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I'm new to coldstone and was wondering how they made those "Zelda-like" guys in the addo-on section? I like that old-time/Game boy look? Can anyone plz help?
Thank you for your time.
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Also what is the basic pixel size for one guy and what is the best format to save it in?
I assume they were made by hand. I'd try 32x32 sprites. Save them in .pct format.
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Hmmm, this may be the wrong topic but I need to know how to get those little guys into Coldstone.... Can anyone help? Thanks,
--Sniberal
------------------ Enie menie minie moe... Oh, why not just kill all of them.
Quote
Originally posted by Sniberal: **Hmmm, this may be the wrong topic but I need to know how to get those little guys into Coldstone.... Can anyone help? Thanks,
**
I don't seee why it can't be in this thread, but you might want to consult the manual first. I'll admit the make-up of a sprite is not obvious at first glance. A good first step is to open up a pre-made game, such as the "Wizards" found in the download, and see how the animation is broken down.
------------------ everywhere else, it's -- "Nomuse"
thx!!! So hand-made? All done in illustrator?
Originally posted by Commander Arashi: **I don't seee why it can't be in this thread, but you might want to consult the manual first. I'll admit the make-up of a sprite is not obvious at first glance. A good first step is to open up a pre-made game, such as the "Wizards" found in the download, and see how the animation is broken down.
Ok thanks. Still, how to I import the Zelda like sprites into my games??? Thanks,
not sure? maybe it's in the manual? I only got the demo so I don't know much yet! I'm only trying to find diff techs to make a good looking game!
Originally posted by buggie_cold: **not sure? maybe it's in the manual? I only got the demo so I don't know much yet! I'm only trying to find diff techs to make a good looking game!
I read you there. I grok.
The demo includes the necessary tools; a .pdf manual and a demo game you might call "Wizards." It's all I have at the moment -- all many of us have, considering the shipping time on the CD.
I'd have to download the Zelda graphics and inspect them myself to know the needed steps.
A "Sprite" in Coldstone is an Animation (a particular file) telling the engine how to use a folder of individual pictures. At a minimum these are the frames describing a complete action (a wheel rotating once, say, or a pile of coins dropping). The major characters typically have this complete action (say, a walk from left foot out, right foot out, back to the start), times eight; one set of sequential pictures for each of the directions the character can face.
Within the animation file are flags telling the engine where to start looping, where to loop to, if a sound should be played (for instance, in the attack animations).
That get you started?
You have to copy and paste each sprite into its own document (using Photoshop or some such), making sure it has a white background, save them, then drag them into the animation editor as per the manual. However, the characters seem to be facing in only four directions, so they can't be used for diagonal movement.
BTW, anyone know who made these excellent graphics and for what game?
------------------ -- Mark
TY! Mark! was wondering about the bg too! like in Director I Matte out the white! SO still how can I make the guys rough game boy/ Zelda look? What's the best tool in Illustrator to make the rough pixel look? or do you make them in PS?
excerpted from Making Zelda-like Sprites for Idiots :
The retro look of the 8- and 16-bit era adventure game sprites you so crave was the result of a painstaking process of creating each individual sprite by hand. However, if you're reading this book, it's likely that you don't have the talent, tools, or time to do this.
As long as you have the time, that's OK. There are ways for people like you.
IDIOT NOTE The technique presented below is just one method of doing this sort of thing. If you don't have a scanner or a copy of Photoshop or Illustrator/Freehand, you really should. You're like a carpenter without a hammer. That said, if you use your noggin for once, you might just find a way around your lack of the proper tool.
1. Draw your hero on a piece of paper. No, don't draw some spiffy action shot, just draw him standing there, facing you. Do this as if you were looking down on the hero at a 45 degree angle. Alternatively, you can use your vector-based drawing tool to do this. This is going to be your sprite, so do it proportionately (if you screw up and don't, that's OK, you can sort-of fix it in Photoshop).
2. Scan your hero and then color him in in Photoshop. You should scan so that your image comes out to be about sixteen times larger than your sprite will be. So, if your sprite will be 32 pixels wide by 64 pixels tall, you should be scanning at 512 x 1024 pixels. Consult your scanner's manual to determine what DPI this is. Alternatively, color your drawing in your vector drawing tool and then import it into Photoshop with the same resolution guidelines. For the Zelda look, you should stick with solid colors (no Gradients!) and simple shading. Ideally, you should use no more than 12 colors.
3. Once you have your sprite in Photoshop, all colored and ready to go, you're going to need to make some value judgements from here on out. There is no photoshop action that can take place of your brain. Start by quartering the size of your image in Image->Image Size. Make sure that the "Proportional dimensions" checkbox is checked, and divide the pixel size by four. So if your sprite was 512 x 1024, it is now 128 x 256.
4. Look at your sprite. Is it fuzzy? Is it blurry? This is where some of those Photoshop filters that you didn't think did cool things start coming in handy. The three you are going to be using most often are Filters->Sharpen->Sharpen, Sharpen More, or Unsharp Mask. Unsharp Mask is a bit complicated, so consult your Photoshop Manual (or a web tutorial) on how to use it properly.
5. Lather, Rinse & Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until your sprite is the size you want it to be. If you used your filters judiciously, it shouldn't look too bad. Alternatively, you can use this as a template and make a new layer, and trace over it using the pencil tool and color picker.
6. Now it's time to make your mask. 8- and 16-bit games have 1-bit masks, so your's will, too. Hopefully, the area around your sprite is white. If so, take the wand tool (with whatever settings you want, though I recommend anti-aliased with a threshold of 64) and select the white area. Go into Quick Mask mode (q). Go to Image->Adjust->Threshhold, and play around with the slider until you get something you think would be a good mask. When you're happy, leave Quick Mask mode, and go to Select->Save Selection, and name the new channel Alpha.
7. Save it as a PNG file, with the Alpha Channel as your mask. You should name this file MyHero_S_000.png.
8. Lather, Rinse, Repeat steps 1-7 for each sprite you need. If you have a four-image walk cycle, then your images should be named MyHero_S_001, 002, 003, and MyHero_W_000, 001, 002, and so on, and attacks should be something like MyHeroAttack_S_000, 001, etcetera, for each frame you need. Yes, this is laborious, but at least you don't have to learn a 3D program. Hey, no one said life was going to be easy.
Hope you found it useful. I better put the book back on the shelf before the store clerks start getting suspicious.
------------------ People who claim the sky is falling obviously aren't aware the earth is falling, too. -- "Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety" --Benjamin Franklin.
(This message has been edited by sanehatter (edited 01-26-2002).)
TY!TY!TY! NOW I CAN START! MAYBE???