Skip to content

jbunke/tdsm

Repository files navigation

Top Down Sprite Maker (TDSM) is a flexible and powerful pixel art character creation tool. It is a desktop GUI application with executable binaries distributed for Windows, macOS, and Linux distributions.

Buy on itch.io API Art repository Changelog Roadmap


Sprite styles

While most similar programs are built around a specific sprite style (art style, directions, supported animations, etc.), TDSM is built to support multiple sprite styles. Furthermore, these sprite styles can be distributed as ZIP files, and can thus be created, modified, and shared by the community.

Example

Customizing a character in a sprite style based on the Generation IV Pokémon games

Flexibility

TDSM sprite styles define their own composition layers, supported directions (whether 4, 6, or 8), and animations.

Getting and using sprite styles

The program launches with a basic "Default" 8-directional 32-bit sprite style that acts as a sort of tech demo.

You can download/buy additional sprite styles online. Sprite styles made or approved by me are added to this Itch.io collection. Sprite styles inspired by established IPs, such as Pokémon, are always distributed for free.

Making your own sprite styles

As of the release of v1.2.0, the scripting API has not yet been properly documented, and the DeltaScript language specification is outdated and does not reflect the semantics of the language interpreter that runs in TDSM. These resources will be updated as soon as possible.

Making sprite styles for TDSM consists of two main components:

  • Programming a manifest.tds script file that defines the sprite style's composition logic
  • Drawing the assets that are composed according to the rules defined in the script

Scripts are written in DeltaScript (a scripting language I designed for use with specific applications) and the TDSM scripting API.

A full tutorial and additional resources will be available shortly.


Features

Customize

TDSM gives you complete freedom to customize every facet of your character, yet the sprite assembly rules still ensure that sprites always look good and production-ready.

  • Controlled randomization: Generate random sprites with the click of a button. Randomization can be constrained by locking customization layers you wish to exclude. [ screenshot ]
  • Smart layering rules: Customization layers update dynamically based on changes to other layers they depend on. For example, changing your body type from "average" to "small" in the Pokémon Gen. 4 Trainer style will render your head a pixel lower and switch to the small body clothing assets, but the outfit choice will stay the same.

Configure

Configure your sprite sheet to your exact needs. Have TDSM adapt to your existing projects rather than having to rework code or sprite sheet slicing configurations.

  • Sizing: Crop or pad individual sprites to your liking, ranging from 1x1 px to 128x128 px [ screenshot ]
  • Sequencing: Determine which directions and animations to include in the export, and in which order [ screenshot ]
  • Layout: Determine the axis along which directions and animations are exported in the sprite sheet, as well as how distinct animations follow one another [ screenshot ]

Export

Export sprite sheets and associated data from TDSM in seconds.

  • Sprite sheet as a PNG image
  • Sprite sheet metadata as JSON [optional]
  • Sprite sheet with customization layers separated as Stipple Effect project (.stip) [optional]

Save and load sprite data

Sprite customization data can be loaded into TDSM by uploading a JSON metadata file that matches a sprite style present in the current program session.


Contribute

You can help me develop TDSM by reporting bugs.

License

TDSM is distributed under an end-user license agreement (EULA).

You may...

  • Use TDSM for personal or commercial projects
  • Clone the TDSM source code and privately modify it to suit your needs
  • Distribute or sell TDSM sprite styles consisting of original work

You may not...

  • Distribute or sell copies of TDSM (whether modified or not)
  • Use TDSM for NFT or crypto-related projects
  • Use TDSM to train generative AI models

Note:

Some sprite styles featured in TDSM are based on established IPs. The use of sprites in such styles in commercial projects (fan games, etc.) may infringe upon the copyright of the associated copyright holder.

About

Top Down Sprite Maker is a desktop GUI application for generating pixel art character sprite sheets

Topics

Resources

License

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Contributors 2

  •  
  •  

Languages