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(Creating page to help direct users looking to make their own custom skins)
 
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You can have as many layers as you want, one for skin, one for hair, one for hat, one for shadows, one for highlights, go crazy!
 
You can have as many layers as you want, one for skin, one for hair, one for hat, one for shadows, one for highlights, go crazy!
   
====Fitting your skin to the game====
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==Fitting your skin to the game==
 
You can create the most fabulous skin imaginable, but if it doesn't look right in the game, we'll all be sad. Your design must look like it belongs in the game, just like any current skin.
 
You can create the most fabulous skin imaginable, but if it doesn't look right in the game, we'll all be sad. Your design must look like it belongs in the game, just like any current skin.
   

Revision as of 00:11, 23 July 2018

Anyone can create skins for Slay.one. The details on how to begin designing your own skin are described below.

The skin template

Basic Human Skin

Below is the basic skin template for the head of a slayer.

Basic-skin-template

This is a good starting point to work from if you'd like to add a new hat, hairstyle, or other humanoid design to the game.

Wolf Skin

Below is the wolf skin template.

Wolf-skin-template

If your skin idea is more animal than man, this could be a better starting point.

Be sure to save the file rather than try to copy-paste; it is a transparent file and will have a black background if pasted.

Using the template

Templates like the above are actually slices of real files used to animate the slayers in-game. The use of a template like this is recommended so that the size, shape, and number of angles that you create match up to those in-game. This was it can be easily adopted into the game.

Each skin in slay.one is broken down into 3 sections: normal, reloading, and dead.

Skin-sections

For the normal and reloading sections, there are eight angles to account for each cardinal direction the user points their cursor towards. You must draw every one of these angles so the skin looks correct when used.

Skin editing programs

There are a variety of image-editing programs out there at varying difficulty levels and price-points. If you already own and are familiar with a program like Photoshop, you can use that for skin creation.

However, if you are not looking to buy an expensive program just to make skins, there are many free and even browser-based options available that will make skin-making easy and accessible.

Browser-based

Piskel is a free, browser-based application specifically for creating pixel sprites. Account creation is available but not necessary.

Software-based

Paint.net is a free, software-based downloadable program for all types of image editing on Windows machines.

Getting started with Piskel

So you've chosen Piskel as your skin editor- now what? Here is a step-by-step guide to loading your template into Piskel, creating a new layer, and getting to work making your first skin.

Loading the template into Piskel

  1. First thing's first- you need to save the template. Choose your template above, right click on the image, and save the image as you would normally.
  2. Next, navigate to Piskel and click Create Sprite. You'll be presented with a canvas space to work on, as well as a toolbar on the left, and your options (such as layers, transformations, your color pallet, and the load/save icons) on the right.
  1. Click the load icon on the right middle of the screen. In the drawer that opens, select the IMPORT FROM PICTURE option.
  2. This will bring up your file picker, where you can then navigate to and open the file you saved in step #1.
  3. On the Import and Merge box, simply say import without changing any options. This will put the template in in the correct size.
  4. The template should now show up in your canvas ready to edit!

Template-editing tips

Creating layers

A layer is one of your most important tools as a digital artist. It allows you to separate your image into multiple 'pages', which can be edited independently. This means that you can have the template on one layer, your alterations on another, and if you decide to erase or change colors on your alteration, it will not delete or affect the template. It's a life-saver.

When you imported your template into Piskel, it was automatically placed on Layer 1, which you can see in the Layers tab on the right side of the screen. If you'd like, you can rename this layer to 'template' by clicking the pencil icon in the Layers tab.

To make a new layer, press the "+" button on the Layers tab. It will name the layer as Layer #, which you can rename to be more descriptive if you wish. Once you make a new layer, it becomes the active (selected) layer, which you can tell by the yellow color of the layer name. You can switch which layer you are editing by clicking on a different layer. To delete a layer, press the X button on the layer tab.

Now, if you make edits to Layer 2, Layer 1 (the layer the template is on) will not be altered.

You can have as many layers as you want, one for skin, one for hair, one for hat, one for shadows, one for highlights, go crazy!

Fitting your skin to the game

You can create the most fabulous skin imaginable, but if it doesn't look right in the game, we'll all be sad. Your design must look like it belongs in the game, just like any current skin.

To do this, try your best to use existing colors from the game, make sure the size of the skin fits onto the template, and consider the isometric design of the game.

Slay.one's isometric nature

Isometric art is art that is drawn at 3-D "three-quarter" perspective. This means that when you are playing the game, you are looking at it from both above and also from the side.

When you are making your skin, be sure that it also follows the isometric angle. When you place the eyes, be aware you are looking down on the head somewhat in the normal section, and looking very down on it in the reloading. It should not look like a face you are eye-level with, but slightly above.

Getting more detailed- legs

Technically, the part of the skin that the template covers is only the head of the skin. There are also legs that are used to complete the look. However, the developers suggest only creating the head, as it is the most important part of the skin and many legs are re-used for many different heads.

For the incredibly motivated, a template for the leg angles are above. This is not a necessary nor suggested file to edit or submit.

Submitting your skin

It's recommended that skin designs are posted to the slay.one Discord or subreddit for critique by other users before submission, to ensure your skin is as good as can be.

All skin submissions should be sent as a file to support@slay.one.