『METAL SLUG』の開発中、魔法使いと呼ばれていた天才プログラマー、ANDY君が作ったドット絵エディター『キャメル』。 それは、まさにドッターたちにとって、夢のようなツールでした。 その名前は、当時ANDY君が好きだったタバコ『Camel』から取ったもの。 ツールのアイコンには、タバコのパッケージに描かれているヒトコブラクダ『オールドジョー』を、ANDY君自らドット絵で描き起こしたものを使っていました。 アイレムで使っていたドット絵エディター『さだやんペイント』には、『海底大戦争』でSUSUMU君が表現していた水中背景の揺らめきのような、ラスタースクロール表現を簡単に作れる機能があったんです。 その機能は『キャメル』にも引き継がれており、『METAL SLUG』でも、砂漠の遠景を陽炎のように揺らす表現などに使っていました。 その機能を使い、さらに一歩踏み込んだ表現として作られたのが、UFOが放つトラクタービーム等のエフェクトです。 トラクタービームの絵は、ビームの形と重なる背景の絵をそのまま使い、その絵のカラーパレットを、発光して見える数種類のカラーに入れ替えながら、さらにラスタースクロールをかけることで、ビームを通して見た背景が揺らいで見えるように表現しているんです。 このエフェクトを作ったのは、ドッターのTOMO君なんですが、UFOと背景の座標を完璧に一致させないと、なんちゃって半透明に見えなくなってしまうので、TOMO君は敵配置担当のmeeher君に、こう念を押しました。 「ビームエフェクトを1から作り直しになってしまうから、UFOと背景の座標は絶対に変更するなよ！」 すると、meeher君は、 「わかった、絶対に変えない」 と言っていたんですが、数日後UFOの位置を変えてしまいます。 meeher君は、TOMO君が、とんでもない手間を掛けてあのエフェクトを作っていたことを理解していなかったようで、めちゃくちゃ怒られていました。 あの頃のTOMO君はスケジュール度外視で、納得がいくまで時間を使ってしまうドッターだったので、通常の担当作業に組み込むのは難しかったんです。 そこで、後輩たちの絵の手直しや、クオリティアップに繋がる作業を、やりたいようにやらせていました。 手が遅くても良い仕事をするクリエイターには充分な時間を与え、作品全体のクオリティアップに努めてもらう。 そういう贅沢な人員配置も、メタスラの拘りの一つかもしれません。 あの半透明に見えるエフェクトは、そうやって時間を気にせず動ける存在と、『キャメル』があったからこそ生まれた表現なんでしょうね。 #METALSLUG #PixelArt #retrogaming

❤️

私が描いたANDY君ですね☺️

Awesome 😎

This one too☺️

Thank you, Mr. ANDY! and Camel, too! The screen effects are so seamless I sometimes don't notice them. Like the one coming from the turret of TANI-OH, I'll make sure to look at it closely next time I play

Thank you☺️ TOMO really put an incredible amount of work into those effects. Back then, everyone was trying to surprise the player with things no one had ever seen before.

You know what is funny ? Back when i was playing this game on ps1 as a little kid, my uncle was watching me and said "Hey the camel you ride in this game looks really similar to the camel on my cigarette" he said jokingly. He was also a big Camel smoker 😂

☺️

I think that these custom-made tools also need to be preserved alongside what they helped create.

I completely agree. I wish it could be renewed for the modern era and released commercially.

@AlluPatronia or at the very least be open-sourced for archival purposes

@AlluPatronia I agree, it would be wonderful to preserve it as open source for history. It’s a pity we can’t make it happen easily, but I appreciate your love for the development history.☺️

The art for Metal Slug is unmatched. You guys did an incredible job.

🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️

Thinking it better, this blurring effect is used far more often than I remember You guys are geniuses Cheers!

Thank you☺️ I’m glad you’re noticing even more of the little tricks we put into Metal Slug. Cheers!

Camel? Wow, I always love to hear about the custom tooling that people have in-house. It's especially rare to hear of stuff from the dot era, thank you for sharing! Any other details about Camel would be much appreciated!

ANDY says he doesn’t really have any stories about Camel☺️

Well, thank you ANDY nonetheless - the work you, akio and the rest of the team did is inspirational!

Thank you very much☺️ I’m sure ANDY and the rest of the team would be happy to hear that.

