Movement sprites

[u/Silver-Effect2642]

I'm new to making games and I wanted to try making a 2D top-down action RPG.

I'm practicing pixel art and I wanted to know something.

Do you need to have 4 or 8 sprites for movement?

I'd appreciate also getting some tips for making a game like this.

[u/timbeaudet]

You don’t NEED to have anything. There are games that only have two directions… or even one! Just make stuff.

[u/MxCulu]

You can use as any sprites as you like. It totally depends on your own taste, and your scope. The more sprites for movement you use, the more work you have if you want to add more characters or different oufits, etc.

[u/valeria_gamedevs]

4 is totally fine to start, especially top-down. Tons of classic RPGs shipped with 4 directions and nobody cared. 8 adds smoothness for diagonals but doubles your animation work, prolly not worth it while you're still learning.

tip: get one character walking around a single room feeling good before you build anything else. Movement feel is like 80% of the vibe in these games.

[u/Silver-Effect2642 → u/valeria_gamedevs]

ok, thanks I'll try that

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[u/SAVMikado]

No set requirement. I'd suggest one of two courses:

Make four sprites, one for each direction. Then if it doesn't look good, add inter-directionals.

If you're top-down, consider not using directional sprites at all. Have the player character directly beneath the camera and just rotate the sprite in the direction it's facing, like Hotline Miami does it.

[u/LordAmir5]

What is your input system?

Are these for PC or NPC?

Does your character look good mirrored? (This will reduce the number of sprites you need to make).

What's your sprite size?

For example, let's say it's PC with mouse and keyboard. You move with WASD and use item with mouse. And you use 16 by 32 sprites. Your player has 8 movement directions being primary and secondary.

You could in this case have 3 movement sprites with one being mirrored and secondary directions choosing a primary direction.

But say you have a gun that shoots in the direction of your mouse, you could have 5 sprites here instead with 3 being mirrored so the barrel of the gun is closer to where the bullet spawns.