Creating Avatars - Revision history

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2021-06-13T23:52:28Z

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Eggmceye at 11:50, 23 March 2015

2015-03-23T11:50:17Z

LordMortiferus: /* Black edge */ minor typo

2012-05-08T06:37:06Z

‎Black edge: minor typo

Severian: reviewed and edited the sections up to "testing your work"

2012-05-08T06:24:10Z

reviewed and edited the sections up to "testing your work"

LordMortiferus: /* Sprite weapon overlay */ added pictures for hand positions

2012-05-06T09:43:57Z

‎Sprite weapon overlay: added pictures for hand positions

LordMortiferus: /* Black edge */ added a picture as an example

2012-05-06T09:31:06Z

‎Black edge: added a picture as an example

LordMortiferus: I will added the pictures soon and update the "testing your work" section as well

2012-05-06T09:15:17Z

I will added the pictures soon and update the "testing your work" section as well

Severian: formatting

2012-05-06T08:38:17Z

formatting

Severian at 08:28, 6 May 2012

2012-05-06T08:28:39Z

Eggmceye at 00:54, 5 April 2009

2009-04-05T00:54:27Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:52, 13 June 2021
Line 51:		Line 51:
	* MS paint		* MS paint

		+
		+
		+	{{Navigation Customization and Scripting}}
	[[Category:Guides]]		[[Category:Guides]]

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 ==Testing your work==
-You can test out your new avatar by using photoshop to open EUO\pics\btiles23.pcx; look for the 4 frames of your current avatar and cut/paste your new one over the top of your current sprite ingame (make a back-up first). Start the game and test out the random frame changing in-game.
+You can test out your new avatar by using photoshop to open EUO\pics\btiles23.png; look for the 4 frames of your current avatar and cut/paste your new one over the top of your current sprite ingame (make a back-up first). Start the game and test out the random frame changing in-game.
 ==Extell's notes==
@@ Line 42: / Line 42: @@
 I myself have alot of stuff in the works, one of which is something that a few players have been requesting, something to make the night scene of EUO seem a little nastier. But, I will say one thing, making a good looking monster/avatar is not easy. I've sent stuff to Egg many times for him to send it back giving lots of criticism that he does not like this, does not like that, etc. And even the stuff he has used of mine was slightly altered to his tastes. A designer cannot let this stuff to get him/her. If you truly want one of your designs in the game, make it, post it and ask for criticism/comments. If you keep at it you too can have one of your creations in the game.
-And one last thing: DO NOT SAVE YOUR FILES AS JPG! Use GIF or PCX format. Saving as a JPG really lowers the quality of your creation unless you use the highest detail level. Saving as a GIF or PCX keeps it exactly as you designed it. On the GIF style and designing with Photoshop (like I do), before you save, change the image type to Indexed (Image -> Mode -> Indexed), or use Save For Web (ctrl-shift-alt-s).
+And one last thing: DO NOT SAVE YOUR FILES AS JPG! Use GIF or PNG format. Saving as a JPG really lowers the quality of your creation unless you use the highest detail level. Saving as a GIF or PNG keeps it exactly as you designed it. On the GIF style and designing with Photoshop (like I do), before you save, change the image type to Indexed (Image -> Mode -> Indexed), or use Save For Web (ctrl-shift-alt-s).
 ===Graphics Editors===

