normal version is not transparent (duh) and it includes a cheat sheet for where to draw what.
if you are planning on using a brush with antialiasing or planning on pasting in downscaled graphics, then 100% go with the transparent version.
other than that it's a matter of preference.
what should i edit these with?
again - whatever you'd like. if you want to know my picks:
for pasting in and overall image editing i use gimp.
for drawing sprites...
krita is a solid option, especially since it has a dedicated brush for pixel arts. i've used it multiple times with srb2kart myself.
if you want something dedicated, a good option is aseprite, or it's free alternative, libresprite.
technically you can use regular aseprite for free legally, but you have to compile it yourself.
drawing sprites
after extracting the template open the sprites.png file in your favourite drawing app and... start drawing!
just in case: kart is not required on them, it's just included for convinience.
need a cheat sheet? here:
also remember to use that specific green color for pixels that should be recolorable in game!
i personally just pick them from the kart sprite that's already on the template.
sounds
simple stuff: just replace the .ogg files from the template with your own. if you don't know what to use to make or edit them then grab audacity.
not sure what these sounds are supposed to be? here:
attack1 and attack2 - throwing bananas, spike balls and other offensive items
boost1 and boost2 - using speed shoes
gloat - invincibility or grow item activation
hitconfirm - when one of the players get hit by your offensive item
hurt1 and hurt2 - when you drive into a banana or get hit by something
lose - when losing
win - when winning
slow - when leaving a player behind
other things to change
for this open the properties.txt file in any text editor. even notepad will work.
change:
name: short name of your character, visible to server admins and used for the skin command.
realname: long, displayed name of your character remember to use underscores instead of spaces (_)!!!!!!!
gfx_prefix: prefix for sprite file names. note that they can collide in some cases
prefcolor: not sure. preferred color? guessing it was supposed to be used for bots of some kind.
stats (optional): character stats, speed and weight. you can change it or not, max value is 9.
finalizing
after finishing the work it's time to use kartmaker.
if you're on windows, drag the folder with your character onto kartmaker.exe
if you're on linux, use the terminal:
./kartmaker-linux /path/to/KC_MyCharacter
if you did everything correctly, a .wad file with the name of your folder will appear next to it. this is a srb2kart mod file with your character!
testing
put your .wad file in the game's addons folder, or in case of linux in ~/.srb2kart or ~/.var/app/org.srb2.SRB2Kart-Saturn/.srb2kart if using flatpak.
start the game, select your mod in the addons menu. set the character in player setup, then go to multiplayer -> host a game -> offline
pro tip: note that when playing alone only speed shoes will appear in item boxes. if you want to test throwing offensive items (and the reaction to them), switch the game to battle mode!
what's next?
if everything went according to plan, gg! you just made an srb2kart character!
you can give the .wad file to me, and i'll likely install it on the server so that anyone can race with or as it.
if not, then it's time for fixes. if you need help, feel free to ask.
