Editing Plok! (section)

=== Graphics and art ===
[[File:Screen tone example.svg|thumb|During ''Fleapit''{{'}}s development, Ste created his black-and-white concept art with [[Letratone]] to make it look professional.]]  
Many of ''Plok!''{{'}}s visuals were formulated during its ''Fleapit'' stage, when it was being programmed for the Razz Board. The hardware had an unusual system that executed higher-depth graphics and performed better with fewer data. Unlike other hardware that used [[bitmap]] grids to encode colors and transparency through [[binary numbers]], the Razz Board hardware stored pixels as bytes, with the first six bits determining color, the seventh bit setting its vertical position relative to its predecessor, and the eighth determining its horizontal position.<ref name = "Vinylalbumnotes"/> For instance, using a bitmap system to create a 32-pixel line requires a grid of 1,024 pixels (32x32) with 992 of them being transparent, whereas making the same line took only 32 bytes in Razz Board.<ref name = "Vinylalbumnotes"/> This meant sprites weren't restricted to perfectly square sizes, which Ste took advantage of when creating the text font, although he set an arbitrary limit of 22x29.<ref name = "Fleapitfont">{{cite web|last=Pickford|first=Ste|date=10 August 2009|url=http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/view.php?post=285|title=Font – Fleapit|website=Zee-3|accessdate=20 February 2021}}</ref> For the SNES game, Brooke designed two new fonts for 16x16 and 8x8 bitmap grids: one based on Ste's font for ''Fleapit'',<ref>{{cite web|last=Pickford|first=Ste|date=24 August 2009|url=http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/view.php?post=299|title=Plok font #1|website=Zee-3|accessdate=20 February 2021}}</ref> which in turn was based on his lettering in concept drawings,<ref name = "Fleapitfont"/> and another for the silent movie-esque screens in the Legacy Island levels.<ref>{{cite web|last=Pickford|first=Ste|date=25 August 2009|url=http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/view.php?post=300|title=Plok font #2|website=Zee-3|accessdate=20 February 2021}}</ref> Software Creations' leader and ''Plok!'' executive producer{{Sfn|Tradewest|1993|p=28}} Mike Webb reported compressing 50% of the game's 16-megabit graphics data (equivalent to ''[[Street Fighter II]]'') down to eight megabits.{{Sfn|Brookes|1992|p=18}}

''Fleapit'' was the Pickfords' first game in which Ste created concept art, aiming to appear more professional and adapt to an increased focus on presentation for buyers in the industry. According to Ste, this shift changed the process of green-lighting a game, moving beyond simply starting programming: "Everyone in the industry was self-taught, and there were no standards or expectations of how a new game should progress. I remember it being a struggle to justify spending work time drawing pretty pictures which wouldn't actually contribute to the game."<ref name = "Fleapitwork">{{cite web|last=Pickford|first=Ste|date=14 October 2004|url=http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/plok-fleapit.php|title=Fleapit work|website=Zee-3|accessdate=20 February 2021}}</ref> Ste added shades to the concept art using [[Letratone]] as an easy method to achieve a businesslike aesthetic.<ref name = "Fleapitwork"/> He drew the illustrations in black and white, focusing more on shape than on color, as photocopying technology at the time only allowed monochrome prints.{{Sfn|''GamesTM''|2014|pp=8–9}} The color scheme was initially designed for an 8-bit arcade title; to achieve a "natural" look, colors were concentrated into extreme areas of the [[RGB color model|RGB color wheel]].{{Sfn|''GamesTM''|2014|p=8}} When the project evolved into a 16-bit SNES game, the color scheme—though generally the same—became more detailed with a wider palette,{{Sfn|''GamesTM''|2014|p=9}} and Ste used [[magic marker]]s to color the concept art. This art was used not only for the game but also for other titles and potential franchise products, as well as illustrations for the instruction manual.<ref name = "Plokwork">{{cite web|last=Pickford|first=Ste|date=17 October 2004|url=http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/plok-concept.php|title=Plok work|website=Zee-3|accessdate=21 February 2021}}</ref>

John's first plan for maximizing the use of the Razz Board was through Plok's animation; since he had separable limbs, all six parts were animated as independently-moving static sprites.<ref name = "Vinylalbumnotes"/> The separated limbs made Plok easier to animate and reduced the graphical data required, as static parts could be coded to move and rotate instead of creating multiple frames.<ref>{{cite web|last=Pickford|first=Ste|date=14 October 2004|url=http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/view.php?post=449|title=Lemme At 'Em!|website=Zee-3|accessdate=21 February 2021}}</ref> Ste also designed Plok's boots and gloves to be oversized, maximizing the potential of the detachable-limb design.<ref name = "Vinylalbumnotes"/> The fleas, though animated traditionally with frames, had only two legs to simplify animating extreme poses<ref name = "Fleapitknockerover">{{cite web|last=Pickford|first=Ste|date=14 October 2004|url=http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/view.php?post=451|title=Flea Hurt|website=Zee-3|accessdate=21 February 2021}}</ref> and prevent the sprite from becoming too busy.<ref>{{cite web|last=Pickford|first=Ste|date=14 October 2004|url=http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/view.php?post=448|title=Those Pesky Fleas|website=Zee-3|accessdate=21 February 2021}}</ref> Ste reported using "5 or 6" frames for all of the fleas' movements.<ref name = "Fleapitknockerover"/> For the SNES console, Brooke only slightly altered the design of Plok and the fleas,<ref name = "Vinylalbumnotes"/> but Plok's animation method was transformed. The SNES, using the traditional bitmap method to execute pixels, required Brooke to animate Plok frame-by-frame.<ref>{{cite web|last=Pickford|first=Ste|date=10 June 2009|url=http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/view.php?post=224|title=Plok SNES sprites #1|website=Zee-3|accessdate=20 February 2021}}</ref>