Creating Sprite Files

Firstly you can use any drawing package to make bitmaps, I personally recommend Paint Shop Pro for its range of tools and ease of use.

 

Download this bitmap which has the correct palette for Creatures, and open it in Windows Paint (or similar image editor).

Then copy the image from the package to the palette bitmap and save it in bitmap format.

You might get distortion due to the limitation of the palette, if you do adjust your original image then re-copy it to the palette bitmap.

 

Please note that true black is interpreted by the game as invisible, so if you want part of your sprite to appear black then you must use a near-black.
Certain shades of white appear in the game as black, so you may have to experiment.

 

Make sure the width of the file is a multiple of 8, using the attributes option in the Image menu. Otherwise it will become distorted when used in the game.

If you want multiple images in one sprite, it is useful to number them with the same name after the number e.g.
00cabbage, 01cabbage, 02cabbage, 03cabbage

 

Now open Creatures Editor, select "Compile SPR File"  from the "Sprite Manipulator" sub menu.
Now locate and select the files you wish to include in the file. Note that you are best selecting the last in a series then the first one when highlighting a series or the program will rearrange the files.

Alternatively you can use One Sprite Worksop or Sprite Builder by Cyberlife.

One stop sprite workshop   spriteman.jpg (2507 bytes)

 

You can now create your file - remember to give it a unique four digit name, one that is not of the name structure used by the Creature Sprites.

Remember to copy or move it to the /Creatures/images directory or the game cannot access it. You can now create a cob to inject it into your world.