Data Manager part 1: Clusters & Databases

Step 1.

Open the Scriptable Object called “PixelCharacterCreator2D” in the inspector. This will give you an overview of all the Character Data Clusters at the top.

Step 3.

Let’s keep most of the variables the same as the “Headwear” data cluster. I’ll note the other variables that I want you to change below:

• Remove the Scriptable Objects in the “Character Segment Database” and “Character Color Database” sections. We’ll add new databases in a bit.
• If you so choose you can add a dialogue tag for the new Data Cluster for both the segment and color. This doesn’t impact the process of the Character Creator itself, so in this tutorial, I will keep these string fields empty.

Step 4.

Now open the Character Creator by clicking on the button “Open Pixel Character Creator 2D” or double-clicking on the Scriptable Object itself. Upon opening the Creator Tool, you will be greeted with a red text at the top of the window: “Status Database(s) not found!“. This message is meant as a reminder that the Character Creator won’t function properly because we just added a new Data Cluster without any databases attached. For now, we can choose to ignore this message and try to create a character nonetheless. Click on the “Presets Summary” tab on the left, choose a name for your character, and press “Create new Character”.

Step 5.

If we go to the “Character Clothes” tab, you should be able to see a new section with a tick box next to it called “Character has Gloves”. You can enable and disable this option but we aren’t able to select any gear. We now only see two messages in red:
“Gloves doesn’t have a Segment Database attached”
“Gloves doesn’t have a Color Database attached”

These messages will go away if we add databases to our new Data Cluster. Let’s start by adding a Segment Database. You can read about that in section 3.3.

Step 1.

The first thing to do is decide where you want to store your new Segment Database. For this tutorial, I recommend placing this new database in the same location where the other Segment Databases are kept. Here is the path to finding them:
Assets / PixelCharacterCreator2D / OverheadCharacter / Databases / SegmentDatabases

Once in this folder, click the right mouse button and choose:
Create > Database > Character > Segment Database

I will name it GlovesStyleDatabase to stay consistent with the rest of the database names, but you can name the database whatever you like.

Step 2.

Upon inspecting the new Scriptable Object you just created you will see that it doesn’t contain any “segments”. If you add a segment to the list your view will match the image below. Now we have to add a name and a sprite sheet to this segment.

• For simplicity’s sake, I will name this segment “Default Glove“.
• For the sprite, we’ll want to add a new sprite sheet that shows the design of this segment in all of the angles in which the character can stand and walk. I have prepared a sprite sheet for this tutorial. Feel free to download this sprite sheet so you can use it to follow along. You can download it by clicking the button below.

Step 3.

With the sprite sheet downloaded, add it to the Unity Project and place it in a folder that makes sense to you. I recommend placing it near the other Character Segment Sprite Sheets. You can find those at the following directory path:

Assets / PixelCharacterCreator2D / OverheadCharacter / Templates / TemplateSprites

Step 5.

Drag the sprite sheet you added to the project into the empty sprite field of the Default Glove. If you’ve followed along entirely thus far, your GlovesStyleDatabase should now match the one below. You’ve now successfully created an equipable glove. Now all we have to do is ensure we can see this glove inside of the Character Creator.

You have now successfully added a Segment Database to the new Character Data Cluster. If you open the Character Creator window, you will see that there is still an error. However, if we try to create a character as we’ve tried before, we can now see that the Gloves Style was added to the Character Creator. We won’t be able to select other gloves, because we only added a single glove. This means that we’ll always equip the Default Glove if the “Character has Gloves” check box is set to true. If you want to add more gloves to choose from, you can do so by repeating the previous steps 2 through 5.

Now we just have to add a Color Database. We’ll do so in section 3.4.

Step 1.

Determine which Data Clusters should be synced. Additionally, consider whether you want both the segments and colors to sync up or if you just want segments or colors to be synced.

Step 2.

Navigate to Assets / PixelCharacterCreator2D / OverheadCharacter, then select the scriptable object “PixelCharacterCreator2D” and look at it in the inspector. Then navigate to the Data Clusters you want to sync up.

Step 3.

Set the “Sync Type” for both Data Clusters to any of the following options that matches your intention the best:

• Segments Only (if only sprites should be synced. For example, if you have a matching headwear style for every upper clothing option, and if said headwear should always be equipped automatically when selecting upper body clothes.)
• Colors Only (if only colors should be synced. For example, if you want to match hair color with facial hair color.)
• Both (if both sprites and colors should be synced.)

