Icytower- Where is the "characters" folder located on my computer? - double click the "my computer" icon, either in the start menu or on the desktop.
- double click the "drive c:\" icon, or the name of your HD
- double click the "games" folder that IT is usually installed in
- open the "Icy Tower 1.3.1" folder and then open the "characters" folder.
- you are now in the "characters" folder. Put all characters in here and they will work (if
made properly).
This is only by default. If you installed Icy Tower to another location, your characters folder will be there.
Where do I find more characters?Check the
IT Community-site,
Mizi Mace's Character Collectionand
IcyTower.cz's characters page.
I downloaded a character. Why isn't it working?Make sure that the character is not located in double folders like:
C:\games\icytower1.3\characters\somecharacter\somecharacter\
Make sure that the frames (see below answer) for the character have the same name as they do in the txt file. Also make sure that the txt file has the same name as the directory it is located in.
How do I make a character? To make your own character you need three things. Frames (images of the moves that the character can do), sounds (what the character can say (and music)) and finally a script that tells the game what is what. The sounds and music are optional, and do not have to be created.
CUSTOM CHARACTER CREATION GUIDE
Start by coming up with an idea for your character. It might take some time to come up with a good one, but that's how it is. The whole process will be a lot easier if you have planned what to do before hand.
Now, first make a copy of the directory named 'template', but call it the name of your character instead. Enter the directory and rename the file 'template.txt' to whatever you called your character.
Example: if you renamed the directory to 'jolly_joe', the new name of the text file should be 'jolly_joe.txt'. This is very important, if the directory and the text file don't have the same names, it wont work. (Make sure you can see the file extensions on the files, or you might do something wrong.)
CHARACTER GRAPHICS
Let's start with the graphics. First off, since the graphics in Icy Tower is palette based, you need a paint program that can handle palettes. Not all programs can handle palettes, but here's a list of a few programs that can:
Graphics Gale
ProMotion (from Cosmigo)
NeoPaint
Autodesk Animator
Photoshop
Gimp
Once you have started your paint program, locate the directory you created above and open the 'template.pcx' (or .bmp) file that is in there.
You will see 15 frames containing outlines of Harold. Below each
frame is a short description. Here's a more informative description of the frames:
IDLE1 - 3 These frames are the animation that Harold
performs when the player isn't moving him.
The sequence for one cycle is 1-2-1-3. Then it
restarts.
WALK1 - 3 This is Harold's walk animation. You have three
frames to play with, they will be flipped in
the game when Harold changes direction.
JUMP1 - 3 These are the frames used when Harold makes a
medium jump. They show his way up, hanging in
air and down. They will also be flipped if needed.
JUMP The frame for the normal straight up jump.
CHOCK The frame shown when Harold is close to scroll
off the screen.
ROTATE The frame used for Harold's cartwheel jump.
EDGE1 - 2 The animation Harold performs when standing on
an edge.
There you go, now you know how the frames will be used. Start overdrawing the frames of Harold with your own character. Don't forget to save!
A note on using a palette based program. You cannot use just any colors, you only have 256 color to your disposal and half of them are already used by the game. Open up a view of the palette, you will see a large chunk of cyan colors (color 144 - 223). These are unused and I suggest you use them for your character. (Ie you can change them into any color without affecting the game.
Be warned! If you change a color outside the cyan chunk, it will affect the game. If you know what you're doing you can create special environments for your character, but if you don't you will mess up the game. Caution is advised!
Some infos about the palette:
- 01:
- 01-01: the index of transparency
- 02-16: letters on the built-in highscore list, letters in the replay browser, bone-like floors, cloud-like floors
- 02:
- 01-16: the tower (walls near the edges, walls in the background, etc.)
