Victor for Capcom. Metroid for Nintendo. Elevator Action spy for Taito. Riki, Sabu (Super Dodge Ball sprites) and Nekketsu/Kunio-Kun enemies (Shinji, Kenji and Misuzi in one character slot) for Technos. Black Lightning for DC Comics.
Updated chars: Andore/Hugo (added 2 sprites), Aquaman (new sprite), Iron Man (new MvsC3 armor edit), Kunio-Kun (SDG Neo Geo graphics added), Morrigan (MvsC taunt & Nurse edit), Phoenix (Classic Phoenix costume sprite), Robin (classic Dick Grayson sprite)

KoF/SvC sprites & sprite edits were added to:
Athena, Clark, Joe Higashi, King, Geese Howard, Haohmaru, Mai, Nakoruru, Ralf, Ryo, Terry Bogard for SNK, Andore, Balrog, Dan, Demitri, Chun-Li, Guile, Ken, M.Bison, Poison, Ryu, Sagat, Vega and Zero for Capcom. Billy & Jimmy Lee for Technos.
Samurai Showdown 5 sprites added to:
Haohmaru, Nakoruru

GroupShot styles merged: Boxes, Flyer & Posters 160×192 (merged version of the Capcom, Genesis, SNK and Konami boxes, Playstation 2 added), Create-a-Scene 384×224 (many scene boxes merged + new scenes), Justice League Task Force (bigger screen with Superman, Batman, WW, Aquaman & Darkseid sub-choices)
Vs.Maker styles updated: Create-a-Scene (384×224 pixels) (new background system)

Custom Sprites

Capcom: Firebrand (scratch-made hovering sprite)
Nintendo: Metroid (new scratch-made sprite)
Sega: Blaze Fielding (new sprite)
Taito: Elevator Action Spy (two scratch-made sprites)
Technos: improved KoF-style edits of Billy and Jimmy Lee
DC Comics: Scratch-made sprites of Black Lightning (90′s) and Robin (classic) and a new edit of Aquaman.
Marvel Comics: Iron Man (MvsC 3 armor), Phoenix (Classic)
PrimeOp: A new gallery with most of the scratch-made sprites I’ve created that aren’t completely embarrassing.

The site will update now semi-regularly but updates will be a bit light for a while. I have commission work to finish and another website to “start” **looks shifty** but I’ll have enough updates to keep you from thinking that this place is dead. You wouldn’t believe all of the things I didn’t get finished for this update.

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Breakin’ News

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Elevator Action Deluxe will be adding four DLC characters FOR FREE starting this week. First up? SAYO-CHAN from Kiki Kaikai/Pocky & Rocky! Hit up the official site to see who else will be joining in on the fun.

Anyone who likes to use create-a-character formulas to bring their favorite characters into other games should visit GameLabor, a new website with formulas for Mortal Kombat Armageddon, Soul Calibur III & Soul Calibur IV. There’s even a YouTube channel so you can see the creations in action.

Categories: ScrollBoss Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: custom sprites, Elevator Action, gfx generators, Metroid

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October 26th, 2011

Another mini-update. 100% mini-logos!

Mini-Logos
Capcom: Forgotten Worlds
DC Comics: Black Lightning
Jaleco: Hachoo, Rushing Beat
Marvel Comics: Rocket Raccoon
Nintendo: Link (Zelda II style)
Square Enix: Moon Diver
SNK: Metal Slug, P.O.W., Psycho Soldier, Robo Army
Taito: Elevator Action, Elevator Action Deluxe, Kunoichi (Ninja Warriors & Ninja Warriors Again)
Technos: River City Ransom

Thursday’s update: Custom sprites (including two monster/horror themed sprites) and the GIANT GFX Generator update. Be ready!

Categories: ScrollBoss Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Elevator Action, Forgotten Worlds, Hachoo!, Metal Slug, mini-logos, Moon Diver, Ninja Warriors, Psycho Soldier, River City Ransom, Robo Army

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October 25th, 2011

I was going to make one big update with all of the new content and fixes but I decided to start early and test things out bit-by-bit. The main menu layout mutated a bit (including the return of the Random Screenshots) and will probably have a few more shifts in future updates. Work on the new content got out of hand and I forgot to keep track of a few new things. This update is basically everything except the custom sprites and graphic generators.

