2D Guide 
Overview
Pirates of the Burning Sea allows players to use their very own custom flags, sail patterns and even ships in the game. Many of our users have already submitted their creations to our site for peer review, but we want everyone to have this exciting opportunity.
The two easiest areas of artistic expression are flags and sails. The sails on sailing ships are huge, and a bold design emblazoned across your topsails will be seen for miles around. In addition, there’s something almost spiritual about hoisting your handmade jolly roger for all to see. Let’s see what it takes to get these from concept to implementation, starting with the flags.
Flags
Flags can be symbols of national patriotism, they can advertise group affiliation, or they can be unique and personal. They are also very simple!
Orientation
Flags will be attached to their flagpoles along the left edge of the texture.
File Format
When saving a flag file for submission, it must be a 128 pixel x 85 pixel .png file. Choose 24-bit color (with alpha transparency, if applicable to your design).
PNG format is a web-standard format, like JPEG, and should be available from the save dialog in your graphics program.
Sails
If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, or want to make your presence known with an even louder voice, then sail patterns are the project for you.
Base Sail Color
Even just on their own, sails can be set to a variety of different colors. Always keep this in mind when creating sail patterns. You shouldn’t create your logo against a blue background—instead leave the background transparent and your logo will work against any color sail.
Decal Color
Another powerful option is the ability to colorize your sail decal! Once you are in-game, you can pick a color to apply to your sail decal from a standard color palette. For those technical folks out there, the blend mode we use for this is multiply.
If you are interested in making a colorizable sail decal, there are just a couple of tips to keep in mind. The first, keep your basic image relatively unsaturated—shades of gray, or something very close to it (RGB 25/25/25 up to RGB 255/255/255). Blending game colors on top of decal colors can yield unpredictable results! The second thing to keep in mind is the lightest parts of your pattern will be the brightest with the new tint, and the darkest parts will always stay dark.
Here’s an example of how multiply colorization looks in practice:
Transparency
The PNG file format supports transparency, and is absolutely essential to making a good sail decal. Whatever graphics program you use, if you need help getting a sail decal to use transparency properly, start by looking at the 2D Tutorials & Resources thread in our Flags and Sails Forum.
Scale
One very powerful feature is the “scale” slider, which allows you to vary the scale of your decal between 100% and 10%. At 100%, your pattern will stretch from corner to corner.
Mapping – Square Sails
When you create your sail pattern, keep in mind the way you want it to be applied to your sail. There are two different ways your sail pattern can be mapped to your sail:
• Decal: This places your pattern in the center of your sail, and it will only appear once on the sail.
• Tile: The pattern is placed in the middle of the sail, and will tile infinitely, based on the scale you choose with the scale slider.
It’s good to know how you’d like the pattern to map on the sail as you are creating it, since it can have an impact on the design—”decal” patterns don’t generally extend all the way to the edges, whereas “scaled” patterns often do.
The mapping does not matter to the submission process though. All sail patterns are submitted the same way, and are all treated the same once in the game. When a player applies a pattern to their sails in-game, they get to pick which type of mapping they prefer.
Mapping – Triangular Sails
Triangular sails have two unique layout options, in addition to tiled patterns:
• Stretched: The decal is stretched across the entire sail as if it were square, essentially cutting it along the diagonal.
Triangular sail layout—stretched across the sail
• Shrunk: The decal is scaled to fit in the lower half of the sail, keeping the design intact.
Triangular sail layout—shrunk to fit the sail.
You may also opt not to display decals on your fore-and-aft sails if you prefer.
Decal Color
Another powerful option is the ability to colorize your sail decal! Once you are in-game, you’ll have a color-palette, so that you can choose whatever color you want to tint your image. For those technical folks out there, the blend mode we use for this is multiply.
If you are interested in making a colorizable decal, there are just a couple of tips to keep in mind. The first, keep your basic image relatively unsaturated—shades of gray, or something very close. Blending colors with colors can have unfortunate results. The second is the lightest parts of your pattern will be the brightest with the new tint, and the darkest parts will always stay dark.
Here’s an example of how multiply colorization looks in practice:
File Format
Sail patterns must be saved as 256 pixel x 256 pixel .png files. Save as 24-bit color with 8-bit alpha transparency.
What We’re Looking For
What is Flying Lab going to approve? Broadly, we’re looking for submissions that are both appropriate to the setting, and of a quality commensurate with the game art already provided for your enjoyment. Your work doesn’t have to be perfect—but the community has set a high standard, one that everyone can meet with a little effort.
Here are some specific guidelines which, if followed carefully, all but guarantee your flag or sail will be appropriate for the game.
