Artwork
Let’s start with the artwork. In this first instalment, we will work through specifying the artwork for the game’s splash screen and the nodes themselves. In next article, I will add the graphics for the actual pipes that connect the nodes.
One of the great things in the FemtoIDE is the inbuilt Piskel graphics editor that allows you to edit the game’s graphics without having to change tools. Furthermore, when you compile a program the graphics are automatically compiled into data files that can be included directly into your game. The Piskel editor is shown below:
By default, the Pokitto uses a colour palette known as CGA (Colour Graphics Adapter) which can be traced back to the earliest IBM PCs. The Pokitto library comes with many other, pre-defined palettes that emulate the GameBoy, ZX Spectrum and Pico8 amongst others.
Node graphics:
Pipe graphics:
I encourage you to browse through the sample project and play with the existing images and the Piskel tool.
More Information
Find out how to swap palettes in Femto here.