What if LucasArts had had modern scanning tools?

[ThunderPeel2001]

I was wondering recently: What if LucasArts had modern scanning tools in 1991? 

 

The original

 

Same pixel and colour depth limitations using Peter Chan's original drawing

 

Answer: Barely any difference at all 😆

 

However if they had double the resolution to play with, it could have looked like this (yes this is still 256 colours)

 

 

Edited June 2, 2022 by ThunderPeel2001

[OzzieMonkey]

It's my dream that one day the ScummVM guys perfect the high res texture pack modding that they've only just touched on with some Sierra games and we can put unpixellated MI2 backgrounds in the full game. Heck, I'd settle for the SE backgrounds since we don't have all the original scans of Peter Chan's artwork. 

[Thrik]

I still want to see the MI2 backgrounds AI upscaled, ideally trained using the Peter Chan art. 😅

[OzzieMonkey]

19 minutes ago, Thrik said:

I still want to see the MI2 backgrounds AI upscaled, ideally trained using the Peter Chan art. 😅

That would be cool too! 

Btw does anyone know what specifically is holding ScummVM back from high-res modding?

[Lagomorph01]

Whoa! That High Res version looks amazing! The sprites kinda stand out now though... Even so, this would be a really nice way to do a future playthrough! Too bad we don't have all the original art assets.

Could you maybe put the Guybrush close up from the fisherman's dock in it, just for fun? I'm curious to how it will look.

[TimeGentleman]

Really weird how scanning tools in 1991 changed ships around so much.

[ThunderPeel2001]

4 hours ago, TimeGentleman said:

Really weird how scanning tools in 1991 changed ships around so much.

 

It was the best they could do at the time

[ThunderPeel2001]

7 hours ago, Lagomorph01 said:

Whoa! That High Res version looks amazing! The sprites kinda stand out now though... Even so, this would be a really nice way to do a future playthrough! Too bad we don't have all the original art assets.

Could you maybe put the Guybrush close up from the fisherman's dock in it, just for fun? I'm curious to how it will look.

 

 

[BeleG]

10 hours ago, OzzieMonkey said:

Btw does anyone know what specifically is holding ScummVM back from high-res modding?

Unfortunately management is against it. As far as I can tell they see it as a copyright infringement risk, even if ScummVM would not be hosting anything.

[ThunderPeel2001]

18 hours ago, BeleG said:

Unfortunately management is against it. As far as I can tell they see it as a copyright infringement risk, even if ScummVM would not be hosting anything.

 

Interesting. I never thought about that angle. Hmm.

[Scummbuddy]

But are they okay with music patches?

[roots]

Seems a little strange to be fearful of some ephemeral copyright risk where it doesn't really apply, while ScummVM distribute copy protection circumventions, regardless of any "reasonable justifications" that would be unlikely to hold up legally.

 

That aside, it's strange but I honestly find myself preferring the originals here. I don't know if it's a matter of contextualisation (i.e. chunky UI) or simply a preference for the more saturated and lower fidelity representation. The go to response would probably be to put it down to nostalgia, but given the roaring success of games like Undertale I'm not so sure.

Edited June 3, 2022 by roots

[Lagomorph01]

21 hours ago, ThunderPeel2001 said:

 

 

This looks fantastic!! Too bad it’s the only “high res” sprite we’ve got!