Sprites – Hachoo! (new page with a few sprites and animations), Ninja Baseball Bat Man (new page). The Streets of Rage 2 page was updated with walking animations of the heroes.

Game Index – The new main page leads to lists based on the first letter of the game and its release year.

New games: Hachoo (arcade), Jungle Hunt (arcade), Metroid (NES) and Ninja Baseball Bat Man (arcade) added. E-Swat (Arcade) added to the main list after being left off the main list by mistake.

Logos – Cannon Dancer, Hachoo, Metal Slug 1-5 & X, Metamorphic Force, Ninja Baseball Bat Man, Osman, P.O.W. (arcade), Pirate Ship Higemaru, Shaolin’s Road, Super Double Dragon, Turrican

ToyBoss – Stafani Rolento sent some brand new pictures of her custom 12-inch Rolento figure!

Links – added links that I forgot to keep track of. One that I remembered to list is the very cool Retro Revival X. I also added Brawler’s Ave (not to be confused with the “Brawlstreet USA” banners) has been added to the Quick Links section. I really need to set up a true affiliates list. Brawler’s Ave is under reconstruction right now but be sure to check out the links on their landing page for a hint of what they’re all about!

The second update will hit later this week but I still haven’t decided which day. The update to the GFX Generators is HUGE. All of those things I showed you on the weblog are coming along with some Darkstalkers and old side-scroller monsters for Halloween. Here’s a teaser for one of them:

I’ll see you later this week with more treats!

Categories: ScrollBoss Updates, Updates by PrimeOp

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September 21st, 2011

2011/09/21: Finally have a system set up for “SubStyles” for the screenstyles. This will replace some of the clunkier option choices on the second menu page and allow for more adaptability. Not only does it change the look of the screen but it can change the standing position of sprites and logos.

I now have all the old game box styles merged into one. I’ll have clickable thumbnail pics instead of full-sized number maps for the release version. The next step is to do something similar with the multiple backgrounds. It should be easy since the SubStyles architecture has all the basics to do whatever I need to do with to the main backgrounds.

2011/09/22: Multiple backgrounds issue solved. Dig it:

This solves a lot of the issues I’ve had with the multiple background options you can choose from in the styles. The version on the site now lets you pick background parts but you also had to choose the separate front part. This new thing modifies the style as much as it needs. One choice picks both the front, back and middle background layers, changes the shadow style, colors or transparency and can even change where the sprites stand. I can combine most of those “7 people standing somewhere” styles in the Group Maker into one choice and you’ll choose the background on menu 2. Tidy. This will also let me make styles that have **deep breath** a substyle that triggers a lot of options (Box homages) and then use the Scene modifyer to do things with the picture inside that box layout.

Bonus: I tested this out on that Vs. Screen where you could pick the different background parts. I eventually got sick of making thumbnails so a made a quick PHP routine that reads the Scenemod list and spits out a bunch of automatically-named numbermap images I can save.

It beats the hell out of making each pic one by one. I have a few more styles that will need a dozens of shots like this so I’m saving a lot of time with this. Why should you care? Because saving time on the crappy stuff gives me more free time to work on sprites, backgrounds and all that. Anyone who actually read all this deserves something so here’s a little spoiler to the big update in mid-Oct./early Nov.:

Yeah, KoF sprites will be added to the Generators along with more SNK characters.

2011/10/22: I made a new GroupShot style that creates 100 by 100 pixel avatar-style graphics. I modified that automatic preview screenshot maker so that it dumps all of the shots into a temporary folder and rebuilds the graphic list file to have the new screenshot’s name. An gigabuttload of time is saved by doing that instead of manually making over 60 new shots and adding them to a flat file for the system. The avatars will have quite a few different borders including some that are just a pixel wide. Here’s a preview pic with four of them:

I still need to mess around with something I added that tries to adjust for tall sprites that go off the screen but it works well so far.

