My RPG Character Maker

[Cango]

Hi all, this is my first Post in this Forum, just joined the community.

I was looking around and i didn't find any Character Makers that suited my taste,

so i have created my own.

 

It is fully dynamic, and can be used with any custom image size for different type of Sprites.

In this Example i have used Celianna's (Thanks for letting me use your Sprites on the Screenshots!) Bonus Rural Farm Character Sprites. But its up to you, what you want to use.

No restriction at all!

 

Request: If someone is so nice and can point me to Free to use Sprites, i like to include a Sample Bundle with my Application

so people can have a insight how it works basically.

 

It doesn't have to be a big Collection, just a Body, few other Stuff like Hair, Eyes maybe Hats. Just 1-2 Images per

Layer should do the job.

 

Cheers

 

Main Applicatoin new GUI Layers done and Coloring:

Spoiler

 

Main Application View and Options:

Spoiler

 

Animation View:

Spoiler

 

How it works:


You can define your Layers (Basically Folders) per a XML file and the Application creates the ComboBoxes (Gender, Skin...) in this example

on its own. So you aren't restricted in any way, its fully up to you how many Layers you want to have.

You can create even "Virtual Layers" like Skin is in this Example. Skin is based on 2 Layers Arms & Bodies.

 

XML Features:

isLink="true"          tells the application that this is a Virtual Layer, then you link real layers with link="layername" to it.

default="[0-9999]" tells the application which layer should be selected as default if the application opens.

base="true"           tells the application that this Layer is necessary, in this example "Skin & Eyes".

multiselect="true"  tells the application that the user can select multiple images in this Layer.

 

XML Structure:

Spoiler

Folder Structure:

Spoiler

 

Save your created Characters as a Template, or Export them as a PNG:


Menu:

Spoiler

Saved Character Template XML:

Spoiler

 

[Vox Novus]

So what  will set this apart from Game character hub?

http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/products/programs/game-character-hub

 

[Cango]

Its free

Tileset creators could include this in there Tilessets easily, so people can create

Characters specially designed for that Tileset without the needing of Photoshop

or whatever.

 

[odinnightowl]

looks like the Game Character Hub to me.. I don't see much a difference at all. If free is the only difference I think the makers of rpg maker might be perturbed as that would be stealing profits.. 

 

[Cango]

Just saw the Game Creator Hub for the first time, its not nearly as Powerful as that, not even comparable.

My purpose of creating this was just, have a nifty Tool around to create my Characters for my Game

as efficient as possible, before that i was using Photoshop and with this i don't need Photoshop for that no more.

I thought maybe if someone else is needing this kind of application why not share it I will include some features into it

like recolor as well, later though.

Cheers

 

[Sharm]

GCH isn't made by Enterbrain, they wouldn't care.  Also, since this one is free it's not considered competition for an existing store product.

Thanks for sharing this Cango!  I have no personal use for this since I find using a graphics program more versatile and easier but I think it's pretty cool.  I'm happy to know that you're going to keep working to improve it.  Are you open to suggestions?  Something I've always wanted in a character generator would be the ability to have predefined palettes that can easily be swapped.  So you could define "blonde" "brunette" and so on and tell the generator to apply the blonde color ramp to an existing sprite.

 

[Cango]

GCH isn't made by Enterbrain, they wouldn't care.  Also, since this one is free it's not considered competition for an existing store product.

Thanks for sharing this Cango!  I have no personal use for this since I find using a graphics program more versatile and easier but I think it's pretty cool.  I'm happy to know that you're going to keep working to improve it.  Are you open to suggestions?  Something I've always wanted in a character generator would be the ability to have predefined palettes that can easily be swapped.  So you could define "blonde" "brunette" and so on and tell the generator to apply the blonde color ramp to an existing sprite.

Thanks, i'am glad you like it! And yes i'am open to suggestions they are always welcome

Did i understand it correctly, so basically creating your own color palette? Could be doable yes. Since i didn't start to make any image manipulation yet

i cant give you a proper answer to this one, but i wrote down your suggestion for sure. What i have in mind for coloring is, artists can create there own separate layers in layers.

