Main character customization in game?

[TheGameGirl]

I feel the question I am asking is one that has been expressed many times but I could never seem to find a clear answer to it.

How does one implement a character customization option in their game?

I have seen it done, and entire programs are based on, for example iicharacter. I was hoping to implement something on a smaller scale like this for the players of my game. Simple things like changing their characters clothes, eye color, skin color, etc. On a side note, how do I also code it so the changes the player makes to the character will change the character on screen for the game. For example, if by default the character has blonde hair, and I change it to brown, how can I make it so the brown haired version is the one that shows up in the game?

Hopefully I have provided enough info for anyone to properly answer my question, thank you in advance for any help you can offer!
(PS I have programmed extensively on ren'py before but I have rarely been on this site or active on it so if I amde a mistake or something let me know!)

[78909087]

From what I understand I believe you'll probably be using python.
I'm not an expert but maybe my rambling might help someone with better understanding to help you.
So saying you have four options with four choices; eyes-4 hair-4 clothes-4 skin-4, the total number of possible combinations is 24.
What I would do- which is a lot of coding, would have 24 possible character options for the code to put together at the end. Trust me this probably isn't the best choice.
eg; choosing
Brown eyes, Brown hair, Leather clothes, Olive skin.
then have batches of images arranged first by eye colour, then hair, then clothes, then skin.
so it would go
START
*chooses brown eyes*
jump Browneyes
*chooses brown hair*
jump BrowneyesBrownhair
*chooses leather*
jump BrowneyesBrownhairLeatherclothes
*chooses olive skin*
$ Characterimage = "BrownBrownLeatherOlive.jpg"
Then use the python defined image Characterimage where its needed, I guess...

Sorry I wish I was more helpful, ahaha.

[Ryuushiro]

Hello, friend~
I've just sucessfully learned how to work with character creation, so I'll try to help by explanning what I did and what I've got~

First off,take a look at this topic:
http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... 51&t=14559

It's a dress up game code by the talented leon. I worked on my code using that. I suggest you download the exemple with Hues made by Another (super talented too, of course) if you want different colors for the same hair, and work with that one.

Change the image files on the game folder with the ones you would like to use for your character, and if you want to make the character's name changeable by the player, you should to define the 'character' created by the dress up as the [name] you'll be using, if I'm not mistaken...This part kinda confused me a lot ;u; if you need help with it just say so and I'll checkmy script when I get home to see what I did to get that to work.
I also had a really hard time with changing the Hues to make it work properly, and my final result was obtained by trial and error, really.


This is what my character creation looked like when I replaced all images with my own drawings and changed the hair hues:
http://i.gyazo.com/b85a119f272f973e3b2051fdcbd4329d.gif
sadly I couldn't show all options on this little gif, but you get the idea. It also doesn't show the cursor but I was clicking those arrows to make changes.

okay so- this code has a side image implemented. So whatever changes you make, your character's portrait will show up as you made them.
Anyway, here is the working thing (on a very, VERY unfinished game ;u; just pay atention to the working side image, please!)
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 440ea8e868


What I could not do though, was change the character's expression. For that, I would need to change her 'base' (where her mouth and eyebrows are drawn) in the middle of dialogues. I'm pretty sure there should be a way but I cannot for the life of me do it. Maybe someone will come along and help ;u;
That's kinda it, sorry if I'm not good at explainning things ;-;


So yeah! tl;dr: the dressup game code works just fine for character creation, but I did not manage to learn how to make expressions work along with it. But still, maybe it'll help you?

[Pippin123]

As for changing the expressions, it's not different from the clothes, except it's not up to user choice

quick & dirty:
Create the facial features you need, say "1 - neutral" "2-smile" "3-sad", and include them in the composite.
eg: (0, 0), "mood%d.png"%mood, with mood the new variable

To animate the text, you'll do something like:

Code: Select all

$ mood=1
char " I experience mood swings"
$ mood =2
char "sometimes I'm happy"
$ mood =3 
char "and sometimes I'm sad"

it's probably cleaner to create 3 dynamic displaybles:

char neutral : composite with mood.1.png
char happy : composite with mood2.png
char sad : composite with mood3.png

This ways the text writing will revert to "normal" renpy syntax:

Code: Select all

char neutral " I experience mood swings"
char  happy "sometimes I'm happy"
char sad "and sometimes I'm sad"

[Ryuushiro]

Hmm somehow that's not really working for me, but I'm pretty sure I must have forgotten something (I'm very very slow, please forgive me ;-; )

I tried what you said and weirdly enough, it only works sometimes here (???)


