Creating Sprites for Us
Dear graphics creators,
In the next version 8.0 of Game Maker an important new feature is the full support for PNG images with alpha (transparency) information. This will involve an improved image editor, sprite editor, room editor and new options in the background and sprite property forms (for example related to collision checking). This will make it possible to create much better looking games.
As part of that change the plan is to include a completely new set of sprites and backgrounds with Game Maker 8.0. These must be high-quality images in consistent styles that can be used royalty free by all users of Game Maker. These should come in sets for different types of games, e.g. a maze game set, a space shooter set, a platform set, an RPG set, etc.
YoYo Games is am now looking for one or more people that are willing to create these during the coming months (our plan is to release version 8.0 during or after the summer but nothing is certain about that yet). We will pay for this (although probably not fully commercial fees). Precise fees will depend on the quality of the sprites, their complexity and the license agreement.
Now before reacting, first read on.
All sprites must be in .png format using full color and alpha transparency for e.g. removing the background, smoothing the edges, adding glow or shadows, etc. So you must have experience with creating this type of images. As we aim for something like 500-1000 sprites and backgrounds you must have considerable time to work on these (although the work can be divided over a few people).
Because the person(s) we select will be paid for this, a formal contract will be arranged. You must have the age to be able to sign such a legally-binding contract (depends on the country) or e.g. your parents must be willing to sign the contract for you (and take the responsibility). In this contract you must testify that the images are your original work, that you have the right to license them to us and that you will create them on time. You will be requested to license all rights for the use and sale of the material to YoYo Games. In principle we ask for a non-exclusive license but this can be negotiated. At some stage, when we selected you, we will need full information about you including your real name, full address, a copy of a passport or other id, etc. to create the contract.
If you have the qualities and are interested in this you can contact us. For us to be able to judge the quality of your work, you are requested to create a consistent set of sample sprites for a maze game. Based on these sets we will decide who we will offer a contract. The set should have the following properties and content:
- all 32×32 images
- animated sprites should form a strip (see below)
- all png images with alpha channel use
- The following sprites should be present: one or more animated characters (player, monster, etc.) moving in diferent directions (up, left, down, right, standing still), some tiles to create the maze walls (could also include doors, etc.), one or more background images (preferably tiling), and some objects for inside the maze (keys, buttons, weapons, …). More things can be included if you like.
If we choose you as the person to make the content, the set you created will be part of the output and will be paid for under the conditions of the contract. Otherwise, we will not use the set (unless you still allow us to) and you are free to use it in any way you like.
If you really prefer to send in a different set of sprites (e.g. because you already created that), please contact us first. However, such a set must contain animated sprites, some tiles, and a background image.
Animated sprites with multiple subimages must be created as one strip on which all (equally sized) images are placed next to each other. For the new Game Maker to recognize these the file name must end with _stripXX where XX is the number of subimages. e.g. pacman_strip4.png would contain an animated pacman sprite with 4 subimages, e.g. as follows:
A strip with four images
You can send your set (preferably in a single zip file), together with your personal information and expression of interest to sprites@gamemaker.nl. Our plan is to make a decision at the beginning of May, so please send in your sets by the end of April. If you have further questions about this, please contact me at the indicated email address.
Mark Overmars
PS Some of you might remember that I posted a similar requist about 4 years ago. That time I did not follow up on it because in the end I decided not to add PNG support. Now this will definitely happen (it is basically ready) and with the support of YoYo Games we can indeed pay the sprite artists.
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March 25th, 2009 at 11:15 am
How does this new sprite feature work with support of “alpha information” ? Do you provide separate images for the sprite and the alpha (black and white) ? Or is it somehow automatic as a single image ?
March 25th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Wow, so their is some progress being made
March 25th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Now THAT’S progress! Transparent .png support was needed so badly. And a summer/fall release date for GM8 is even better to hear!
March 25th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
that sounds wonderful.
March 25th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Great news! (^_^)b
Proper .png support will be a real improvement to GM!…
& as someone above already said, hearing that GM8 is going to be released sometime this year brings a huge smile to my face! \(^O^)/
Thank you very much for the info & very best of luck with GM8!
