How to make 3D Title Lettering? | Pixel Art Workflow
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 มิ.ย. 2024
- In this video, I’m searching for a relatively easy way to construct retro-style blocky pixel art lettering, and I cover my workflow for designing the title of a notorious and polarizing classic from the 16-bit era!
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0:00 Intro & Title Perspective
0:58 Canvas Size & First Attempt
1:44 Text Tool
2:19 Changing the Perspective
3:12 Customizing the Letters
4:02 Making it 3D
4:55 Colour
7:04 Finishing Touches
8:25 FINAL ARTWORK
9:09 CRT Time
9:32 VID OVER
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Check out my art here:
/ brandonjamesgreer
/ bjgpixel
INPRNT Shop: www.inprnt.com/gallery/bjgpixel/
Redbubble Shop: rdbl.co/bjgpixel
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Software used: Adobe Photoshop 2022
Need help picking a pixel art program? Watch this: • What Program to use fo...
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Title sequence theme music by Failpositive:
www.failpositive.bandcamp.com/
/ failpositive
Background music courtesy of TH-cam Audio Library. - เกม
Honestly Metal Abyss was my favourite in the series, like yeah the difficulty was maybe too unforgiving (especially with all those glitches) but man, the atmosphere in that game is just unparalleled
It was pretty great but I feel Metal Abyss lost some of what made the original and Lost Core so unique
the original will always be the best, it was the most forgiving gameplay-wise and just the most fun. sure the looks got better and better but I love the old-style feeling of the original.
I can see why some people didn't take to it. Especially fans of the original. The change in gameplay and difficulty bump are a bit jarring. But Metal Abyss has by FAR the best soundtrack of the series. Every track is a banger. And the final boss track... goosebumps every damn time.
Plus c'mon... the mid game plot twist is iconic. No way anyone saw that coming and the story from the first game make SO much more sense after.
Maaaan Metal Abyss had sooo much potential. I honestly really enjoyed the first few stages. A healthy leap in difficulty from the previous entries. The Voltchaser fight though... just killed it for me. To each there own though. I'm glad someone still enjoys this franchise.
@@RainMakeR_WorkshopWhat are you on?! CCMA completely shattered all integrity that the first games so masterfully established, exacerbated by the fact that that second game had such a satisfying close with no loose ends (I mean, some of the stuff was deliberately open-ended, but that's so much of what makes this series so special - the beautiful, yet haunting cosmology.
I would agree that music was all bops, and even quite moving at times, although completely off the mark in some events (like a certain supposed attempt of a 'romance' scene which shall not be named), but it was just about the only thing I could take seriously. Although, some of the comedic banter was amusing.
And how can you even call that a twist?!? If you were paying any real attention to the story in the first game, you would have caught on to the subtextual narrative which explains everything without forcibly choking you with it, as does CCMA.
If you want hamfisted schlock in pixelated form, there are far better ways to fritter your brain cells away. This is preschool compared to the Ivy Leagues of CC 1 & 2.
3.2/10
Metal Abyss might have been a glitchy mess, but that makes it a perfect speedrun game. Hopefully GDQ can showcase it this year!
That's a good point! It's amazing to see how those master runners know how to dodge all the weird spots and situations that make it lock up 😱 Hope it gets its time in the spotlight for a pro competition
Waiting for the Summoning Salt deep dive
Cyber Craze Metal Abyss was a childhood favorite of mine. Thanks for making this. Really brings back memories. They really should make a new game to introduce it to newer generations.
Oh? What was it about? Explain to me the lore
Thought it really deserved a shoutout for those of us who remember. Would be nice to see a reboot of the series for a new generation 🥲
Metal Abyss has by FAR the best soundtrack of the series. Every track is a sick. And the final boss track is EPIC.
Even better than Cyber Craze Galaxy Omen? Cuz I thought that was the best, never played Metal Abyss
@@Junkuza CCGO has a sick soundtrack too, but CCMA is a whole other level. Seriously if you're into soundtracks, at least check it out. Though I'd recommend just playing the game. Give them real context which makes them even more epic and there is one track that is pretty yet melancholy, but in game with the scene its from, its heart breaking.
