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Ok! Here you are, starting your brand new RPG game. Good work! Deciding to begin a game and think of an extremely general direction you want your RPG to go in is an important step. Unfortunately, its probably also the easiest step as well. You have great visions of your classic hero vanquishing the villain, and saving the world from ultimate destruction! You may even start to imagine your hero in your head with shiny new armor and a sheathed long sword strapped around his back. Immediately you start to open up your paint program envisioning all of the hero's characteristics pixeling themselves on the screen! Woah tiger... we need to take it a little slower than that. There are a few decisions you need to make before you start diving into the paint program. You need to think about what kind of style you want your game to have, and you have to stick with that style throughout your game to hold consistency. "WTF are you talkin about?". "I've got this great idea and all I have to do is go ahead and pixel him!". Planning is key in creating your ultimate character, so bear with me...

A good first step to designing your hero is to list out some characteristics you may want to have. Keep in mind the particular setting of your game while doing this. For instance, you may want your character to have a super powered light saber that would slash through Darth Vader quicker than you can say "chopsticks"!. But, this is going to look odd if our character is brandishing his light saber throughout the castle trying to save the princess way back in some fantasy / medeival time setting. That is, unless you have some severe time traveling element going on in your story line, which is completely up to you. Taking the previous example for an environment for your character, some appropriate traits could include; sword, shield, armor, etc. Also, make sure you try to throw in some elements that give your character some unique traits/accessories so he doesn't look like your average, bland, Joe Schmoe Hero running around. You might want to give him/her a bandana, belt, shoes, helmets... anything that you might think of that could add a little diversity to your character. Lets face it, if you see a main character running around the screen in blue armor with a blue helmet and a white sword, you might question how fun the game is really going to be. Check out some examples of what i mean in the sprites below.

Each of these heros (yeah Magus is a hero at one point) are very unique on several different levels. But, right now we will stick with costume/accessory features of the characters. We will get into facial features and hairstyles a little later. Notice that only two of them have swords, and even then, the swords have a unique, custom made feel. Also, we can see the variety of costume choices. Kat (the first sprite from the left) sports a staff with a bathing suit style outfit and even has a cool tail. You didn't happen to see anyone with a tail in the days of dragon warrior, did you? It may seem a little strange and highly unrealistic to give your character inhuman traits such as a tail, but who is to say that your character has to be completely real? After all, if you were to sprite yourself and make yourself into a hero, chances are you aren't going to make a very interesting OR unique sprite (unless you dressed like Madonna back in the 80's). Its ok to add some strange traits to your character to make them stand out. Everyone can identify Sonic the Hedgehog because... well... he's a HEDGEHOG! I'm not saying go turn your new super hero into some ugly genetic experiment gone horribly wrong that might have been headed and directed by your two year old sister, but its ok to run with your imagination a little bit. Iif you want your character to be angelic, give it wings! There is actually a little more to this concept that we will discuss a little later, dealing with character traits matching personality. Take a look at Duran (all the way on the right) and Ryu (2nd from left) who could be considered more traditional heros. There isn't much that distinguishes them from any other hero, they have the plate armor with some leggings and a sword. They don't have any capes or tails or any other distinguishing characteristics that scream, "Look at me I'm more than human". There are certain features about them that make them stand out however. It is their actual body features, such as Ryu's Smurf-blue hair and Duran's wild hair piece which help them stand out from your average citizen. We will cover character uniqueness aside from their uniforms right after this. Check out his close up shot.

Wow! What a simple design. There really isn't much to his outfit, its a breastplate with pants. Since his face brings out his unique look, we must notice the important. DO NOT TO OVERDRESS your character, or else you will ruin the effect. Let's say we go a little wild with Ryu here, because we want to give him arm plates, big huge shin guards and a nice red strap over his chest to support his sword! Yeah, that would be cool! Well, it all sounds cool in your head... but notice what happens to his face.

Well now take a look, your hero can quickly turn out to look like a lame comic hero that stepped out of K-Mart with a new wardrobe. Also, notice how Ryu's face and general musculature becomes clouded by the additions, making him look semi bland. You used to be able to see nice musculature in his arms which distinguishes him as a strong youth, and his face was easily recognized from the rest of his body. This will turn into a large issue later on when you are trying to give your sprite some life. I'll described more in the next chapter. The moral of the story is, when you make your list of characteristics, and you find that a majority of the items on your list include, "chest plate, gauntlets, shin plates, metal boots, huge buckle belt, leather straps..." etc, try not to include more than 3 items that hide a large portion of your character. Remember, we want to enhance your character, not drown him in a sea of iron armor.

