I found this video game poster via an image search, which clearly isn’t from a C64 (size 640 x 400 pixels, different 16 colors than C64). I thought about recreating it in C64 multicolor for self-education. The first step in my analysis was recoloring it into the Colodore color palette, an idealized version of the C64 color palette(s). It seems to be drawn for the Amiga. It has 3 shades of red and of green; the C64 has only 2 of those. Plus, it has a flesh color, which the C64 sorely lacks.
I found an interview with the mentioned Peter Johnson on Codetapper’s Amiga Site. And it appears he rewrote the C64 version for the Amiga. No mention of who drew the poster. Peter did draw the game art, I assume. Alas, there’s no date stamp on the article, but judging from the copyright notice it’s probably from 2020, but it could be as early as 2016.
Now will I recreate the poster? Probably not, but it’s a good reference to have, to see what good illustrators were able to whip up in a short amount of time. Even back then, the games industry was brutal. Games did last as long as they were popular. There was always something newer and better to draw the attention of gamers. Time was a-wastin', always.
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