Weapon and Foreground/background graphics

Hello! So after figuring some basic things out for my platform game, I have come up with many more questions. I have created animations for my character to run and walk. When I started to think of weapon mechanics I began to wonder how the animations and hitboxes work. Also, now that it is time for me to make the actual level design, I came up with more questions. Here they are:

  1. My game is pixel based, and the character limps are only 1 pixel wide. Do I need to design individual sprites of my character holding each individual weapon? So when they pick up a new weapon, there is an entirely new sprite for the character rather than just a new sprite for the weapon. Or, is there a way to have an individual sprite for the weapon and have the weapon sprite placed on the character sprite.
  2. Is there a way to create a visual field around the character? For example, I want my character to be in a dark cave. The only visual area is the area the beam of the flashlight he/she is holding. Or maybe a circular area around my character is the visual field.
  3. Is it better to create dozens of tile sets and place them within game salad, than to create one large image (roughly 2880 by 1800) in photoshop/gimp and then break it up into smaller grids of 512/512. I understand the former method is the more common way of making scenes, but I think it often shows too much receptiveness in platforms. Is there a way to prevent this receptiveness while using tile sets? I know the game Superbrothers: Sword and Shield used large image sizes and I wanted my game to have the same lack of design receptiveness that game does.
Sign In or Register to comment.