March 25th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
I’m interested in doing this. I’ve one problem though – I believe the age in England of signing legally binding contracts is 18, which I won’t be until mid-May. Would this screw things up were I, on the off chance, picked to create some sprites?
March 25th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Wonderful news! I was hoping GM8 would have PNG transparency. The old transparency system is such a pain to work with.
March 25th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
I didn’t know you could add transparency in PNG images (which in my mental world is crafted solely trought MS’s Paint.exe) outside of Game Maker… but using PNGs is a Nice Addition that keeps file size smaller. I hate BMPs. ^_^
I don’t know wether my work would be chosen if I sent some over, but I think I might participate with some, even if I wouldn’t want to work with making sprites. I’d sure be happy enough with have my work in an official resource pack. ^_^
March 25th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
I’m unsure how much works would be involved, but how about implementing support for transparency with other formats such as .tga now that Game Maker can handle it?
March 25th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Direct png support & editing would be very good. For collision shape, there should be a possibility to set threshold (minimum transparency for pixel to count it into collision shape).
March 25th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
NAL:
Best contact me by email about this.
vadim647:
That will be possible.
others:
GM 8.0 will read in all the same file formats for images the current version does. When the file contains transparency information (and when the library I use for reading them in supports it) they will use that information. GM 8.0 can only save PNG files. Internally it uses a completely different file format for fast operations.
But this topic is not about GM 8.0. It is about the spriter job.
March 25th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
[...] a search on the YoYo Games blog for a (paid) graphics creator to produce suitable free to use sprites for [...]
March 25th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Will there be support for .png files with frames? Also I’d like to see support for animated backgrounds.
March 25th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Nice!
March 25th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Im pretty decent with those kind of graphics, but I must go to serve in my country’s military soon, so I guess I will not have the time.
March 26th, 2009 at 12:15 am
This is definitely good news. If I have time I’ll submit some sprite sets.
Reasons I would. To get paid. To get recognized. To help out people who need it.
Reasons I wouldn’t. Possibly not enough time. Because I don’t like it when everyone uses the same sprites for things. Because I don’t like it when people use mismatched sprites because they couldn’t find one set that had everything.
So I’ll think about this one. It’s a nice opportunity though.
March 26th, 2009 at 12:29 am
I’m glad gamemaker will have png. support, its kind of annoying when you have to make a new sprite for every different alpha. question: will gamemaker still make png. files if you don’t have a program that makes them?
March 26th, 2009 at 12:47 am
Great! Can’t wait.
any other plans for GM8, and any idea when the mac port is going to be done?
March 26th, 2009 at 12:59 am
It would be very nice to have PNG support and a good set of images for games so at least noob games might look nice.
March 26th, 2009 at 1:35 am
Finally, some news on GM8! I hope it owns!
March 26th, 2009 at 3:02 am
Support for png. would be a great, When you say “For the new Game Maker to recognize these the file name must end with _stripXX where XX is the number of subimages. e.g. pacman_strip4.png would contain an animated pacman sprite with 4 subimages… ” does that mean everyone using Game Maker that wants to use a strip to create an animated sprite has to end the file name with ‘_stripXX’?
Anyways I don’t have the time, willpower, or attention span to apply for the job and I might be underaged. And wouldn’t 500-1000 sprites and backgrounds mean that about 4 good quality pngs need to made a day?
Anywho, I’d love to see what the community turns up, and I am looking forward to GM8.
March 26th, 2009 at 4:11 am
@blopit, I believe it’s just the new better image importer, since I’m guessing that the image editor will have a feature to edit the forth channel.
I’d like to see a new version that doesn’t have all of the resources, sort of like a clean install that’s small (that’s why I like GM, though the exes are huge) but I’m cool if the resources are mandatory. Seems to be going in the direction of something like RPG Maker, yeah.
I hope GM8 will be a bit faster, though. Prims are still too slow, and drawing a surface is much worse.
March 26th, 2009 at 6:19 am
Truly awesome news! Too bad I can’t sprite
.
March 26th, 2009 at 6:41 am
Yes, full PNG support! Game Maker just keeps improving. I can’t wait to see version 8.
