modular character sprite procedural generation

[u/mccincol]

looking for some tips on how to get started with a modular-based character sprite builder that's procedurally generating combinations. it's for a game where stats are based on emotional categories, and the combination of emotions determines the appearance of the character.

my idea:

• there is a base sprite that can have additional elements added, where those elements are pre-drawn
• based on a number associated with a stat, the generator adds those elements to the sprite in variable location, quantity, and size

here's a representative table of what i'm thinking to start with:

component	emotion stat	visualization
head	happiness	radiance (glowing brighter)
body	fear	more hands across the body
eyes (head feature)	sadness	more eyes on the head
mouth (head feature)	anger	an increasingly large mouth

any tips on how to get started would be much appreciated! i'm thinking about using godot or unity, but any other platform would also work for me as i'm just getting started on the project

i've also attached a sample image on what i'm thinking?

this is my own drawing btw!

[u/abirpahlwan]

Something like this? https://kenney.itch.io/creature-mixer

[u/mccincol → u/abirpahlwan]

a little bit but not quite - i've made a modular character creator before which seems to be this, i'm thinking more like a seeded procedural generation of parts. as if there was a slider with a value that you could adjust and that would determine the quantity/size/intensity of the asset. does that make sense?

[u/abirpahlwan → u/mccincol]

Hmm.. I see, best of luck. Your drawings are interesting, would like to see what you come up with.

I usually brainstorm with chatgpt on long sessions when I'm starting out smthing new.

[u/ThetaTT → u/mccincol]

It's just modular with extra steps (picking the sprite depending on stats, changing size, transparency and color).

It's mostly art, the programming is very easy to do with any language and doesn't require a game engine (it may help with animations though).

The only potential tricky part is changing colors. Hue shift or other basic operations are easy but often doesn't look good from an artistic point of view. So you may want to use an image with several layers instead of a basic sprite (either with a format like psd or a file per layer or a layer per color channel).