Colors
• Encouraged: Naturalistic colors. This includes colors with a saturation of up to approximately 90%. Reference the in-game Ship Customization Palette (click to open in new window).
• Discouraged: Highly saturated colors, including pure or nearly pure black (RGB approximately 25/25/25 or darker) and white (RGB approximately 235/235/235 or lighter).
• Typical feedback: Great design, but you’ll want to avoid significant areas of pure white, black, or other fully-saturated colors.
Some typical color suggestions:
Red around RGB 150/45/35
Orange around RGB 240/160/40
Gold around RGB 220/180/50
Green around RGB 45/115/35
Blue around RGB 40/50/90
Purple around RGB 70/20/80
Black around RGB 50/40/30
White around RGB 235/230/220
Note: Sail decals made in grayscale colors (to take advantage of decal colorization) may include pure white (RGB 255/255/255). Blacks need to be RGB 25/25/25 or lighter, however.
• Good:
• OK:
• Bad:
Anti-Aliasing
• Encouraged: Smooth lines and textures with no jaggies (aliasing) or artifacts (graphic glitches). Usually the result of using vector graphics and anti-aliasing tools, and working from an image much larger than the final design.
• Discouraged: Jaggies (aliasing), blurry lines, artifacts (graphic glitches), or dithering (pixels of markedly different color put side by side to achieve a “blending” effect). Usually the result of using bitmap (non-vector) tools at to small a size, and/or starting with a small source image and enlarging it for submission.
• Typical feedback: Fine design, but it’s suffering from aliasing problems. Be sure to work at twice submission size (or larger), and shrink your work down to 256×256 (for sails) or 128×85 (for flags) pixels for submission.
• Good:
• Bad:
Graphic Techniques
• Encouraged: Flat, solid areas of color that could easily be made with period (circa 1700) textile techniques. This includes small embroidered designs on flags (but not on sails).
• Discouraged: Gradients (smooth transitions between colors across a noticeable area of design),effects such as embossing, drop-shadows, 3D effects, photo-realism… anything that could not be achieved with period (circa 1700) textile techniques.
• Typical feedback:
Design is OK, but gradients/embossing/drop-shadows/3D effects aren’t appropriate to flags or sails for a game set in 1720. Keep in mind that these would be sewn out of fabric, not painted.
• Good:
• OK:
• Bad:
Design Elements
• Encouraged: Objects and designs known to exist and plausible circa 1720, such as cross staves, quadrants, astrolabes, ships of the era, period national flags, etc.
• Discouraged: Objects and designs not known to people before circa 1720, such as sextants, space ships, dinosaurs, easily recognizable modern references, modern national flags, etc.
• Typical feedback:
A fine design, but unfortunately space shuttles/dinosaurs/etc. didn’t exist in that form in 1720. Please try to stick to the period :)
• Good:
• Bad:
Design Style
• Encouraged: Artwork generally in the style of the Baroque and earlier (including folk and international traditions).
• Discouraged: Artwork in a style not practiced until after the 18th century, such as Anime, Disney or other cartoons, modernist/post-modernist styles, etc.
• Typical feedback:
While this is a fun design and overall well done, modern cartoon styles aren’t appropriate for the game setting. Try re-expressing your idea in a more period style.
• Good:
• Bad:
Design Coverage
• Encouraged: Designs that fit entirely into the space of a sail or decal.
• Discouraged: Designs that appear to “spill over” the edge of a sail or decal.
• Typical Feedback: Designs that spill over the edges of what they fill are a very modern design concept, and unfortunately, not appropriate for a game set in 1720.
• Good:
• Bad:
Element Transparency
• Encouraged: Designs elements that fit together without visibly overlapping.
• Discouraged: Partially transparent elements that let other design elements show through (excluding the base sail texture in sail decals).
• Typical feedback:
Remember that a flag or sail would be sewn out of opaque pieces of cloth. It would be very challenging to match up different shades of cloth to create a transparent effect. If the elements of your design need to be transparent in order to let texture show through, you’ll need to clip out other design elements beneath it to avoid this effect.
• Good:
• Bad:
• Good:
• Bad:
Image Sources
• Encouraged: Original artwork and design elements from free, public-domain clip art sources.
• Forbidden: Artwork that is copyrighted (including almost anything found via a Google Images search), trademarked, or “borrowed” from another artist without their express written permission (which must be communicated directly to the User Content Specialist or Director of Community Relations, by the person granting permission). This includes artwork already submitted for User Content.
• Typical Feedback: This is a copyrighted image, and thus unsuited to Pirates of the Burning Sea. Sorry.
(No examples possible.)