Okay, so...here is what I did to the code:

Code: Select all

globals()["doll"] = im.Composite(
            (361, 702), # image size
            (0, 80), "base%d.png"%base,
            (0, 80), "glasses%d.png"%glasses, # (0, 0) is the position of a dressup item. Because these images are saved with spacing around them, we don't need to position them.
            (0, 80), im.MatrixColor("hair%d.png"%hair, huearray[hue]),
            (0, 80), "shirt%d.png"%shirt,
            (0, 80), "tie%d.png"%tie,

then it does work after choosing the character's name:

Code: Select all

$ base = 1
    pov "My name is [povname]!"
    $ base = 2
    pov "Sometimes I'm happy"
    $ base = 3
    pov "Sometimes I'm sad."
    pov "This is my default appearance." 
    pov "Let's change it to how you prefer."
    $ base =1

But stops working at the actual game for some reason...

Code: Select all

    l "That was the plan, remember?"
    $ base = 2
    pov "Yeah..."
    "I gave her a small reassuring smile. Yeah, we talked a lot about that last year."

I must have done something terribly wrong ;u; ahaha


base1.png is neutral, base2.png is smilling and base3.png is sad.
I'm really confused hmm

[Pippin123]

I suspect it's because base is assumed to be a local variable when you assign to it, unless you specify
"global base" before

Since it's going to be a PITA to declare this in every label, i suggest going the "clean way",
by defining 3 images pov happy , pov sad etc

[Pippin123]

Here's one option to adapt your code:

Code: Select all

def doll(st,at,base):
     return im.Composite(
            (361, 702), # image size
            (0, 80), "base%d.png"%base,
            (0, 80), "glasses%d.png"%glasses, # (0, 0) is the position of a dressup item. Because these images are saved with spacing around them, we don't need to position them.
            (0, 80), im.MatrixColor("hair%d.png"%hair, huearray[hue]),
            (0, 80), "shirt%d.png"%shirt,
            (0, 80), "tie%d.png"%tie) , None

image pov neutral = DynamicDisplay(doll(),base=1)
image pov happy = DynamicDisplay(doll(),base=2)
image pov sad = DynamicDisplay(doll(),base=3)

Note: I see a lot of people use 0.1 for the refresh rate of their Dynamic Display, but there's usually no need unless you have some kind of animation : the display refreshes at every interaction anyway...

then

Code: Select all

    pov neutral "My name is [povname]!"
    pov happy "Sometimes I'm happy"
    pov sad "Sometimes I'm sad."
    pov neutral "This is my default appearance." 
    pov "Let's change it to how you prefer."

edit: I don't really know how/where glasses/hair etc are stored, and how you define them, so you might need to adapt a bit more.
I dabbled in a more complete "dress up" module, with :
- a character class, with "intrinsic" properties like .skin , .hair and a .wearing list
- a clothing class, with .name , .pic_path , .render_priority

then the function "draw doll" that use any "clothing" in character.wearing, with the mood passed as a variable...

It's a bit more complex at first, but it allows to specify individual clothing pieces and useful if there's a lot of possible combinations
I'll post if if anyone is interested...

[Ryuushiro]

Tried what you said and it gives me this error:

Code: Select all

While executing init code:
  File "game/script.rpy", line 119, in script
    image pov neutral = DynamicDisplay (doll(),base=1)
  File "game/script.rpy", line 119, in <module>
    image pov neutral = DynamicDisplay (doll(),base=1)
NameError: name 'DynamicDisplay' is not defined

So I thought 'hey, maybe it's supposed to be 'dynamicdisplayable', but it still gives me an error, so I have no idea.

