Part 2: Tools & Resources

Welcome to Part 2 of the Stage creation tutorial. In this section, I will explain about the tools & resources that you can acquire, in your quest to become the next stage creator in the M.U.G.E.N Community. The number of tools available are quite vast, as well as the resources that are made available, for you to use. But as far as resources go, the best one you can have, is whatever you manage to rip yourself.

These are going to be the tools you need, if you wish to create your own stages. You should be able to click on the names. As they will open up a new tab upon clicking. So you don’t miss a beat.

You will need GraphicsGale, if you want to be able to select your foreground and background color, as the transparent in an image.

For editing the layers/images (Your choice & taste in tools used, can vary):
Gimp for Windows
Photoshop CS6

The tool used to build the stages themselves outright:
Fighter Factory Classic


If you want to take the simple road, you can get Cybaster’s Automatic Stage Creation tool, which will allow you build a basic 1 layer stage. However, I personally say that making them from scratch, will be your best bet.

If you are looking for archives that contain layers that have been ripped already, and you wish to not do them yourself, then you can head on over to The Spriter’s Resource, if you want to save yourself the time of doing it yourself. It will be your one stop shop, for your sprite layer needs.

If you plan on ripping from emulators (like I do), such as ZSNES, or SNES9X, then it is advised to obtain VSNES. Since it can use Savestates from either emulator, to let you look into the layers of wherever the save took place. Not all games work with this feature.

For Sega Genesis layer ripping, any version of Gens works best. But gens11b works the best for the job. If you need to make the screen pink inside the emulator. It requires a lua script for that to work. You can grab it, by Clicking here. (BIG Thanks to O Illusionista over at Infinity Mugen Team forums, for making it available)

For an Arcade emulator like Kawaks, Nebula or FinalBurn Alpha, they all have a shots factory option. That can be accessed in the tools section of the emulator. Nebula will be your best bet, for simple ripping (Pressing F8, while running a game in Nebula). While Kawaks & FinalBurn alpha will be there for advanced ripping.

For something like MAME, you can access the TMAP and GFX layers by pressing F4 on the keyboard, while in game. Not all games have a TMAP or GFX layer you can access. Unless you want to manually save screenshots, and do manual ripping, you can use Artmoney. A Subsection of this page, will cover Artmoney, as covered by Just No Point from MFG.

If you want a detailed method of ripping images with MAME, O Illusionista’s tutorial on ripping with MAME, will be made into a subsection of this page. Mouse over “Part 2” in the top menu, to access the subsections.

This concludes Part 2, of the tutorial.

 

7 COMMENTS

comments user
John Smith

I don’t intend to rush you. But do you ever plan on release parts 2 and 3 soon?

Reply
    comments user
    DarkValentine

    I’m taking my time to make sure that part 2 is done right. I made sure part 1 of this tutorial was done right, and reviewed it, to make sure what was done, is of the same caliber. I’m no perfectionist, but if I’m going to make a tutorial, I want to make sure it gives the correct information. My apolgies if it’s taking a bit of time. I will post about this on the front page.

    Reply
    comments user
    DarkValentine

    Part 2 is released, but there will be two subsections for this page. they cover the tail end of this page, and are essential if you want to do so, for arcade games.

    Reply
comments user
John Smith

Thanks for the upload of part 2. I understand that you want to make sure the part 2 is good enough to explain how to do he things you talk about. And to make sure it’s easy for the person to understand. I just assumed you’ve canceled the tutorials. But now that I know you just want to make sure the parts are good enough I can understand why you took some extra time on them.

Again thanks for the upload. And I can’t wait for part 3.

Reply
    comments user
    DarkValentine

    Thanks for understanding. There aren’t many places that would directly say how to do so, on a creator’s website. You often have to find videos, or look around on a forum, or ask someone directly. My aim is to change that, by making the tutorial readily available, direct on my site. So anyone who wants to learn, can jump right in.

    On another note, I took my time with Part 2, because it is the most versatile of the parts. Due to there being many tools of old, and new ones being discovered, as well as methods being discovered on how to create a stage, this part in the tutorial can increase in size.

    Cybaster’s Automatic Stage Creation Tool is one of the dead simplest methods of making a stage, but it’s designed for a single layer, non-animated. If you want them complex, like what I create, they must be built piece by piece, layer by layer.

    I can tell you, Part 3 will take quite some time before it becomes available to the public. There’s a LOT to cover, and it will carry a number of things over, from the first area. Before I post part 3, I’ll work on getting more info with ArtMoney, and we can go from there.

    Reply
      comments user
      John Smith

      Awesome can’t wait for part 3. I’m really interest in making my own stages so I’m really looking forward to part 3. And your stages have inspired me to make my own. Usually I can find videos on them, but I like how your tutorials were put together so I’ll just wait for the 3rd part.

      Reply
        comments user
        DarkValentine

        When part 3 of the tutorial goes up, I will be basing it on the method I use, to make my stages, as well as the tools that I use. I will also make a default definition file available, to be used as a template for adjusting the values, so you can build the stage as you see fit. The default template that I will use, will be made for those who want to do it from scratch, and not use Cybaster’s Automatic Stage Creation tool.

        If I feel the tutorial itself for part 3 will be long, I will split it up into parts. That way, you can get a better, more centralized idea as to how what goes where, and what needs to be done.

        There is one additional tool available, but it only works for stages that are lo-res ready. It’s called Stage Viewer. I often use this tool since I create Lo-res stages. It allows you to preview a stage, before you try it. It will be included in the tutorial.

        Reply

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