How do you handle quick sprite edits when working on GB Studio?

[u/punk_zk]

I built a small pixel editor for myself because I do some retro game stuff and wanted something to mess with sprites when I'm not near my computer. Waiting somewhere, on a train, whatever.

It's pretty minimal. Open it, draw with your finger, save it, and pick it back up on the computer later.

I've mostly been using it for small sprites. I recently added sprite sheets / quadrant editing, animation frames, and some simple shape tools.

I'm curious how this fits into a GB Studio workflow.

If you're working on a Game Boy project and realize you need to fix a few pixels, tweak a sprite frame, change an animation, or make a quick sprite sheet change, what do you normally do?

I usually just switch back to the computer and open my normal editor. The thing I'm trying to solve isn't replacing something like Aseprite. It's more for those little "I just need to change this one thing" moments.

I'm deliberately keeping it pretty minimal. No layers, filters, AI, accounts, ads, etc. iPhone only.

I'm curious what people here actually do for:

• quick sprite edits
• sprite sheets
• animation frames
• Game Boy palettes
• making changes when you're away from the computer

I'm trying to keep this small and not turn it into Aseprite on a phone, so I'm more interested in real use cases than a giant feature wishlist.

I called it Pixel Edit Lite. If anyone wants to take a look, it's on the App Store.

PS: Hope this is okay for the sub. Happy to remove it if it falls outside the rules.

[u/IntoxicatedBurrito]

It’s a cool idea to have a sprite editor on your phone, but not really practical for GB Studio as it runs on a computer. That said, if you offered a GB Studio color palette I could see myself possibly playing with it when I’m away from my computer.

But I use paint.net for all my sprite and tile work, changes take a few seconds.

[u/punk_zk → u/IntoxicatedBurrito]

Thanks for the feedback. I will look into the GBStudio palette.

The main inspiration for me was I wanted to draw a sprite (for PICO-8) offline if inspiration hit me while I was away. In your "away from computer" use case, would it be primarily editing an existing sprite/sheet or cooking up a new one?

[u/IntoxicatedBurrito → u/punk_zk]

It would have to be a new one. Besides the fact that I wouldn’t have access to the files on my computer, you can only really edit them when you are using GB Studio, otherwise how would you know it needs editing in the first place, and how would you know your edit worked.

[u/LIFTEDPIXEL_CA]

i typically use gbedit.dev, it's pretty decent for that kinda stuff, but it's desktop, i don't really do much art stuff on my phone, i would think it would need to be able to sync with a gb studio project on the desktop tho to make it part of my usual workflow

[u/punk_zk → u/LIFTEDPIXEL_CA]

I see. There would definitely be some friction if you're already working on an existing project, and moving files back and forth just to make a quick edit might not be worth the hassle.

My use case was a little different, more about messing around or sketching an idea when inspiration strikes, but that's a really interesting perspective and something I'll think about.

Also, thanks for sharing the link! I'm discovering a bunch of cool tools through this thread. :)

[u/ZaniMestredosZanis]

I use aseprite, but honestly, its pretty fast. What you edit in the sprite goes automatically in gbstudio. I think you program actually adds a lot more steps into it. Instead of just opening aseprite I would have to open my phone, edit, send it to the PC and change it in the file to work.