Code: Select all

While executing init code:
  File "game/script.rpy", line 119, in script
    image pov neutral = DynamicDisplayable(doll(),base=1)
  File "game/script.rpy", line 119, in <module>
    image pov neutral = DynamicDisplayable(doll(),base=1)
TypeError: 'Composite' object is not callable

Well, this has proven to be quite the challenge for my very shallow knowledge of coding. I think I'm trying to bite off more than can chew haha ;u; *keeps trying to make it work somehow*

[Pippin123]

Sorry, I was typing from memory, on my iphone; so I probably made a typo. I'll correct it when I get access to my PC again later tonight

Edit:
You're right that the correct syntax is DynamicDisplayable.
Can you post the full code for doll ? No typo in 'im.Composite' ?

Edit Edit: Brasileiro ?

[Ryuushiro]

Okay, I see no typos but maybe I just didn't noticed them... I'm just going to post the whole thing here, because I'm pretty sure that I changed so much stuff that I actually messed up at some point and forgot to change some particular part or replaced something that I shouldn't.

I'll just take out the actual game and dialogue, since I think that has nothing to do with the current error.

Code: Select all

init python:
    
    
    dressup_button_show = False
    base, hair, glasses, tie, shirt, pants = 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 # default dressup items
    base_num, hair_styles_num, glasses_styles_num, tie_styles_num, shirt_styles_num, pants_styles_num = 3, 9, 4, 4, 4, 3 # number of styles (files) for each dressup item
    # define images as:
    # "base.png" for the base image
    # "hair1.png", "hair2.png", "hair3.png", ... - start with 1 and end with (hair_styles_num)
    # "glasses1.png", "glasses2.png", "glasses3.png", ... "tie1.png", "tie2.png", ... "shirt1.png", "shirt2.png", ... "shirt1.png", "pants2.png", ...    
    import os, time, pygame

        
    
    def draw_char(st, at): # combine the dressup items into one displayable
        
        # hue1 = im.matrix([    1,   0, 0, 0, 0,
         #                     0,   .9, 0, -.1, 0,
         #                  0.85, 1, -1, 0, 0,
         #                     0,   0, 0, 1, 0 ])
                              
        hue8 = im.matrix([    1,   0, 0, 0, -.4,
                              0,   1, 0, -.08, -.3,
                           0.30, 1, -1, 0, 0,
                              0,   0, 0, 1, 0 ])
        
        hue2 = im.matrix([    1,   0, 0, 0, -.4,
                              0,   .9, 0, -.1, -.3,
                           0, -0.1, -1, 0, 0,
                              0,   0, 0, 1, 0 ])
        
        hue3 = im.matrix([ 1, 0, 0, 0, -2,
                           0, 1, 0, 0, -.04,
                           0, 0, 1, 0, .04,
                           0, 0, 0, 1, 0 ])
        
        hue4 = im.matrix([ 1, 0, 0, 0, .4,
                           0, 1, 0, 0, .04,
                           .23, 0, 1, 0, .04,
                           0, 0, 0, 1, 0 ])
        
        hue5 = im.matrix([ 1, 0, 0, 0, .04,
                           0, 1, 0, -.1, .04,
                           -.3, 0, 1, 0, .04,
                           0, 0, 0, 1, 0 ])
        
        
        hue6 = im.matrix([    1,   -1, 0, 0, -.8,
                              0,   1, 0, 0, .2,
                           0.85, 0.7, 1, 0, 0,
                              0,   0, 0, 1, 0 ])
        
        hue7 = im.matrix([    1,   0, 0, 0, -.1,
                              0,   .9, 0, -.1, -.3,
                           0.28, 0.7, -1, 0, 0,
                              0,   0, 0, 1, 0 ])
        
        hue1 = im.matrix([ 1, 0, 0, 0, .04,
                           0, 1, 0, 0, .04,
                           0, 0, 1, 0, .04,
                           0, 0, 0, 1, 0 ])
        
        huearray = [hue1,hue2,hue3,hue4,hue5,hue6,hue7,hue8]
        