Categories: ScrollBoss Lab by PrimeOp
Tags: gfx generators

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September 12th, 2011

ScrollBoss is still on pause so I could work on my own characters and comics for a bit while doing behind-the-scenes work on the site along with a bit of content. I need your help to shape some of the new content for the site. Some of these will come as close as I’ll get to doing a request thread.

1.) There will be new GFX Generators geared towards making avatars and sigs you can save and use on message boards and social sites. There will be the typical square shapes but I need to know what sizes or ratios you use in these places.

2.) There will be new sprite tutorials in the future. I’m not an expert but I think I’ve figured out enough to write decent tutorials on a few things. I’m going to finish a lighting tutorial that I started long ago along with tutorials based on questions people have PM’ed me with on a message board or two. Are there any pixel art questions you’d like me to try and answer in a future tutorial?

3.) I added these old-school game boxes to the GFX Generators a while back but I’ve never really gotten any feedback on them. Did anyone like them? Do you want me to make more? I will add the top 3 requests if any are made. Yeah, that’s a big if.

4.) Are there any game logos you’d like to see converted into 64×26 pixel mini-logos that aren’t already on this mini-logos page? Don’t be too ashamed to ask for something related to your current fan-game project. I’ll make either the 5 most requested or my 5 favorites.

5.) I want to start a yearly event where other fans like you get to vote on some of your favorite gaming things. The easiest way to do this is to post a category here and have you leave a comment with your choices. Yes, this topic is also a test to see how that would go. I need to know if it’s too much trouble to leave a comment in these news posts and if you’d be willing to post here again when it’s time to vote.

Please post your answers in a comment on this weblog post so I’ll have an easier time counting up the votes. I’ll do more Request Line posts if I get enough responses to this one.

**edit**
One more thing! [/unclebill]
6.) Go to the Vs. Maker, click the “Custom Scene (384×224 pixels)” option, hit button DONE! button and look at the background image options. Are there any game backgrounds that you’d really like to see added to that list? I’ll add as many as I can.

(edit: fixed the Vs. Maker link right above this. Thanks for the heads-up, Kiwi!)

EDIT: This Request Line is now semi-closed. That means that I can’t aim to have any new requests make it into the late October update. Any requests after this will be considered for future updates.

Categories: ScrollBoss Lab, ScrollBoss Updates, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: gfx generator, request line

6 Comments »

August 30th, 2011

Site stuff: I’m still working on this site while doing character designs, logo work and other preparations for my own projects. Work on a new GFX Generator feature can be found in this weblog post and improvements to the Game Index section can be found in this post. A scratch-made sprite of DC’s Black Lightning was posted on Illmosis.

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Breakin’ News

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Elevator Action Deluxe, an update, remake and overhaul of Taito’s classic “Elevator Action” spy-shooter, is out on PSN today.

It’ll be a while before I can buy this one (gotta pay the website bill soon) but it looks sharp and sounds funky. I like how the in-game documents you steal are Taito documents like flyers that you can view in a gallery. The character designs have a Lupin-esque look mixed with the classic official artwork.

Between this and the criminally underrated Moon Diver, Square-Enix, who now owns Taito and it’s intellectual properties, has thrown some great old-schoolian love our way. I hope those of you who are angry about a lapse in a game series with more entries than most entire companies have games will take some time to support the companies that put work into projects like this when they really don’t have to.

Kotaku feature on classic Nintendo composer, Hip Tanaka
It’s just a short overview of the man’s work but it’s always good to see him get attention for his music. Do yourself a favor and don’t look at the comments section on that page. I’m serious.

Capcom-Unity: Rockman-Unity TOM-PON interview
Capcom-Unity has links to a translated and subtitled interview that Rockman-Unity had with TOM-PON, artist and background designer for some classic Capcom titles starting with Mega Man for the NES.
(Note: more posts and interview segments came out after I posted this so I’m updating this news post as they’re added)

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6

Let’s end this one on an high note, courtesy of Wizzy…

Categories: Gaming News, ScrollBoss Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Capcom, Elevator Action, Mega Man, Square Enix

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August 21st, 2011

The Game Index is getting a few improvements and I can do most of them in undercover mode until the ScrollBoss is unpaused. You’ll be able to see lists of games based on something about them. For instance:

Look at all games that start with the letter A.
Look at all games from 1989, the greatest year in video game history.