March 26th, 2009 at 7:22 am
Mark! Mark! Mark! I love you so much, my little friend !!! I will send one sprite of mine, NOWWW!!!
but “500 or 1000″… I thing that I can not make.
March 26th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Good to see you are getting a move along.
How about other resources? Are you sticking to the same ones or are you updating them as well?
March 26th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Thanks for info about 8.0!
March 26th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
I am hoping that Mark could still read this because I got a really big question, and an idea. Will there be a way to control layers. Because trying to put an object underneath another or on top is a pain because I have to set them in order from first to last, when it could be easier. They do that with RPG Maker software, but not here.
March 26th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Aaaand another question.. I’m wondering, will the Mac version be released at the same time as the PC version? And will it be possible to export games made in Game Maker 8 for PC to Mac?
Thanks in advance
- DPJ93
March 27th, 2009 at 3:59 am
Eu sou um grande fã do seu trabalho, mas eu não poderei ajudar. Eu preciso de mais
informação para fazer boas imagens, além disso não tenho o habito de criar em Png.
XXX
I am a big fan of your work, but unfortunately I can not help.
I need more information to create
a good sprite and I can not work with PNG, I only use bitmaps.
Maybe I send you some sprites, but the intention is to show the potential of the new Game Maker and I can not use PNG.
I’m sad … I wanted that money …
°A° Nascifer
March 27th, 2009 at 4:52 am
1000 sprites is a lot… I mean, these are just for simple example games, right? It doesn’t seem like it would be necessary to have that many.
Providing less would also encourage original material.
March 27th, 2009 at 6:23 am
@Polystyrene Man
It’s inferred from their post that more than one person will be hired. I doubt one guy would be able to do all that in time, as blopit showed earlier with a little math.
March 27th, 2009 at 6:43 am
@sharik
Yeah, i think Polystyrene Man is referring to the use of the sprites when people start to use GM 8. With 1000 sprites to use it won’t encourage people to make there own sprites, but use the ones provided.
March 27th, 2009 at 7:00 am
I know its off topic but will Game Maker 8.0 be free if i own 7.0? Please say yes!
March 27th, 2009 at 9:28 am
@DP Software: Last news was that GM Mac is at this stage a port of GM 7. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it come as GM 8 though.
@nascifer: Why can’t you make PNGs? All good graphics software supports them.
@Polystyrene Man: I personally prefer to see un-original good quality gfx than original… uh… not so good gfx.
@cjsproductions: As far as I’ve read we should have no reason to assume otherwise.
March 27th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Oh yeah, I realize that they’re willing to split the work up, but it looks like they’d be happier with one spriter to ensure a consistent style. At least that’s how I’m reading it.
“I personally prefer to see un-original good quality gfx than original… uh… not so good gfx.”
Heh, I guess we disagree there!
March 27th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
“I personally prefer to see un-original good quality gfx than original… uh… not so good gfx.”
I only agree there if all of the “good quality gfx” happen to be consistent. Its mighty awful to see beautiful graphics mixed in with horrid ones—much worse, I think, than just the bad ones by themselves.
March 27th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
@Dannyboy:
Excuse me, I do not speak english and google translated wrong. I meant “I not usually work with PNG”. I only work with bitmaps, because I design pixel by pixel and without effect.
°A° Nascifer
March 28th, 2009 at 12:15 am
@Polystyrene Man: I guess so.
@Mr JAk HAk: I agree, I wouldn’t consider it good quality gfx if it wasn’t consistent.
@nascifer: Ah, I understand now. You make a different style to what they’re asking for. Oh well.
March 28th, 2009 at 9:31 am
the YoYo Games File Uploading Server spits a error and no longer works with properly with uploading game files, and give me any trash on like ‘ oh did you try ‘ and ya da ya da, and ‘ what format was it ‘ and ‘ was it it a ,exe ‘ yes it was a .exe and phrases like ‘ was there a virus attached to the file? ‘ I’ll have you know I always scan my files and erase viruses before uploading any content and scan for any malware, and spyware and other bad things that can attach themselves to .exe files and trash PCs also no I’d never write a virus, even with GM or anything illegal, do you really think I am that thick? come on spit it out?
March 28th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Will Game Maker 8.0 also support animated PNG images?
