On a whim, I decided to use the ability to swap textures in the later editions of PCSX2 emulators, and make a custom texture for a Chevy K1500 in this game. Not sure why the hell I decided to do it, I usually dismiss software-powered texture swapping.
Here's the original texture that I worked with:
It is not hard to notice that the texture mostly depicts half of the car, save for one piece. Looking at the car in the game itself, it becomes quite obvious that the Fire Spirit piece is on the cover of a truck bed, and the rest of the car is mirrored.
So, first of all, I decided that I want a name of the car on the back. But how can I write the whole word... when I only can write half of it, and the rest has to be mirrored?
Going into the web with such a question, I discovered that there's such a thing as an "ambigram", and a lot of people actually make them for fun. I've started studying designs and sketching. Here's some of the stuff that has been done in the process:
I have eventually settled on the gothic style and went through developing it. Here are some of the last concepts, plus the final variant:
I gotta say, for the first time designing an ambigram, this turned out quite well. Maybe my days of doodling and actually spraying several graffiti on the walls were not completely for nothing.
Once the ambigram was ready, I went for the truck bed. I decided that I should attempt to design a mural for this one. Last time I tried to draw a mural, I actually gave up. This time though...
A week later, I actually made it. Since it was my first time drawing a complete picture, with a character, background, lights and shadows and the rest of the stuff, the result is... what it is. But, I guess, it is better than nothing. Here's the original mural as is. All of the above sketches were 200% in size, by the way.
It comes with a short poem too. I never considered myself much of a poet, and it has nothing to do with a texture, but I liked it, so here it is.
Thus ends the tale of the human race
Their souls eternal now,
Beyond constraints of time and space
And as I dance, for one last time I place
Their hearts against the feather.
Moving on with the rest of the texture, I went for my usual approach. That is, a bit of everything, and of the worst taste possible. So I dropped some pinstripes, some lowrider graphics and, of course, just a lick of a flame, because what kind of american wheels are these if they have no flamejob.
As you can see, on the texture itself the mural has to be compressed vertically by 50%. I knew it from the start, and I knew it ain't gonna end well, yet I still went for it. Well, I paid the price.
Putting the brighness and contrasts higher made it look a little bit better, and that's why the mural is over-saturated on the final texture. The default colors under all the game shaders looked even worse. I also had to remake several details a little bit. Most notably, his golden brow had to be removed, since after compression it made the eye look way off.
The good bit... well, the rest of the car looks nice. Especially the ambigram.
Could I've made the texture bigger and made the whole thing look better? Yea, I probably could have. Haven't tested it, but dead sure PCSX2 supports replacing textures with higher resolution ones.
However, I try to stay away from HQ textures, simply because usually a texture in higher resolution tends to stand out a lot among the textures of lower resolution. Especially in old games like this one.
That being said, no matter how HQ texture is, the mural is still compressed 50% in height by the game, so there will still be artifacts in inconsistences in the final result. Alas, that's just how some of those old games are.
What have we learned here? Well, maybe that there are better ways to kill your life than making textures for obscure old-ass junk video games. But... I also now have a new wallpaper for my N-Gage, so... that wasn't completely in vain.