It is lovely isn't it, when somebody takes the time to build a tool for you and your particular needs as an artist. It is a rare privilege some of us get to experience and it's... very fun! I've been lucky to have an older brother who has been making games, engines and tools since the early 80s, and have experienced it a few times!

Incredible, how I wish that Camel existed with us right now. those kind of effects are still so hard to get right!

Yeah, it would be wonderful if ANDY could release it someday☺️

🖤

Do you still use camel these days? I remember helping some friends redo the MS2 final mission Morden abduction with a character from MSA. It's already hard enough doing the replacements in editing, so I guess Tomo's emphasis on not changing anything makes sense 😂.

Thank you☺️ I think Camel was used on Windows 98, so I can’t use it anymore. Even among designers, we sometimes couldn’t fully understand each other’s little tricks, so asking meeher to understand all of that may have been impossible😅

this is so interesting to me, i always had this interest for the ancient ways of doing pixel art in the time of the arcades. i have seen you use aseprite for the pixel art of BFJ, what do you think of it in comparison of the ones you used before? (i use the paint./net app)

If there were a modern version of Camel made for today’s era, I think our work would move forward at an unbelievable speed.

@ninjafrito What other kinds of capabilities did Camel have that aren't present in today's applications?

@ninjafrito I still don’t fully understand Aseprite myself, so it’s difficult for me to compare Camel with modern applications😅

How were the Arabic signs in METAL SLUG 2 so funny? They were too good to be simple translation

That was our background artist, SUSUMU-kun, having fun while thinking of ways to entertain everyone☺️

The Arabic was very accurate and very funny! And this was back in the day before Google Translate and all this so I’m sure it was a joke for a small audience. Me and my uncle enjoyed it on his PC 😌

Metal Slugのドット絵は本当にすごすぎる🥰

ありがとうございます🙇

@tombiiwa このエフェクトとゲーム内容を68000一つで動かせるのが不思議でならない…！

職人の拘りが重なりあって表現の幅が広がったこそ、メタルスラッグ という作品が魅せる作品になっていったのを感じるお話ですね😀

そうですね、SUSUMU、TOMO、MAX-D。 彼らのようなドッターが居てくれたら、安心してゲームが作れます☺️

@matsushita_8bit 凄くマニアックで興味深い内容をありがとうございました。 メタスラへの情熱や拘りや向き合い方 やはり芸術家に近いものを感じます 何気なく当たり前に見えていた半透明処理が ラスターまで駆使した神技だったとは すんなり受け入れるものほど 実はとても手が込んでいる それ故に感動するんですね🥹

@matsushita_8bit ありがとうございます！ まさにその通りで、プレイヤーが違和感なく、すんなり受け入れられるような映像づくりこそが、一番こだわった部分であり、一番手が込んでいるところなんです。 そこに気づいて感動していただけて、本当に嬉しいです☺️

Incrível! Adorava ver esses efeitos lindos em Metal Slug na época dos Arcades aqui no Brasil. Um dos meus primeiros jogos com essa direção de arte incrível em Pixel ART foi o Undercover Cops, port do Arcade para o Super Famicom. Meu Metal Slug favorito é o 3, obrigado @akio_1963

Obrigado☺️ É muito emocionante saber que esses efeitos chegaram até os arcades do Brasil naquela época. Quando alguém diz que Metal Slug 3 é o favorito, sinto que todo aquele esforço valeu a pena🙇

@ldo_ryu09 Bonjour, Chaque pixel de Metal Slug en valait la peine. Donc oui, mille fois merci.

@ldo_ryu09 Ça valait la peine de dessiner en mettant notre âme dans chaque pixel ! Merci à vous aussi d’avoir regardé notre travail avec autant d’attention🙇

@ldo_ryu09 Nos yeux ne pouvaient et ne parviennent toujours pas à se détacher de la qualité de votre travail sur Metal Slug, akio sensei.

@ldo_ryu09 Merci infiniment ! C’est un honneur absolu de savoir que notre travail captive encore vos yeux après toutes ces années. Vos mots me touchent beaucoup.☺️

You mentioned Sadayan Paint. Was that application used for pixel art? Is it still around or was it custom made proprietary software? I’m fascinated with the old paint apps like Dpaint etc.

