• Hello [name]! Thanks for joining the GMC. Before making any posts in the Tech Support forum, can we suggest you read the forum rules? These are simple guidelines that we ask you to follow so that you can get the best help possible for your issue.

vector sprites?

ETHC33

Member
i use pixelart for my game but theres some things that would be better in vector how would i go about doing that
 

ETHC33

Member
so, I can only use spine for that? I just looked and I have to pay $70 for it just so I can get .json files. All I really want it for is health bars, text messages(hard to explain) and maybe some text things. After getting gms2, Aseprite, a pc, and I'm going to have to pay $100 to put the game on steam. Im not too excited about buying it. Can I just do the free trial and make all of my stuff really quick and be done with it?
 

TsukaYuriko

☄️
Forum Staff
Moderator
No, nobody said anything about Spine. All I said was vector graphics, and you don't need Spine for that. Spine is for skeletal animation.
 

ETHC33

Member
oh, okay i read it a little more carefully now. Where can i make a vector that exports as swf other than photoshop
 

TsukaYuriko

☄️
Forum Staff
Moderator
Illustrator? :)


... I'll allow myself to extend my interpretation of your question to include that you'd prefer a free alternative.
In that case, Inkscape has an SWF export plugin that may or may not be compatible. You may or may not be able to convert other vector graphic formats such as SVG to SWF if finding software that exports directly to compatible SWF turns out to be impossible.
 

Rayek

Member
If all you need is high resolution health bars, GUI elements, text elements, and so on - no need to import those as vector. Prepare your higher resolution assets in a vector app or an image editor at the resolution that your game needs, and then export as PNG files.

Import in GM.

Compare a game such as Shantae: Risky's Revenge. The in-game art is pixel art, and the story telling characters and GUI are all HD graphics (drawn in a vector illustration app and exported as HD bitmaps). The text is drawn by the engine at high resolution.

No need for SWF or vector import at all - as a matter of fact it is actually preferable to import as HD bitmap graphics in these cases.

 

ETHC33

Member
What resolution is that at? Also how can I make high resolution text that is small? Do vector sprites work for that?
 

TsukaYuriko

☄️
Forum Staff
Moderator
What resolution is that at?
Right-click the image and select View Image. It may be worded slightly differently depending on the browser you're using.

About that resolution.

Also how can I make high resolution text that is small? Do vector sprites work for that?
High resolution or small. Pick one. Monitors only work in pixels.

Or maybe there's a communication issue here and I just don't understand what you're referring to. If so, please post an example of what you'd describe as "high resolution and small", because to me, those two statements contradict each other.
 

Rayek

Member
The base resolution for Shantae is the standard 1920x1080. That is the resolution at which the high resolution story characters and interface elements are prepared at as well. The text is probably rendered in the engine as regular text. I don't think it is using a bitmap based character set, but rather the regular font file (ttf, otf) to render the text.

The pixel art graphics are scaled up 6 times within 1920x1080 and originally prepared for a screen at 320px by 180px. There is a black margin used in the game as well, though, so the actual viewport resolution is less than those values it seems. Still, you could just replicate those resolutions for your pixel art and HD assets.

But I have no clue about the development environment that was used for this game, so the font tech used here involves some guesswork.

Which means that if you want to replicate this same effect, you would prepare your high resolution gui assets for 1920x1080, and your pixel art for a screen size of 320px by 180px (1920x1080 divided by 6).

Implement the text as you would normally do in GM. Add a new font sized around 32-36, and use it to draw your text in the game.


Here is the screenshot downscaled 6 times. Notice how the pixel art does not change.

PS you could have figured this out by yourself by opening the screenshot in any image editor.

example.png
 
Top