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 ===Black edge===
-Every sprite is surrounded by a black edge. This is necessary for the sprite to stand out from the background. The black edge should be completely black (RGB = 0,0,0). This is necessary, because the game engine can only apply a glowing effect to black pixels, which is needed for artefacts and named items or special monsters like a phase beasts. Keeping this in mind, placing black pixels in the middle of a sprite should be considered beforehand.
+Every sprite is surrounded by a black edge. This is necessary for the sprite to stand out from the background. The black edge should be completely black (RGB = 0,0,0). This is necessary, because the game engine can only apply a glowing effect to black pixels, which is needed for artefacts and named items or special monsters like a phase beast. Keeping this in mind, placing black pixels in the middle of a sprite should be considered beforehand.
 For LowRes sprites, there are two possible ways to add the black edge around a sprite as can be seen in the following picture.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 Creating Tiles and Sprites
-==General informations==
+==General information==
-Euotopia is a tile-based game, meaning that the environment consists of small square graphic images, referred to as tiles. Graphics for avatars, monster and items are referred to as sprites.
+EUO is a tile-based game, meaning that the environment consists of small square graphic images, referred to as tiles. Graphics for avatars, monster and items are referred to as sprites.
-The default resolution of tiles is 32x32 pixel and they are stored in ..\euo\pics\btiles20.32.png.
-Sprites of avatars and monster normally consist of 4 frames and items mostly of only one frame. The game handles low resolution (LoRes) sprites with 16x16 pixel and high resolution sprites (HiRes) with 32x32 pixel. For LoRes a spacer of one pixel separates each frame and for HiRes the spacer would be 2 pixel width. The default resolution for sprites is 16x16, though there are attempts to upgrade them to [[HiRes Tilesets|HiRes]]. The files are stored in the ..\euo\pics subfolder and are labled btiles21.png to btiles27.png.
+The default resolution of tiles is 32x32 pixels and they are stored in ..\euo\pics\btiles20.32.png.
 When creating new tiles or sprites save them in a lossless format like png. If you are using Gimp or similar professional graphic editing tools take advantage of the layer function and save the files in the programs native format.
-It's usually best not to use a lot of movement in your sprite or else it will most likely not look good animated.
+Sprites of avatars and monsters normally consist of 4 frames and items mostly of only one frame. The game handles low resolution (LoRes) sprites with 16x16 pixels and high resolution sprites (HiRes) with 32x32 pixels. For LoRes a space of one pixel separates each frame and for HiRes the space is 2 pixels wide. The default resolution for sprites is 16x16, though there are attempts to upgrade them to [[HiRes Tilesets|HiRes]]. The files are stored in the ..\euo\pics subfolder and are labelled btiles21.png to btiles27.png.
 ===Transparent background===
@@ Line 12: / Line 14: @@
 ===Black edge===
-Every sprite is surrounded by a black edge. This is necessary for the sprite to stand out from the background. The black edge should be completely black (RGB = 0,0,0). This is necessary, because the game engine can only apply a glowing effect to black pixels, which is needed for artefacts and named items or special monster like a phase beasts. Keeping this in mind, placing black pixel in the middle of a sprite should be considered beforehand.
+Every sprite is surrounded by a black edge. This is necessary for the sprite to stand out from the background. The black edge should be completely black (RGB = 0,0,0). This is necessary, because the game engine can only apply a glowing effect to black pixels, which is needed for artefacts and named items or special monsters like a phase beasts. Keeping this in mind, placing black pixels in the middle of a sprite should be considered beforehand.
-For LowRes sprites, there are two possible ways to add the black edge around a sprite as can be seen in the picture beneath.
 [[File:Blackedge.png]]
@@ Line 20: / Line 23: @@
 ===Sprite weapon overlay===
-Player Avatars have the possibility to show what weapon the player wields. To make avatars that are compatible to this feature, it is necessary that the hand movement in the four frames matches the green boxes in the following pictures.
+Player Avatars will display any weapon (and dual-wield weapon or shield) that a player wields. To make avatars that are compatible to this feature, it is necessary that the hand movement in the four frames matches the green boxes in the following pictures.
 [[File:Handposition.png]] [[File:Handposition.32.png]]
@@ Line 28: / Line 31: @@
 ==Testing your work==
-You can test out your new avatar by using photoshop to open EUO\pics\btiles23.pcx, look for the 4 frames of your current avatar and cut/paste your new one over the top of your current sprite ingame (make a back-up first). Start the game and test out the random frame changing in-game.
+You can test out your new avatar by using photoshop to open EUO\pics\btiles23.pcx; look for the 4 frames of your current avatar and cut/paste your new one over the top of your current sprite ingame (make a back-up first). Start the game and test out the random frame changing in-game.
 ==Extell's notes==

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 ===Sprite weapon overlay===
-Player Avatars have the possibility to show what weapon the player wields. To make avatars that are compatible to this feature, it is necessary that the hand movement in the four frames matches the 2x2 boxes in the following picture.
+Player Avatars have the possibility to show what weapon the player wields. To make avatars that are compatible to this feature, it is necessary that the hand movement in the four frames matches the green boxes in the following pictures.
-[insert handmovement]
 ===Sprite dye===

