Motorcycle racing games are a different breed of racing game. Much like F1 is different from NASCAR, motorcycles are a unique beast to convert convincingly to digital screens. TT-64 looks to be doing that in great leaps on the Commodore 64, a computer that is now over 40 years old.
How You Get Around Limitations is What Matters
While you are not going to mistake these graphics for Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo quality, this is impressive for the hardware. Working with 8-Bit platforms using modern ideas requires knowing how to get around the limitations of the hardware.
The Commodore 64 is limited, everything is, just how far out those limitations are is where platforms differ. With the C64 its limitations seemingly keep getting pushed back depending on who is programming it.
TT-64 makes great use of the limited color palette and dithering to get around limitations. Skip to about 1:24 in the video below and check out the great use of one shade of gray mixed with dithering effects to create even more detail. Sure, that extra detail relies on the gamer’s imagination, but it is awesome how they did this.
Styling in 8-Bit
TT-64 has the style of motorcycle racing down quite well. Your character leans correctly as he enters turns. The sides of the road are not barren, there are buildings, light poles, signs, etc littering the shoulder – avoid that stuff at all costs.
This being a work in progress and being this far along gives me the warm and fuzzies that TT-64 is going to be a great release when finished.
Head over to the creators YouTube channel, check their content out and give them some encouragement if you enjoy their content. We never know when a like, another view, or a comment could be that boost someone needed to keep doing something they enjoy.