March 28th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I would like to ask again in hope that Mark or someone from YYG sees it:
How about other resources? Are you sticking to the same ones or are you updating them as well?
March 28th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Are pixel graphics completely out of the question then? because I can create them at a high quality but I don’t have much experience in transparency and pngs
March 28th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
are you staying on top of web security new threats on the internet are raising the alarms and expected to be coming on april the 1st, no joke.
iNews
The iNews are used to keep you up-to-date of what’s brewing in ALWIL Software and what’s going on in the world of computer viruses.
avast! is ready for 1 April; are you?
March 28, 2009
April 1st is a date often targeted by the creators of malware and this year will be no exception. However,if your computer’s operating system and your avast! antivirus are up to date, the risk is very small. Read more…
March 28th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
more data on that where the link would oftenly be on the avast handle of the software, here at this link:
http://www.avast.com/eng/about-april-1st.html
You simply must be prepared to deal with security threats if these ones aren’t registered in your anti virus database you better register them now.
March 28th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
don’t be a target, this year be a defensive guarding system for your ID and PC.
March 28th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
@edmunn PNG doesn’t support animation, MNG does and im not sure if they are going to support MNG
March 29th, 2009 at 7:13 am
Please correct me if i’m wrong…
The GIMP and Photoshop automatically save pngs with the correct alpha channel information, right? Well, assuming that the solid color background layer is removed…
But yes, variable transparency is awesome. One small step for the GM8 programmer, one giant leap for game design.
March 29th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
I think I would use Illustrator instead of Photoshop (maybe a mix of both.) to accomplish this. I would like to know if you prefer other software to make pngs?
March 29th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
@ Jenner
I prefer Macromedia Fireworks. Now Macromedia is owned by Adobe and is called Adobe Fireworks. I heard that GIMP and Paint.net also make png.
I agree with Polystyrene Man, there should only be a few (in my oppinion 50-100) sprites and backgrounds so that beginners are encouraged to make their own sprites. This would also leave time for a few sound resources.
March 30th, 2009 at 2:11 am
Good to know that GM8 won’t just be the mac compatibility.
Now it still needs a better resizing algorithm though.
March 30th, 2009 at 2:57 am
I would like to do this. I’m not really a fan of 32×32 images, but I ‘ll cope. You won’t mind if we create larger images for the backgrounds right?
Thats really great news about gm8 by the way. Good work Mark and YoYo!
March 30th, 2009 at 6:28 am
@ Warriorccc0 – They haven’t (to my knowledge) announced that they are going to be releasing Mac compatibility with GM 8. (Please correct me if im wrong)
March 30th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Hmm …why not, ill make some sprites and register my work with ya.
Im neck deep with my own project, but working for yoyogames and Mark is considered an honor.Im about 6 years experienced in 3d graphics and im a .png fan so i guess it will be somewhat easy for me…500-1000 sprites? No Problem.
Looking forward to GM8
March 30th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Hi. I´m interested, but unfortunately my PC is broken now and it won´t be ready again for work until the end of April, so I was wondering if I could show you other graphcs I already made. For example, I made a video about a game I´ve been making for two years with GM, and all the graphics are made by me.
March 31st, 2009 at 3:12 pm
with ISO art word of advice they make it look too easy if you don’t believe me see this video of how fast some one perfectly draws a ISO bed room, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70i2Wl5t6j0 there is your link it is called ‘ Isometric Bedroom Drawing ‘ and it looks easier than it is to do tasks like that, and that fast, if you can do that then your more than a qualified artist.
March 31st, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Well, I´ll leave the link to my video here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WdvdrMUGNc&feature=channel_page
The video is a bit old, so some sprites and backgrounds have been changed. For example, I remade the running animation of the character to make it look more natural, and the desert background now is better.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:50 am
I meant to say Mac Compatibility/C++ version of GM. It will most likely have one of those at least, unless they go and still stall on getting them released.
April 1st, 2009 at 3:52 am
Will there be a better image editor as well? The current one is almost worse that paint.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:50 am
@stegarootbeer:
I do not know how you work, but the editor has everything needed to make good pictures.