Like I said with my review on Cyber Craze Metal Abyss in gamefaqs years back, the game brought some new mechanics that is quite revolutionary. You actually see many games now use similar mechanics but sadly since it was a pioneer to those mechanics, it has a prototyping feel to it. The story is what brings it down for me personally but since we know the original scenario writer left during this period, it makes sense that the story didn't feel quite the same. The bugs also hurt it but with mods that fix those and clean up some of the janky enemy AI in the 5th stage, going back to it now, I think gameplay wise it holds up decently well. Of course since the game had to be modded, the harsh reviews from all the way back made sense. It's a shame that they didn't learn from what worked in the series and tried but failed to capture what we liked from the previous titles instead of improving upon the groundwork of Metal Abyss. I do think it's worth revisiting now though, in both it's original form to see the interesting mechanics and when it feels to much, go play the modded version that really shows off what the game could have been.
On a different note, great video as always. Making these more elaborate titles have always been difficult for me and mine always ends up looking a little flat but some new ideas are coming up now to improve my previous works. Though do you have a recommendation for getting a similar effect in Aseprite? As much as I could start in Photoshop and just continue to workflow into Aseprite, it be nice to know if I can do the entire process just within Aseprite.
yeah, it really sucks that MA was one of the only ones they didn't even remake
seeing how they fixed the others, i bet MA would be a lot more people's favourite (although still a bit niche) if they would have fixed those problems
anyways, aseprite doesn't have perspective transforms, but judging from the (quite newly added) skew feature, that's might not be the case forever!
for now i think you can try something like scaling the top row(s) of pixels down horizontally and then making your selection bigger and bigger and then cleaning up.
For the "similar effect in aseprite", if you mean the perspective on the letters, it could be done with some work, select a horizontal line of pixel and scale them horizontaly, repeat making the upper layers smaller than the bottom ones, i hope this helps 😅
I totally remember that review! You did an amazing job translating this very logo into ASCII format ☺ And thanks! I think the Aseprite text tool might have a few options for shadows and strokes, not sure about perspective warping though 🥲
It's interesting how much people wanted to make 2d pixel art 3d instead of trying to embrace the medium they had. Pixel artists like Brandon shape the medium and embrace its quirks, while people of the past strived for more and more. It shows that there are two avenues of skill: learning a skill to its fullest and exploration into new mediums.
I also enjoy just how unique Brandon's style is. Many pixel artists (from what I've seen, at least" choose bright colors and vibrant palettes when making pixel art, but Brandon isn't afraid of more subdued tones. Love your work!
Indeed, the thing about this style is to me it just really pops out at you, it's a great lettering choice if your making an indie pixel art game and looking to make a title logo for the game.
My guess is that they wanted to emulate the “Star Wars Crawl” to some extent, but making 2D objects appear to have depth is why artists shade and add shadows and use perspective and all that.
Zaxxon was one of my favorites from back in the day, because it had that 3D appearance.
They didn't try to embrace the medium they had, because they were trying to come as close as they could to the vision they had with the technology they had available. The stylistic effects of technological limitations don't become apparent until the limitations are removed.
@@timothymclean
Yeah i think that’s something a lot of people miss about pixel art as a medium. Now, people will almost exclusively use it for 2d art, which makes sense because there were next to no true 3d games in the 8/16 bit era, which is the most well known for pixel art. But back then, this wasn’t a choice you could make, you had to use pixel art no matter what, 2d or 3d. Making something appear 3d wasn’t a counterintuitive choice it was simply the only choice available.
I like the whole story that emerges while you're working on it. And I agree, it really needed a subtitle.
It's interesting because I definitely like the aesthetic, wouldn't be subscribed if I didn't, but my workflow would have been completely different.. I would have made the typography in 3D, imported the image in PS as a template to pixel over and indexed the color for an automatic dithering gradient.
You know what, that's a great workflow idea! I'v even messed around with 3D tools in Clip Studio Paint; gonna have to keep that idea in mind for the future. Thanks! :D
Cyber Craze peaked at Silicon Bordello as Metal Abyss was hurt by the short development cycle.
