I’ve read several articles about this topic, but I still don’t get what exactly a sprite is, why it’s used in game dev, and how it’s different from any other image.
In: Technology
A sprite is just a way of describing an image that is used to represent an object that isn’t static. For instance, in Super Mario Bros, Mario has a sprite, as do Goombas, Piranha Plants, and other enemies. Things like the ground or pipes are images and not sprites. Some things are a combination, such as the flagpole being an image, but the flag itself being a sprite.
Often times, sprites use slightly different tools for how they’re done programmatically. The main distinction is the use of a Sprite Sheet, which is a whole series of images that represent the object in different states. For instance, Mario has sprites for standing, some for walking, jumping, ducking, firing a fire flower, and so on. Rather than reference a different image for each state, the system can just reference a different position on the sprite sheet.
A sprite is generally a smaller image that’s composited onto the background image–they’re generally used for moving objects in 2D games. Many computers and consoles back in the 2D days had “hardware sprites”, meaning they had the built-in capability to have these things moving around without disturbing the background.
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