The Dink Network

I've been wondering how a person creates a sprite. I'm not good with any types of programming languages, and making a mod in and of itself is just confusing, even with tutorials. So, I figure I could try my hand at making sprites.
So, any tips or tutorials?

A sprite is a picture thats all - so to make a tree sprite u make a 16bit photo save as a .bmp file because that's what dink reads and that's it - make it small because there is no need for a large file.

Infact - i will do a fast screenrecord and show u how to make them and add to the game you are making.
One moment sah!

Here tis
I havent shown how to do the ini lines or anything, just how make a speedy sprite and shove it into dinky - super fast ohh and don't go over 50 sprites in a directory thats the max ok

Dink does support 24-bit bmps (in true color mode).

Huh, that seems more simple than I thought it would be, but then again, I'm not going to be making a pallette swap or anything really basic. (More along the lines of completely new sprites for people to use as creatures or characters.) I'm guessing it could be difficult to create a moving sprite. (Walking, fighting, running, et cetera...)

Right. So if you want something animated, you need a picture of each frame. If it only needs to face one way like say fire or one of those bouncing potion bottles, it still isn't too hard. But if one want something that walks around and does actions (like attack) you need one sequence like that for each direction and action combination. So that adds up to alot of pictures. A bonca, for example has 64 pictures in total. So the best way to make something like that is to model it in 3D (e.g. using Blender, 3DSMax, etc) and make your pictures from that.

Still, it is just a bunch of pictures, so it's entirely possible to draw all that in 2D... but you'd need to be quite the artist to make it look natural next to the existing graphics, which where all done the 3D way.

MsDink did Shady stranger entirely in 2d...
She's got my deepest respect!

I think I could imagine a 3/4 view of a creature sprite entirely with 2d design. I'm not very good with 3d modeling at all with a computer program.

Yeah... making graphics in 2d is not that hard as long as they aren't animated...
I did all graphics for "Three Amulets" and "The Bomb" in paint, before I learnt blender.... but then again they are really ugly! XD

Can you show me some examples of 2d-based graphics?

What do you mean? Like show you some of those sprites?

Well, here is my first monster, and a heal animation.

Those are pretty neat.

Oh, and quick question for MsDink: What was the program you were using for the tutorial?

paint shop pro 5 (cant get it now its as old as i am lol) - i like it way better than photoshop

ohh and screenr.com? was that what you meant (for the recording?) free on here to use and up to 5 mins (all i will ever need)

The one you used to manipulate the picture. Also, do you know what a good size ratio (?x?) for a sprite would be on Paint?

Well, Dink is about a 75 pixels tall. That's not counting the shadow or anything sticking out like a sword. So try and draw proportional to that.

That should be useful. Anything on width?

I managed to make this basic sprite of a werewolf (front view), scaled at 48x25 pixels. (If you want, you can copy and paste it on Paint and zoom in to see it better.)
Tell me what you think.

You should download the original game graphics, and use those as a reference for the scale.

Tell me what you think.

Ummm, was there supposed to be a link there somewhere?

I'm sorry. A mild crisis on my end distracted me, so I hadn't even thought of the link until you pointed it out to me.

An... interesting sprite. Too small to be used in Dink though.

Of course, but that was just practice. All I have to do is just keep at it until I have one that is good for use.

your graphic is ok to be used - just at 200%

If you make one too big either resize the graphic to a smaller one or if you don't care about the size of your dmod file size, scale it in the properties
A sequence is a set of pictures that move in smallish increments set to run together and yes - takes a while in 2d heh suggest u learn to use blender or something. its ok not to get too detailed as dink is so low resolution anyways it doesn't matter.

True, though I like a lot of detail. Anyway, I just have to measure the pixels, make the sprite, and make the shadow, and then go off from there. (I always make things sound easier than it is, mostly because it's fun to do so. But also because It makes the actual designing much more difficult in my mind, making it more fun. Yay for the placebo effect!

i like detail too but dink wont show it

Then one could force detail? Such as creating something with so little detail that it has a lot of detail? (Paradoxes! )

truly mindblowing...

Okay, I made some newer designs and scaled them to approximately Dink's height and width.
Note, the links will go from 1 to 4.5 at a total of seven (You'll see for yourself soon enough.)

Base 01: For different fur colorings, facial features, and all else. Totally customizable.

Base 02: Fur and a few facial features added.

Base 02.5 and Base 02.6: Two types of shading, depending on where the sunlight is.

Base 03: Where clothing is added.

And Base 04 and Base 04.5: Where there is shading, clothing, and the more subtle facial features, like fangs and a scar. (That doesn't change with different shading. Definitely one of the most important minor details!)

So, opinions?

Don't take it too personally, but I'm going to be honest here. That isn't... bad, but it's not something I would be very proud of either.

I won't take it personal. Why would I ask a person's opinion if I couldn't handle criticism.
Anyway, it just means I have to keep at it until I make a good one.

You probably want to vary the thickness of his arms and legs, he looks too... perfect if they are simply straight line with a fixed number of pixels width...

Am I making sense?

Yeah, it makes sense. I'll just have to figure that out as I make stuff.

Also, try breaking the blocks of solid color with dots of similar colors... That way it'll look more like the other dink graphics... and also less flat an plastic

Meaning, use different shades of a certain color (Brown) to create a gradient-like effect? Or using different shades of a certain color intermittently to create a more realistic effect?

I'd say both

That'll look interesting. I'll see if I can do that.

Revived for people who want to carry on this discussion.

Sprite Location.

This particular one is made for RPG Maker VX Ace, and it is awesome.

looks cool.

Nice pixel art Kris.