I was more partial to Cyber Craze: Code Delta, but that's just because I love Metroidvanias so much, and it was shockingly well made, considering the circumstances
Cyber Craze Metal Abyss was actually the first "craze" type game so I'm glad its finally getting some love
tbh i'd say Metal Abyss is my personal favourite.
the mechanics are actually really good, and the game's a lot fairer if you _actually_ understand them
the problem's that _the game doesn't know how to teach you_
like, the hook n' slash: _you're supposed to attack _*_while_*_ you're still hooking an enemy, not _*_after_*
'cause then the slow lead-in is basically negated, and you can reliably use the stun the attack gives and not just get punished by even slightly faster enemies
but it just teaches you can hook people in, use the axe to attack, and then tells you to "hook and _then_ slash" or whatever
it never specifies _how damn early you gotta do it_
(ever wonder why mostly speedrunners liked this one? _'cause they figured these things out_ )
i promise, if you don't like Metal Abyss, just search the old forums, you'll find quite a few tips and "cheats" that'll make the game 10x more enjoyable
(man i wish they added this in the remake n' change a lot of the phrasing in tutorials.
i think i even remember the design lead admitting that they weren't that happy with how they explained stuff, but were a bit cut for time and screen space. anyone know where to find those old interviews?)
Tbh I Metal abyss was always too difficult for me, but I think it make a lot of great changes to the series (the grappling hook being my favorite). Where the series REALLY started to go down was Cyborg Rampage.
I Agree Cyborg Rampage Crisis of Steel was a terrible spinoff. It really sucks when a game series loses that magic it's known for, in a company is bought out.
I miss classic Crazy Gear Studio's Games.
I was today years old when I found Cyborg Rampage wasn't just a stand alone shovelware lol.
@@Junkuza video game history is fascinating for sure.
“Cyber Craze: Metal Abyss” wasn’t my favorite, but “Metal Origins” was the coolest IMO. I still remember it taking forever to download the demo back in the day, and I couldn’t wait to get home to play it.
I played the crap out of that demo.
Sequels Rock! 😉
love how the crt screen made the dithering blend more! turned out so good :)
Metal Abyss had some really good ideas that I think would've freshened up the series if it wasn't for the extreme difficulty and all the bugs that made it almost impossible to finish, but I think if they were to revamp it like they did with the Cyber Craze Classic Collection, fix all the bugs and give it a new coat of paint, it would get the appreciation it deserves. Maybe even bundle it with the final game for the "sequel duology collection" or something. The 5th game actually sucks but I'm sure people would want to play it.
As others of have said, actually Metal Abyss was my fav too. It had it's issues, but I think that had a lot of charm and helped cement some really precious memories I have of my brother and I playing co-op together. Part of me wants to pick it up again, but idk, I get the feeling that those memories are best left and cherished as they are 😅
Oh man, I remembered my bro played Metal Abyss on SNES version. Heard that the Genesis was quite different in terms of difficulty but the soundtrack was so much better!
Amazing work on the video btw. I always get inspired by your videos even been trying to do pixel art even tho I am morr comfortable with regular digital art
I use piskell, and one of the things I do for gradiant lettering is have a layer with transparent letters on a black background, then draw the gradient separately. and I've always loved using lemon yellow fading to pink, with a sharp jump to blue fading to purple.
Metal Abyss is glitchy af, but it does make for some fun speedruns! I would definitely recommend new players start with the Switch remake of the original Cyber Craze though - the QOL improvements make a huge difference.
truuuue speedruns of MA are some of my fav runs at GDQ
you're my hero, and by far my main inspiration for improving my pixel art
People always shit on Metal Abyss, saying the series lost its edge and that it went too mainstream from this entry onward.
I don't know if they just never got to the mind prison section or don't remember it but that stuff was wild for the time. Also it being released at the end of the Genesis's life it really made use of all of the system with some of the best art and music of the time. It really was a great game.
I had my glasses off for a little bit when I looked at the Cyber Craze title ( I have blurry vision) and I thought he had blended them like natural colors because it looked like a paint kind of gradient. Soo in other words the gradient totally works :D
while i'm not too big of a fan of games akin to cyber craze, metal abyss in particular has had a place in my heart for a little while now for it's aesthetic, and more especially it's Soundtrack. if dean evans has a brother, it must be whoever composed this game- it sounds *just* like his smooth and mysterious tones he tends to put out!! it's a wonderful mix against the vibrant yet grungy world the game's set up
Brandon James Greer, now you have a magazine AND a game to make, good luck.
Honestly, I didn’t even know it was a sequel until I was an adult. I loved it as a kid. It was a Genesis exclusive, and all my friends with SNES always wanted to come play it.