        def doll(st,at,base):
            return im.Composite(
                (361, 702), # image size
                (0, 80), "base%d.png"%base,
                (0, 80), "glasses%d.png"%glasses, # (0, 0) is the position of a dressup item. Because these images are saved with spacing around them, we don't need to position them.
                (0, 80), im.MatrixColor("hair%d.png"%hair, huearray[hue]),
                (0, 80), "shirt%d.png"%shirt,
                (0, 80), "tie%d.png"%tie) , None


        if globals()["direction"] == -1:
            globals()["doll"] = im.Flip(globals()["doll"], horizontal=True)
        return globals()["doll"],.1

    
    def draw_char_side(st, at):
       return LiveComposite((361,702), (8,385), im.FactorScale(globals()["doll"], .65)),1
     
    
    dressup_show = False
    dressup_button_show = False
    base, hair, glasses, tie, vest, skirt, hue = 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0 # default dressup items
    base_num, hair_styles_num, glasses_styles_num, tie_styles_num, vest_styles_num, skirt_styles_num, hue_styles_num = 3, 10, 6, 4, 3, 4, 7 # number of styles (files) for each dressup item


#
#
# DEFINE CHARACTERS HERE!!!!! <---------------------------------------------------------
#

define pov = Character(_("[povname]"), color="#FF69B4", show_side_image=DynamicDisplayable(draw_char_side))  
define l = Character('Lea', color="#c8ffc8")
define a = Character('Aden', color="#AE0D0D")
define u = Character('???', color="#FFFFFF")
define t = Character('Teacher', color="#FFFFFF")
#
#
# BGS GO HERE!!!!! <---------------------------------------------------------
#
image ccbg = "bgcc.png"
image black = "black.png"
image classbg = "bgclass.jpg"
image hallway = "bghallway.jpg"

#
# CHARACTER SRPITES GO HERE!!! <---------------------------------------------
#
image l neutral = "lea.png"
image a annoyed = "Aden annoyed.png"
image a neutral = "Aden neutral.png"
image a pleased = "Aden pleased.png"
#
#
#
image pov neutral = DynamicDisplayable(doll(),base=1)
image pov happy = DynamicDisplayable(doll(),base=2)
image pov sad = DynamicDisplayable(doll(),base=3)
#
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

label start:
        scene black with fade
        "In this game you play as a girl. You can change your character's appearence and name."
        "Let's start with the name."
       
        python:
            povname = renpy.input("Type your character's name bellow.")
            povname = povname.strip()
            if not povname:
                povname = "Emily"
        
        "[povname], is that right?"
     
        label justtobesure:
        menu:
            "Yes":
                jump iamsure
            "No":
                $ povname = ""
                jump redoname
     
        label redoname:
        python:
            povname = renpy.input("Well, what is your name?")
            povname = povname.strip()
            if not povname:
                povname = "Emily"
            "[povname], is this right?"
        jump justtobesure
 

init:
    
    image char = DynamicDisplayable(draw_char) # using DynamicDisplayable ensures that any changes are visible immedietly
    $ mc_name = Character(pov, color="#FF69B4", show_side_image=DynamicDisplayable(draw_char_side))
    
    
    $direction = 1
    $doll = im.Composite(
        (361, 702), # image size
        (0, 0), "base%.png",
        (0, 0), "glasses1.png",
        (0, 0), "hair1.png",
        (0, 0), "shirt1.png",
        (0, 0), "tie1.png",
        (0, 0), "pants1.png"
        ) # We have to set the variable at start, but Ren'Py will sometimes crash ("can't construct the image in draw_char()") if we set it to None

#    show screen dressup_button    Taking those off because I don't need a constant dress up buttom- I only need the creator to run once.
#    $ dressup_button_show = False
    
label iamsure:
    show char
    hide char
    pov "My name is [povname]!"
    pov "This is my default appearance." 
    pov "Let's change it to how you prefer."

