Assembling sprites together for a genetics game?

[Bico]

Hey there-- Im trying to create a pet-game with a genetics system, where each parent can give some of its traits to their children. I had thought of this askeeping all sprites in a specific size (say, 200x200) so that I dont have to fiddle around with the x and y coordinates, since all of them will be made in a 200x canvas and placed accordingly.

But the thing is, I dont know how to make this system work? Should all possible genes have a sprite each, or is there a way to use spritesheets? If I use a sprite with sub-images, could they have animations? Or would it be static sprites? And, is there a better way of recoloring stuff that isnt shaders?

Thank you all for taking the time to read this <3

[Sileka]

There are two ways you can do this.

1. Sprite for every combination.
2. Composite sprites

The first option requires you to think of every combination possible and can become lengthy. The second option requires more coding and can be a bit overwhelming when first dipping into it. But it is pretty much the easier route if the traits are all physical.

You CAN use sub-images and have them animate. (I believe you tell the animation cycle to use, as an example, sub-image 5-8 for the animation and it will play those sub-images) Sorry that isn't very informative as I haven't really played with it. I just remember reading it was possible.

The better way to recolor the stuff is to manually recolor them. But time consuming if using the shaders or tints do the job.

[Bico]

Composite sprites sounds like a great plan-- but how would I get into doing such a thing?

Originally posted by lilvulpix:

There are two ways you can do this.

1. Sprite for every combination.
2. Composite sprites

The first option requires you to think of every combination possible and can become lengthy. The second option requires more coding and can be a bit overwhelming when first dipping into it. But it is pretty much the easier route if the traits are all physical.

You CAN use sub-images and have them animate. (I believe you tell the animation cycle to use, as an example, sub-image 5-8 for the animation and it will play those sub-images) Sorry that isn't very informative as I haven't really played with it. I just remember reading it was possible.

The better way to recolor the stuff is to manually recolor them. But time consuming if using the shaders or tints do the job.

[woodsguide]

i looked into doing something along these lines a while back... didnt get very far tho.. puter took a crash and lost everything...

heres an idea tthat i had but forgot where it was going ;o/

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=700147357

[Bico]

Oop, says its been deleted?

Originally posted by woodsguide:

i looked into doing something along these lines a while back... didnt get very far tho.. puter took a crash and lost everything...

heres an idea tthat i had but forgot where it was going ;o/

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=700147357

[woodsguide]

basically i had a generic "animal object" with added parts being chosen from the parents
main body, head, front legs, rear legs, tail

based on a weighted ability score for each parent's body part.. breeding any possible creatue imagined.. (catdog, elephraff ...etc)

the hard part was the maticulasly creating sprites for each animals part to hook to the main child creature