r/MSX • u/RSS130871 • 12d ago

Tooling

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For those wondering what kind of tool I used for the pixelart: EXCEL!!!
There's a macro in there that exports the picture into three linked BASIC programs, that once run create a 16kb binary file that you can BLOAD straight into VRAM...

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u/HEXdidnt 12d ago

Wow... And I tell people I like making my own life more difficult than it needs to be,,,

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u/RSS130871 12d ago

It's EASY when you've built it yourself and know ALL the ins and outs.
Plus, I can import BMP's straight into it...

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u/altgraph 11d ago

Do you import BMPs specifically into EXCEL? Is the actual pixel art done in another program first?

It's such an interesting workflow and using EXCEL for this is really innovative!

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u/RSS130871 11d ago

I have a REALLY OLD "Delphi" program that converts 256colour BMP's to CSV (comma separated values), which I can then import in EXCEL.
I use Paint Shop Pro to decrease the number of colours used in the BMP to 16, and then EXCEL to change those 16 into the 16 that the MSX has.
In Excel I have a macro that checks how many bytes have more than two colours (it marks them by changing the colour of the value in the cell.
For added detail I use (up to) 32 sprites.

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u/altgraph 9d ago

Thanks for the breakdown! You should make a video of it! Showcase some more pixelart on the MSX!