Are Spriting Skills a Necessity?

[Matt_]

I am interested in making a fan game, I have researched and researched, and understand RMXP pretty well, and plan to continue researching. I have planned a solid chunk of the game and have got most the aspects of creating the game, but I am completely helpless when it comes to spriting. Like, I am not one of those modest guys who says my decent stuff is terrible, my sprites I have attempted look like scribbles. This is why I am asking, in order to create a fan game, do I need to personally be able to sprite? Would it work out well if I found another spriter who can deal with all the sprites and tilesets and such, while I dealt with basically everything else? The gist of this is, should I devote my immediate time to learning how to sprite or can I rely on a spriter to help me? If I should learn myself, what do you all think is the best way to learn spriting? Wow, sorry for all the questions at once.

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

I can't sprite either, or do art in pretty much in any capacity. This picture looks (and is) silly, but it's also an accurate representation of my art skills. This is with paper. I'm even worse with digital. 

 

 

I don't do the sprites for Spork myself. The most I'm capable of doing is recolors that get blurry when I resize them. A fantastic spriter approached me offering assistance, and that person is the one who does the sprites for Spork. 

 

While there are some people who work alone and do everything or almost everything by themselves, there are plenty of fangames that have a dev team who are all responsible for different tasks. With Reborn for example, Marcello is the one who does code/scripting, there are several people who help out with graphics, and Ame recently recruited help with mapping as well due to the size of the desert. 

 

I suppose the most important question here would be: would you rather learn how to sprite yourself, or would you rather try to find someone who knows how to sprite and is willing to help while you can focus on the other aspects of your game? There's nothing wrong with either approach. 

 

If it's the latter, some advice when it comes to looking for help from others:

For your game, you'll want to have something to show. You could explain what your game is about (which you've already done in a previous thread), how much you've done, and maybe post pictures. If you've made progress on your game and have something to show for it that catches peoples' interest, more people might be willing to help out. 

[Brakk]

Do not take this as an advice, but as an opinion. I am software developer on my own and based on my experience, it will take much time and effort to do everything on your own. When you have a small group of people who can focus on a single part/task, it will be much easier.

Keep in mind, you do not only need to create your game, you need to keep everything balanced, entertaining for the player and need to test everything not once, but for days until it works like you intend to... until you reach a point where you will not always enjoy to do that work. It could also be possible that the game is outdated and need a new patch before you have even finished it. 

 

To sum it up, it is great when you can do everything on your own, but each game need somebody with good ideas and sometimes another mind can provide something that could improve or complete your game . 

[Matt_]

4 hours ago, Brakk said:

Do not take this as an advice, but as an opinion. I am software developer on my own and based on my experience, it will take much time and effort to do everything on your own. When you have a small group of people who can focus on a single part/task, it will be much easier.

Keep in mind, you do not only need to create your game, you need to keep everything balanced, entertaining for the player and need to test everything not once, but for days until it works like you intend to... until you reach a point where you will not always enjoy to do that work. It could also be possible that the game is outdated and need a new patch before you have even finished it. 

 

To sum it up, it is great when you can do everything on your own, but each game need somebody with good ideas and sometimes another mind can provide something that could improve or complete your game . 

 

23 hours ago, Ice Cream Sand Witch said:

I can't sprite either, or do art in pretty much in any capacity. This picture looks (and is) silly, but it's also an accurate representation of my art skills. This is with paper. I'm even worse with digital. 

 

 

I don't do the sprites for Spork myself. The most I'm capable of doing is recolors that get blurry when I resize them. A fantastic spriter approached me offering assistance, and that person is the one who does the sprites for Spork. 

 

While there are some people who work alone and do everything or almost everything by themselves, there are plenty of fangames that have a dev team who are all responsible for different tasks. With Reborn for example, Marcello is the one who does code/scripting, there are several people who help out with graphics, and Ame recently recruited help with mapping as well due to the size of the desert. 

 

I suppose the most important question here would be: would you rather learn how to sprite yourself, or would you rather try to find someone who knows how to sprite and is willing to help while you can focus on the other aspects of your game? There's nothing wrong with either approach. 

 

If it's the latter, some advice when it comes to looking for help from others:

For your game, you'll want to have something to show. You could explain what your game is about (which you've already done in a previous thread), how much you've done, and maybe post pictures. If you've made progress on your game and have something to show for it that catches peoples' interest, more people might be willing to help out. 

Alright, thanks a ton, both of y'all. I will most certainly take this advice to heart as I continue. Thanks!

[Autumn Rain]

I would like to add: If you were to do sprites, you might enjoy it especially when you finish one and test it in your game.

 

New Pokémon sprites can be done within 1-3 days depending on what application(s) you use.

New overworld sprites are easier and you can see a pattern where you can copy and paste with minor editing adjustments.

New tilesets are somewhat time consuming in terms of getting the right quality but you can refer to similar sprites when in doubt.

New item sprites are the easiest of all. You may fuse already created items together and recolor it into something awesome.

Other sprites like backgrounds, title screens, dialogue boxes, HP bars, selection bars, etc. are optional but it feels nice once you view it in your game.

 

I admit, most of the sprites I create are copy and paste bits and pieces with added lines, line adjustments and new colors. I'm still learning.

You may get sprites from other fan games or from the internet in order to make life easier for you. It's better than the default Essentials kit.

 

As for making your fan game, it's going to be really fun. I use to be a beginner but after experiencing RPG Maker XP, I got addicted to game development.

I recommend making first a prototype or test game in order to see what works and what doesn't. This can help you organize things later in your main game.

If you need any help with customizing events, making scripts work and such, feel free to ask me or post a new topic in the forum.

 

Good luck in making your fan game!