Appropriate Content
• Encouraged: Artwork and content suited to a PG audience.
• Forbidden: Nudity, foul language, racially/culturally/religiously/etc. insensitive material, or anything contrary to community expectations.
• Typical Feedback: Removal of content and potential disciplinary action, up to and including a permanent ban from participating in Pirates of the Burning Sea.
(No examples possible.)
Specific to Flags: Tattering
• Encouraged: Flags that are either “intact,” or that are tattered/worn in realistic ways.
• Discouraged: Flags that have areas entirely disconnected from the body of the flag, sticking up or to the left (which appear to be defying the gravity and/or wind in-game), and/or aliasing.
Note: Sails cannot be tattered, except by enemy fire.
• Typical Feedback: This is a great design, but your transparency has some areas that appear to be floating in mid-air or sticking out against the wind.
• Good:
• Bad:
Specific to Flags: Texture
• Encouraged: Flags with no or very subtle textures.
• Discouraged: Flags with coarse or effects-generated textures.
• Typical Feedback: It’s great that you’re looking to give your flag some life, but you’ve got too much of a good thing with your texture effect. Try your design without the texture, or try using some of the suggestions found here: http://www.burningsea.com/forums/showthread.php?t=835.
• Good:
• OK:
• Bad:
Specific to Flags: Rippling
• Encouraged: Flags with no or very subtle rippling.
• Discouraged: Flags with coarse or effects-generated rippling.
Note: Flags are animated in-game and excessive rippling will conflict with dynamically provided shadows in-game.
• Typical Feedback: It’s great that you’re looking to give your flag some life, but you’ve got too much of a good thing with your rippling effect. Try your design without the rippling, or try using some of the suggestions found here: http://www.burningsea.com/forums/showthread.php?t=835.
• Good:
• OK:
• Bad:
Specific to Sails: Area of Coverage
• Encouraged: Sails that have significant (50% or more) areas of background that are transparent.
• Discouraged: Full-sail replacements.
Note: Sails and decals can be colored independently. Sail designs that require a two-tone background NOT achievable with a colored sail should use transparent areas of color (opacity around 50%) to “tint” the underlying sail.
Note: If your design requires a “white” sail area that contrasts with colored design elements, use 100% transparency instead of any shade of white. The base sail texture is as white as FLS deems appropriate for the game.
• Typical Feedback: You’ll need to figure out how to make your sail as a decal with a transparent background—decals and sails can be colored independently, and the sail will benefit from our high-resolution texture behind it. You’ll also want to make the decal partially transparent (around 70% opaque), so some of the underlying sail texture shows through.
• Good:
• OK:
• Bad:
Specific to Sails: Transparency
• Encouraged: Some transparency in all sail elements (opacity of 50-70%) allowing some underlying sail texture to show through.
• Discouraged: Large areas of sail (50% or more) that are fully opaque, obscuring the underlying sail structure.
• Typical Feedback: Fine design, but with so much canvas colored, you’ll want to make your decal somewhat transparent (opacity around 50-70%) so some of the underlying sail texture shows through.
• Good:
• Bad:
Specific to Sails: Texturing
• Encouraged: Decals with no texture, or some transparency (opacity of 50-70%) allowing some underlying sail texture to show through.
• Discouraged: Texturing built into the sail design itself, with or without transparency.
Note: Fine textures can be acceptable in some sail decals, to simulate different fabrics being sewn onto the sail. However, as texture in sail decals is easy to overdo, the technique remains discouraged even though some textured decals may be approved.
• Typical Feedback: Fine design, but you’ll need to remove the texture, since sail decals are too small to look good with fine details stretched across the canvas. Make your design slightly transparent instead (opacity around 70%), so the underlying sail texture can show through. Also, if you make your decal white, you can color it however you like in-game. You can preview this effect with the official 2D Content Preview Tool.
• Good:
• OK:
• Bad:
How do I submit my designs?
First, you’ll need to vote on others’ content to earn posting credits. Each posting credit you earn entitles you to submit one flag or sail. You can bank up to five credits.
Once you’ve earned posting credits to use, click on Submit Content. If you are new to making flags and sails, we strongly suggest you place your item into reviewing first! You can then update your item as much as you like. Then go to the Flags and Sails Forum and start a thread (if you haven’t already) for your flag and sail design reviews. When you link to your design using the [uc][/uc] BBCode tag (example: [uc]42236[/uc]), your thread will display the current image uploaded for your flag or sail.
Where can I learn more?
The best place to learn about 2D User Content is in the Flags and Sails Forum. You’ll find lots of tutorials and an extremely friendly, helpful community that can teach you how to make great flags and sails!