27 March 2010

System2 Set - Tutorial (RM2K3)

System 2 graphics, located in the System2 folder, are the "Battle Menu Set", used in battles to determine the cursor for targeting enemies and allies. It also displays the ATB bar and the numbers for HP and MP display in gauge type battles (set in the "Battle Layout" options of the Database).

Image Size: 80x96.

This is a "default" template for creating your own System2 designs.

System2 Set Template RM2K3 Basic

So now, breaking it down into its component elements, we can gain a better insight into how it all fits together.

System2 Set Template RM2K31: The three-frame animation sequence for the left arrow.

2: The three-frame animation sequence for the down arrow.

3: The numbers for displaying damage values in battles.

A, B and C are the frames for the HP, SP and ATB bars respectively.

D: This is usually kept blank. Although I don't know precisely what this is used for, most likely this is used for transparencies.

E: These four blocks are for the gauge colors, displayed when the "Battle Layout" is set to "Gauge".

F: This is the gauge for the ATB, which is used for determining times between turns.
Now that we know what each section does, we can add the components. Again, I've used Character Maker 1999 to recreate the System2 set.

System2 Set Tutorial - Part 1Let's do the arrow animations (1 & 2) first. The first row is for the left arrow and the second is for the down arrow. These arrows can be anything, provided each frame is 16x16 pixels an in sequence.



System2 Set Tutorial - Part 2Next task is "fleshing out" the stat containers - HP (A), MP (B) and ATB (C). Each one needs to be 8x48 pixels and usually comprises a frame and blank or empty container for the gauge graphics. These can be left completely blank but for aesthetics I always prefer putting something here.


Each gauge - two for HP and MP gauges (E) and one for the ATB gauge (F) - is also 8x48 pixels, but must be positioned centrally against the stat containers so they fit into the blank or empty containers.

System2 Set Tutorial - Part 3The penultimate addition are the numbers (3), 0 through 9, which are used for damage in combat. They can be any color, font or design provided that each number fits into a 16x16 block.



System2 Set Tutorial - Part 4The final part of the System2 template is the 16x16 block (D). This is usually kept blank for, I suspect, transparency values.
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