I have Windows 8, free version of gamesalad. How can I add shapes to my games?

ijpojOP

I'm trying to add squares (no fill color inside) to my game with the paint. but I realized I can't do that. I tried doing it with a transparent actor but that doesn't work, of course. I want the shape of the actor as a square and the outline of it a light color maybe aqua, you know so I can see through it and I don't want the shape filled. But I don't see anything in gamesalad to do that. I don't have any other software besides "Paint" you know the program that comes with all microsoft/windows devices. Please help me!

jonmulcahy

you need to design your artwork outside of gamesalad and import it into the game. You can use photoshop, Gimp, Pixen, or a number of free alternatives. You can also shop royalty free artwork. whatever you do, don't grab images from google, you won't have permission to use them an open yourself up to a lawsuit

V-Toad

Hi ijpojOP,

I think I understand what you're after, and the good news is that this is possible using Windows Paint, although as jonmulcahy suggested, there are better applications for this, some of which (GIMP, or Paint.NET) are free.

Regardless of what application you use, the file format you choose needs to be one that supports transparency, .PNG is the native format used by GameSalad, so that's what I'd recommend. So here's how you do it in Paint (this works on the Windows 8 version, not sure about previous editions though):

1. Click the down arrow under the "Select" ribbon and choose "transparent selection" (this allows you to define which color is transparent).

2. Choose your "aqua" color as Color 1, and set Color 2 to white.

3. Create your square and crop it so that you have a white square with an aqua border.

4. With the select button down, click on Color 2, then click anywhere in the white space, if you did this right, the cursor will be a crosshair (+). Doing this defines the transparent color as "white".

5. Lastly, click File > Save As > Then name the file and make sure the extension is .PNG.

Again, while this CAN be done, and is fine for simple images, you are far better off using a more powerful tool like ones mentioned above.

I hope that helps!