Overworld Sprites

Sprites

What would a game do without sprites? It wouldn't be a good game. Editing sprites are one of the simplest things to hack in EarthBound. (In any 2D game really.) Luckily for us, CoilSnake supports sprite changes. (Before we begin, there is no way to add new sprites. So don't be surprised when CoilSnake gives you an error.) Let's go over on how it's done.

List of files and folders used:

• SpriteGroups
• BattleSprites
• sprite_groups.yml
• sprite_group_palettes.yml
• map_sprites.yml

Configuration

There is a variety of images you can change in EarthBound, but to keep it simple, we'll mainly focus on sprite groups and battle sprites.

• SpriteGroups contains all overworld sprites.
• BattleSprites contains all battle sprites.
• sprite_groups.yml contains data of how the sprites are used or act in-game.
• sprite_group_palettes.yml contains the color palettes of sprites.
• map_sprites TODO

Editing Sprites

So, how do you edit sprites? Well, you should know by now that CoilSnake doesn't have the option to edit sprites. You're going to have to use a completely separate program. It is strongly recommended to use GraphicsGale. You can also use Gimp, but it can wonk up sprites.

Once you have GraphicsGale open, you can now choose what you want to edit, just to show an example, we'll edit Ness's sprite. (Make sure the name of the folder for your project doesn't have any special characters, otherwise GraphicsGale will give you an error.) One other thing to keep in mind is the palettes. Don't try to add a new color in the sprite, this will give you an error.

This is what your screen should look like:

Now, what if you want to make your new character taller? This is actually simple. To make the character taller; just to save some time, we'll use a different sprite that already exists in EarthBound. How about a tree in a pot?

This is the easiest way to do this with GraphicsGale. Taking whatever sprite you want to be the main character, and saving the image as 001.png (Make sure it's a .png image, otherwise, it won't work.)

This is what your screen should look like:

Now, notice that the palette is a little different, this is okay since the colors have updated to the current palette. (The reason why this is okay is that the different palette contains colors that are in the sprite_group_palettes.yml file. As previously mentioned, changing colors to a completely new one is a lot of work, only recommended if you really know what you're doing. Changing palettes would also mean that the replaced colors will be replaced for all sprites that use them.)

Once you have the base for your new character; now you can add diagonal sprites! (Only for party members) So, now that you've finished, and you're satisfied with what you have; it's time to open the sprite_groups.yml file. We will scroll through it and find the new sprite's (266.png) data, and paste some of its properties in 001.png's data.

This is what 001.png's data looks like now:

1:
  East/West Collision Height: 8
  East/West Collision Width: 8
  Length: 16
  North/South Collision Height: 8
  North/South Collision Width: 8
  Size: 16x24
  Swim Flags: [false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false,
    false, false, false, false, false, false]

We will want to take the Size number and change it to 16x48 and make sure nothing else is changed.

After saving and compiling, this is what it should look like in-game:

Wait! What about Battle sprites? Battle sprites are a lot less limited with palettes and size. So, go crazy, just not too crazy. Make sure to NEVER use colors from battle sprites to overworld sprites. Trust me, I've tried.

Unused Sprites

For your convenience, all the unused sprites in SpriteGroups are: 408, 383, 366, 338 to 342, 191, 032, 038, and 445. There are also duplicate sprites of the teddy bear and demonized party member. (Will add sprite numbers soon.)

Palettes

So, what do we need to know what we can and can't do with palettes? And how do we check to see if our custom sprite is valid? Let's check the sprite_group_palettes.yml file.

TODO

Conclusion

You got to edit sprites and change how they behave in-game. It's your next giant step in becoming a hacker!

Is your heart beating incredibly fast?