WoW 16 bits(Remaking WoW)

[dlablo]

Check out the video below. This thing took me 20 hours for editing. I made this topic to ask you guys how long it will take to make a game that looks like this. I am considering making a game like that video. My second question is, is it easy?? I am not experienced with coding and any other sh*t... i just can do anything in photoshop and allmost anything in video editing. Not sure if there are trolls on that forum, so PLS only serious anwers, otherwise don't post here.

[Smitten]

Well, we gotta get some basics down first.

First, you have to be sure "16 bit" is what you want.

Generally, 16 bit colour on PC refers to 65,536 RGB colours. It was most common on Windows 95 for PCs before 24 bit "true colour" became a thing, and is what we still use today. It could be what you want if you still want that "older" dithered look, but want a wide variety of colours to choose from.

Other common colours are 256 colours and 16 colours. Here's an example of each:



On top of that, you also have the traditional MSDOS ANSI colour palette.



You could also be thinking of 16 bit consoles. Not named after the colourspace, but rather their processing capabilities. That's stuff like the Super Nintendo and the Mega Drive, and the accompanying "pixel" artstyle. As Wikipedia says - "Elaborate colour, 64 to 4096 colours on screen, from palettes of 512 (9-bit) to 65,536 (16-bit) colours".

You're probably after that 16-bit console style.

There are lots of art styles you could check out for inspiration.

Mainly there are old consoles, and those are easy to find if you want to emulate that 80s/early 90s console feeling.

If you want a more PC oriented style, first I'd suggest checking out Commodore 64 or Amiga games, artwork and demos on YouTube, and possibly EGA and VGA graphics from IBM PCs. Those were the shit for the time the whole Vaporwave style comes from.

Could you do it in Photoshop? Possibly. If you want it to be truly authentic, you're likely going to have to grab some special software specifically for making pixel art and animations which will also use the correct colour palettes.

However, if you just want to go with that vaporwave colour palette and disregard anything to do with 16 bits, that's fine too.

Is it hard? Yes. It is hard, it is time consuming, but it is VERY rewarding to work on a large project like that. If you are truly dedicated and passionate, you could do it. It's not something you'll finish in a few weeks or months, or probably even a year, especially when you're starting from scratch in almost all aspects.

If you want to get started I'd recommend practicing drawing in that oldschool art style from scratch and watching some Unity game engine tutorials. There are plenty out there for side scrollers or almost any type of game. Unity is very widely used and won't cost you any money unless you want the Pro version.

You can't and shouldn't use any of Blizzard's assets (models, screenshots, etc) in your game because that is grounds for legal action and for the project to be taken down.

If you decide to go through with it, good luck! It should be a fun and rewarding experience.

[dlablo]

Wait! If i screenshot a model and make it low resolution + 16 bit colour that wont be illegal? You can barely recognize it... i would say that i made it by myself. And why you are saying that it is gonna take that long time, it depends on what i am doing does it? I will give you more clear example of what i am talking about. When i enter the game there will be just a simple blackground picture, play button, and quit button. The play button will lead me to the level that i designed in photoshop(that will be the only level in the game). In the level there will be enemies and thats all, like in the video i show you. And my last question is, how is that project gonna reward my work?

BTW, the resources for the game will be piece of cake. All i got to do is screenshot from WMV and make the image almost unrecognizeable. My point is, to make the game look somehow like WoW.

[Smitten]

Because the models, artwork, characters are all Blizzard's property. You aren't allowed to use them for anything outside personal projects which you don't release publicly, and even then it's questionable.

It would take a long time if you want a quality game. You could make one in an afternoon, but it's not going to be very good.