Sprite Dimensions for Ren'py?

[Mimrose]

Hi!

I'm in the process of creating some concept sketches, but I'm not entirely sure what dimensions to use for a sprite. I'm planning on drawing them from the middle of their body up, so I was wondering if anyone knew the optimal height and width dimensions for a sprite for use in Ren'py.

Any help is appreciated! Thank you!

[netravelr]

I'd say it really depends on the screen resolution of your game. You want to make sure that the characters will be clear at the highest zoom level you'll be using in the game. I personally doubled the size of my characters for Culina, but in LatL we kept to just one size, but the game's resolution is much lower. Also, do you want to draw the entire body, because in most games you only need to see the top 3/4 or less of a person. I think knowing more about what you want your project to be may make it easier to help on this end.

But just in case you were wondering:
Culina: 400 x 720
LatL: 396 x 600

But that was larger than how wide characters were.

Good luck!

[azureXtwilight]

I heard something about giving your tallest character onscreen a 10% space from the very top of the game window. Maybe it's an easier rule to follow

[Vilhelmina]

I make sure to look at the horizon level of my background art (in this case I've drawn it myself previously, intentionally using a horizon level that's as consistent as I could). Then I size the characters so that their eyes are approximately at the horizon level, depending on whether I want them to appear taller or shorter than my protagonist.

If you want numbers; the game I'm working on currently is 720 pixels high, the actual files for the sprites are the same height but the sprites average between 460-480 pixels in height, so about 2/3s of the window. That's with the sprites being shown from mid thigh-up though, not sure if that qualifies as middle of the body as per your definition? ;D Also, I might still adjust this, it will be up to what it looks like when I finalize the dialogue box design.

Whatever you do, I recommend that you sketch the sprites a little bigger than you will likely be needing them. It's so much easier to make them smaller in the end if they turn out too big.

[Mimrose]

Thanks for all the help, everyone! (Sorry it took me so long to reply, been caught up with stuff for school x-x)

I'm more or less practicing drawing sprites just for fun, and wanted to get a general idea. In most cases, I've been playing around with free sprites and looking at their dimensions and more or less going off of that. But, I will definitely take all your advice into account.

Thanks for taking the time to read and answer my question!