Character sprites

Aground allows for character customization to an extent, and includes animations of your character sprites performing various actions throughout gameplay.

Customization

When you make a new save file and later at the Surgery Lab, you can choose your character's appearance. In order from top to bottom, the available options are:

• Skin Color: 8 options
• Hair Color: 8 options
• Hair Style: 17 options, including "None" for a bald character
• Facial Hair: 5 options, including "None"
• Eye Color: 11 options
• Shirt Color: 12 options
• Shirt Style: 2 options, Closed or Open
• Pant Color: 12 options

Sprite

Character sprites by themselves are much shorter and wider than realistic human beings. The mouth of your own character is not visible except for one animation (see animation section below), and whether any pixels represent a nose is unclear. Character sprites are shown in a 3/4 view, with one arm not visible on the other side of the torso except during motion. The sprite is 8 pixels wide and 10 pixels tall when not counting hair. The width decreases at the top of the head and the feet, where the top of the head is 6 pixels wide and the feet are spaced at the same width. Pants are 1 pixel high and each foot is a single pixel, one pixel inward from the pants immediately above. Eyes are also one pixel in size. When closed, shirts have a dark-colored vertical stripe where buttons or a zipper would be on a more detailed model.

Equipment

Most equipment shows up on your character sprite when in use. Backpacks will appear on your back, sometimes with the strap obscuring part of your shoulder. Armor will cover and protect your torso, and sometimes the head slot depending on what armor it is. Most shields, such as the Buckler, Ice Shield, Enchanted Shield, and Energy Shield, will not be visible on your sprite until you use them. Certain helms will obscure your face except for two eyespots. The Mecha Wyrm Helm will show your character's actual eye color through its green visor. The Water Helm shows the blinking eyes as black dots; Spirit Goggles and Carapace Armor have light-colored eyespots tinted by the eyepieces of the equipment. Most dominant hand melee equipment will be held either upright or diagonally across the far shoulder. Exceptions include Blue Claws and Leeches. Ranged weapons for either or both hands will usually be held horizontally, like Magic Wands and Rocket Launchers. Revolvers are held vertically until used.

Animations

When your character walks, their torso will sway back and forth in time with their simple single-pixel legs. Each foot will swing forward while the other one pushes off the ground. Speed potions will increase the speed of the walking animation but otherwise there is no change. Items equipped in your hand slots that are visible on your sprite will also move back and forth as you walk. Your character will blink at regular intervals, with the eyelids being a slightly darker shade than the surrounding skin. When you rest in a Rejuvenation Pod or Fighter Escort bed, your character will lie down with their eyes closed as the lid of the pod closes, then when it opens again your character appears again standing up.

Some hairstyles move as you walk, and even react when you are attacked. Hair Style 10 wobbles as you walk because it is a tall hairdo with multiple segments. The fringe of Hair Style 11 flops back and forth, revealing the hidden eye every other step. It also moves with the character when an enemy attacks.

When your character swims, there is no torso motion (and therefore no hair motion) but the limbs work harder. The arms, if nothing usable underwater is equipped, will "windmill" to tread water or paddle. The feet will move to the back corner of your torso and kick back and forth, instead of one under each hip like when walking. You can only swim as fast as you can walk, but if you upgrade yourself with speed potions you can outmaneuver many aquatic enemies.

When you shield yourself with anything except the magical or battery-powered shields, your character will grasp the shield with both hands and hold it in front of their face while walking very slowly. The shield will move back and forth in time with your steps because your torso will rotate. No dominant hand equipment can be used while shielding. The Energy Shield is similar because it takes up both hands, but forms a crescent shape in front of the character without obscuring their face.

Spellbooks are opened during use when equipped in the Offhand slot. With attacks or tools, the book only opens briefly when being cast. The Book of Shielding will stay open continuously to maintain the forcefield while in use.

When your character picks up more items than their carrying capacity allows, they will struggle to move and slow down. The face will sweat very visibly even through any head slot equipment, and the three most basic backpacks will all bulge as you walk. The bulging backpack moves back and forth as the character tries to walk. If you stand still, you will not face any problems with an overloaded backpack. Any other backpack will not have this special animation when you carry too much stuff, but your character will still sweat and move slowly.

When your character is harmed by an enemy, they will recoil and grimace with visible teeth and closed eyes. Any action you were doing just prior will be interrupted, and a red number will appear showing how much damage has been done to you.

When you attack an enemy with a melee weapon, usually your character will swing the weapon forward and down. This also applies when cutting trees. The Magic Staff, when not bound to a spellbook, will have an animation where you pound it against the ground and lines of magical energy like cartoon wind will blow from the glowing head of the staff. Blue Claws and Leeches will shoot forward to strike enemies like a biting snake.

Ranged weapons will have their own animations, like the Revolver being moved into horizontal position to fire a bullet or the Magic Wand recoiling as it shoots a projectile. Shotguns have a longer and more detailed animation, with the barrel being reloaded for the next Shell.

Special auto-firing headgear will have animations as projectiles are shot at enemies; the Spirit Fox Helm breathes fire from its mouth, and the Mega Earth Helm fires a laser blast from its eyes.

Elemental magic weapons will have more detailed animations. An enchanted Axe, Steel Sword, or Chainsaw will produce a ball of elemental energy when it strikes the target; text will appear on the screen saying "Effective!" if the enchantment works better against the enemy, or "Resist!" if it does not work well. Tier-1 spellbooks and elemental Exotic Swords will produce projectiles that are identical to the magic orb animations.

Making your own EQUIPMENT (via mod)

When your character wears armor and walks you can see that the armory moves left and right. When making your own armor you have to animate this. When making your own armor it’s important to remember how size, shading and color contribute to the pixel art. Visit the modding page for information on making a mod, and adding an armor.