PLINK'S GAMEHEAD TUTORIAL


TONIGHT I GET TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING THAT I LOVE TO PLAY AROUND WITH... MAKING GAMEHEADS! I'M GOING TO SHOW YOU HOW I MAKE A 150 x 150, SIDE BY SIDE GAME. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NEVER MADE A GAMEHEAD BEFORE, ONCE YOU LEARN THESE BASICS, YOU'LL FIND THAT YOU CAN PLAY AROUND WITH THE SIZE AND DESIGN OF YOUR GAME, MAKING IT COMPLETELY YOUR OWN.

I USE PSP 7. THE FILTER NEEDED FOR TONIGHT TUT IS TOADIES.
CLICK BELOW TO DOWNLOAD TO YOUR PLUGINS FOLDER..
.TOADIES.

THEN DOWNLOAD THE XI0N GAMEHEAD MAKER AND THE BLANKS AND INSTALL THEM TO YOUR COMPUTER...
.Xi0n GAME MAKER.
.XI0N GAME BLANKS.



FIRST WE WILL START OFF BY INCREASING THE COLORS TO 16 MILLION ON THE IMAGE.
NEXT, GO TO EFFECTS/PLUG-IN FILTERS/TOADIES AND CLICK ON 'BLAST 'N BLUR'. THE X SETTING IS 5 AND THE Y SETTING IS 17. CLICK OK. YOUR BACKGROUND SHOULD LOOK LIKE THIS...

ON YOUR LAYER PALETTE, RIGHT CLICK ON THIS LAYER AND CHOOSE TO DUPLICATE THE LAYER. GO BACK TO EFFECTS/PLUG-IN FILTERS/TOADIES AND CLICK ON 'METAL FALLS'. THE FOIL SETTING IS 216 AND THE COLOR SETTING IS 255. CLICK OK. LOWER THE OPACITY OF THIS LAYER TO 75%, CHANGE THE BLEND MODE TO HARD LIGHT AND THEN MERGE LAYERS. YOUR IMAGE SHOULD NOW LOOK SOMETHING LIKE THIS...

NEXT WE WANT TO CREATE THE SPACE WHERE THE SEATS WILL GO. ON YOUR COLOR PALETTE BAR, CHANGE THE FOREGROUND COLOR TO #C1B5A4, THEN GO TO FILE/NEW/IMAGE DIMENSIONS AND USE THE FOLLOWING SETTINGS...

COPY THE SEAT AREA AND PASTE TO YOUR BACKGROUND AS A NEW LAYER. POSITION IT LIKE THIS...
GO TO LAYERS/NEW RASTER LAYER AND CLICK. NOW, USE YOUR SELECTION TOOL (TOOL OPTIONS = RECTANGLE) AND SELECT AN AREA UNDER THE SEATS THAT IS AS WIDE AS THE SEAT IS.

USING YOUR FLOOD FILL TOOL, CLICK INSIDE OF THE SELECTED AREA.

NOW, CHANGE THE FOREGROUND COLOR IN YOUR COLOR PALETTE TO #5F5F54. GO TO LAYERS/NEW RASTER LAYER AND CLICK. USE YOUR FLOOD FILL TOOL ONCE MORE TO FILL WITH THE NEW COLOR.

NOW GO TO YOUR LASSO TOOL. IN YOUR TOOL OPTIONS, SELECT 'POINT TO POINT'. STARTING AT THE BOTTOM LEFT CORNER, CLICK ONCE, THEN MOVE YOUR CURSOR TO THE TOP RIGHT CORNER, CLICK, MOVE AGAIN TO THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER, CLICK, GO BACK TO THE BOTTOM LEFT CORNER WHERE YOU STARTED AND DOUBLE CLICK. THIS SHOULD CREAT MARCHING ANTS LIKE THIS...

HIT YOUR DELETE KEY TO REVEAL THE OTHER COLOR LAYER BENEATH. WHILE YOU ARE STILL WORKING WITH THE GREENISH LAYER, GO TO EFFECTS/3D EFFECTS/INNER BEVEL. YOUR SETTINGS WILL BE AS FOLLOWS...

