9 replies to this topic

[Falados]

does anyone have any advice on how to create new monsters to add to the database or
what programs do you suggest to use to create the image for the monster?

edit: i was thinking photoshop

Edited by Falados, 20 March 2012 - 06:07 PM.

[Thalzon]

For my own mons, I tend to sketch a design, scan it into the computer, and colour it with photoshop. I have a wacom bamboo tablet to help that along, but besides that I tend to use default brushes.

Incidentally my layering skills are horrible, so I tend to work on one layer and select whole colours to shade individually. It's a messy system and sometimes I end up taking a lot of time to edit in things, but I work with large resolutions so overall it works out.

For editing RTP stuff? That's scary. Seriously though, it seems they use a method similar to mine, but with useful things like an indexed colour palette and layers and actual drawing skill.

[Dagny]

in other words, painting:
http://www.ctrlpaint...l-painting-101/

[Emmych]

This is true, needles, but there are lots of different ways to go about doing that! And lots of different progams to use, too @__@

[yieldingmydestiny]

GIMP's a reliable tool too. It's free.

[Jay_NOLA]

First pick up some good books on mythology or reference books on mythological creatures.

2 that I'd recommend offhand are:

Giants, Monsters, & Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, & Myth, by Carol Rose.

Sprites, Faeries, Leprechauns, and Goblins: An Encyclopedia, by Carol Rose

If your looking for info on any specific creature from mythology just ask. I've got numerous books on folklore.

The book RPG Maker For Teens, by Michael Duggan has some info that you may find helpful in it. The book was written for VX and they have a site with some support files for it. He has a walk through on how to create a custom enemy in it, some drawing advice, and lots of info on creating monsters and enemies in it.

Software wise I use 3D software in conjunction with GIMP & Manga Studio EX. GIMP is free. You can get Manga Studio EX cheap at Amazon& Smith Micro put it on sale for 50% at various times during the year too. I avoid Adobe as they have bad tech support I've found in the past & they are making some changes to how software upgrades are done this year as well that makes me less likely to use there software.

You can make cell style images easily with some 3D software of creatures, people, etc. which is a huge thing if you can't draw and if you can draw that can you make a good picture very quickly and save lots of time. You do have to watch if any restrictions for usage of a 3d model exist though as some can be used only in personal projects, some for commercial & personal, some don't allow for the use in games, and some have usage options you can purchase.

I van put together a list of recommended 3d software items if you're interested in this route in a day or two,

[Falados]

ok sooo, i make the face picture for the monster, and the sprite sheet of 3 pics in each direction to show
movement, but how do i make the graphic of a big monster in battle? like say i want a dragon, the sprite
sheet obviously is little pics and the face graphic is like a 1x1 square, but the dragon in battle i want a
big beast, so how do i determine that so the game can tell?

[Celianna]

Ace recognizes a single spritesheet as a 3 by 4 cellsheet. This means there will be 4 sprites in a column, and 3 rows, each of these sprites need to be the exact same size for it to work out correctly. You can have the sprite be any size you want, as long as it's in 3 columns and 4 rows. So if your sprite is 32x32, then then spritesheet will be 96x128.

If it's a single spritesheet (Ace will automatically assume it's 8 spritesheets in one image), then you need to put the $ symbol in front of the filename.

[wintermoon138]

I was browsing the net and finding png graphics of differently drawn monsters and messing around importing them into ace, but it seems each graphic brings in a white background. I have an artist that will be drawing me some creatures up and I will be scanning them into my computer, but how do you remove that background with the images?

[Denn]

When saving the files through photoshop(or whatever graphics program you're using), be sure to include transparency. Also, when importing the graphics, be sure to select the transparency portions, esspecially if you didn't save it with transparency through photoshop. Also, if you're using alpha transparency (not fully transparent, but partly transparent, like a ghost or something), be sure to save it as a 24bit png. It will be a larger filesize, but 8bit png doesn't support more than one level of transparency as far as I'm aware.