Is Charas one of a kind?

[TKM]

Hey, let me first start off saying hello, and by apologizing ahead of time. I know forums sometimes hate it when someone registers just for the sake of asking one question, plus the fact that I'm not even sure if this is the right board for this question, and if not I'm very sorry.

But my question is... is there anything else like Charas out there? Namely, anything better suited for platform games? I'd just like to know if there are, seeing as how I can't sprite worth a crap but really want to put my original characters in my games, but the RPG making elements of Charas, as great as they are, aren't suited for platform games.

[Fisherson]

You mean Charas ex? Then no. As far as I know there are no Platform sprite making engines.

[TKM]

ok... well, thanks. I couldn't sprite to save my life, so are there any experienced spriters here who can give me a few quick tips on editing a side view of a Charas charset to include jumping, shooting, etc animations?

[Prpl_Mage]

Charas is made for Rpg maker. A program to make rpg-based games.
The Charas online generator and the charas EXE are designed to help people with charset, battlecharsets ect.

So no, no platformer sprites.


As for advice.
If you want someone to jump for example- how do people jump? And then try to mimic it on the sprite.
Rinse and repeat.

[Grandy]

You can be lazy like me and not sprite from scratch.

[TKM]

... I don't sprite from scratch. Not because I'm lazy, but because I simply can't Spriting is not a skill I posess. I can't sprite at all, with the exception of, like, 8-bit recolors. It's just not an achievable accomplishment for me. That's why I wanted some program to essentially make my sprites for me. I doubt any actual spriter is going to waste their time making all the little people I need for my weekend projects.

[coreystranick]

What you should try to do, and this is how I started, take a platformer game's sprites. And just recolor and chagne small bits and pieces at a time. Once you finally get a hang of it you can eventually change an entire sprite and make it look like something different.

[TKM]

i've been trying that for years, and nothing good has come out of it yet. I'm really just trying to get moving with my game, and I don't have the time to waste picking at sprites pixel-by-pixel.

[A-Tech]

Actually, RPG Maker is suited for 2D RPG-games, like the old Final Fantasies on old Nintendo consoles, so Charas isn't made for platform game characters.
Indeed, to make a platform game, I suggest you use some other gamemaking software (Games Factory or GameMaker, perhaps?), instead of RPG Maker.

But if you want to make it on RPG Maker, then get a guy, who makes the sprites for you, or just make them yourself.
In fact, making a platform jumping game is pretty hard on RPG Maker, since you must use some kind of blocks, to block the character moving up, and those must be removed, when you jump, which could be hard for a beginner.
Also, in RPG Maker the "Jump" command makes the character just jump staying at the same place, so you must do this with events: If the player is holding left arrow, it jumps and moves left, and when he presses right, it starts moving right in the air. You must do that for right arrow too, in order to get it work, and that's going to be painful for a beginner.

[TKM]

Actually, RPG Maker is suited for 2D RPG-games, like the old Final Fantasies on old Nintendo consoles, so Charas isn't made for platform game characters.
Indeed, to make a platform game, I suggest you use some other gamemaking software (Games Factory or GameMaker, perhaps?), instead of RPG Maker.

But if you want to make it on RPG Maker, then get a guy, who makes the sprites for you, or just make them yourself.
In fact, making a platform jumping game is pretty hard on RPG Maker, since you must use some kind of blocks, to block the character moving up, and those must be removed, when you jump, which could be hard for a beginner.
Also, in RPG Maker the "Jump" command makes the character just jump staying at the same place, so you must do this with events: If the player is holding left arrow, it jumps and moves left, and when he presses right, it starts moving right in the air. You must do that for right arrow too, in order to get it work, and that's going to be painful for a beginner.

you gravely misunderstood me. i AM making my game on GameMaker. I just need a resource similar to charas that isn't restricted to RPG sprites.