[rozab]

You might be interested in this GCD talk. The speaker was an artist on various classic adventure games. I found it really interesting how he considered himself a traditional artist and doesn't really like computers at all.

The things they achieved with pallette switching were unbelievable, especially considering the limitations of their tools. It's crazy how he managed to do this stuff just in basic paint programs. Some HNers will be horrified (just write some code!) but I think it's really inspiring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMcJ1Jvtef0

[flobosg]

Some of Mark Ferrari's palette-shifting scenes can be found at:

http://www.effectgames.com/demos/worlds/

http://www.effectgames.com/demos/canvascycle/

[dwater]

If you visit the worlds link, be sure to select "Show Options" and adjust the time of day. I'm assuming there are a lot of programmatic elements that create these effects.

[kevin_thibedeau]

It's all palette shifting with designated regions for different lighting directions.

[com2kid]

A few years back, I used a few tools piecemealed together to make a living wallpaper from Ferrari's waterfall piece.

I'll now gladly pay to have it done properly. :)

Edit: Curses, no parallax! The version of waterfall I made has parallax scrolling, I worked very hard getting that working! (By which I mean I found one strange wallpaper tool from a Korean developer that is the only tool that worked to pull off parallax animated GIF wallpapers). On a 21:9 screen. waterfall is about 3 screens wide...