Development:Guidelines

This article is for reference purpose

The features described in this article are already implemented in the game. The article should describe how a certain aspect of the game currently works. You may of course edit this article to improve the description of the circumstances. Your opinions or improvement suggestions about the described aspects themself are of course appreciated, too. But please put these on the discussion page of this article to keep facts and fiction separated.

When you create pixel art for TMW please follow these guidelines. Pixelart which does not follow these guidelines has less chance to get into the game.

General

• All graphics must be released under the GNU General Public License or a compatible license.
• Try to hang around in our art development IRC channel #tmw-dev on irc.themanaworld.org whenever possible.
• Please use our task tracking system Mantis to manage graphical tasks you are doing.
• Do not be afraid to show us your pixelart, we are there to guide and help you. Pixelart being worked on (Usually tagged with [WIP], for work in progress) can be posted on the forums.
• The pixel art must be made by you or derived from TMW's existing graphics. We will never accept pixel art ripped from other games nor from undisclosed sources.
• The following games can be used as inspiration:
  • Secret of Mana 2
  • Final Fantasy VI (Named Final Fantasy III in North America)
  • Chrono Trigger
  • Ragnarok Online

General Guidelines

• Outlines: 1px, Coloured. We use 3 kinds of different outlines:
  • Ground level: should have the dullest colors (no outlines everything blends into each other) (Example)
  • Objects level: stands out from the ground level (with more contrast and maybe even a light outline)
  • Sprites (characters, monsters etc.) and item icons level: stands out the most (heavily saturated with dark outlines)
• Perspective: top-down 45° view angle. (Example)
• Light Direction: South-West (Example)
  • Objects should be fully lit (Example)
• Wind Direction: From West to East
• Proportions: A character is approximately one tile wide (32px) and two tiles high (64px) (Example)
• Drop Shadows:
  • Large objects on outdoor tilesets have a drop shadow to the northeast
  • Flying creatures have a drop shadow (Example)
  • Shadows should be pure black (#000000), and have a opacity of 30%, the edges have a opacity of 15%
• Anti Aliasing: Only if it does not look smooth without it
• Blood: May only be used if it spice up certain environments that needs to be extra creepy. (Example)

Creatures

Monsterset development

• You may mirror the creature sprites, as long as the lighting is correct
• There is no size restriction, please go berserk

Icons

Icon Development

• Use other icons as examples if possible (Example)

NPCs

• NPC's should be in the same style as the player sprites.
  • NPC's do not and should not be constrained by player pose and body shape. For example, the startrek sprites are done in the same style as players, but strike a different pose.
  • Shadows should NOT be used for NPCs, shadows are reserved for large objects or flying creatures.
  • Some NPCs not in the same style as the player sprites may be accepted if appropriate. (For example, Santa)

Tilesets

Tileset development

• All tilesets should have the same amount of texture. Use the New Forest Tileset as reference
• Do not use visible outlines
• Do not use vanishing point projection. All objects have to be drawn in zero-point perspective (Example)
• Use pure black (#000000) for 'here is nothing' indoor or dungeon areas.
• Try to match the brightness and contrast of the reference tileset
  • Outdoor: New Forest Tileset
  • Indoor: ???
  • Dungeons: ???
• All tiles on a single tileset should have the same warm / cold feeling.
• When contributing to a other tileset, try to use the same colours as much as possible to get the same feeling

How to get your content in to the game

The best way to do this is yet to be decided, but this should work:

• Start a thread in the forum, with a subject line beginning [WIP] (work in progress).
• Discuss it and edit it a few times until it's ready.
• Change the [WIP] thread's title to [WIP]>[FND] (finished), and make it clear which is the final version.
• Create a new report in Mantis to request that it be included in the game.

Tutorials

When you are not very experienced at creating pixel art, you should take a look at the following tutorials. You can learn many interesting tricks from them.

• So You Want To Be A Pixel Artist by Tsugumo.
• Mark's Pixel Art Tutorial
• Derek Yu's Pixel Art Tutorial
• Pixel-Zone Tutorials
• Pixel Art Links
• Mruk's Desert Well Tutorial
• Mruk's Impossible Shape Design Tutorial