Tiger Sheep

We realized recently that we needed layered sprites. We plan on having multiple coats, multiple hats, multiple shoes, multiple ties, multiple everything, and making a separate spritesheet for every possible combination would have been a hassle and seemed like the wrong way of going about it.

On my end, changing this made things a little bit of a hassle. Our current textured protagonist was made with no hat, black shoes, a white shirt, and a trenchcoat in mind. If we ever wanted different clothing that altered the pixel shape of this basic setup, I'd need to deconstruct him, or else we'd end up with having to make a customized spritesheet for:
 

•        Hat / Trenchcoat / T-shirt / Shoes

•        Hat / Trenchcoat / T-shirt / Rocket boots

•        Hat / Trenchcoat / Formal shirt / Shoes

•        Hat / Trenchcoat / Formal shirt / Rocket boots

•        Hat / Nothing / T-shirt / Shoes

•        Hat / Nothing / T-shirt / Rocket boots

•        Hat / Nothing / Formal shirt / Shoes

•        Hat / Nothing / Formal shirt / Rocket boots

•        No hat / Trenchcoat / T-shirt / Shoes

•        No hat / Trenchcoat / T-shirt / Rocket Boots

•        No hat / Trenchcoat / Formal shirt / Shoes

•        No hat / Trenchcoat / Formal shirt / Rocket boots

•        No hat / Nothing / T-shirt / Shoes

•        No hat / Nothing / T-shirt / Rocket boots

•        No hat / Nothing / Formal shirt / Shoes

•        No hat / Nothing / Formal shirt / Rocket boots 

That's just the basic list, too. We plan on adding a lot more variables than just four choices, and it would quickly become unmanageable if left to be done manually.

To fix this, we turned to layered sprites. Now, I just have to make sprite sheets for each possible object, and the game only pulls the specific ones currently in use. Get a boot upgrade? The current boot sprite sheet is replaced by the new boots. Want to take your jacket off? Now it's easy, and the character has something undernearth his jacket (hurr hurr).

The only complication is the z-axis. Which pieces are on top of which pieces, when there's overlap? What if the protagonist's tie is in front of the trenchcoat in some sprites, and behind in others? Things like that won't be the simplest, but should be an interesting challenge.

This will be a fun process, and I'm looking forward to the possibilities it opens up for later games. Character customization, especially. I want you to be able to choose to have tentacle hair. Someday.