    
    

#screen dressup_button: # a button to call the dressup game
#    if dressup_button_show:
#        vbox xalign 0.01 yalign 0.01:
#            textbutton "Change look." action ui.callsinnewcontext("dressup")

scene ccbg with fade

label dressup:
    show char:
        xpos 250
    python:
        # display the arrows for changing the dress:        
        y = 100
        ui.imagebutton("arrowL.png", "arrowL.png", clicked=ui.returns("hueL"), ypos=y, xpos=220)
        ui.imagebutton("arrowR.png", "arrowR.png", clicked=ui.returns("hueR"), ypos=y, xpos=600)
        y += 80
        ui.imagebutton("arrowL.png", "arrowL.png", clicked=ui.returns("hairL"), ypos=y, xpos=220)
        ui.imagebutton("arrowR.png", "arrowR.png", clicked=ui.returns("hairR"), ypos=y, xpos=600)        
        y += 90
        ui.imagebutton("arrowL.png", "arrowL.png", clicked=ui.returns("glassesL"), ypos=y, xpos=220)
        ui.imagebutton("arrowR.png", "arrowR.png", clicked=ui.returns("glassesR"), ypos=y, xpos=600)
        y += 90
        ui.imagebutton("arrowL.png", "arrowL.png", clicked=ui.returns("shirtL"), ypos=y+80, xpos=220)
        ui.imagebutton("arrowR.png", "arrowR.png", clicked=ui.returns("shirtR"), ypos=y+80, xpos=600)
        
        ui.textbutton("Start Game", clicked=ui.returns("Start Game")) # image button version: ui.imagebutton("return.png", "return_hover.png", clicked=ui.returns("goback"), ypos=0, xpos=0)
        
    $ picked = ui.interact()
    # based on the selection, we increase or decrease the index of the appropriate dress up item

    if picked == "hueL":
        $ hue = hue - 1 # if previous hair is chosen
        if hue < 0: # making sure we don't get out of index range (index -1 is not allowed)
            $ hue = hue_styles_num
    if picked == "hueR":
        $ hue = hue + 1 # if next hair is chosen
        if hue > hue_styles_num : # making sure we don't get out of index range (index musn't be bigger than hue_styles_num)
            $ hue = 0
    
    if picked == "hairL":
        $ hair -= 1 # previous hair
    if picked == "hairR":
        $ hair += 1 # next hair
    if hair < 1: # making sure we don't get out of index range (index 0 is not allowed)
        $ hair = hair_styles_num
    if hair > hair_styles_num: # making sure we don't get out of index range (index musn't be bigger than hair_styles_num)
        $ hair = 1

    if picked == "glassesL":
        $ glasses -= 1
    if picked == "glassesR":
        $ glasses += 1
    if glasses < 1:
        $ glasses = glasses_styles_num
    if glasses > glasses_styles_num:
        $ glasses = 1

    if picked == "shirtL":
        $ shirt -= 1
    if picked == "shirtR":
        $ shirt += 1
    if shirt < 1:
        $ shirt = shirt_styles_num
    if shirt > shirt_styles_num:
        $ shirt = 1

    if picked == "pantsL":
        $ pants -= 1
    if picked == "pantsR":
        $ pants += 1
    if pants < 1:
        $ pants = pants_styles_num
    if pants > pants_styles_num:
        $ pants = 1
        
    if picked == "Start Game":
        jump confirmlook

        
           
    jump dressup # we don't want to return on every click, this jump loops until we click on "back" button
    
    
label confirmlook:
        "Is this how your character looks?"
        menu:
            "Yes":
                jump continuegame
            "No":
                jump dressup
                
label continuegame:
    scene black with fade
    hide char
    pov "This is how I look!"
    "Your character is done."

That's how it looks at the moment. Hmmm...

ps: Sim, brasileira! > u <

[Pippin123]

Wow... It's a mess
1/ Consistency: you still have both the draw_char and the doll function, both trying to do the same thing. the char image calls draw_char and the doll function is doing nothing...
2/ Indentation: the doll function shouldn't be indented, (and you should remove the def draw_char at the top, which is empty now...
3/ Correct syntax is DynamicDisplayable(doll,base=1) (and not "doll(), base=1)

There's probably a lot of cleanup to do even after this, but it's a start

[Ryuushiro]

Oh god I know right? ;7; LMAO as you can see, I'm clearly trying, but I kinda have no idea what I'm doing. I'm learning, though.
I'll try to fix those things...@_@


Thanks