Spriting Guidelines

Each sprite is different. Some are larger than others. Recently, there's been a large influx of custom sprites, so here's some recommended guidelines to follow when creating sprites to be suggested:

The preferable size for sprites is somewhere between 40-100 pixels in both dimensions. However, it is also preferred that the sprite only be large in one dimension (x or y, but not x and y). Sprites with close to square aspect ratios should be between 60-90 pixels instead.

This range is pretty flexible. Sprites can be smaller than this range as needed, although generally the adult sprite should be larger than the hatchling sprite (Most hatchling sprites are around 40x40). Sprites can also be larger, although this is not recommended and may negatively affect the sprite's chances of being used. The absolute max size is 120 pixels in any one dimension.

Byte sizes are not much to worry about. DE has plenty of bandwidth, and I'd rather not limit the quality of the sprites just to save a few bytes. If you really want some specifics, though, eggs should probably not be more than 400 bytes, and most hatchling sprites should fit within 700 bytes. The long-standing "limit" on adults has been 2.5 KB, but as I said, it's not that big of a deal.

The "traditional" limit on colors was a max of 16 colors. However, I would like to stress that the color limit should not prevent spriters from adding color or detail to their sprites, instead it is there to make sure that palettes do not contain duplicate or near-duplicate colors and to ensure that sprites maintain a pixel-art feel.

This post is subject to refining as necessary.