WadMaker & SpriteMaker

As game developers often handle the task of creating custom graphics and textures for their games, they may find themselves faced with the tedious process of converting and organizing image files for use with the game engine. The process can involve manual color palette adjustments, exporting, and the use of complex GUI tools. However, with the advent of specialized software utilities such as WadMaker and SpriteMaker, game developers can streamline this process and expedite their workflow. These utilities offer a simplified approach to converting and optimizing images for use in popular game engines.

WadMaker

WadMaker is a powerful command-line tool that simplifies the conversion process of creating Half-Life wad files from directories of images. With the ability to accept a variety of image files, including Photoshop and Krita files, WadMaker can automatically create a suitable 256-color palette for each image and apply limited dithering. The tool can also extract textures from wad and bsp files, as well as remove embedded textures from bsp files.

Features

1. Supports drag-and-drop usage for easy conversion of directories of images into Half-Life wad files
2. Accepts a variety of image files and can be configured to call external conversion tools for other formats
3. Automatically creates a suitable 256-color palette for each image and applies limited dithering
4. Can extract textures from wad and bsp files, or remove embedded textures from bsp files
5. Allows for customizable texture-specific settings with the use of a plain-text wadmaker.config file
6. Can modify WadMaker’s behavior with several command-line options
7. Supports special texture types, such as transparent, water, scrolling, and animated textures
8. Can create decal textures for use in decals.wad
9. Supports both Windows and Linux

Drawbacks

1. Limited command-line options may not meet the needs of advanced users who require more customization options^[Elaborate?]
2. Lacks a graphical user interface, which may be challenging for some users who are not comfortable with the command line interface.

SpriteMaker

SpriteMaker is a powerful command-line tool designed to convert directories full of images to Half-Life sprites. It simplifies existing workflows and reduces steps by automatically creating a suitable 256-color palette for each sprite. With the ability to accept various file formats, including png, jpg, gif, bmp, tga, psd, psb, kra, ora, and more, SpriteMaker is a versatile tool that can be easily configured to call external conversion tools for other formats.

Intended to streamline sprite development, the software is easy to use and requires minimal effort. Users can drag and drop directories and files onto SpriteMaker.exe to convert all images in a directory to sprites. In addition, SpriteMaker also has advanced options for more complex customization, including allowing users to modify the behavior of the tool with command-line options.

Features

1. One of the main features of SpriteMaker is its ability to make multiple sprites and update existing sprite directories quickly. Sprite directories can be updated by only processing added, modified, and removed images. SpriteMaker can also convert sprites back to images with ease.
2. For animated sprites, SpriteMaker creates a palette from all input frame images, not just the first one. It accepts numbered image sequences, spritesheets and gif files as input for animated sprites.

External links

• Github repository for WadMaker and SpriteMaker
• Latest release
• Making textures with WadMaker tutorial on TWHL
• Tutorial: Making sprites with SpriteMaker tutorial on TWHL