Coloring

Step one of getting the alien pigmentation to work properly is to set up the graphics to allow for the kind of shading I need to do. In the original game, each pixel was captured, the color was changed, and then put into the buffer. If the color was black or white, the colors were not altered. I'm giving the game a layer approach. The first layer is the black and white luma, then a color tint is applied over top, and then the static color layer is on top of that. This mean things like metal arms don't get colored when the skin does.

I spent today separating out the color layers. Keep in mind these are not the aliens I'm planning to use in the final game, but I do need to get the proof of concept working. You can see here the idea I'm going to have when it's done. There are parts that are colored and other parts that stay the same color. That's important.

Laid out, you can see why I need some of the aliens re-made.

I'll probably be spending tomorrow getting this implemented using the colorbar code I have already written. Once that is all done, I will get a build of the game off to to the artist to go wild with new character designs.