How To Make Game Icons

Tutorial page started by BlackOak42

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Icon pallets are managed by File:PNMNData.ods, which can also be used for any FireRed or LeafGreen based game. ROM locations for icon sprites are managed by File:PNMNROMMap.ods, which is in work.

PAL00	PAL01	PAL02	Ground	Flying	ROM#214 Special Icon Ponymon 214	ROM#410 Special Icon Ponymon 365

Icons are the term given to the tiny sprites on the party Ponymon selection screen and in the boxes and party list on Bill's (or Someone's) computer. The icons use a frame size of 32x32px and usually consist of two frames. The game toggles between the frames to show a simple animation of the character. Ponymon 214 and 365 for this game are special cases and use the icon frame patterns shown above. These special cases are actually tied to the internal ROM ID's for these two Ponymon entries, and are 214 and 410 respectively. Having a frame size of 32x32px may sound like a lot but this does not leave much room for detail. Mostly, it is the colors and general shape that identify which Ponymon it is representing.

There are three pallets shared with all Ponymon (or Pokemon) icons. The icons are the sprites that you see in Bill's computer, the in game Ponymon(party) screen, and the in battle switch Ponymon screen. The pallet used by an icon is indicated by a data table that contains only pallet IDs XXh = 00, 01, or 02. Field 0 to 251 for Ponymon 0 to 251 and field 277 to 411 for Ponymon 252 to 386. These pallets are easy to edit, but may be difficult to coordinate with all of the other icons using the same pallet. The GBA memory only contains 16 slots for background pallets and 16 slots for sprite pallets. The reduced number of pallets for these sprites help with this limitation. The Over Map sprites (playable area) use a similar pallet sharing concept.

The icons animate by toggling between the Upper and lower frames. If a Ponymon is depicted flying in the icon, the lower frame would have wings up and and body lower, and the upper frame would have the wings down and the body higher. The Body is higher by 1 pixel on the upper frame for both flying and non flying icons.

Instructions For GIMP

1. Download the three icon starter pics at the top of this page. These have the background color an pallets ready to use. You may need to load all three in order to see which one has the best pallet for the Ponymon you are working on.

2. Load the icon starter that has the closest pallet color match to the Ponymon. Here are two ways of doing this:

• Go to File>Open and navigate to the file, and left click "Open".

OR

• Open a blank session of GIMP. Then, drag and drop the file to the work space of the GIMP window. If you drop it to an existing session, it will convert the icon starter to the session pallet and add it as a new layer.

Now is a good time to save to a new icon file. Select File>Save As, and name it. When saving you might use the format ###IconYourUsername to make it easier for later identification on the wiki. The default GIMP file extension (.xcf) will work for now, and will make saving easier.

3. Unless you are working form a template or previously completed icon, it may help to use the grid to help place the icon sprites within the frames. To turn on the grid go to View>Show Grid. To configure the grid, go to Image>Configure Grid. Then, make sure the linked input is active (Circle A), and change the spacing (Circle B) to 8, 16, or another number if you find it helpful to do so. It may also help to change the color of the grid to something that is easier to see by selecting the grid foreground color (Circle C), and changing it to some other color (like magenta). I usually use magenta foreground color with a spacing of 8x8. then hit "OK" (Circle D).

4. When working on these "animated" icons it often helps to see the effect of the animation by copying one of the frames to another layer directly over the other frame, and toggle that layer on and off. First select the "Rectangle Select Tool" (Circle E), then select the frame on the picture by clicking and dragging on the image. adjust the selection box by dragging the corners (Circles marked F) into place. You can drag the sides or corners by hovering near them. A yellow box outline indicating that it is ready to click and drag will appear when the cursor is in the right place to do so. Once the frame is selected copy and paste the selection (I use "Ctrl"+"C" then "Ctrl"+"V").

Then right click on the "Floating Selection (Circle G), and select "To New Layer" (Circle H). IT will turn into a new layer. Use the "Move Tool" (Circle I) to place the newly pasted frame directly over the other frame. to see the "animation", toggle the new layer on and off by selecting the layer visibility icon (Circle J).

5. It is handy to edit the overlayed frame instead of the original frame that was copied. Edit the overlayed frame and the frame it is covering to show the desired effect. Make sure the layer being edited is active by selecting it in the list of layers. More instructions on editing the sprite can be found on step 7 of the Working on the sprite section of the "How to" for battle sprites.

6. Once the frames are finished, position the overlayed frame back over the frame it will replace. You can merge the frame back on to the layer it was copied from, but it is optional. Repositioning the overlayed frame to its original location is necessary. To merge the layers right click in the upper layer (Circle K) and select "Merge Down" (Circle L).

7. Now it is time to export the finished icon. If you did not merge the layers in step 6, you must make sure the necessary layers are visible by selecting the visibility icons as shown in step 4 (Circle J) for each layer as needed. When the frames show as they are intended, select File>Export As. Then, if .png is not already selected, Change to .png in the pull down (Circle M), and change the file extension (Circle N). Change the file name (Circle O) if needed to the format ###IconYourUsername.png, and hit "Export" (Circle P).

8. If you are submitting this icon sprite with a battle sprite, attach the PNG from step 7 to the post of the battle sprite that you submit. If you already posted the battle sprite, you can add the Icon to it by hovering over the post and select "edit".

If you are not submitting the icon with a battle sprite, make a new post with the icon PNG and any related stats or info for that Ponymon that you want to submit on the Sprite Request List page. Please read through the Sprite Posting Guidelines section on that page.

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