My friend has played Metal Abyss before, and we talked about it a couple of times. They told me the game was lucky even to come out, going under intense crunch for the summer holiday release. And I think that glitches of your character disappearing or losing all of your missiles randomly just adds to the atmosphere of being a rogue cyborg hunting down other rogue cyborgs. Who's to say (besides most of the reviewers) that your character's implants aren't faulty and thus causing all the glitches?
Great video, I love it when people can talk and make up lore together. Based on what was said about the game, I think it would be a mixture of Blade Runner and Cyberpunk 2077.
Metal Abyss was never one of my favourites in the series, but I could see what it was going for with the more Metroid-like gameplay. The original is obviously a classic, but I think Silver Sanctuary is where the series truly peaked.
I love doing lettering like this, it's alot of fun to just go around adding little details :D
It was a true difficulty for Metal Abyss. Not memorization like BattleToads. Awesome freaking game series, Cyber Craze!
This is a super cool video topic, thanks brandon!
Man, those gradients look incredible on the CRT.
"Metal Abyss is one of those games that's just CRYING OUT for a remake. If they could have ironed out the bugs and balanced out some of the overpowered enemies, I think it could have been the best in the Cyber Craze series!"
Jokes aside, you did an amazing job on this! And it makes me kinda wanna try this method out!
I’ve actually done pretty much this exact workflow to make a title for a future game I’m gonna work on, and I’m really super happy with the result
I love how Metal Abyss gave us a well needed backstory for the original antagonist! Very much underrated!
Love your narrative for Cybercraze. Reminded me of "The Lore of Canis", which needs a sequel!
Absolutely love your channel, man. I've been binging for weeks now every chance I get. I've learned so much from you, and I greatly appreciate it.
I cant wait to see what you come up with next. ❤
OMG! I completely forgot about Cyber Craze!!! Wow this video certainly unlocked a memory.
Looks great, I usually also use the following.
- Curve around the edges of the letters, which basically means I let highlights blend slightly across the edges of the letters, you did that in your examples too, but you can really play with that to make it feel dynamic. So basically instead of having a set transition point, the transition point varies based on the shape of the letters / word structure.
- Texture based transitions, so basically, if it's a slime game title, make the colors droop slightly, if it's stone, you apply a bit of stone texture to the letters, etc.
The 3D effect looks really nice, I haven't tried that yet and it's very insightful.
This came out gorgeous, Brandon!! I was super excited for CRT Time and it did not disappoint in the slightest :)
I've had fun messing around and trying a few things out since I saw this video. Its neat. Made my first ever pixel art character sprites too to go under my latest mock title.
Brandon is one of the handful of creators ill actually hit the bell for cause I want to watch everything they release asap
I remember a dunkey video where he played Cyber Craze: Metal Abyss, such a classic
the animation of the text really takes it to the next level. i love SuperColorPalette too! it's really helpful.
just recently came across your channel/work, and got absolutely enthralled with your content man. it's like whatever ASMR is, but for your eyes 😄. truly amazing stuff - and your instructional/commentary...don't wanna make it weird, but you're precision with the language is 👌. engaging work to look at AND listen to. looking forward to more of your work, but still happily diving deep into 3 year old content. great work dood.
Cyber Craze , truly a game of all times
Every time I see a new video from you I feel inspired to create! This turned out great! I'd play that game!
i love your videos so much i got them notifs on HAHAHA
Oh man, that's what I need
Oh, amazing!
In Photoshop you can convert Text to Shape and do most of the things using vectors. That way you can get image that will nicely scale to various resolutions. You can have your low-res pixel-art lettering that can be upscaled up to smooth and sharp 4K for box art logo.
Love the design! Totally agree that the games were rock solid until metal abyss. We’d love to see a screenshot from that famous boss fight against General Gorvak! Can’t wait for your next video
Cool and fresh topic for a new vid BJG. I even stopped Mario Wonder for this. We all know that a Robotic Bubblegum Lord is a winner concept. In a new vid down the line perchance ? Dithered bubbles with highlight mania!
Hahaha thank you for catching that one - I was so tempted - maybe someday! Now get back to Mario Wonder :D
Yeah Metal Abyss had to be outsourced to a much less experienced studio and they were essentially told by Indigo Electronics that the engine that Amperage Games had been using since the first game had been completely lost and they needed to start from scratch.
