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If you are from the Nintendo DS Homebrew era, you may remember a hidden gem among the homebrew available for that line of consoles: Colors! A painting homebrew that even being at a "beta" stage, it let you do profesional-like paintings with ease and very accesible tools on the go. Among all the features it had, three of the most important that made it shine were:​

• Real time replays (the later so-called time lapses) for each painting, you could watch the entire sequence on how it was made from scratch, even letting you to pause at certain points in case you wanted to fix something.​
• The use for an unused feature of the Nintendo DS: presure-sensitive touches, making it feel like you were painting with real brushes; however, this was only available for the "Fat" and Lite models, as the later released DSi models touchscreen lacked a presure sensitive sensor for unknown reasons.​
• You could upload and share your paintings online to share with the comunity, including the replay data, so everyone was able to see and replay the entire process of the painting, it was (and is) something worth to be seen.​

Because of this, it became so popular that later it got ported to several systems with touch inputs, such as the iPhone, the Nintendo 3DS (With 3D layers support) and even the PSVita.

It was long expected that a WiiU version could come soon, as the Gamepad was a perfect fit for it, but words were never said about that. So as the Nintendo Switch launched, many people from the Colors! lineup community immediately asked Jens Anderson, the developer, if there were plans for a port for the new Nintendo console as it had touch support, but according to him, there were some reasons that could hold him back to do so:

"Many people have asked me to bring Colors! to Nintendo Switch. However, I didn’t really want to do that, unless I could make a better version than Colors! 3D. Without a pen, I would have to rely on finger-painting which is not something I think is very fun. [...]

[...]"A little bit over a year ago, an inventor friend of mine in Hong Kong contacted me. When I saw the pressure-sensitive pen that he was working on, I realized that this would be perfect for the Nintendo Switch. Together we developed the Colors SonarPen that comes bundled with Colors Live. This way we can give you real pressure-sensitivity, a responsive way to control thickness and transparency of each stroke with just the amount of pressure applied."

So after all his ideas came together, he realized that his beolved painting app had potential on the Nintendo Switch, and released a Kickstarter campaing to fund his new project, now known as "Colors l!ve".

[...]"Making Colors! has been an incredible journey. From my first experiments with the Nintendo DS hardware, to founding my studio in San Francisco, and most importantly, to every day see all the amazing things that YOU create in it.

Now we are finally taking Colors Live to the Nintendo Switch. By launching on Kickstarter, we can crowd-fund what we need to manufacture the first batch of the Colors SonarPen and finish the development of Colors Live. In fact, some of you will be able to test the Colors Live prototype as soon as the campaign ends!

If you are as excited as I am about this, I hope you will consider backing the campaign and sharing it with your friends. Help us make this project as good as it can be, and I think it will be truly special!"

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One of the main features by becoming a kickstarter backer, is the oportunity to get the "Sonar Pen" bundled with the game download code, a seemingly temporary "exclusive", set to be shipped before the game releases. Is still yet to be confirmed if non-backers will get the opportunity to order this peripheral later or if it will be available at official retail stores.

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What is pretty interesting on the "Sonar Pen", is that it uses the headphone port to work, some specs are detailed below:

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"Colors SonarPen is a pressure-sensitive, responsive stylus and the best way to experience painting with the Colors Live. It was created in cooperation with GreenBulb, who have produced versions of the SonarPen since their first Kickstarter 2018.

It features Pressure-Sensitivity - natural painting feeling and fully customizable for stroke thickness, opacity or both - Palm rejection - comfortably rest your hand on the screen while painting - and Shortcut button for easy access of your favorite brush or tool.

No battery or Bluetooth pairing needed! The Colors SonarPen plugs into the headphone jack of your Nintendo Switch. It weights 0.74 oz / 21 gr, have a cable length of 19.67 in / 0.5 m and comes with a 1 year limited warranty."

Also, the app will get a full game, named "Colors Quest":

"Colors Quest is a single-player game-mode, where you paint something new every day, using a set theme and various rules. By using crowd-sourcing, I've managed to create something that works for every skill-level and that rewards you for improving over time. My hope is that this mode will be a great inspiration for you!"

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According to the kickstarter page, the estimated release date frame has been set between 2020/2021 to cover all regions.

"Colors Live comes exclusively to the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite as a Digital Download code for the Nintendo eShop in America, Europe and Australia (summer 2020) and in Japan (fall/winter 2020)."

Source​

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[JuanMena]

Colors! is not trash. It depends on how you use it and how you view the app.
I mean... while, yes technically a Wacom tablet is better, Wacom tablets doesn't guarantee that your software (Photoshop, Corel Painter, and a long list of etcetera) will be lag-free.
Whilst Colors! is aimed and designed with hardware limitations in mind, so the experience is way more natural than trying to run heavy software on crappy hardware.

I mean... I agree, that you can't do something really super profesional with Colors! because it lacks things such as higher resolutions and whatnot.

Spoiler

Just a side note: My first ever work done as an object and character designer for mobile games was entirely made with the DS version of Colors!.
Another side note: My first ever invitation to expose my paintings in galleries around the world were paintings made with the 3DS version of Colors!

Colors! is not completely trash. It's good for aspiring digital artists and it literally teaches you the basics of digital painting. Besides, if you're a drawing junkie such as myself, I very much rather to go with my portable console and a copy of colors than carrying around my bag with sketchbooks and pencils & pens & colored pencils.

 

[CMDreamer]

1.1b BETA 2 according to this site
[...]
Still, if anybody would like to use my password and username, feel free to message me.

Thank you!!!

(Off Topic):
And BTW, just now noticed your avatar image and I went wow! I'm also a huge fan of Phoebe Cates! Long ago I had a girlfriend that looked just like her, really good memories...
Best regards...

Colors! is just a tool, and the most professional or expensive ones, won't make you draw better out of nowhere.
Colors! is aimed at simplicity and made available at anyone who has a DS/3DS/(and soon a Switch) who wants to enjoy painting on what they have at hand.

Yes there are "better" tools but we all already knew it.

 

[JuanMena]

Thank you!!!

(Off Topic):
And BTW, just now noticed your avatar image and I went wow! I'm also a huge fan of Phoebe Cates! Long ago I had a girlfriend that looked just like her, really good memories...
Best regards...

Colors! is just a tool, and the most professional or expensive ones, won't make you draw better out of nowhere.
Colors! is aimed at simplicity and made available at anyone who has a DS/3DS/(and soon a Switch) who wants to enjoy painting on what they have at hand.

Yes there are "better" tools but we all already knew it.

You're welcome. Still if you really want to use my "credentials" ask for them.
And to be honest, I too had a friend that resembles her. So I kinda like Phoebe for that reason too!