GO TO 'SELECTIONS' ON YOUR TASK BAR AND CLICK ON 'SELECT NONE'... THIS WILL GET RID OF THE ANT INFESTATION! THEN GO TO YOUR LAYER PALETTE AND CHOOSE THE LAYER BENEATH AND REPEAT THE INNER BEVELING ON IT TOO. YOUR IMAGE SHOULD NOW LOOK LIKE THIS...

FONT THE TWO NAMES THAT YOU WANT ON THE GAMEHEAD IN ALERNATING COLORS. USE #F9F4E9 FOR THE NAME ON THE LEFT, AND #5F5F54 FOR THE NAME ON THE RIGHT. I HIT EACH NAME WITH A DROP SHADOW (EFFECTS/3D EFFECTS/DROP SHADOW) TO BRING THEM OUT SOME... FOR THE NAME ON THE RIGHT, I USED THE LIGHT BEIGE COLOR TO DROP SHADOW. MY SETTINGS ARE: VERTICAL = 1, HORIZONTAL = 1, OPACITY 92% AND BLUR 3.9. YOU CAN ALSO ADD ANY TEXT EFFECT TO THE TOP THAT YOU LIKE.

NOW THE FUN PART! THIS IS WHERE YOU MAKE IT YOUR OWN! EMBELLISH THE TOP OF THE GAME WITH BRUSHES, OR WHATEVER YOU LOVE.

ONCE YOU HAVE ALL THESE STEPS COMPLETED, CHANGE YOUR BOTTOM FILL COLOR BOX ON YOUR COLOR PALETTE TO #F9F4E9. GO TO IMAGE/ADD BORDERS/AND MAKE SURE EACH OF THE 'BORDER SIZE' BOXES HAVE A '1' IN THEM. CLICK OK. THEN CHANGE THE BOTTOM FILL COLOR BOX AGAIN TO #969690 AND ADD ANOTHER BORDER TO YOUR IMAGE (IMAGE/ADD BORDER/BORDER SIZE '1') YOUR IMAGES SHOULD NOW BE 150 x 150 PIXELS. SAVE IT TO YOUR COMPUTER. REMEMBER WHERE YOU SAVE IT AS YOU WILL NEED TO PULL IT FROM THAT LOCATION WHEN WE SEAT THE GAMEHEAD. YOUR IMAGE SHOULD NOW LOOK SOMETHING LIKE THIS...


NOW WE WANT TO OPEN UP THE XI0N GAME MAKER.

FIRST YOU SELECT WHAT GAME YOU WANT TO BE INSIDE OF YOUR GAMEHEAD (IF ANY! AND YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE BLANKS INSTALLED FOR THIS STEP TO WORK- IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH INSTALLING XI0N OR THE GAME BLANKS, GO TO XI0N.COM)

IN THE 'HEAD NAME' BOX, GIVE IT A UNIQUE NAME THAT WILL HELP YOU LOCATE IT WHEN YOU ARE MAKING THE GAME IN HAL. THE 'LIST NAME' IS HOW THE GAME NAME WILL LOOK IN HAL. IT DEFAULTS TO YOUR CHAT NICK (IE: MINE WILL START WITH 'PLINK'S'. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TYPE THAT PART IN, IT WILL AUTO INCLUDE IT. SO... IF I WANT MY GAME NAME TO SHOW AS 'PLINK'S BFF IS BLURT', THEN ALL I HAVE TO DO IS TYPE IN 'BFF IS -=[ BLURT]=-'. THEN I HIT MY SPACE BAR A COUPLE OF HUNDRED TIMES (OK, A GOOD FEW) AND TYPE IN '[PB]'. YOU CAN TYPE WHATEVER YOU WANT HERE, IT JUST CLEARS ANYTHING ELSE FROM SHOWING IN HAL BEHIND YOUR GAME NAME.



