TL;DR - The Mana Seed Character Base (this asset) is a flexible character sprite base with a bunch of animations for both casual farming games and combat-focused action RPGs. It comes with a few simple outfits for NPC villagers (farmer, angler, blacksmith, etc), as well as a handful of hats and hairstyles for customization.

Please note: If you want to use this for your player character sprite, you should be ready to draw (or hire an artist to draw) your own original outfit and hairstyle on top of this base.

If you don't need a lot of different combat animations in your game, I recommend you give my Farmer Sprite System a try, instead (use one or the other, the sprites are not interchangeable).

THE CHARACTER BASE:

Click "DOWNLOAD NOW" to get the FREE demo! It's the first page of the Base, in full. Includes stand, walk, run, push, pull, and jump animations, complete with 2 hairstyles, 4 outfits, and 2 hats. You can even use the free page commercially! If you like it, and want more, come back and get the full asset for only $19.98 🤗

This is an animated base for pixel art characters in an RPG, farming sim, or adventure game. This is a "paper doll" style layered sprite system that uses separate sheets for clothes, hair, tools, etc. all with identical layouts so they can be swapped out at runtime. It currently includes the following animations in 4 directions (up, down, left, right) in 10 different skin tones:

• PAGE 1
  • 1-frame standing
  • 6-frame walking
  • 6-frame running
  • 2-frame pushing heavy object
  • 2-frame pulling heavy object
  • 4-frame jumping
• PAGE 2
  • 4-frame tilling soil, woodcutting, or mining
    • Hoe, axe, and pick sprites included
      
    • Bonus free bug net now available!
  • 4-frame planting seeds
  • 4-frame watering plants
    • Watering can sprites included
  • 4-frame pulling up crops (veggies sold separately)
• PAGE 3
  • 8-frame fishing (cast, struggle, reel-in, show off)
    • Fishing rod, bobber, water splash, and sample fish sprites included
• PAGE 4
  • 5-frame blacksmithing (only 2 directions, left/right)
    • Hammer and anvil sprites included
  • 5-frame climbing (in one direction, up)
  • Shocked emote (while facing down only)
  • 2-frame looking left and right while facing down
  • 2-frame drinking at a bar (facing left/right only)
    • Beer mug sprites included
  • 1-frame alternate idle standing (hand on hip)
  • 2-frame alternate idle standing (arms crossed, toe-tapping)
  • 2 chair-sitting poses
  • 2 floor-sitting poses
  • 4 sleeping poses (in one direction, to fit in Mana Seed beds)
• Optional files (unsupported after version 2.4)
  • PAGE 1B (pole alt)
    • Full alternate of page 1 while holding a spear or polearm
      
  • PAGE 1C (2hwp alt)
    • Full alternate of page 1 while holding a 2-hand weapon

If that wasn't enough, this package also includes some significant extras:

• Two different hairstyles (one male, one female) in 13 color swaps.
• Two simple outfits: a pair of boxers and a bra/panties combo.
• A big batch of color ramps for making your own compatible outfits.
• Separated effect/tool sprites for making your own equipment.
• Detailed instructions explaining animation order and timing.
• The multi-layered multi-framed source file, to assist you in making your own outfits, hairstyles, and more (requires Aseprite). This isn't officially supported but is included for advanced users. Go wild, just don't ask me how to use it!

The character is around 32 pixels high, and each frame is isolated in a 64x64 pixel cell, arranged evenly on a grid. The asset currently contains six sheets of sprites, each one 512x512 pixels in total. The two included outfits each occupy six more sheets as separate layers that go on top of the base. The tool layers on five of the character sheets also have their own separate sheets. With all the color swap alternates, there are over 200 sprite sheets in this asset. If you are not using a layered paper doll system for your characters, you will need to do some image editing to combine the body/outfits/hair/tools into a single image.

This is a gender-neutral character base. You can draw your own outfits and hairstyles to represent both male and female characters. This asset includes one male hairstyle and outfit and one female hairstyle and outfit, as an example.

BOW COMBAT

This asset adds three new pages of combat animations to my Character Base. All these animations revolve around using a bow & arrow. Just like in the Base, all of the following animations come in four directions (north, south, east, and west-facing):

• Drawing/sheathing a bow
• 4-frame combat-ready idle
• 4-frame combat-ready move
• Firing an arrow straight
• Firing an arrow up
• Parrying an attack 
• Evading an attack
• Getting hit by an attack
• Getting knocked to the ground
• Lunge/leap forward
• Retreat/leap backward 
• Three different bow types, each with their own sprite sheets:
  • Shortbow
  • Longbow
  • Recurve
• Two bonus outfits (the same ones from the Base)
• Two bonus hairstyles (the same ones from the Base)

Some extras I've also included:

• A text file explaining all the animations, along with some suggested timing.
• Separate sheets with all the bow, arrow, and quiver sprites so you can set up your own custom animations.
• Visual guides demonstrating which frames are used for which animations and when to move the bow or quiver sprite in front of or behind the character sprite.
• The multi-layered multi-framed source file, to assist you in making your own outfits, hairstyles, and more (requires Aseprite). This isn't officially supported but is included for advanced users. Go wild, just don't ask me how to use it!

The bows and quiver each come on their own sprite sheets, and your game will need to be able to switch the equipment to in-front-of or behind the character sprite during some animations. If your engine doesn't support paper doll mechanics or dynamic layer swapping, you'll need to use an image editor to set up these sprites before you use them. The three bows all come in five different color palettes. The arrow & quiver comes in eight color palettes. The body sprite and the two free hairstyles all come in the same color palettes found in the Character Base (that's ten skin tones and thirteen hair colors).

