Basics
A great start up is to use the "Resources For Archers Creator" All the base archers are already extracted with all necessary files
Check this resources and a video how to use them here
The zip in this post contains all the base archers (including Alts and Secret) slipped into pieces. All the sprites, archerData, spriteData separated into files. And all files necessary to create an archer (the atlas.png, atlas.xml, archerData.xml, spriteData.xml)
Also, an already configured Atlas Creator (created by Terria) to easy create atlas for Archer Loader.
This Atlas Creator is localized at 'CreateAtlas' in the zip.
All custom archers need a folder with the follow files: the atlas.png, atlas.xml, archerData.xml, spriteData.xml
you also can have, optionally, the menuAtlas.png, menuAtlas.xml, menuSpriteData.xml
In that case your folder will have the following files: archerData.xml, atlas.png, altas.xml, spriteData.xml, menuAtlas.png, menuAltas.xml and menuSpriteData.xml
All tags reference
(Currently borrowed from Angeblow guide with a few modifications)
<Name0> : The first name for the character
<Name1> : The second name for the character
<ColorA> : Controls the colour of the lettering of the name, the border when the character is selected, the "name" of the gamepad setup, the colour of the character on the pie chart, some particles, etc.
<ColorB> : Controls the colour of the "Swap Skin button", the "selected name" for the gamepad, the fletchings, the character's ghost, etc.
<LightbarColor> : DS4 support
<Aimer> : Tag sets the colour and the type of aimer the character uses. The colour and type of aimer is actually a set thing, so you might have to work around it somehow or edit some in!
<Hair> : Set True for hair, used together with <HairInfo>
<SFX> : The sound effects obviously. A index from the archer sfx, use <CustomSFX><Fallback></Fallback><CustomSFX> is recommended because it allow you to use the archer name (ie 'RED') instead of a index
<Corpse> : the dead body sprite.
<PurpleParticles> : Value for the purple archer's aura!
<VictoryMusic> : Name of the base archer victoryMusic, for custom use <CustomSFX> and a wav file named "Victory" instead
<Gender> : Probably has to do with "Comeback King/Queen/Whatever the puppet would like to be idetified as." ;)
<Body> : The character's body sprite set. Refer to the Atlas and use the subTexture id
<HeadNormal> : The head with the hat on. You can mix and match heads and bodies. Use the subTexture id
<HeadNoHat> : Head when hat is off. Use the subTexture id
<HeadCrown> : Head when using a Crown. Use the subTexture id
<Bow> : The bow the character uses. Use the subTexture id
<Material> : How the hat moves when it gets shot off. subTexture id
<Normal> : The Normal hat. subTexture id
<Blue> : The hat if the character is on blue team. subTexture id
<Red> : Red team always wins. subTexture id
<NotJoined> : The character's portrait when not selected, but hovered. subTexture id
<Joined> : Same, but when you have the character selected. subTexture id
<Win> : The little win picture. subTexture id
<Lose> : The picture for lose. subTexture id
<Menu> : Gem selected for the menu. string spriteData id
<Gameplay> : Gameplay gem. int spriteData id
<Offset> : Where the breathing starts.
<DuckingOffset> : Same, but for ducking.Gather around, class! Today we're gonna be talking about HeadYOrigins! For this example, we're gonna be talking about everyone's favorite archer: Dummy!
Here's the Dummy's coding for their HeadYOrigins:
Each number corresponds to a body sprite.
Both are in order of how they appear, which makes things simple. The number shown tells the game where to put the head sprites, depending in which body sprite is being used.
As we can see from this ingame screenshot, where the head would appear on the first sprite, the idle sprite, would be...
... Here!
The number determines how high or low the head goes, pixel by pixel. Since the second body sprite has a higher number by 1 than the first sprite, the head will be 1 pixel higher.
While the third-to-last body has a number smaller by 4, so it has it's head sprite lowered by 4 pixels.
... And that's it! (Unless I've forgetten anything) If there isn't any number for a body sprite...
... In this example it would be the last sprite, the Slide Dodge sprite If the game tries to use any animations that use that sprite, (the Slide Dodge in this case,) it won't be able to know where the head is supposed to go, which will end up crashing the game!
...Hopefully I was able to explain this well, haha. class is dismissed!