Step 5.

We now have Data Clusters that are ready to be synced. However, we’re not there yet. To achieve the result in the screenshot below, we have to tell the Data Cluster which other Data Clusters they need to sync up with.

To reproduce the contents of the screenshot we have to add one or more integers to the “Syncable Clusters By ID”. The ID we need to reference is the same as the indexing position in the Character Data Clusters List. For example, the Body Data Cluster has ID 0, because it is at the top of the list. Consequently, the Headwear Data Cluster’s ID is 9 if the list contains 10 Data Clusters in total because it is at the bottom of the list. By counting the index position of the cluster inside of the list, you’ll know what the ID is and what ID you’ll need to refer to. Keep in mind that if you eventually decide to rearrange the order of the Data Clusters, you’ll have to adjust the Syncable Clusters By ID segment as well, as this doesn’t change automatically. Since I’ve added a Gloves Data Cluster to the list, my order has changed, making the Headwear Data Cluster’s ID 10 instead of 9.

Before I show you how to implement this properly, it’s important to know why and when to use this feature. The core reason for this function existing is to add or remove a color at will, without affecting the base design of any of the Character Segments. In the screenshot on the right, I’ll show a Data Cluster that implements this functionality. This is an optional Data Cluster that allows you to add or remove a lip color. It sounds simple enough, but there is more going on. The Data Cluster in this screenshot:

• overwrites one specific color from one specific cluster;
• can be turned off, without the character losing a mouth (as the mouth’s base design is part of the body cluster);
• can overwrite the lip color, no matter the body’s skin tone. This is possible because we’re not looking for a specific hex code, but rather an index number;
• doesn’t have an associated Segment Database, because it will be using a Segment Database from another Data Cluster.

An alternative use case for this feature could be the addition of optional highlights to the character’s hair, by replacing a specific color from the hair. This wouldn’t change the design of the hair itself, but just one specific color from that hair.

Step 2.

Determine which color from which Data Cluster you want to replace. In the previous example, we wanted to overwrite the default lip color of the character with an extra lip color. The default lip color for the character can be found inside the Color Database linked to the “Body” data cluster. Since the “Body” Data Cluster is at index 0, this is the X-value in the Vector2 variable “Replaceable Cluster And Color”. Now all that’s left is the Y-value, which is the index number of the color we want to replace. The lip color of the character is the fourth color (index 3) inside of the “Body” Color Database.

In short, this means that if we set “Replaceable Cluster And Color” to Vector2(0,3), we are replacing the fourth color inside the first Character Data Cluster’s Color Database.

Step 3.

Set the following variables:

• set “Can Be Disabled” to true;
• set “Replace Color From Other Cluster” to true;
• now decide which color from which Data Cluster you want to override and set the Vector2 field “Replace Cluster And Color” to that respective value. (if you need help with this I recommend watching this linked video);
• set “Use Databases” to “Colors”;
• ensure the Character Segment Database field is left empty.
• add a Character Color Database for this specific cluster. Inside that database:
  • add at least one Color Group.
  • add just 1 color per Color Group.

You are free to set the remaining variables to your liking.

Step 4.

You should now be able to select a new color inside of the Creator window. If you update the look of the character, this new color should overwrite the color you selected. As you’ve probably noticed, this is a very situationally useful feature and may be tweaked in the future depending on user feedback.

Creating Databases for the Saved Designs

If your Data Manager’s Saved Designs section doesn’t match the screenshot chances are you haven’t set up Saved Design Databases yet. Before we can save our designs we have to create two Saved Design Databases. One for the body section and one for the clothes section. You can do so by selecting Create > Game Between The Lines > Character Creator 2D > Database > Saved Designs Database.

After you’ve created those databases, give them proper names so you know which database holds which types of data. After that, just drag these databases into their corresponding fields in the Character Data Manager. You’re now done with setting up the databases.

Note: if you forget to create these databases and/or drag them into their corresponding fields, you won’t be able to save your designs and select them for new characters. Error messages will pop up in the Console instead.

Mix clothes or choose an existing design

Upon navigating to either the Character Body or Character Clothes window, you will find two buttons at the top of the page, both with an icon. The icon on the right displays a character handpicking their clothes. This is the section for handpicking every little piece of the character’s design. The icon on the left displays a character in a costume. In this section, you can scroll through your saved designs and fast-select any design you’ve previously created.