SPEAR COMBAT

This asset adds three new pages of combat animations to my Character Base. All these animations revolve around using a spear or polearm, and include the following actions, all in four directions:

• Drawing/sheathing a spear
• 4-frame combat-ready idle
• 4-frame combat-ready move
• Slashing attack
• Thrusting attack (2 versions)
• Parrying an attack
• Evading an attack
• Getting hit by an attack
• Getting knocked to the ground
• Lunge/leap forward
• Retreat/leap backward
• Three different polearm types, each with their own sprite sheets:
  • Short Spear
  • Winged Spear
  • Halberd
• Two bonus outfits (the same ones from the Base)
• Two bonus hairstyles (the same ones from the Base)

Some extras I've also included:

• A text file explaining all the animations, along with some suggested timing.
• Separate sheets with all the weapon sprites so you can set up your own custom animations.
• Visual guides demonstrating which frames are used for which animations and when to move the spear sprite in front of or behind the character sprite.
• The multi-layered multi-framed source file, to assist you in making your own outfits, hairstyles, and more (requires Aseprite). This isn't officially supported but is included for advanced users. Go wild, just don't ask me how to use it!

The polearms each come on their own sprite sheets, and your game will need to be able to switch the weapons to in-front-of or behind the character sprite during some animations. If your engine doesn't support paper doll mechanics or dynamic layer swapping, you'll need to use an image editor to set up these sprites before you use them. Each of the three weapon sprites comes in five different color palettes. The body sprite and the two free hairstyles all come in the same color palettes found in the Character Base (that's ten skin tones and thirteen hair colors).

SWORD & SHIELD 

This asset adds three new pages of combat animations to my Character Base. All these animations revolve around using a sword & shield, and include the following actions, all in four directions:

• Drawing/sheathing the sword & shield
• 4-frame combat-ready idle
• 4-frame combat-ready move
• Forehand slashing attack
• Backhand slashing attack
• Thrusting attack
• Shield bash attack
• Parrying an attack
• Evading an attack
• Getting hit by an attack
• Getting knocked to the ground
• Lunge/leap forward
• Retreat/leap backward

Some extras I've also included:

• A text file explaining all the animations, along with some suggested timing.
• Separate sheets with all the weapon sprites so you can set up your own custom animations.
• Visual guides demonstrating which frames are used for which animations and when to move the spear sprite in front of or behind the character sprite.
• The multi-layered multi-framed source file, to assist you in making your own outfits, hairstyles, and more (requires Aseprite). This isn't officially supported but is included for advanced users. Go wild, just don't ask me how to use it!

The sword and shield each come on their own sprite sheets, and your game will need to be able to switch the equipment to in-front-of or behind the character sprite during some animations. If your engine doesn't support paper doll mechanics or dynamic layer swapping, you'll need to use an image editor to set up these sprites before you use them. 

In addition to the sword, there's also an axe and mace, and the shield comes in three varieties. Each of the weapons and shields has five total color swaps. The character sprite comes in each of the ten natural skin tones found in the original base, as well as the two free outfits and hairstyles (the latter coming in thirteen color swaps).

OUTFITS & HAIRSTYLES

There is a pack of add-on hairstyles and a bunch of outfit add-ons also included in this asset, but they are totally optional. I urge you to make your own original outfits (either by yourself, or hire a freelancer), but you're welcome to use what I have here if you want. Unfortunately, though, I haven't finished all of them. Here's a breakdown of what I've made:

• Outfits that are fully compatible with all Base and combat animations:
  • Peasant Farmer Pants & Hat
  • Forester Pointy Hat & Tunic
• Outfits that are ONLY compatible with the non-combat Base animations:
  • Peasant Farmer Dress & Bonnet
  • Angler Pants & Rain Hat
  • Blacksmith Apron & Bandana
  • Cloak & Hood
  • Alchemist Coat & Goggle

For the Hairstyle Pack, I originally planned to make 10 different hairstyles, but I only finished half of them (look for the graphic to see which ones are done). And those 5 I completed are only compatible with the regular Base animations, not the combat add-ons. However, you should be able to copy/paste the hair sprites from similar frames in the Base to fill out the combat animations.

I've decided that I'm never going to finish these last updates (combat animations for the 5 outfits and hairstyles), despite my original intentions. These packs used to be sold separately, but I'm now including them all here at no cost (and even lowering the Base price), by way of apology. I hope there are no hard feelings 😇🙏

If you're a talented artist and would like to finish the missing outfit animations so that others may use them, I can compensate you in commission credit for your efforts. Contact me (on Discord or Twitter) if you're interested.

GET MORE MANA SEED

The Official Mana Seed Collection is growing all the time. Here are some popular packs to get your indie game started with:

THIRD-PARTY CONTENT

Here are some unofficial add-ons made by other artists and programmers that are explicitly designed to work with this Character Base. The creators of these assets (and no others you might find elsewhere) have my approval to sell these, but you'll need to contact them directly for support or questions.

NEW OUTFITS AND ACCESSORIES:

TOOLS FOR UNITY:

TOOLS FOR GAMEMAKER STUDIO:

Note: If you purchase this asset, you are free (and encouraged) to draw/add your own hairstyles and outfits to go on this base for your own game. I would probably be OK if you sold small additions or compatible code, like the ones pictured above. If that sounds like something you'd be interested in, please contact me to discuss what you have in mind.

• Visit the Mana Seed Website
• See the full Mana Seed Collection
• Buy everything in one bundle
• Support me on Patreon or Ko-fi
• Commission new Mana Seed assets
• Join my Discord Server
• Read the Mana Seed User License