- 03:
- 01-02: Harold’s cap
- 03-04: Harold’s skin
- 05-06: Harold’s symbol
- 07-08: Harold’s trousers
- 09-10: Harold’s sweater
- 11-12: Harold’s shoes
- 04:
- 06:
- 01-03: the combo meter
- 04-08: metallic floors
- 07:
- 04-16: background in the main menu, backgrounds and buttons in other menus (replay saving menu and replay opening menu)
- 08:
- 01-16: scrolling text at the bottom of the main menu
- 09:
- 01-06: ivy-like floors, eggs at Mario-floors
- 07-13: smeared metallic floors
- 15:
Finally, save your character as either bmp or pcx in the directory you created. Make sure you save in 256 color (8bpp).
CHARACTER SOUNDS
This is not so hard as the graphics. Icy Tower characters use simple wav-type samples. You'll need eight for full customisation, but you can skip those you don't want.
Here's a list of the sounds you can make.
greeting played at the beginning of a new game
jumplo played at a small jump
jumpmed played at a medium jump
jumphi played at a high (cartwheel) jump
edge played when standing on an edge
death played when the character falls off screen
pause played when the game is paused
bgmusic played as background music (looped)
Create the sounds using the sound recorder/editor of your choice and save them as wav. You can name them whatever you want, but the names above are easy to remember. Put them all in the directory of your character.
CHARACTER SCRIPT
Finally you need to create a small text file that describes how the resources you have created are to be used.
Open up the text file previously named template.txt. (Now it's named'the_name_of_the_character.txt', remember?
Most of the information is all ready filled in, but here's how it works. The game will look for keywords, and then load whatever that is written after the keyword. For instance, the line
[frames] harold.pcx
will tell the game to use the file harold.pcx when it looks for what frames to use.
The other keywords are: [jumplo], [jumpmed], [jumphi], [edge],
[greeting], [death], [pause] and [bgmusic]
A sample script file could look like this:
# graphics
[frames] template.pcx
# sound
[jumplo] jump_lo.wav
[jumpmed] jump_mid.wav
[jumphi] jump_hi.wav
[pause] wazup.wav
[death] falling.wav
[greeting] yo.wav
[edge] edge.wav
[bgmusic] bg_menu.wav
As you see, [frames] is the only keyword that has to do with
graphics, all the others has to do with sound. See the section above on which sound that is played where.
After each sound keyword, the name of the sound that should be played should be written.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Now you should have a created a directory named 'my_character' (or whatever you called it) in the characters directory. In it there should be an image with the frames, the sounds you want to use and a text file with the same name as the directory (plus .txt).
If you think you're all set to go, start up Icy Tower and select
your character from the game options. If something is wrong with it, you will get messages during start up. Good luck!
(If it doesn't work as planned, check the file log.txt that is
created when you run Icy Tower, you might find clues there.)
- How to add a finished character to your game? For example, right now, I will install a character called joe_the_doe. It could be any character. Feel free to replace the name with the one you're about to install.
1 Most characters are compressed into archives. Take a look if the file
is a ZIP or a RAR archive. If it's a ZIP, use WinZip (
www.winzip.com) or
windows built in extractor (if you have XP). If it's a RAR, use WinRar (
www.rarlab.com). Once extracted you will have a folder named after the character you're about to add to the game (joe_the_doe)
2 Locate and open the folder where you installed Icy Tower. The default
location for this is C:\games\icytower1.3.1\ . To open this folder, open up Windows Explorer and click your way to the folder manually or type the location in the address field.
3 Inside the icytower1.3.1 folder is another folder called "characters".
Open it.
4 Now, simply move the extracted folder from step 1 into the
characters-folder. To move/copy a folder you can either just
drag'n'drop the folder's icon into the characters folder, or you can
use your favorite keyboard shortcuts (ctrl+c and ctrl+v).
5 If the copying went ok, your folder tree should look like this:
icytower1.3.1/
characters/
harold_the_homeboy/
files...
disco_dave/
files...
joe_the_doe/
files...
6 Hopefully, you've managed to copy the files correctly and the new
character can be selected under GAME OPTIONS in the game.
