the portfolio of
christopher p. cacho
Product Design for a Pixel Drawing Tool
Parisukat
Personal Project
2023
Parisukat will solve the problem of pixel artists wanting to sketch ideas on the go by providing them with a simple pixel drawing program for retro handheld devices.
Research
Reviewed dedicated pixel art applications and tested their features. Created functioning prototypes to explore using gamepad buttons for user input. User flows were developed to inform screen navigation.
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Research
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Prototyping
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Testing
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User Flows
Design
The goal was to create a canvas interface that is as minimal as possible. Menus and key combos help change the settings of the canvas grid, zoom level, and brush styles.
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Visual Design
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User Experience Design
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Prototyping
Development
Parisukat was developed using Python and Pygame. It was specifically designed for use on the Anbernic 280V, but it also performs well on other OpenDinguX retro handheld devices.
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Python
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Pygame
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Font Development
Challenges
Prototyping for a drawing app using the gamepad input took a lot of time to feel right on the device.
Distributing on the retro handheld took some research and a lot of code debugging.
Outcomes
Being able to use a gaming retro handheld to create art has made it my favorite way to draw pixel art.
Figuring out how to distribute this Pygame program on a retro device spurred me into creating more tools.
Screens
title menu
The title menu allows you to open a canvas, create an animation with the canvases, review the controls, or quit.
Canvas menu
Where you can save, export, open, or delete a canvas.
Settings menu
You can adjust the zoom level, choose a pixel brush, change the color palette, and choose a grid overlay.
animate menu
You can use four canvases as animation frames and try different speeds and colors.
canvas
Where you draw your art, use the D-pad to position the cursor and the four action buttons to apply a color from the palette.
all visual design work
ePMO Project Tracker
manage project progress
ePMO Idea Tracker
create and evaluate project ideas
CapEx Suite
keep track of project financials
Mergers and Acquisitions
evaluate possible entities
meal perfect
healthy family meal planning
Past Mobile Apps
overview of past projects
FirstBranches
websites for banks
Tibok
drum machine
Tumira
tile system art program
Parisukat
a very limited pixel art program
Matchstick
spark random ideas
Temper
do-it-yourself music visualizer