{"assets":[],"author_link":"author\/mtrc\/","author_name":"mtrc","cat":"LD #26","categories":["LD #26"],"comments":[],"epoch":1366107780,"event":"LD26","likes":23,"metadata":{"p_key":"80113","p_author":"mtrc","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"289123","p_title":"Spritely \u2013 Autogenerating Sprites From The Web (Free Tool!)","p_cat":"LD #26","p_event":"LD26","p_time":"1366107780","p_likes":"23","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":null,"us_name":null,"us_username":null,"event_start":"1366934400","event_key":"16","event_name":"LD26"},"source_url":"2013\/04\/16\/spritely-autogenerating-sprites-from-the-web-free-tool\/","text":"

Just in time for Ludum Dare #26, I\u2019m releasing a beta of Spritely, a tool I made for autogenerating placeholder art. We have lots of tools for automatically making music (like Autotracker) or sound effects (like cfxr) \u2013 these tools are great for adding in temporary content when you\u2019re rapidly developing a game, or for generating content that you can\u2019t make yourself just yet (I have no musical sense, so Autotracker often comes in handy for this). Why don\u2019t we have one for art?<\/p>\n

\"spritelyexamples\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Spritely is my attempt to make one! It uses image sources like Google Images, OpenClipArt and Wikimedia Commons to generate sprite-sized art automatically. It comes in three flavours \u2013 an easy-to-use GUI (which is really ugly), a command-line interface (in case you want to automate things) and a Java library (for building right into your game). Best of all, the code is\u00a0public domain<\/strong> so you can hack it and extend it to your heart\u2019s content.<\/p>\n

Download links for the UI, command line, and the source code in the README on GitHub<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

What can you use Spritely for? Well, it\u2019s handy for generating art to fill gaps when you\u2019re prototyping \u2013 you don\u2019t have to stare at coloured rectangles any more. I\u2019m hoping lots of you will find that useful when you\u2019re coding like crazy in a couple of weeks. But why not think more experimental?<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a>

WALRUS!<\/p><\/div>\n

For the #7DRL competition this year I tried to make a roguelike generate itself. One of the things I added was enemies, player icons, items and skills that had their graphics generated on-the-fly by Spritely. The player said they wanted to be a dog\u2026 or a walrus\u2026 or a trumpet\u2026 and Spritely made a picture to match. If you reduce Spritely to just searching for one or two images at a time it can do it quite quickly (not quick enough for realtime, but I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll find a creative way around it \u2013 in my roguelike I just searched in the background and added the icons in when they were ready).<\/p>\n

If you use Spritely for anything, from placeholders to a new genre of games, let me know<\/a>!<\/strong> You don\u2019t have to, of course, but it will put a smile on my face and also let me justify spending time on making it. I want to create more tools like this that spin off from my day job (where I research techniques for automatic game design<\/a>). If I get lots of feedback I can show this off to people next time the funding nightmare comes back.<\/p>\n

Good luck in Ludum Dare 26! If you have any questions please leave them below. I\u2019ll do my best to update Spritely when I can, but no promises \u2013 feel free to make your own extensions and fixes, the code is free!<\/p>\n

Tags: procedural generation<\/a>, sprites<\/a>, tools<\/a><\/p>","time":"April 16th, 2013 10:23 am","title":"Spritely \u2013 Autogenerating Sprites From The Web (Free Tool!)","title_was_empty":false}