This is my first artefact, following the process of the evolution of computer game character design. It is based on my own character creation; I will upload the sketches i did soon after I have finished some bits off. This image was created with a pixel resolution of 16 by 16 pixels and a colour depth of 3; I chose these numbers because due to my research I found that these were the capabilities of the Nintendo Entertainment System. I chose the NES to base my first artefact's look on because it is a very well known system.


This is an image showing the various sizes of pixel resolution that the NES used, ranging from 8x8 and 8x16 to 16x16, as you can see the 16x16 image has the most space to place pixels and create a more recognisable image, which is why I chose it over the others.


Here is an image I made before the finished piece, I had used 6 colours in it due to misreading how many colours a NES could support per sprite, so I removed all but 3 colours and redid the pose. The finished artefact is much simpler, but i think it turned out well, and in the days of the NES it would have been recognisable as a person, which was the main problem.

1st Artefact Evaluation

For the first artefact I looked into techniques involving working with pixel art, with the limitations of creating an image that could be seen on an early video games console. For this artefact I decided to use the graphical limitations of the Nintendo Entertainment System and I spent some time researching the important details such as the pixel resolution used and the colour palette. I found the colour palette information quite easily and used that in the creation of my image, but the pixel resolution information confused me a bit; I found out that the NES used a pixel resolution for sprites of 8x8 pixels or 8x16 pixels, but looking at images from games such as Donkey Kong and Zelda I counted that these sprites were made of 16x16 pixels. This really confused me because in everything I researched from it said nothing about this, so I created my artefact in each of the 3 resolutions I discovered. I could not find information on how the pixel art was created at the time in regards to the techniques used, but I am guessing that at this early stage in computer gaming it was made using code. I tried to find information about the process involved in this so that I could recreate it for my own design, but no books or internet searches turned up any information on how to do this coding, and I decided to instead use Photoshop to make the image but place restrictions on myself. I think my images turned out well, and I understand the way in which artist would have to carefully place each pixel to give the most effect. I think that working with limited colours was the hardest part, because you had to make sure that the viewer, or game player, could tell what the image was.