Designing graphics for games can be an absolute joyride as you get to experiment with different colours, characters and even typography. Making the graphics interesting at all times is a must. However, once the painstaking task of creating superior quality graphics is done, you may believe that you are good to go and your work ends right there. This is far from the truth. You may not realize it but the images and sequences created for games boast of extremely high file sizes and therefore, when users load these games, it could take ages for it to load and this can create major drawbacks in terms of the user experience. This will eventually cause a limitation for your games in terms of the number of people it gets exposed to. For instance, when you visit Temple Run you are instantly taken away by the quick load times for the games. As a graphic designer for any game that you wish to create, you need to take special steps for the optimization of your graphic design as well. There are several compressors available that you can make use of. One of the many advantages of these compressors is the fact that they are available online and therefore; do not call for you to purchase any additional software of program.
JPEG Mini:
As the name suggests, this online compressor makes sure that the file size of any JPEG involved in the design of a game is reduced substantially. While it makes sure that the file size is reduced, it also ensures that it does not, in any way, affect the quality of the same. The images that are compressed using this compressor can be used across any browser without causing any performance issues. It also works with other photo software, if you must make any changes as long as these programs support the basic JPEG format, which is very common.
Tiny PNG:
To put simply, this online software has been designed specifically for PNG files. PNG files are known for their transparency but can sometimes, stock up on heavy file sizes, especially when you use them as part of your graphics for designing a game. What Tiny PNG is well known for is the fact that it can considerably bring down the file size using techniques that have been specifically designed for lossy compression. You get to choose the colours to which you would like to make changes to. The overall result is an impeccable looking image that has been reduced to a very small file size. This online software enables you to upload 20 images at a stretch and you can even save these images to a location of your choice.
Smush.it:
Smush.it is considered as a graphic designer’s dream online application as it enables you to reduce the file size of your graphics in a fraction of a second. It helps optimize your graphics so that your audience does not suffer from long load times. It does so without compromising on the superior quality of the graphics. At one given time, you can load 5 images and make changes to their size at once. Besides, Smush.it also provides the added benefit of using a plugin that has been specially designed for FireFox. Known as Y-Slow, once this plugin has been installed, you can optimize your images right from the browser.
Image Optim:
If you wish to optimize your graphics as found on http://templerun.org, you need to make use of this online software, which works specifically for MAC users. What makes this app unique is the fact that it has absolutely no limitations to the type of image you can optimize. Therefore, whether you have graphics designed in PNG, JPEG or even GIF, you can use this app.
Author’s bio:
William Moore is a graphic designer and has been designing games for over 16 years now. He was never trained in graphic design and is essentially self- taught. He has worked with Temple Run and has also released a plethora of games ranging from mobile to full fledged console gaming.
Thanks for great information you write it very clean. I am very lucky to get this tips from you
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