About SpriteLib vol. I

Windows Version

Introduction

SpriteLib is a free sprite graphics library for all multimedia developers. Containing well over 700 professionally drawn images in over a dozen sizes and themes, SpriteLib is the ideal tool for developing the latest generation of games, educational programs and multimedia applications.

SpriteLib was developed as a direct result of my experience as a commercial and shareware game artist. It was designed to offer programmers of all levels a complete "plug-n-play" graphics solution to use freely in their creations. This way, programmers can concentrate on creating applications with consistent, high quality artwork without worrying about the gory details of drawing the art themselves or hiring an expensive outside artist.

SpriteLib features all original computer artwork. Some of you might remember me (or maybe not!) from my earlier sprite product announced on rec.games.programmer called the Image Odyssey. Well, for a variety of reasons, the Image Odyssey was never officially released, however, the concept lives on in my SpriteLib product.

SpriteLib Details

SpriteLib for Windows contains 25 screens packed with ready-to-use sprite artwork. The following types of games and applications are supported right "out of the box" with SpriteLib:

A "Smash TV" shoot -`em up clone

Dozens of Nintendo and Sega style platform games

Hundreds of Galaxian, RoboTron, and Space Invader type games

Dozens of Educational games

Hundreds of Shockwave based games

Numerous Demonstrations and Presentations

Countless Web page animations

and many, many other possibilities

The Windows version of SpriteLib includes 640x400 images saved in the standard Windows Bitmap (.BMP) file format. NOTE: I decided to use the RLE sub-format in order to save disk space in this distribution. Most Windows based graphics packages such as PaintShop Pro and Photoshop are fully compatible with RLE flavored BMP files, however, some programs are not (like the Windows 3.1 version of Paintbrush).

Most of the sprite screens use less than 64 unique colors, so SpriteLib is ideal for specialized applications like Shockwave. I've also tried to give developers as much leeway as possible by leaving plenty of color palette entries open and keeping most of the sprites small so they animate faster, even when used under high-level development environments like Director, etc.

Instructions

On extracted from the distribution .ZIP file, all SpriteLib images can be found in the SPRITES sub-directory. You can keep the images here or move them to another location on your hard drive. The images only need to remain in the SPRITES directory if intend to view them via this program, etc.

SpriteLib Restrictions

While SpriteLib is free, I still retain the copyrights on it. SpriteLib is being made available free of charge to anyone to use for either personal OR commercial purposes. I do not require and will not request royalties or license fees on any of the products that are developed with SpriteLib. However, I do ask that you respect the following conditions in return for the freedom of use that I am granting you:

You must officially register with me to legally use SpriteLib. Registration is free and can be done via one of three convenient methods:

You can register for SpriteLib online at:

http://www.walrus.com/~ari/register.htm

You can register for SpriteLib through e-mail at:

ari@walrus.com

Or, you can print out the accompanying Registration Form and snail-mail it to me:

Ari Feldman
2550 Independence Avenue
Bronx, NY 10463

In return, registered users will be allowed to use the SpriteLib product without penalty and will be informed of future SpriteLib volumes as well as other products that I will be releasing. In addition, I will be available online to answer specific questions about how I implemented the SpriteLib art and to provide tips on getting the most out of the package. I also promise not to use your names for commercial purposes! I merely want to keep track of who is doing what with my package.

You must give me proper credit in your application's title/credits screen and documentation if you use at least five of the images contained in the SpriteLib package. In addition, as a courtesy, I would appreciate (although you are not required) it if you sent me one free copy of every application or game you create with art featured in SpriteLib. I simply want to see what's being done with my art!

You can only use the Windows version of SpriteLib for creating Windows or Web based applications! You are not allowed to port the Windows version to any other hardware platform (I will be doing this myself in order to maintain quality control) and you MAY NOT use the images featured in SpriteLib to create ANY DOS based programs!

You may not sell for profit any of the art contained in the SpriteLib package. In other words, you are free to sell your program creations that use SpriteLib images (provided you are a registered user) but you may not sell the package or a modified version of it as a separate product.

You may not publicly distribute any of your programs or applications that use art found in SpriteLib if you are an unregistered user.

I ask you to please respect these restrictions. There really no incentive to violate them since I'm not charging for the use of this package, however, I will do whatever I can to exact revenge on violators so be warned!

SpriteLib Updates

Yes, one of the perks of taking the time to register is that you will be able to receive updates to SpriteLib for free! I will be making my Web site the official home for all product support and future SpriteLib releases. I still have a substantial amount of artwork that I haven't yet released and I plan to make it available to the Internet community at large provided that there is sufficient interest and that my registration requirements are respected.

After July 1, registered users can visit my SpriteLib Internet page at: http://www.walrus.com/~ari/spritlib.htm to download updates.

In fact, one of the first upgrades that will be made available will be a background tile set which should prove very useful when used with the many arcade "platform" type sprites included in this package. Eventually, I will release other background tile sets to support the other sprite sets found in SpriteLib.

I hope you enjoy SpriteLib and I look forward to hearing from you!

About Me...

Who am I? By day I'm a mild-mannered Assistant Project Manager with the Interactive Communications Group at Wunderman Cato Johnson (its a big Ad Agency). By night I'm a geek. As you can tell I like to draw...

Standard "Protect-Your-Ass" Legal Disclaimer: The opinions, artwork and ideas expressed and contained in this package are strictly mine - not those of Wunderman Cato Johnson. I take full responsibility for the content of the SpriteLib package.

Last Words

Please note that most of the sprites contained in SpriteLib can be used to develop entire games and programs. Some of the sprites do not form complete themes by themselves. However, I've given you enough ideas to get your creative juices flowing. If you're a budding artist or animator, you'll find many of the included images perfect for practicing your skills. This package contains all sorts of effects from explosions to characters walking and jumping. Just about every sprite action is represented. All you need now is a good imagination to make some real kick-ass applications! Good luck!

Thanks go out to BerSoft for their Freeware HTML Viewer...