RMMV Color Palettes and Tilesets

[Ruth Studio]

Hey Everyone,

I'm in the pre-production stage of a monster taming game that I am creating. The skills have been created along with some monsters.

I am using the Time Fantasy tilesets for now. I am not 100% sold on using Time Fanstasy tilesets but we'll as I plan along.

I would love to use the old color palettes from the NES or Sega Master System console, but I'm not sure if the color palettes are meshing with the tilesets.

I had to bump up the contrast a bit to make it work.

I am looking for honest feedback, I just feel like I've been looking at color palettes for to long at this point. Not sure if I need to use different tilesets or another color palette.

NES:



Sega Master System:

 

[Honker]

I think the SEGA ones not only look generally better, but are also much less straining on the eyes. They're also more colorful since there is a lot of black in the NES palettes.

 

[Starbird_Resources]

at first I liked the NES palette better but after reading Honker's comment and having a second look, I agree. it's easier on the eyes even though it's brighter

 

[NinjaKittyProductions]

I grew up playing a Sega Master System... so from personal bias I would say SMS.

Now for an unbiased opinion ( as much as I can be ).

The SMS colors you are using are more pleasing to look at. The player seems to fit in with the supporting colors. Some touch up needs to be done to take the "square" out of the ground tiles.

The NES colors jump off the screen too much and make it hard to focus on the player. It also appears to make tiles harder to distinguish, such as the dirt path and the tent, when comparing the two.

 

[Ruth Studio]

Thanks for the responses and feedback! I made some adjustment to the tiles sets.

 

[Wavelength]

I've never been a fan of games that limit their color palette. I do see the point in doing so for the "retro" factor (and it's cool in a way for games that are giving a nod to the past), but I really like when retro-style graphics take advantage of the entire gamut of colors to show us "what could have been". If you do it well, you end up with a lovely marriage of retro style plus beautifully-colored scenes that feel "new" and artistic.

With that said, if you really want to go for one or the other, I prefer the NES colors based on the screenshot you're showing. They are cleaner, brighter, and clearer - whereas the SEGA colors give your whole scene an uninspiring, muddy, tan-brownish look. However, I'd probably add in one extra shade of blue (so that you can get some texture in the water, like the SEGA version has), and removing a shade of gray (and maybe adding one more shade of green). There is way too much gray on the trees on the NES look, and even worse, you can see a lot of speckling in those grays (both on the lower part of the trees and along the edges of the path), which looks bad and might be why more people have recommended the SEGA look so far.

 

[Wyrelade]

Sega example definitely looks easier to look at.