Ok, now we have a good idea of how we want to make our character. Don't jump into your favorite paint program just yet! "What now?" Is that what you are thinking? I know you're anxious to dive in, but we still have to decide what style we want the sprite to look like. There are basically two styles of sprites that you can choose from (the most popular anyways). This is not a prerequisite to make your sprite, but why try to re-invent the wheel? Stick to what works, right? Here's the decision: do you want your sprites to look like Link from Legend of Zelda and/or Locke from Final Fantasy 6(US).... OR .... do you want to make Secret of Mana/Evermore / Crono Trigger style sprites? This decision should be based on the type of game play you want to have. For example, it would look a little strange if Locke was running around killing the enemies Secret of Mana style. On the other hand, a Seiken Detsu III (Secret of Mana 2) sprite may be a little too detailed for a large Final Fantasy 6 type game. You might be yelling at your computer screen right now saying, "WTF is the difference???". Well, lets take a sneak peak ...

I hope you are noticing a size difference trend going on here. Basically what it comes down to is, what are your sprite size limitations and/or desired style of sprite? All the sprites on the top row are relatively small. Most of the top row sprites are 16 x 24 in dimension. (NOTE: when i talk about sizes, I usually speak of them in terms of Length x Height measured in pixels). Hence, Edgar Figaro's sprite size is 16 pixels wide by 24 pixels tall. It is also important to notice that the aforementioned sizes describe the frame size that contain the sprite, and not the actual sprite itself. You may have a 16x24 frame size and only use about 22 of those 24 pixels. This is the case in Link, who is only 16 x 22 in size. If this happens, it is safe to say that the sprite is 16x 24, just to make the frame sizes more universal and easily identifiable. In contrast to the top row, we have the larger sprites at the bottom. they are around 32 pixels in height and around 16 pixels wide. However, note that if you don't want your sprites to look as skinny as Crono Trigger's sprites, then you might want to make the sprites 32x24 or 32x32to be able to give your sprite the body thickness of Duran and the hero of Secret of Mana 1. (Duran is the 3rd in from the left on the bottom row, and the main hero in SoM1 is all the way on the right, bottom row). Both styles have their perks and downfalls, and they both can produce amazingly funky looking sprites. But, this comes down to a personal decision for you. So, think long and hard and then come back when you're ready to proceed. If you try to mix the styles, chances are your game is going to look like dog vomit. No matter how nice the sprites look individually, mixed they don't work as well, unless you are SquareSoft and decide to enlarge your sprites in random battle mode by 6 pixels.