Sadayan Paint was a custom-made tool created at Irem for drawing pixel art☺️ I don’t think it exists anymore.

こんな裏側があったとは・・！どれも記憶にしっかり残る演出です

ありがとうございます☺️ ギャグっぽい演出を支えるしっかりしたエフェクトが良いですよね～

Metal Slugのラクダ車両は、このソフトウェアへの直接的なオマージュだと思うよ :)

It's stories like this that display the talent of artists doing a lot with little power. Compared to today's AAA titles, Metal Slug has become timeless due to these efforts. It's nice the game series is getting the exposure today it deserves.

Thank you! Back then, hardware limitations actually fueled our creativity, pushing us to squeeze every bit of expression into the pixel art. I'm deeply moved that you feel our efforts made the game timeless.☺️

pixel art peak

Thank you☺️ I’m very happy to receive such high praise.

big fan of your works, water in my eyes thinking about that era, as we get older that nostalgia becomes harder to handle ngl but sharing it these moments with you reading this makes me feel more connected to those memories. thanks for everything ❤️🙏

Thank you so much❤️🙏 As we get older, those memories seem to become even more precious, don’t they? I’m truly happy that I can share that era with you like this.

<3

Does Camel software still get used? I need to create some pixel art for a project I'm currently developing, do you recommend any software for drawing pixel art, preferably free since I'm trying not to invest money into this project, only my time? Thanks, this was informative!

Thank you! Camel was a custom internal tool tailored for our specific hardware back then, so it isn't used or available today. To be honest, I'm not overly familiar with all the recent software out there; I currently use Aseprite myself 😅 But I think the best approach is to try out various tools to see what fits you.☺️ Good luck with your project! ☺️

@sakuemonq Joe Camel? What an interesting choice for inspiration.

Akio-san, every time you regale us with these fascinating stories, I find myself wishing someone would interview you and your compatriots and make a documentary about Japanese game development during the 2D era. There’s so much history there that never made it to the West.

I completely agree that the unique history of that chaotic yet passionate era deserves to be preserved for future generations worldwide. However... I'm a bit shy, so stepping into the spotlight isn't really my thing! 😅

Understandable. Many artists are shy. So I have the perfect solution: Animate your pixel art avatar and have it do all the on-screen talking. 😄

Noooo! Even with that, I’d still be way too shy! 😅

All your work is truly inspiring. The MS series is a masterpiece of pixel art and remains the best reference to this day.

Thank you so much☺️ Back then, we were just desperately trying to make something that would stand out in the arcade. I never imagined that so many people would still be looking at those pixel art pieces nearly 30 years later. It makes me very happy🙇

Amazing program. Even more impressive that this was from the 90s.

Thank you☺️ ANDY was truly a wizard.

こんなツール欲しいなぁ。 私もメタルスラッグのようなドット絵が描けるように色々研究してみようかな？

私も、こんなツールが欲しいです。

この時代には、こうした明確なアートがさらに必要です。ゲームは完全に二つの極端にシフトしています。実写か低解像度かのどちらかですが、これはしばしば見過ごされがちです

that's so cool! I've always been curious to know how sprites were made back in the day. I was looking for information about it the other day, but there's almost nothing anywhere. Thanks for sharing, and I'll be hoping to see more if you can share it with us That would be amazing!

Thank you☺️ I’m glad people are interested in how we made sprites back then. I’ll try to share more stories whenever I can.

😎💣

そんな技術があったとは…凄いです✨🐪✨

TOMO君は賢いですよね☺️

Your work is truly legendary!!! You’ve inspired so many people around the world, and I really admire everything you’ve created :] Do you still plan to talk about what it was like developing the first version of Metal Slug 1, before humans were added as the main characters?

is there any way to get ahold of camel these days? or are there better tools now?

No, Camel is completely unavailable today as it was an internal tool for our specific hardware back then. There are many great modern tools available now, so I highly recommend trying those instead!☺️

what do you use these days? i've only really gotten into aseprite

I bought Aseprite too, but I only use it about twice a year, so I never seem to remember how to use it properly☺️ I guess I need to draw more often😅

what are you using for blackfinger jet?

The programmer seems to be using Unity. As for pixel art tools, I use Aseprite, while the other pixel artist uses EDGE.

ill investigate EDGE!! i just like to know whats out there