It’s simple, has the transparency and work with PNG. What more do you want? Sprite must be small to not spend a lot of memory, then you have to draw them pixel to pixel and for this it is perfect.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
it needs a newer better image editor, if I could in Tafe learn C++ I could not only patch my dock and a slight error and fix it, and improve it, I could release it, and help with YoYo Games and fix this error and fix the image editor and improve it, and make it far better than ever, and add handier tools and easier smaller ones, for the program.
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:39 am
@mrsmes:
Send your suggestion to Mr Overmars by E-mail.
But I really liked and remember that it is only the beta. I sent one or two suggestions to him and he said that all already have been updated. Then I think that the beta is simple, because he want protect your program.
April 5th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
sweet. Must give this a try, ptoouie and i am off.
April 6th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
wow this is awesome.this is going to be something like 64bit images
WOOT i always wanted to make images like that on gamemaker.me and my friends were thinking about making a game and one of them wants to make it with flash because artwork is better on it but i want to make it with gamemaker because it is so easy.haha now we will be able to make awesome images in gamemaker and he will no longer want to make it on flash.im so happy.
April 6th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
and i would like to help but im just 13 years old
April 6th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
ok…. not to be off topic, even though i think this is great, but when are you announcing competition05, or at least what it is, because you said it would be said in March, and its now april, and i can’t wait for it!
April 8th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
How about giving a Pro version of Game Maker 8.0 for a good set. I think 1000 sprite is too much and someone like a pro version than money ( like me )
April 8th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Will people who have bought Gamemaker 7 Pro get this pro version for free?
April 9th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
I think it goes without saying that Gamemaker 8 Pro will *not* be free (for anyone, including those who have GM7).
I would imagine it will work like this:
GM 8 Basic = free
GM 8 Pro = 30 Euro (or whatever)
GM 8 Upgrade from GM7 = 15 Euro
Yeah I would guess something like that.
Also, I would guess that GM 8 Mac Version would be a seperate program, same price again.
Would love to hear official word on any of this tho… they’re just guesses.
April 12th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
[...] but there’s mucho work involved (500-1000 sprites). Looks like they want to pimp their new Game Maker 8’s transparent .png support, as well as make a new set of royalty-free sprites for Game Maker. Want to [...]
April 12th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Mr. Overmars,
I just wanted to inform you that I have sent you my submissions, as well as a cover letter, resume, and portfolio. If you have any question as to who I am, please keep in mind that the first letter in my user name is the first letter in my first name, and that I am a Junior studying Illustration. That should be enough information to figure out who I am. More importantly I just wanted to thank you again for this opportunity and to wish you the best of luck in choosing the artists you need to get this job done.
April 12th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Would it be possible to do the following with the upgrade?:
Have the ability to zoom out and in the room designer.
Have the ability to either edit the creation code for multiple units in a room at once quickly or have the ability to copy and paste units in the room which will include the creation code.
Fix the open dialog window for the sounds browising – it does not maximise properly!
April 12th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
@nottud
You can copy/paste codes. First, highlight the code, then press CTRL + C to copy, and then CTRL + V to paste. This can also be used to take codes from a different game file and put them in another one.
This may not be what you’re talking about, but anyways, it helps with some things.
April 13th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
[...] Link del anuncio: http://glog.yoyogames.com/?p=520 [...]
April 27th, 2009 at 5:35 am
please increase the alarms to 16
April 27th, 2009 at 5:41 am
anyways i cant wait until game maker 8.0
April 27th, 2009 at 5:42 am
its gonna be fun!
April 27th, 2009 at 5:43 am
But i will keep game maker 7
April 28th, 2009 at 5:28 am
Sounds Great! Can’t wait
April 30th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
:O game maker 8 is gonna be awesome!
May 8th, 2009 at 6:41 am
Awesome, glad to hear about the progress, keep it up!
June 28th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
[...] latest official word on a planned release date is “during or after the summer” given by Mark Overmars in March. Presumably the beta would be released in the same way as the C++ runner [...]
July 4th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Could I still submit my picture pack(s)? Or am I too late?
August 22nd, 2009 at 7:05 am
How do we know when the time is up? I am guessing they found someone, but if not I would like to submit my work.
December 12th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
MARK, I would really like to see some decent platform sprites included with GM8