Of course they weren't experienced enough to make an engine that could properly handle all the mechanics the series had been piling up since.
Though the team still had a clear passion with the game and it really shows in its sound track, art style, creative enemy designs, and the now beloved story.
It might not be the best mechanically, but it's become something of a cult classic over time.
Unfortunately it's never been re-released and many fans have been eager for Sega, now the parent company of Indigo, to give the game the recognition it deserves.
Metal Abyss has become a cult classic in some spheres. Obviously there's no topping the og Cyber Craze, or Cyber Craze: Digital Return. But I'll be controversial and say that Metal Abyss paved the way for Cyber Craze: Circuit City and all the other future installments, giving us a lot of staple features that are actually really fun to play with now when they're properly fleshed out. The developers at Sinnesloschen see Metal Abyss as a black mark on their history, because of it being rushed and underdeveloped, but I i see it as a snapshot of history in the making, leading to the franchise we all love and enjoy today.
That's actually a very fair and diplomatic way to look at it and respect their history. Metal Abyss was something of a pariah; a title that walked - perhaps 'stumbled', even - so Circuit City could run 🙂
This is EXACTLY what I’ve been looking for!!!! Great video!!! Your channel has actually inspired me to use sprites for my own channel, and making a custom title is perfect for my animation.
Question for you: how did you animate it at the end? Could you maybe do a tutorial? I’d assume either making an image sequence directly in photoshop or After Effects but I’m definitely curious
Metal Abyss introduced my absolute favorite characters in the series! The glitched mini boss battle on the sky rail platform was frustrating for sure, but overall the game is a serious gem. Amazing soundtrack too.
I cannot wait for the hour and a half video essay on Cyber Craze: Metal Abyss
Metal Abyss was so good, I just wish it wasn't so rare to find physical copies anymore. Sold my copy when I was a kid and oh boy do I regret that...
I personally preferred the second game, Cyber Craze Circuit Clash (That's Quad C to us Cyber-heads), but I really found myself enjoying Metal Abyss despite the glitches. I wouldn't say "underrated" but definitely "over-hated"
Wow thanks you so much 👍
I always get nostalgic when you do CRT-time. Reminds me of the old-school games I used to play, and how good they looked on older tv's. Anyways. Great video!
Good work.
Metal Abyss was brutal and me and my best friend never actually completed it. The soundtrack was a banger though.
Metal Abyss DEFINITELY had the best soundtrack of the series. The final boss theme was an absolute banger, the perfect mix of anxiety and hype. I recommend you give it another go if you have a system that can play it, just for that track ALONE!
as for pixel artifacts when scaling, rotating applying perspective, etc, it often works better to make a much higher quality image with rotation and perspective and scaling them down without smoothing afterwards. those artifact primarily appear, because there isn't enough information about the shape you're trying to create. when performing these actions you're giving the program an image that doesn't conform to the pixel grid and then asking it pick the closest color for each pixel. this works way better when giving it an image whether shapes can be more well defined. thanks for coming to my ted talk :)
Metal abyss is like doom 3. people don't like it because it doesn't really fit with the other games in the franchise, but if you remove it from the expectations people have for a cyber craze game and just think of it as an independent game, it actually was a really solid game
People who think Metal Abyss is the worst of the Cyber Craze´s are wild. All the glitches just added to the experience and made it much more than what it was in the previous entries. Level 8 - 3 is my favorite because when the timer hits 301 you can tell the soundtrack just resets.
amazing.
Yeah I thought that Metal Abyss was kind of a tipping point where the series started going downhill. But man Cyber Craze: Into the Core was damn good
you make this look easy
I feel like people are way too hard on Metal Abyss, but Cyber Craze: Armageddon Cell will always be my favorite in the series.
Great!