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-==General information==
+Creating Tiles and Sprites
-The term sprite applies to avatars, monster and items.
-Sprites of avatars and monster normally consist of 4 frames and items only of one frame. The game handles low resolution sprites with 16x16 pixel and high resolution sprites with 32x32 pixel. For LoRes a spacer of one pixel separates each frame and for HiRes the spacer is 2 pixel width.
+==General informations==
 ===Black edge===
-Every sprite is surrounded by a black edge. This is necessary for the sprite to stand out from the background. The black edge should be completely black with RGB=0,0,0. The game engine can only apply a glowing effect to black pixel which is need for artefact and named items or special monster like a phase beasts. Keeping this in mind, placing black pixel in the middle of a sprite should be considered beforehand.
+Every sprite is surrounded by a black edge. This is necessary for the sprite to stand out from the background. The black edge should be completely black (RGB = 0,0,0). This is necessary, because the game engine can only apply a glowing effect to black pixels, which is needed for artefacts and named items or special monster like a phase beasts. Keeping this in mind, placing black pixel in the middle of a sprite should be considered beforehand.
-There two possible ways to add the black edge around a sprite as can be seen in the picture beneath. Recommended is the right version where the black pixels are only connected diagonal if possible.
+For LowRes sprites, there are two possible ways to add the black edge around a sprite as can be seen in the picture beneath. Recommended is the right version where the black pixels are only connected diagonal if possible.
 ===Sprite weapon overlay===
-Player Avatars have the possibility to show what weapon the player wields. To make avatars that are compatible to this feature it is necessary that the hand movement over the four frames matches the 2x2 boxes in the following picture.
+Player Avatars have the possibility to show what weapon the player wields. To make avatars that are compatible to this feature, it is necessary that the hand movement in the four frames matches the 2x2 boxes in the following picture.
 [insert handmovement]
@@ Line 14: / Line 22: @@
 The game engine can dye certain pixel of a sprite. To apply this feature to a sprite the pixels that should be dyeable have to be true gray. Pixels are truly gray when the value for red equals green equals blue (R=G=B). To prevent gray pixels to be dyeable the artist has to change the value of either red, green or blue to be unequal to the others. This might be needed to enhance to quality of the dyed sprite.
 ==Testing your work==
-Old stuff I will incorporate into my later on:
-−
-Here are a couple of contributors notes on making sprites. The main things to note are:
-*sprites are 16x16
-*4 frames
-−
-==Method #1==
-Use paint to create the way your sprite looks (it's easier than photoshop, but by all means use PS if you know what you are doing). There are 4 frames total, 16x16 pixels per frame. There is a 1x16 pixel spacer line between each frame, so the entire series of sprites needs to be 67x16. See below for an example.
-−
-[[image:golemsprite.gif]]
-−
-Note that for illustration purposes only, these frames are 32x32 each with a 2px spacer.
-−
-It's usually best not to use a lot of movement in your sprite or else it will most likely not look good animated.
-−
-Save your work as 256 colour gif or as PCX. Gif and PCX are lossless graphical formats. JPG is not suited to saving sprites.
-−
-===Testing your work===
 You can test out your new avatar by using photoshop to open EUO\pics\btiles23.pcx, look for the 4 frames of your current avatar and cut/paste your new one over the top of your current sprite ingame (make a back-up first). Start the game and test out the random frame changing in-game.
-==Method #2, Extell's notes==
+==Extell's notes==
 ) Design and save your avatars/monsters at 16x16 pixels. This was the original size of all the avatars/monsters for the original game. It can be quite difficult to get the right look but in the end they are blown up to double their size in the game itself.

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:28, 6 May 2012
Line 1:		Line 1:
		+	==General information==
		+	The term sprite applies to avatars, monster and items.
		+	Sprites of avatars and monster normally consist of 4 frames and items only of one frame. The game handles low resolution sprites with 16x16 pixel and high resolution sprites with 32x32 pixel. For LoRes a spacer of one pixel separates each frame and for HiRes the spacer is 2 pixel width.
		+
		+	==Black edge==
		+	Every sprite is surrounded by a black edge. This is necessary for the sprite to stand out from the background. The black edge should be completely black with RGB=0,0,0. The game engine can only apply a glowing effect to black pixel which is need for artefact and named items or special monster like a phase beasts. Keeping this in mind, placing black pixel in the middle of a sprite should be considered beforehand.
		+	There two possible ways to add the black edge around a sprite as can be seen in the picture beneath. Recommended is the right version where the black pixels are only connected diagonal if possible.
		+
		+	==Sprite weapon overlay==
		+	Player Avatars have the possibility to show what weapon the player wields. To make avatars that are compatible to this feature it is necessary that the hand movement over the four frames matches the 2x2 boxes in the following picture.
		+	[insert handmovement]
		+
		+	==Sprite dye==
		+	The game engine can dye certain pixel of a sprite. To apply this feature to a sprite the pixels that should be dyeable have to be true gray. Pixels are truly gray when the value for red equals green equals blue (R=G=B). To prevent gray pixels to be dyeable the artist has to change the value of either red, green or blue to be unequal to the others. This might be needed to enhance to quality of the dyed sprite.
		+
		+
		+	Old stuff I will incorporate into my later on:
		+
	Here are a couple of contributors notes on making sprites. The main things to note are:		Here are a couple of contributors notes on making sprites. The main things to note are:
	*sprites are 16x16		*sprites are 16x16

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:54, 5 April 2009
Line 34:		Line 34:
	* Paint Shop Pro		* Paint Shop Pro
	* MS paint		* MS paint
		+
		+	[[Category:Guides]]