NPC Helper 2/Docs

Create an NPC

Sprites

Image size and frame layout for an NPC sprite sheet, extra poses for marriage, and a sleeping pose.

A sprite sheet is the walking character. It is a PNG file in the NPC's sprites/ folder, chosen by file name. Nothing about it is set in TOML, except the optional sleeping pose below. The face shown during dialogue is a separate image: see Portraits.

text
NPCs/Rei/
└── sprites/
    ├── Default.png
    ├── Hospital.png
    ├── summer.png
    └── Hospital_Summer.png

Default.png is the main sprite sheet. The other files are variants that change by place, season or festival: see Image variants.

Step 1: Make the sprite sheet#

  • The sheet is 64 pixels wide: 4 columns of frames, each 16 wide and 32 tall.
  • Each row is one direction, in this order: down, right, up, left.
  • The columns of a row are the walking frames for that direction.
  • Frames are numbered from the top left, left to right, so frame 0 is the first cell of row 1, frame 4 is the first cell of row 2, and so on (frame = row × 4 + column, counting from 0).

A sheet 128 pixels tall holds the four walking rows and is enough for an NPC who cannot marry.

Extra poses for a marriageable NPC#

A marriageable NPC needs more frames, so the sheet is taller (320 pixels tall holds ten rows).

Pose Frame Where it is
Spouse kiss 28 First cell of row 8 (x 0, y 224)
Wedding: facing the guests 36 Row 10, first cell (x 0, y 288)
Wedding: turning to the farmer 37 Row 10, second cell (x 16, y 288)
Wedding: the kiss 38 Row 10, third cell (x 32, y 288)

Draw the wedding outfit in frames 36, 37, and 38. The ceremony shows the spouse in these frames of the normal sprite sheet. They are not in a separate wedding image. For the wedding text and the wedding portrait, see Marriage and Portraits.

If a frame is empty, or the sheet ends before it, the NPC becomes invisible during that pose. NPC Helper 2 checks these frames for every marriageable NPC, in Default.png and in every variant. It warns and names the empty or missing frame. Placeholder sheets created by the command-line tool are 320 pixels tall so they include the wedding frames.

A sleeping pose#

A married NPC goes to the bed in the farmhouse at night, and an NPC with a bed stop in her schedule goes to bed too. The game only shows her asleep when she has a sleeping pose. Without one she stands at the bed. Draw the pose in any free frame, and give its number as SleepFrame in [Home] of the NPC file:

toml
[Home]
Map = "Hospital"
X = 9
Y = 7
SleepFrame = 52

The game's own villagers use a standing pose with the eyes closed, so a copy of the front-facing frame with closed eyes is enough. Frame 52 (row 14, first cell: x 0, y 416) is a good choice because nothing else uses it. A sheet 448 pixels tall has room for it.

NPC Helper 2 warns when the sleep frame is empty or outside the sheet, because the NPC would be invisible while she sleeps. A marriageable NPC with no SleepFrame gets a note in the log.

Step 2: Check your sprites#

  • Save as PNG. Use transparency for the area around the character.
  • Check the size: 64 wide, with frames 16 by 32.
  • Start the game and check the log. A message like No sprite image found means sprites/Default.png is missing.
  • Walk the NPC in each direction.

Then make the face images in Portraits.

Translating#

Images are not translated. Only text and data are. See Localization.

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