12-15-2018, 10:42 AM
Today's update is a bit of a deviation from the norm. We'll be discussing palettes! (Text below Image)
![[Image: Character-Flash-Palettes.png]](https://i.ibb.co/z46Ygd9/Character-Flash-Palettes.png)
As I've worked on the Doomsday Zone's Master Emerald flash palettes, I noticed something that I perceived to be abnormal in relation to my perception of the Flash Cycle palettes. The truth turned out that I didn't accurately account for possible differences between the two flash cycles, but they're now logged.
In the VDP, the top line of the palette relates to the playable characters, Robotnik and Egg-Robo, among other things like monitors and star-posts. As we know, the green seen in Sonic/Tails and Knuckles' palettes refers to Super/Hyper Sonic's green eyes and the Echidna's socks, and I've left it in place on the left row simply for the sake of future reference and development.
As the flash cycle is a main purpose for this update, I decided to show-case the color shifts in the named stages as above. Though it is simple work for the cycles seen in Launch Base, Mushroom Hill and Lava Reef Zones, I am incredibly inclined to point out how disastrously god-awful it was to get the accurate variations in the seventh-to-tenth shifts for the Doomsday Zone, without Super forms being involved and having a safe place (debug-placed monitors) to place the characters. Not to mention, the fact that there was also the issue of trying to ensure the sub-boss was defeated well within a few seconds of the character being depowered. But, it's done now, and I'm never, ever doing that again.
The second row of the palette in the VDP is dedicated to enemies/bosses and rings (including Cutscene!Knuckles). Though obviously the Jet Mobile's palette is on the image above, I have purposely excluded the cutscene version of Knuckles' palettes, as it requires experimentation to develop a relevant and similar set of palettes to work in any Flash cycle.
The remaining rows of the palette are dedicated to the stage and any other object not defaulted to the player character line. I included Mushroom Hill Zone as a prime example for it, as I basically had a theory I wanted to test: "can the Autumn and Summer palettes be effected by destroying the Jet Mobile's weather manipulator?" As you can see, they can! Just debug past the trigger points to prevent the shift to brown and/or grey, and when you get to the boss, the flash will happen anyway regardless of it being Summer, Autumn or Winter. Sadly though, the ninth and following shifts of the palette will always be the Summer palette.
Can I formulate variations in line with the flash cycle to give Mushroom Hill Zone's Autumn and Winter palettes?
Maybe, but I shall not try at this juncture to find out. It requires back and forth testing and RGB value checking, itself a lengthy process.
With this knowledge in mind, can I formulate flash cycles and overlap the ones that exist with other stages that also or do not have a flash cycle?
Same answer as above.
What about the Super and Hyper forms of the player characters?
Well, since it's in development for their sheets already, it's not impossible! My only obstacle is ensuring that the shifts between lines 9-14 (LBZ, MHZ & LRZ) or lines 7-10 (TDZ) would be as relatively accurate as possible.
What about their underwater palettes, will these get flash cycle variations?
I shall admit, I've tried; it's harder as at no point in any stage does a flash cycle overlap with a character being underwater. I'm not especially pleased at the outcome of those, so refer to the answer for question 1.
Considering Mecha Sonic triggers the Sky Sanctuary's flash cycle, will I be giving him the relevant palette adjustments?
It'd be a fallacy not to, especially since its easy to formulate as it doesn't cross a "full-white" frame.
There's something that's kind of always been missing, considering that I'm doing work on alternative in-game palettes. The fade-out and fade-in palettes seen between stages or returning to the last checkpoint after a death. Can I grab those palettes and them formulate them relative to underwater and super forms and flash cycles?
Am I going to do this? I can't say no faster. Trying to do this for Angel Island Zone Act 2 on its own would be nothing less than a night terror. When one considers that several stages have palette cycling because of flashing lights, not to mention a stage with flash cycles involved, it would require terribly precise timing to capture these and then to ensure everything affected by fade-outs and fade-ins are collected. As much as I would love to do it, it would just be far too painful and time-consuming.
Wait, are there flash cycles in other games? Will those be collected too?
Yes - the epilogue of Sonic 1 (good ending) and Sonic CD (at the very least, Wacky Workbench's boss). I intend to get them, when I get around to them. In the case of the former example, I'll only limit it to the ending; even if takes place in Green Hill Zone, I don't want to have to affect a whole set of rips based on something that doesn't happen in the stage itself.
----------------
Can anyone tell me, besides the flash (which may or not be ripped based on the answer to the question above) that occurs as Sonic exits the Death Egg at the end of Sonic 2, if there are flash cycles in any other part of that game? I don't really remember.
