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Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2

Originally published 2026-08-21 on Advisory Hour.

Originally published as an Advisory Hour Substack post on 2026-08-21. This first-party site copy preserves the text, localizes public supporting media, and connects the record to its project trail.

Original post

Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 image from the original Advisory Hour post.

Why not fully revamp a pixel based game to one that resembles an anime show?

The Islandlab projects have taught me that projects in the loop of ever-improving AI can themselves rapidly improve. The trick is not getting trapped on the wrong island.

Tuesday was long. It featured one of those terribly long drives of sitting in traffic. In a cinematic cut-scene it’d be that moment where the camera dolly rolls in faster to the car than the car itself moves.

Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 image from the original Advisory Hour post.

The slow-moving grind of the commute sparked an insight. What if I revisit one of the small games I made during the Summer into AI competition to “V2” the game? The megaman inspired Founderman 1776 would benefit from this.

Instead of raw pixelated characters I’d completely overhaul based on the new sprite and animation capabilities I’ve learned over the last few weeks. I’d swap out pixels for anime characters. The core game mechanics would all remain the same, or largely so. Instead of having to build up the entire gameplay of how the game would work? I’d just put the tokens to work on imagining a better art style over the raw pixelated version of 1776 Founderman. To give you an appreciate for just how big of a graphics update (and how ambitious) this is, let’s take a quick peek at V1.

Summer into AI 2026: Megaman 1776 or "Liberty of Death 1776: Liberty, Founding Fathers vs The Crown" screenshot from the original Substack post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 image from the original Advisory Hour post.

This video clip is from the stage that I’m about to show. This is a video clip showing gameplay from V1. This represented what was possible some months ago. I was very pleased with this result. The game was playable.

The ice stage from V1:

Founderman.Better?

The sprite system is nearly perfect these days. I see the AI fielding characters, genre, backgrounds and more with relative ease. In another year it’s hard to even imagine what will be possible. Enjoy these gallery screenshots.

The Graphics Revamp Work in Progress

The current build still isn’t quite there. The jumps and timing still demand perfection. The graphics are better sized. The shadows are wrong. It’s still one heck of an upgrade over the blocky pixel version.

To see the original version-which was the extent of what I was able to reasonably assemble just a handful of months ago… read this post here. It’s quite the visual leap.

Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Re-imagining Founderman for Founderman 2 gallery image from the original Advisory Hour post.

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