Yeah, I know, like any other actual video game site. But still. The main index page will let you search by categories once the big update hits. It won’t just be a giant list dump, a lazy placeholder I was using until I got something like this together.

I’ll throw a few new 200×100 graphics in just to keep it interesting.

Categories: ScrollBoss Lab by PrimeOp

2 Comments »

August 3rd, 2011

Started messing around with an idea at around 3 AM. Just finished working on this and some other engine improvements at 8:29 AM.

So far, so good. Time to go to sleep.

Update 2011/08/03, midnight:

Worked on it before and after work. I had to change big chunks of how the engine worked just for the name thing to work.

Update 2011/08/04, 3:28 AM:
Tried to unwind for a bit, answer messages, etc. but I wanted to get a bit more done on this tonight.

Still having a bit of trouble with a text mode that I won’t have to use for a while but the centered alignment version works. I still want to fix it before I go to sleep and I’m sure I’ll be paying for that tomorrow.

Update: 10 minutes later:
Got that optional text issue fixed. So much for that.

(more…)

Categories: ScrollBoss Lab by PrimeOp
Tags: gfx generators

2 Comments »

July 21st, 2011

More like crap-tastic, amirite? This update pays respect to the release of the new Captain America: First Avenger movie by hitting you with content based on characters from Cap’s comic along with Data East’s “Captain America and the Avengers” arcade game. Non-comic book fans won’t be left out thanks to a classic beat-em-up bad guy crashing the party since this is also the 11th Anniversary week of ScrollBoss. Gotta have some gaming stuff in there somewhere!

GFX Generators
New Characters
Marvel – Batroc the Leaper, the Falcon, Namor, the Red Skull, Ultron, the Wasp, Other Heroes (Ant-Man and Diamondback) and “Other Villains” (Absorbing Man, the Controller, Crossbones, the Grim Reaper, Klaw, the Living Laser and Whirlwind).
Toys & ‘Toons – Jem
Updated Characters: Abobo (new Capcom SFA/Vs. style edits) from Technos, Iron Man (new taunt sprite edit), the Vision (new sprites and palettes)

Custom Sprites:
Marvel – Diamondback (scratch-made), the Falcon, the Grim Reaper, Namor, the Red Skull, the Vision, the Wasp (scratch-made) and Whirlwind. An Iron Man taunt has been edited into the armor he wore in CAatA.
Technos – Abobo (two versions), Juggernaut (a new edit based his odd look in the Avengers game)
Toys & Cartoons – Jem

Sprites:
Captain America and the Avengers gallery rebuilt in the current style and has new sprites.

Mini Logos: Sakura added to Capcom. Batroc, the Red Skull added to Marvel. Jem added to Toys and Cartoons.

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The Announcement: ScrollBoss is on hiatus until further notice. There won’t be another update for a while and updates won’t be regular when they start up again. I have some important projects that require a lot of time so I’ll have to put this site on pause for a while. The main thing is that it’s time for me to hit the drawing page again. One of the main reasons that I kept working to make sure that the GFX Generators were loaded with options was because I wanted you to keep having fun as the site was inactive.

ScrollBoss will NOT be neglected. I have some coding improvements in mind and it’s nearly impossible to do them while also trying to get enough content for a site update. I can work on those things on the side until the time comes to un-pause ScrollBoss again. I also have some bigger things pixel-related things that I could never do because I had to keep doing smaller things to make sure I had an update. There will be previews of these things on the weblog and main menu. I’m still taking sprite and pixel art commissions (because it costs money to have this site hosted), posting ridiculous screenshots on the Tumblr and you may see some new scratch-made sprites appear on Illmosis.

ScrollBoss will be active again before the end of the year and it’s going to hit hard. Until then, please leave any feedback in the comment section of this topic. Thank you for reading and thanks for stopping in.

Categories: ScrollBoss Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Captain America and the Avengers, Data East, Double Dragon, gfx generators, Jem, marvel comics, mini-logos, Technos

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