How to create realistic backgrounds

Reading Article
Author: Malenovent
Posted on 10/12/2004
print :: back to list
Those wonderful panorama style backgrounds, revealed!

P

anorama Style Backgrounds (PSB) are not common in rpg games, and will give your game an extra graphical overkill, leaving players hooked to the game. Here's a short tutorial on how to do it, if you haven't figured it out already.

What you need:

Lame jokes like PC, Rpg maker, paper, pen, ect...
Photoshop 7 recommended

Please forgive all the "/" signs wrongly inserted... not my fault, ar!

Step One:

Making the Map~!

Ok, what's the best thing to do? The BEST thing to do is grab a material made of cellulose pulp derived mainly from wood or rags or certain grasses or piece of paper.

Then, a pen (lazy to put definition, you know what I mean) and start drawing. Use rulers, use free hand, bully your little brother that's good in drawing to do it.

Then, scan it into photoshop. Now, how to colour it, I hear you ask??

Well, you can always do it the old fashioned way, with water colour or crayon. Of course, then you wouldn't need to scan it into PHOTOSHOP.

Make sure both dimensions can be divided by 16.

Now, if the drawing is black and white, click EDIT and then DEFINE BRUSH. Now, waht you do is, make the entire canvas white. That's right, erase the whole thing and make it white. Now, add a new layer.

You should now have a layer of white and a transparent layer above it. Remember that brush I told you to define? Take it out and stamp those outlines onto the transparent layer. Voila! Now you can colour on the white layer using brushes and stuff. Might take some time, though. After you're done, save it in the panorama folder!

Step Two:

Making the OBJECTS in your MAP~!

Now, using the poligonal lasso, the one that you select point by point or the magnetic lasso if your outlines are quite bold, select all the things that are supposed to go over the hero. Example, roofs, trees, bridge and stair railings, ect. Invert the selection and delete the other parts as a transparent colour (the first colour in the pallette when in 256 mode). Then SAVE AS ANOTHER FILE in the pictures folder.

Step Three

Making the OBJECTS in your MAP and the MAP in the GAME~!

So, make a new map in RPG Maker 200x, and the sizes are the dimensions of the panorama you made divided by 16. Set the pic you made as a panorama and then you're a quarter done. Now, create an event and set it to paralel process.

<>Show Picture : 1, Whatever Picture you made just now, [160,120]

<>Wait : 100.0s.

So this basically shows the overhead objects in your lovely panorama.

TIP! For maps that are bigger than 320x240, try using chipsets instead. Make sure the position of the tiles are right. This can be done by making the square selection in photoshop set to 16x16px.

Now, the map is done visually, but the hero can walk pretty much everywhere! Set a barrier for your hero with empty Same Level as Hero events. Also, you can make transparent chipsets and set the to "X" or "<" "V" ">" or "^" or any combination of the above. It's good to make non transparent ones and put on indicators so you don't mix up the tiles, then replace them later by changing chips or the chipset itself.

You're done! Now you're game has a Final Fantasy / Chrono Cross feel to it!

TIP! You can also use this method in special key events where dramatic scenes take place. The rest can be chipsets.

Additional Step:

Making your MAP and OBJECTS become PRETTY~!

You can make different panoramas of the same map with different animations. Example, flag moving, water flowing, inn sign swinging, ect.

This aplies to pictures. You'll need a fast PC for this and also your map must be only 320x240. If you figure out how to do it with bigger maps, tell me, ya!

<>Show Picture : 1, Roof1, [160,120]

<>Wait : 0.1s.

<>Show Picture : 1, Roof2, [160,120]

<>Wait : 0.1s.

<>Show Picture : 1, Roof3, [160,120]

<>Wait : 0.1s.

<>Show Picture : 1, Roof4, [160,120]

<>Wait : 0.1s.

TIP! Notice that the picture number and coordinates do not change. For smooth animations, alot of frames and a fast wait time is recommended.

Well, that's all folks! G'nite! Sorry for the spellign mistekes

Active Users (3)[ THE UNDERTAKER ] [ zazenradical ] [ MiyakoArima ]