I THINK YOU GUYS GET THE PICTURE... LOL

NEXT, THERE IS A URL BOX. THE DEFAULT IS TO XI0N. IF YOU WANT, YOU CAN CHANGE IT TO YOUR OWN URL. I CHANGED TO DV8'S FOR THIS TUTORIAL. I DON'T CHOOSE BG MUSIC... IT ANNOYS ME! LOL.
YOUR MAKER SHOULD LOOK SOMETHING LIKE THIS NOW...



NOW YOU WANT TO CLICK IN THE AREA TO THE LEFT... UH, WHERE IT SAYS 'CLICK HERE TO CONFIGURE THE HEAD'S LAYOUT'. =] A BROWSE BOX WILL OPEN AND THIS IS WHERE YOU NEED TO KNOW WHERE YOU SAVED THE LAYOUT IMAGE TO. FIND IT AND CLICK 'OPEN'...



NOW THE IMAGE THAT YOU CREATED WILL OPEN UP INSIDE OF THIS AREA.



HERE IS WHERE YOU WILL SET THE COORDINATES FOR THE SEATS. REMEMBER WE NEED TWO SEATS THAT ARE 71 x 81. TAKE YOUR CURSOR AND SET IT AT THE TOP LEFT CORNER OF THE SEAT AREA (FOR THIS LAYOUT, THE COORDINATES ARE AT 4.34) AND LEFT CLICK AND HOLD. NOW DRAG YOUR BOX OVER AND DOWN UNTIL YOU SEE THAT THE SIZE IS 71 x 81. RELEASE YOUR MOUSE AND CLICK ON THE PLUS SIGN ICON TO THE RIGHT. IT SHOULD NOW LOOK LIKE THIS...



NOW SET THE SECOND SEAT IN THE SAME WAY... STARTING AT THE TOP RIGHT CORNER OF THE MAIN SEAT (75,34), DRAG ANOTHER BOX THAT IS 71 x 81. CLICK THE PLUS SIGN. YOU NOW HAVE TWO SEATS NAMED MAIN AND PASSENGER



THE NEXT STEP ISN'T NECESSARY... I JUST DO IT COS I'M A LITTLE OCD, AND SINCE I MADE THE GAMEHEAD FOR ME TO BEAT, UH, I MEAN PLAY BLURT IN BATTLESHIP... I CHANGE THE SEAT NAMES TO OURS. JUST CLICK ON THE 'MAIN' AND 'PASSENGER' NAME AND IT WILL ALLOW YOU TO EDIT.

NOW THAT YOUR SEATS ARE CREATED AND NAMED... CLICK ON THE 'DONE' BUTTON. THE GAMEHEAD WILL TAKE YOU BACK TO THE MAIN SCREEN WHERE YOU WILL CLICK THE 'CREATE' BUTTON. A POP UP WILL ASK YOU IF YOU WANT TO CREATE THE HEAD FOR VP OR XION CHAT. CLICK ON 'VP'. IT WILL THEN ASK YOU IF YOU WANT TO REGISTER THE GAMEHEAD TO YOUR COMPUTER. CLICK YES! THE FINAL STEP WILL BE TO SEND THE OCX FILE TO THE PERSON THAT YOU WANT TO SHARE THE GAME WITH SO THAT THEY CAN JOIN YOU... AND START WAVING THEIR LITTLE WHITE FLAG OF SURRENDER WHEN YOU SINK ALLLLLL OF THEIR SHIPS!! OH, WAIT, THAT'S JUST ME... =]

YOU CAN BUILD YOUR GAMEHEAD ANY SIZE THAT YOU LIKE... JUST BE AWARE TO ADJUST THE SIZE OF YOUR SEATS SO THAT YOU DON'T DISTORT YOUR AVS TOO MUCH. WHERE YOU GO WITH IT IS UP TO YOU! YOU CAN EVEN SEAT IMAGES FROM THE NET... I MADE A FEW QUICK LAYOUTS THAT CAN BE FUN...



I HOPE THIS WAS ENJOYABLE TO YOU, AND LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING LOTS OF GREAT GAMEHEADS IN HAL!! PLEASE FEEL FREE TO IM ME IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS. I'LL BE GLAD TO HELP.

PLINK