Ugggh. If there's something really annoying about finishing a project, it's finding out U DONE GOOF weeks or months later - and so I've discovered it the hard way this morning when I'd wanted to quickly flip my character bases around into a completely different setting and era.

Today I'd like to share what that mistake is, so that you, if you create your own sprites to make your own games, hopefully won't repeat mine and gnash your teeth in anger at yourself when you discover that quick cheaty edits aren't possible anymore. I'm still gnashing my teeth at myself as I write this, so you know how salty I felt when I opened my PSD files, all ready to fire away, only to find that...

The biggest mistake I'd made was to draw the hair right into the base itself.

That's right. That's where my goof was done. When we draw hairstyles directly as part of the character's base, the hair becomes part of the base, which means the only thing you can really do is recolor it... and that can be done well only if the hair layers for shading and shine are split, which, you know, I did not do, because I was a goddamn n00b.

In fact, this also means I won't be able to recolor the hair layer properly even for reuse for a similar setting. Creating a mask and adding a Color layer over to change the color is fugly af; I don't recommend doing it unless you absolutely have to.

Anyway, one of the best ways I've found is to draw our bases completely bare so that they can be edited quickly. Here's what a good self-made sprite looks like imo:

New hair can be drawn right over and the expressions can be reused, which, believe me, can save HOURS of work. It's true that the facial expressions can be ported into another base if traced over, relined and recolored, but that's a whole lot of work compared to simply, you know, drawing new hair and clothes.

But why is it so important to plan our character bases well?

Well-planned bases are a boon for game jam crunch times.

I kid not. I don't come online very often, so when I do have enough time to make something for an inspiring game jam which I'd suddenly discovered was currently ongoing from the jam chart, character sprites from older games can come in very handy since only minimal editing is required for a whole new look for a whole new setting.

The only thing is, each setting and era requires different fashion to fit its look - and fashion does include hair. This is why it's not a good idea to draw them into the base, since hairstyles change over time and place, even if body bases may not need to.

Well, yeah... but why can't we just use them unedited anyway in our story?

We can, but having sprites that fit a game invites a player to immerse in them, especially in visual-oriented games like visual novels. One can argue that only the story matters, but does it really? Many of us have likely lurked around to read comments that the art is important to garner interest for these. Three factors are style, quality and how well it fits into the story.

"How well it fits" often also means "setting". I wouldn't really use a Wuxia sprite to depict a modern-day man, for example. A picture paints a thousand words, so it's pretty important how a character is drawn and colored sometimes.

And why is what users think of our game important? It's because...

The thought process behind making a visual novel for ourselves and posting it for others to play is inherently different.

When we're posting something, even if initially they were made to amuse ourselves in private, it's often because we do want feedback from people who've played and/or enjoyed them. Public opinion becomes important in this case, whether we want to admit it or not. What this also means is that there may be a need to polish our story and visuals enough for public consumption, even if it means the story, the art, the branches and even proofreading.

I'm not saying that we can't put out stuff that's imperfect or unpolished, because without feedback, we wouldn't be able to really grow either. What I am saying is that our character bases can be quite important, so they're worth planning a little better over, to make our development lives a little easier, and our potential consumers a little happier in the process.

Anyway, I've written quite a bit in this log! I hope some of my mistakes can help you with making your sprites, so that you can reuse them easily in your future games. Cheers~