#mipmap

The toe muncherrrrrr

So, a few days ago, I made a post about a SM64 deathmatch/CTF map I was working on. I had to update that post saying it was basically unusable, due to a lot of engine trouble I hadn’t taken into account.

However, I didn’t give up! I think I have a pretty clear idea of how I need to model the mesh to get properly functional topology for SM64 collision detection, and today I did a lot of experiments with making textures which work well with mipmapping.

One of the big problems with my map was that I had used Spyro texturing techniques, where even one or two pixels can be enough to make a sharp edge on a surface. That did not translate well to Nintendo 64 simulation, because the console was the first to employ fancy texture filtering (mipmapping) - And when I say fancy, I mean puke-inducing blurring beyond all comprehension.

So, how do you make a good texture for a 32x32 format with forced mipmapping blur filtering? I found that if you have smooth transitioning in the texture itself, you get a much better result, and you get more control over where smooth falloff and hard edges should appear. To help with the smoothing, I limited the colours to a few basic ones for starters, and then I blended them linearly. As soon as you start mixing three or more colours, you quickly get weird contrasts and stuff, but just focusing on two colours at a time, I was able to arrive at pretty decent results.

With this type of blending, the mipmapping can do what it was meant to do - to smooth out groups of similar colour blobs and imply HD graphics from extremely small texture maps!

Now, I’d still choose to avoid mipmapping whenever possible, because it has never ever looked good on pixel art, but I’m looking forward to making a second attempt at SM64 mapping now!

Official Mip art post, here is my cat mipmap

with:

without (just mipmapping simplifying textures as they get further from player):

Mip is going to space btw 😔 wish her a safe journey

Roll Player App Enters Early Access on Steam @thunderworksgam

One of my favourite games that I didn’t know I liked that much but the pandemic brought it more to my attention (I know that’s kind of a limited category) was Roll Player, the dice-placement game designed by Keith Matejka with artwork JJ Ariosa, Vincent Dutrait and Luis Francisco. The game is ostensibly about rolling up an RPG character and getting points for doing it well. I loved it so much…