As I've worked on the Doomsday Zone's Master Emerald flash palettes, I noticed something that I perceived to be abnormal in relation to my perception of the Flash Cycle palettes. The truth turned out that I didn't accurately account for possible differences between the two flash cycles, but they're now logged.
In the VDP, the top line of the palette relates to the playable characters, Robotnik and Egg-Robo, among other things like monitors and star-posts. As we know, the green seen in Sonic/Tails and Knuckles' palettes refers to Super/Hyper Sonic's green eyes and the Echidna's socks, and I've left it in place on the left row simply for the sake of future reference and development.
As the flash cycle is a main purpose for this update, I decided to show-case the color shifts in the named stages as above. Though it is simple work for the cycles seen in Launch Base, Mushroom Hill and Lava Reef Zones, I am incredibly inclined to point out how disastrously god-awful it was to get the accurate variations in the seventh-to-tenth shifts for the Doomsday Zone, without Super forms being involved and having a safe place (debug-placed monitors) to place the characters. Not to mention, the fact that there was also the issue of trying to ensure the sub-boss was defeated well within a few seconds of the character being depowered. But, it's done now, and I'm never, ever doing that again.
The second row of the palette in the VDP is dedicated to enemies/bosses and rings (including Cutscene!Knuckles). Though obviously the Jet Mobile's palette is on the image above, I have purposely excluded the cutscene version of Knuckles' palettes, as it requires experimentation to develop a relevant and similar set of palettes to work in any Flash cycle.
The remaining rows of the palette are dedicated to the stage and any other object not defaulted to the player character line. I included Mushroom Hill Zone as a prime example for it, as I basically had a theory I wanted to test: "can the Autumn and Summer palettes be effected by destroying the Jet Mobile's weather manipulator?" As you can see, they can! Just debug past the trigger points to prevent the shift to brown and/or grey, and when you get to the boss, the flash will happen anyway regardless of it being Summer, Autumn or Winter. Sadly though, the ninth and following shifts of the palette will always be the Summer palette.
Can I formulate variations in line with the flash cycle to give Mushroom Hill Zone's Autumn and Winter palettes?
Maybe, but I shall not try at this juncture to find out. It requires back and forth testing and RGB value checking, itself a lengthy process.
With this knowledge in mind, can I formulate flash cycles and overlap the ones that exist with other stages that also or do not have a flash cycle?
Same answer as above.
What about the Super and Hyper forms of the player characters?
Well, since it's in development for their sheets already, it's not impossible! My only obstacle is ensuring that the shifts between lines 9-14 (LBZ, MHZ & LRZ) or lines 7-10 (TDZ) would be as relatively accurate as possible.
What about their underwater palettes, will these get flash cycle variations?
I shall admit, I've tried; it's harder as at no point in any stage does a flash cycle overlap with a character being underwater. I'm not especially pleased at the outcome of those, so refer to the answer for question 1.
Considering Mecha Sonic triggers the Sky Sanctuary's flash cycle, will I be giving him the relevant palette adjustments?
It'd be a fallacy not to, especially since its easy to formulate as it doesn't cross a "full-white" frame.
There's something that's kind of always been missing, considering that I'm doing work on alternative in-game palettes. The fade-out and fade-in palettes seen between stages or returning to the last checkpoint after a death. Can I grab those palettes and them formulate them relative to underwater and super forms and flash cycles?
Am I going to do this? I can't say no faster. Trying to do this for Angel Island Zone Act 2 on its own would be nothing less than a night terror. When one considers that several stages have palette cycling because of flashing lights, not to mention a stage with flash cycles involved, it would require terribly precise timing to capture these and then to ensure everything affected by fade-outs and fade-ins are collected. As much as I would love to do it, it would just be far too painful and time-consuming.
Wait, are there flash cycles in other games? Will those be collected too?
Yes - the epilogue of Sonic 1 (good ending) and Sonic CD (at the very least, Wacky Workbench's boss). I intend to get them, when I get around to them. In the case of the former example, I'll only limit it to the ending; even if takes place in Green Hill Zone, I don't want to have to affect a whole set of rips based on something that doesn't happen in the stage itself.
----------------
Can anyone tell me, besides the flash (which may or not be ripped based on the answer to the question above) that occurs as Sonic exits the Death Egg at the end of Sonic 2, if there are flash cycles in any other part of that game? I don't really remember.
![[Image: WatSig.png]](https://i.ibb.co/ZNzH7fK/WatSig.png)