For example define the color able area on your sprites, so people can swap colors easy. And create infinite amount of sprite combinations.

I also have a bigger step in mind, where people can share there Sprites, upload them with the help of this application into a Database.

But lets see, i will release the first version in a few days.

Cheers

 

[Sharm]

Yeah.  Really what I want is some good old easy palette swapping, kind of like how older games would do things.  Really old art programs would even let you define subpalettes and cycle through the colors within them to create some really interesting animations (just a cool bit of info, probably not useful here).  My idea is that I want to make one hair (or whatever) image, then use a palette to define other color options instead of doing a bunch of recoloring.  It would look better than the computer generated recolors that GCH does because they'd be made for the sprite with things like the right hue shifting and contrast and such.  Then if I wanted to add a new hair image I could just do the one with the same ramp as the first and not have to recolor that one either.  Easier to make new stuff on my end, nicer sprites on the user end.

The database is a whole different can of worms, I wouldn't suggest doing it until you're much further into development if at all.  Keeping usage rules and attribution straight is a huge problem for things like that.

 

[Cango]

Yeah.  Really what I want is some good old easy palette swapping, kind of like how older games would do things.  Really old art programs would even let you define subpalettes and cycle through the colors within them to create some really interesting animations (just a cool bit of info, probably not useful here).  My idea is that I want to make one hair (or whatever) image, then use a palette to define other color options instead of doing a bunch of recoloring.  It would look better than the computer generated recolors that GCH does because they'd be made for the sprite with things like the right hue shifting and contrast and such.  Then if I wanted to add a new hair image I could just do the one with the same ramp as the first and not have to recolor that one either.  Easier to make new stuff on my end, nicer sprites on the user end.

The database is a whole different can of worms, I wouldn't suggest doing it until you're much further into development if at all.  Keeping usage rules and attribution straight is a huge problem for things like that.

True, licensing is a pita, and yes, i get what you saying. And yes i agree with you on the coloring part, i don't know how GCH is handling it but i guess i know

what you mean. There are parts in a Sprite that shouldn't be affected by a recolor, that's why i came up with the defined layer idea.

 

[Ciel]

I think it's great that you're sharing this to the community despite the other alternatives. It would be pretty to have a selective palette changer to further modify the parts like what Sharm says. Keep rocking! I can't wait to see what game you're trying to make.

 

[Mister.Right]

Cool, should there are more poses instead of walking only? I like freebies.

 

[Cango]

Cool, should there are more poses instead of walking only? I like freebies.

There are no limits, i will provide 0 assets so, if your assets have more poses,

you have more poses.

If someone is kind enough to create some sample assets,

then i will ship em with this application.

 

[Mister.Right]

I believe if you can google find many free to use resources in either Japanese or English. I dont think anyone will complain about that since this is not commercial.

 

[Cango]

Atm i'am rewriting the whole GUI, it looks more professional now.

No time to Google If your up for it, np

Update new GUI:

 

[Cango]

After an all nighter got Layers and Coloring done.

 

[Mister.Right]

Looking promising. If you can come up with a way to manage resources would be cool. I have many sprites and all over my desktops.

 

[Cango]

This is far away from a Tilemanager.

Looking promising. If you can come up with a way to manage resources would be cool. I have many sprites and all over my desktops.

 

[KockaAdmiralac]

Hello,
I have some questions:
1) Are the asset graphics compatible with RPGMVXA character generator? (is it even legal to use the Character Generator graphics?)
2) Is there an option for Random Generate?
3) That's Windows Forms Application, isn't it?

At last, this may not be better than GCH, but it's free, and thank you very much for that!

 

[captainproton]

Very cool! It's pretty great of you to share stuff like this

 

[Cango]

Hello,

I have some questions:

1) Are the asset graphics compatible with RPGMVXA character generator? (is it even legal to use the Character Generator graphics?)

2) Is there an option for Random Generate?

3) That's Windows Forms Application, isn't it?

At last, this may not be better than GCH, but it's free, and thank you very much for that!

1) Should be

2) Not Yet

3) Yes it is

Thanks

Very cool! It's pretty great of you to share stuff like this

Thanks