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Documentation Home > Make Player & NPC Charas

So when I first downloaded the GTGE code to play with the Java applet - I found this link on the forums on how to make your own chara images.

http://www.charas-project.net

This game system has two types of chara images

  1. The preview chara image that you select when you create your character. This image has the _prev in its file name. Example: Chara1_prev.gif. This is a GIF file.
  2. The player chara image that is used by the Java applet. This image will be similar in name to the preview image, and it's very important to remember this. Example: Chara1.png. This file does not have the _prev in the file name and is a PNG file.
For more examples of images look in the images/charas folder.

The next two sections will explain how to make your own chara files and preview files.
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Making your own Chara files

Making a chara is made up of 5 steps:

  1. Select a Body
  2. Select a Face
  3. Select a 'Dress' (Outfit)
  4. Select Hair (optional)
  5. Select additional items (swords, helmets etc) (optional)
First I go to http://charas-project.net/charas2/index.php. I am making these charas in the Chara-medium/Profile - Row 3 settings. I click on a body type. Pick a body, I picked ID 115. The chara file will preview on the right side of the web page.

Next I pick a face, click on the face link. I chose ID 125. The preview on the right will update.

Next I pick a dress, click on the dress link. I chose ID 3968 - I don't go for the huge armor stuff :) The chara file will preview on the right side of the web page.

Next I pick a hair style (optional), click on the hairs link. I chose ID 4266.

Next I pick a item (optional), click on the items link. I chose ID 273.

So we've made a chara image. When you're happy with the preview image on the right side of the page, right click on it and save it to your desktop as test.jpg.

Next we need to make the JPEG file into a GIF file. Open MS Paint and save test.jpg as test.gif. Select File > Save As. There's a Save as type drop down menu, select GIF (*.GIF).

Now go to http://www.gifworks.com/image_editor.html to edit your image. We want to make it transparent (get rid of the green background) and resize the image to 144 wide by 256 high pixels.

At Gifworks, In the File menu, select Open Image. A small form will appear, click the Browse button and select test.gif from your desktop, and click the Upload Image button. Only GIF files will work here.

Now you should see your image in a checkered box with some menus above it (screenshot).

From the Edit menu, select Transparify. A small window will appear, use your mouse to click on only the green background. Once you do this, the window will close and your main image will reload - all the green will be gone - it is now transparent.

Next from the Edit menu, select Resize. A small window will appear. Enter 144 in the width field and 256 in the height field. Leave the constrain proportions checkbox with a check in it, and click the OK button. Your image is now resized.

Your image is now ready for the game. From the File menu, select Save. On the next screen right click the image and save it to your desktop (test_430.gif) or something.

Now that the image is on your desktop, right click on it and choose Copy. Then right click on your desktop and choose Paste. Now you have two copies of the image.

Right click on one of the images and select Rename. Name the image Chara10.png. Just say Yes to changing the file type. An example of one of these files is Chara1.png.

You now have a new chara file to play the game with! But we aren't quite done, we need to make a preview GIF file for your new chara still. See the next section please.
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Making your own Chara Preview files

Now go back to http://www.gifworks.com/image_editor.html to edit your GIF image copy. We want to crop it (cut down the size of it) so it only shows the 8th person in the file (3rd row, middle person - facing forward).

At Gifworks, In the File menu, select Open Image. A small form will appear, click the Browse button and select test.gif from your desktop, and click the Upload Image button. Only GIF files will work here.

Your GIF image should be shown. From the Edit menu, select Crop. Crop is pretty cool. First you need to click the upper left corner of the 8th image - this will set the top and left border for where the image will be cut.

Once you've done this, do it again, but in the lower right - pretend you're drawing an imaginary box around it - but you're only selecting the corners.

Once you've done the 2nd click, your image will be resized and you should only see the one image of your chara facing forward.

Lastly, click the Edit menu, select Resize, and set the width to 48, height to 64.

From the File menu, click Save. On the next screen right click your GIF image and save it as Chara10_prev.gif to your desktop.
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Uploading your Chara files

Upload both your PNG and your _prev GIF files to the server, to the images/charas folder. Upload in Bindary mode.

Go try to create a new character and you should see your new chara choice :)

Try playing the game with you new chara to make sure the Java applet is happy with you new chara :)

Visit www.createorconquer.com