Shadow in a layer?

I'm a big fan, really big fan, of the classic Snes RPG's and I'm also a coldstone usre, I've been lurking on the board for a while no, I haven't seen anyone ask this question but here goes. I'm looking for a way to creat the shadows that were used in games like tales of Phantasia, Seiken Densetsu III, Chrono trig, ect. . . I'm thinking a transparent layer. . . is it posible to make a layer that has a **% transparent sprite to creat a shadow?

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All I wanted was a pepsi. . . just one pepsi. . .

You can make PNG graphics with alpha transparency to make shadows, but that's all I can come up with quickly.

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The greatest of harm can result from the best of intentions — Wizard's Second Rule, Stone of Tears.
— Cafall

Another way is to use an app
that uses multiple layers
draw the object
on another layer draw the shadow as a patterned mesh (like the old claris pattern fills)
save each 1 as a separate image making sure to include the blnk space around each cel (do not trim it)
put the ppicts in the appropriate folder

in the map editor create the ground layer which the chracter is on then place the shadows above the pc
so basically ur layers will be set like so:

ground
player
shadows

in general in order to design a more realistic game a good amount of effort should be put into thinking out layers note the game demo, as well as learning about graphical formats and how their pros and cons handle...

does anyone know of a good png tutorial, i want tomove away from creating work aroundds and such...

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