Free Pixel Art Character - The Mana Seed "Farmer Sprite System"

TL;DR - The Mana Seed Farmer Sprite (this asset) is a fully game-ready system for farming sim player characters or NPCs. It includes a wildly diverse set of animations for farming and socializing as well as a built-in character customization system, featuring multiple layers of color-swappable clothing and hairstyles, for near-limitless potential.

Please note: While you CAN repurpose many of the farming tool animations into weapon strikes, I don't recommend using this sprite for an action RPG character.

If you need something with more combat options (though without all the outfit customization), then you should check out the Mana Seed Character Base, instead (use one or the other, the sprites are not interchangeable).

Do you have questions about this asset? Please try the FAQ before commenting.

The Mana Seed Farmer Sprite System

This is a complete paper doll system ready to be implemented into your farming sim-style game. It comes with a ton of related animations, and a variety of suitable outfits and hairstyles. Implemented properly, this sprite will allow your player to customize their character and change their outfit or hair in-game. The farmer sprite is around 32 pixels high (centered in a 64x64 sliceable cell) and is meant to work well with the rest of the tilesets and animated NPCs and monsters in the Mana Seed collection. Here's an abbreviated list of the 150+ animations the Farmer Sprite System is capable of out of the box:

• Walk, run, jump, push, pull, and climb
• Pick up something and hold it over your head, walk, run, and jump with it, then throw it, Zelda-style
• Lots of farming sim animations:
  • Tilling soil with a hoe
  • Planting seeds
  • Watering plants with a watering can
  • Uprooting ripe veggies
  • Mining ore with a pick
  • Chopping a tree with an axe
  • Reaping grain with a hand scythe
  • Catching bugs with a bug net
  • Going fishing
  • Milking a cow
  • Working at a desk or crafting station
  • Smithing at an anvil
• Sing, play guitar, flute, drums, or piano (includes 21 unique instrument sprites)
• Mount, ride, and soothe your horse (horse coming soon, sold separately)
• Pet the dog or horse
• Drink from a glass (both standing up or sitting at a bar)
• Lots of fun emotes for interactions or cut scenes:
  • Hug your friends
  • Laugh out loud
  • Be shocked and amazed
  • Wave hello or goodbye
  • Tap your toe impatiently
  • Look around
  • Get stomping mad
  • Hang your head in sadness
  • Give a big happy thumbs-up
  • Sit in a chair or throne
  • Sit on the floor
  • Sit on a ledge and kick your feet wistfully
  • Sit and meditate (zen style)
  • Sleep at a bar (you drunkard)
  • Sleep in a bed
• Some basic combat stuff
  • Overhand, forehand, and backhand strikes (includes sword, axe, mace, and club sprites)
  • Shoot a bow (includes 2 different types)
  • Evade attack, get hit, fall down
• And maybe more...?

All associated tools and equipment for these animations are included in this pack. Some even come with visual variations.

There is a comprehensive animation guide and cell reference sheet that explains how every animation is meant to work. However, you are encouraged to mix and match frames from different animations to come up with your own unique actions.

Hair and Clothes Included

In addition to the various animations listed above, the Mana Seed Farmer Sprite System also includes a bunch of different hairstyles and clothing elements that you can mix and match to make your own outfits. Or let your players do it for full character customization. With all the different clothing and hairstyle elements, you've got millions of possible unique combinations, and that's not even potential color swaps! All hair and clothing elements are on their own sheets, laid out exactly like the body sprites, so they can be animated together in a paper doll-style system. And best of all: ALL HAIR AND CLOTHING COVERS ALL ANIMATIONS!

Here's an incomplete list of all the stuff that comes in the pack:

• Socks at 3 lengths (includes high stockings)
• 5 shoe types (includes boots and sandals)
• Undergarments (boxers, undies, bra)
• Swimsuits (trunks, one piece, bikini)
• Shorts and long pants
• Overalls and shortalls
• Short- and long-sleeved shirts
• Frilly skirt and dress
• Gloves, vest, and suspenders
• Scarf, mantle, and cloak
• Glasses and sunglasses
• 12 different hairstyles
• 6 different hats

All upper body clothing (like shirts, dresses, overalls, etc) have versions both with and without noticeable boobs. If you want to see exactly what all these things look like, please see the "Full Clothing List" image below for an example of each item. As an added bonus, I've also included a 16x16 inventory icon for each clothing element, so you can let your players dress themselves in-game (if that's what you're into).

This is an "Advanced" Game Asset

PLEASE NOTE: This is not a quick and easy RPG Maker-type asset. Each component (hairstyle, outfit, tool, effect, etc) is on its own sheet, which must be layered on top of the body sprite during animation. Experience with a more feature-rich game engine is required to be able to use the Mana Seed Farmer Sprite System to its fullest potential (Unity and Godot are popular choices in the Mana Seed Discord server). Here are some things you'll need to code into your game engine to take full advantage of this system:

• You'll need to set up animations with frames from different parts of the sheet (some frames are shared across multiple animations, so they're not all in sequential order).
• You'll need to flip/mirror some frames within the same animation.
• You'll need to attach props (tools/weapons) and effects from separate sheets and line them up manually, flipping or rotating during the animations as necessary.
• You'll need to move those props behind or in front of the character sprite as required by the animation.
• You'll need to assemble a "paper doll" system in your game engine if you want to be able to customize your outfits in-game (each clothing/hair layer moves and animates with the body sprite).
• You may need as many as 20 "paper doll" layers on your sprite to use everything as intended.
• You'll need to be able to swap color palettes at run-time if you want your players to customize their outfits or hair colors. The outfits and hairstyles in this pack only come in one universal color palette to make runtime palette swapping easy.

Sprite Customizer Included

If you want to use the Farmer Sprite System, but don't want to implement a full layered outfit-changing system into your game, you can just use the Farmer Sprite Customizer to whip up a character in minutes. This is a stand-alone app (Windows only) that lets you build a character using every element of the Farmer Sprite System, customize them with official Mana Seed color palettes, and then export them to a single flat sprite sheet, ready for animating! Maybe it's a small game that isn't worth the energy of building an outfit system, or you're using a game engine that has trouble with the concept, or maybe you just want some quick NPCs that don't hog so many resources. Whatever your situation, feel free to use the Farmer Sprite Customizer at no additional cost.

If you're still new to game development, you can visit the Mana Seed Discord server (link below) and speak with other devs using this asset. The Mana Seed community is friendly and helpful (so long as you don't show up with an attitude). Hope to see you there!

Compatible Assets

Looking for more game assets in the same SNES-inspired pixel art style? Check out the entire Mana Seed collection! Here are just a few that will go great with the Farmer Sprite System:

 Third-Party Compatible Assets

These assets will help you with or expand the Farmer Sprite System in some way. They have an official endorsement from yours truly (Seliel the Shaper), but you'll need to contact the creators directly if you have any issues.

• 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