how can i make sprite for my game? uhmm,,i mean,,how to make my life easier.. for example..when i draw my character,,how can i make it easier to walk,attack or cast spells without drawing it again frame by frame?? should i use flash?? how?? i want to make spites like the quality of RAGNAROK.. i have made 1 sprite..but only standing..im tired of making it walk by drawing frame by frame..it really piss me off.. please,,anyone,,help me finish my game.. Thanks in advance! -17 yrs old,Philippines

First of all, sprites with the quality of RO are really hard to make because it will take a lot of time and it might still not work right.

To make your life easier, implement a skeleton-based 2d animation system. That way you will just need sprites for the limbs and can animate them by manipulating the skeleton.

Unfortunately, there aren't any tutorials on the web concerning that matter (AFAIK). But for a demonstration, look here:

">Youtube video

It is a video demonstrating the animation-system of the follow-up game of Soldat.

wow!! it's nice!

BUT,,where can i make it?
is it free??
is there another way??
flash?? or something..or style of drawing/making sprites??
whatever!!! the only thing i want is to make it easy to animate..because, its really hard for me to make a single character with hand-drawn FRAMES!!!
my GOSH!!!!!!!!


please give some advice..

btw,thanks for the reply,,i really appreciate it..THANKS!!

You have to make your own animation system, but it's not something for beginners.

You could also use flash and somehow convert the frames back to pictures, but the problem is that flash is vector graphics, I don't know whether you can use it for simple sprite graphics.

An animation system isn't the simplest thing to implement either, so you probably are better off just drawing some simple sprite animations frame by frame. If it is too hard for you, you should not aim for graphics like in RO, just some simple animation should be ok, don't you think?

Another option is to use a 3d model and SpriteForge:
http://www.d-grafix.com/?page=spriteforge

As others have said, a 'home-brewed' sprite animation system would be the best way to go. However, if you dont have the time or coding knowledge to create a system like that then it is quite possible to do it manually.

First, you will need a program that allows you to create images with layers. I prefer Adobe Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro.
Assuming you dont have those programs, there is a freeware program called GIMP that performs quite well and will fit the task.

Second, you will need to create each limb of the character on a different layer (drawing the entire limb in full)

Next (after you have all your limbs drawn on seperate layers and stacked appropriately), you can animate the image by moving these limbs. The only animator I can think of (off hand) that will animate layered images is Adobe Imageready. All you would do is import the image (with its layers) and manipulate them the way you like, then save the image as a .gif (or whatever extention you want).

Assuming you dont have Adobe Imageready and Adobe Photoshop you will need to copy/paste the image a series of times to create your new animation - it may seem tedious, but its better than redrawing it 100 times for every animation.

i think ill go for making the limbs in different layers then animate it by rotating or moving the limbs(separated by layers)

BUT!!

how?

i mean, is it nice??

i mean,,u know,,for example,,the shoulder to elbow and the elbow to hand..will the elbow produce nice joint??

HOW about if the view is in front?? how is that??

hello?? anyone there?

I think you're looking too much towards tools and methods as magical solutions. Whether you hand-paint your animations, or use a skeletonal system, or take a totally different approach, it will just take work to get done, and you will have to make decisions about it yourself. You are the artist.

I'd say, just get started, try some things and see what you like most. And if you don't like something, try some different things to see if they work better. Keep in mind however, that the stuff you see in AAA games is done by artists with a lot of experience, so don't be discouraged if your art isn't as beautiful as theirs.

My art isn't as good either, but at some point I have to decide that it's 'good enough'. Otherwise I'll never finish a game, which also means I'll never see how other people receive them, so I can't learn from the opinion of others. Ok, perhaps you'll release a game with crappy graphics, but at least you're releasing it. Maybe you'll need to spend some time practicing your artistic skills before starting another game, or perhaps you can find someone willing to do art for you. Whatever you do, do something. Don't just sit idle, waiting for others to give you a magical solution. That's not going to happen.