I liked Metal Abyss, it's the under-appreciated schlocky gem. Personally I think it's the next entry in the series, "Cyber Craze: Digital Dilemma" where it starts to fall apart by no longer taking itself seriously.
i think Cyber Craze Metal Abyss was a step in the wrong direction (especially considering the mess of glitches) but they pulled it back together with Cyber Craze Andromeda. perfect transition into 3D and it brought back mechanics from the original games that Metal Abyss scrapped
metal abyss always looked so cool to me but only my cousin had it u__u i love your take on the title and seeing your process :D i mostly do digital art but its nice watching someone work in a different creative space, CRT time is always something i look forward to
The first 3 Cyber Craze games lack real substance and depth. METAL ABYSS is the mature take the franchise needed and is exponentially superior. 😎
Seriously though, awesome documentation on your 3D text workflow! Connecting the drop shadow to create the blocky effect is really effective ✨
Glad to see a fellow man of culture 😎 There certainly was a cinematic quality that was unique to that title; a true shame it got overshadowed by the eventual controversies of the franchise in general 🥲 And thanks, kinda improvised that bit and ended up being a nice enough way to handle things! 😅
Really disappointed that Cyber Craze Kalamity War never got made. Would have been a huge hit for the Dreamcast.
Great vid!!
I'd love it if you kept building the cyber craze "lore" with other assets
Amazing as always! I recently watched your block bench videos and via that found crocotile 3d, have you heard of it?. I think it might be right up your alley!
You can use the skew tool before you rastarize the text layer. Since the text is still vector at that point, you don't get so many artefacts.
Cyber craze 4 monster mercury membrane was my favourite
I was never able to beat this game, not even with the help of walkthroughs. Anyway, I also love to draw pixel art titles, maybe that's even my favorite.
0:42 Sorry if this is nitpicky but the top perspective point of that title is a LOT lower than shown. It's subtle but to get the actual convergence point, you'll wanna make sure those green lines on the M and the D stay parallel to the sides of the letters the entire time.
Metal abyss, while not being the N1 best in the franchise, is still a good game with amazing graphic with a epic soundtrack to accompany it, it a good way to spend some times playing it, i give a note of 6/10♥
Despite never playing Metal Abyss, I'd say it's definitely my favourite in the series, you can really see where they were going with the innovative gameplay. Unfortunately pressure from higher ups forced the game to be rushed, giving us what we know today
If you emulate CCMB on PC and use your keyboard, it is SO MUCH EASIER than when you were forced to use the janky controls with a Genesis controller. There's also a couple patches that I've seen floating around on retro game forums where people have been trying to fix all of the bugs. I wonder if it'll ever get ported to the Nintendo Switch, because the series is pretty much abandoned at this point.
CCMA’s biggest problem wasn’t even the bugs. It was that if you didn’t play CCDE or CCCC you would have absolutely no idea how to cyber slide because the game does not teach you ANYTHING.
Metal abyss was the last good one, diverging from the original formula and adding new features just enough to make it both recognizable and novel, IMO
I liked it abit surprised when it was ported to GBA but it was fun to play during lunch at school back in the day
Super
Another style of flat gradient I personally like to do besides dithering is to have the horizontal lines that break up the color become thinner and thinner almost like color banding
And tbh while I think Metal Abyss was certainly a low point for the franchise, it ultimately served as the groundwork for the excellent Cyber Craze: Hollow Destiny, so I can’t hate it too much
Metal Abyss kicked my butt for years. I just couldn't get the timing right on that first boss. When he swings that eye / leg / arm thing to hit those crates he would get me everytime..... its the THIRD cycle that you can actually get a clean shot on him.
Metal Abyss was such a bummer, i hope they go back to the roots like with cyber craze grand chase, that was a great game
You should totally make some Cyber Craze: Metal Abyss characters. Sounds like some kinda robo-demon dance party.
It would be cool if you made a sprite sheet and ran a game jam.
Metal abyss had so much potential and best story but it's so glitchy, I'd love for a remastered or something (by that I mean you should totally flesh out this "game")
I feel like Metal Abyss would kinda be the "Mojara's Mask" or "Twilight Princess" of the franchise. Like the kinda game a store employee would warn you about being "darker than the other titles"
I've been called a contrarian; an apologist, but I don't care. Metal Abyss is unironically my favourite entry in the franchise
the ability to change perspective of the lettering like that is so cool!! does anything like that exist in aseprite?
2:05 - That was a pun, wasn't it? :p
They got it right when they revived the franchise with Geozone on NDS, but cleary many things in Metal Abyss did not make to be canon. (Jokes aside, this work fits so well with other titles in the thumbnail I thought it was a real underground game)
Suas dicas são tão úteis.