	Ok! Here you are, starting your brand new RPG game. Good work! Deciding to begin a game and think of an extremely general direction you want your RPG to go in is an important step. Unfortunately, its probably also the easiest step as well. You have great visions of your classic hero vanquishing the villain, and saving the world from ultimate destruction! You may even start to imagine your hero in your head with shiny new armor and a sheathed long sword strapped around his back. Immediately you start to open up your paint program envisioning all of the hero's characteristics pixeling themselves on the screen! Woah tiger... we need to take it a little slower than that. There are a few decisions you need to make before you start diving into the paint program. You need to think about what kind of style you want your game to have, and you have to stick with that style throughout your game to hold consistency. "WTF are you talkin about?". "I've got this great idea and all I have to do is go ahead and pixel him!". Planning is key in creating your ultimate character, so bear with me... A good first step to designing your hero is to list out some characteristics you may want to have. Keep in mind the particular setting of your game while doing this. For instance, you may want your character to have a super powered light saber that would slash through Darth Vader quicker than you can say "chopsticks"!. But, this is going to look odd if our character is brandishing his light saber throughout the castle trying to save the princess way back in some fantasy / medeival time setting. That is, unless you have some severe time traveling element going on in your story line, which is completely up to you. Taking the previous example for an environment for your character, some appropriate traits could include; sword, shield, armor, etc. Also, make sure you try to throw in some elements that give your character some unique traits/accessories so he doesn't look like your average, bland, Joe Schmoe Hero running around. You might want to give him/her a bandana, belt, shoes, helmets... anything that you might think of that could add a little diversity to your character. Lets face it, if you see a main character running around the screen in blue armor with a blue helmet and a white sword, you might question how fun the game is really going to be. Check out some examples of what i mean in the sprites below. Each of these heros (yeah Magus is a hero at one point) are very unique on several different levels. But, right now we will stick with costume/accessory features of the characters. We will get into facial features and hairstyles a little later. Notice that only two of them have swords, and even then, the swords have a unique, custom made feel. Also, we can see the variety of costume choices. Kat (the first sprite from the left) sports a staff with a bathing suit style outfit and even has a cool tail. You didn't happen to see anyone with a tail in the days of dragon warrior, did you? It may seem a little strange and highly unrealistic to give your character inhuman traits such as a tail, but who is to say that your character has to be completely real? After all, if you were to sprite yourself and make yourself into a hero, chances are you aren't going to make a very interesting OR unique sprite (unless you dressed like Madonna back in the 80's). Its ok to add some strange traits to your character to make them stand out. Everyone can identify Sonic the Hedgehog because... well... he's a HEDGEHOG! I'm not saying go turn your new super hero into some ugly genetic experiment gone horribly wrong that might have been headed and directed by your two year old sister, but its ok to run with your imagination a little bit. Iif you want your character to be angelic, give it wings! There is actually a little more to this concept that we will discuss a little later, dealing with character traits matching personality. Take a look at Duran (all the way on the right) and Ryu (2nd from left) who could be considered more traditional heros. There isn't much that distinguishes them from any other hero, they have the plate armor with some leggings and a sword. They don't have any capes or tails or any other distinguishing characteristics that scream, "Look at me I'm more than human". There are certain features about them that make them stand out however. It is their actual body features, such as Ryu's Smurf-blue hair and Duran's wild hair piece which help them stand out from your average citizen. We will cover character uniqueness aside from their uniforms right after this. Check out his close up shot. Wow! What a simple design. There really isn't much to his outfit, its a breastplate with pants. Since his face brings out his unique look, we must notice the important. DO NOT TO OVERDRESS your character, or else you will ruin the effect. Let's say we go a little wild with Ryu here, because we want to give him arm plates, big huge shin guards and a nice red strap over his chest to support his sword! Yeah, that would be cool! Well, it all sounds cool in your head... but notice what happens to his face. Well now take a look, your hero can quickly turn out to look like a lame comic hero that stepped out of K-Mart with a new wardrobe. Also, notice how Ryu's face and general musculature becomes clouded by the additions, making him look semi bland. You used to be able to see nice musculature in his arms which distinguishes him as a strong youth, and his face was easily recognized from the rest of his body. This will turn into a large issue later on when you are trying to give your sprite some life. I'll described more in the next chapter. The moral of the story is, when you make your list of characteristics, and you find that a majority of the items on your list include, "chest plate, gauntlets, shin plates, metal boots, huge buckle belt, leather straps..." etc, try not to include more than 3 items that hide a large portion of your character. Remember, we want to enhance your character, not drown him in a sea of iron armor. Ok, now we have a good idea of how we want to make our character. Don't jump into your favorite paint program just yet! "What now?" Is that what you are thinking? I know you're anxious to dive in, but we still have to decide what style we want the sprite to look like. There are basically two styles of sprites that you can choose from (the most popular anyways). This is not a prerequisite to make your sprite, but why try to re-invent the wheel? Stick to what works, right? Here's the decision: do you want your sprites to look like Link from Legend of Zelda and/or Locke from Final Fantasy 6(US).... OR .... do you want to make Secret of Mana/Evermore / Crono Trigger style sprites? This decision should be based on the type of game play you want to have. For example, it would look a little strange if Locke was running around killing the enemies Secret of Mana style. On the other hand, a Seiken Detsu III (Secret of Mana 2) sprite may be a little too detailed for a large Final Fantasy 6 type game. You might be yelling at your computer screen right now saying, "WTF is the difference???". Well, lets take a sneak peak ... I hope you are noticing a size difference trend going on here. Basically what it comes down to is, what are your sprite size limitations and/or desired style of sprite? All the sprites on the top row are relatively small. Most of the top row sprites are 16 x 24 in dimension. (NOTE: when i talk about sizes, I usually speak of them in terms of Length x Height measured in pixels). Hence, Edgar Figaro's sprite size is 16 pixels wide by 24 pixels tall. It is also important to notice that the aforementioned sizes describe the frame size that contain the sprite, and not the actual sprite itself. You may have a 16x24 frame size and only use about 22 of those 24 pixels. This is the case in Link, who is only 16 x 22 in size. If this happens, it is safe to say that the sprite is 16x 24, just to make the frame sizes more universal and easily identifiable. In contrast to the top row, we have the larger sprites at the bottom. they are around 32 pixels in height and around 16 pixels wide. However, note that if you don't want your sprites to look as skinny as Crono Trigger's sprites, then you might want to make the sprites 32x24 or 32x32to be able to give your sprite the body thickness of Duran and the hero of Secret of Mana 1. (Duran is the 3rd in from the left on the bottom row, and the main hero in SoM1 is all the way on the right, bottom row). Both styles have their perks and downfalls, and they both can produce amazingly funky looking sprites. But, this comes down to a personal decision for you. So, think long and hard and then come back when you're ready to proceed. If you try to mix the styles, chances are your game is going to look like dog vomit. No matter how nice the sprites look individually, mixed they don't work as well, unless you are SquareSoft and decide to enlarge your sprites in random battle mode by 6 pixels.
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