Ganchan's Sketchbook 2026 / がんちゃんのらくがき帳 2026

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This is the sketchbook of Ganchan a.k.a. Takahiro Ohura, who created the pixel art, illustrations and map for Dragon Slayer 4 / Legacy of the Wizard.
Please easily enjoy lovely drawings. Some may have source material, some may not, but as they are just doodles, please don't mind.

ドラゴンスレイヤー4でドット絵、イラスト、マップデザインを担当したがんちゃん (Ganchan) こと大浦 孝浩 (おおうらたかひろ) さんのらくがき帳。
かわいいらくがきをゆるくお楽しみください。元ネタがあったりなかったりしますが、らくがきなので気にしないでください。

* This page is permission granted by Ganchan. *
(※このまとめページはご本人許諾済みです)

TOC / 目次

2026/01

MSX1 version's dot art looks like a cat?





2026/02

The MSX2 ports of Romanca, Ys I and II, and The Legend of Heroes did not utilise sprites. ( ゚∀゚)・∵.
Dragon Slayer 4 was converted rather well by the programmer. They've even made it multicolour.

The Famicom's bg palette has 4 colours in 4 channels
The system uses these for displaying elements such as LIFE and MAGIC





2026/03



‘What if, in Legacy of the Wizard, there were not only treasure chest mimics but also mimics disguised as doors?’



This is a drawing he did when CMDR Sho was making a trial batch of White Day biscuits and added too much milk to the dough, causing them to lose their shape after baking.


This is his comment regarding the fact that in Legacy of the Wizard, some monsters are positioned inside walls and will not appear unless the game is modded.



The joke here is that although this monster is a bird, it looks as though it’s jumping with its muscular arms.

A topic from Falcom’s in-game development studio.
There’s a skeleton in a locker (THE LEGEND OF HEROES III: Gagharv trilogy first "White Witch"),
and mushrooms are growing on a desk in the meeting area (Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga).




2026/04


This is roughly how the production process goes each time.
First, I create the pixel art, animate it, and integrate it into the game.
As long as the programmers and others don’t complain, it’s basically fine lol.

Once production has settled down a bit, I start working on the illustration.
00. 1 Outline the shape with colour
01. 3 Fill in the colours
02. Animate the limbs
03. Animate the limbs
04. Reinforce the design with illustrations
05. Decide on the monster’s name ... Since it’s an acorn(donguri) motif, I’ll call it ‘Dongurin’ :).

I’ll go ahead and explain the map revision process as well.

In ‘Dragon Slayer 4’, just as in ‘Xanadu’,
the process involved volunteers creating the maps first,
after which graphic artists would make the final adjustments.

Example:
00. The map is complete
01. Change to disappearing blocks
02. Add shadows and a background to finish

We created a reference chart to account for the fact that each character has a different jump height.
For each map, we implemented measures to prevent Pochi from getting stuck and to address Lyll’s jumping issues.
Pochi: 2 cells
Xemn: 2 cells
Royas: 3 cells
Maia: 3 cells
Lyll: 6 cells





2026/05


It was drawn after seeing the concept art for the Dragon Slayer Project.

This is a comparison of character and background blocks on the PC8801, MSX1 and MSX2.

The PC8801 uses 40x40 blocks, which are slightly larger.
Due to screen resolution and screen refresh rates, the MSX1 and MSX2 use 16x16 blocks.






On old CRT TVs, this picture would be all smudged and you’d only be able to make out some sort of green blob (lol)


Image sizes he often uses
  • 256x256: The optimal size for XCOM to prevent blurring
  • 512x384: Double the size of the MSX2 image
  • 512x448: Double the size of the FC(NES) image
  • 640x480: High-resolution size for older PCs


2026/06


Because his Xcom account was unfairly suspended, it’s dropped down the rankings in his favourites list LOL.

2026/07


Dragon Slayer 4: 39th Anniversary. When read in Japanese, 39 is pronounced ‘San-Kyuu’ (Thank You) .

Falcom’s first contemporary drama, *The Threat of North* (1984) + *Private Stripper* (1983)

‘What if *Dragon Slayer 4* had been made for the PC-88?’ These are drawn using 8 colours and a 1x2 vertical dot matrix.

* Colour Comparison between the FC and PC88 *
As the PC88 doesn’t have grey, I used tiling because it looked a bit greyish.
As a result, its shape became unrecognisable (lol)
It’s difficult when that colour isn’t available. (:3」∠)



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