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BannedStory 4 Revived

BannedStory 4 Guide

Chat Balloons, Name Tags, Custom Faces, and Imported Pictures

Characters and maps set the stage; the special layers tell the story. A chat balloon gives a character a line of dialogue, a name tag makes it look like a real player, a custom face gives it an expression the game never had, and an imported picture lets you add anything else. This guide covers each of them in turn, with the settings that are easy to overlook.

Chat balloons

Chat balloons live in the gallery under User Interface > Chat Balloon (the User Interface startup category). Each balloon style is a separate thumbnail; the v83 assets alone have 46 of them.

  1. Click empty canvas, then click a balloon thumbnail. A new "Chat Balloon Layer" appears.
  2. In the Chat Balloon Properties tab, type into Chat Balloon Text. Press Enter wherever you want a line break.
  3. Drag the balloon above the character's head and slide Arrow Position so the tail points at the speaker.
  4. Pick a Text Color if the balloon's own color is hard to read (see below).

Fit to Text and resizing

New balloons start with Fit to Text ticked, so they size themselves to what you type: a quick "ok" gets a small balloon, while a longer message wraps onto new lines (at roughly the length of a MapleStory chat line) and the balloon grows to match. Your own line breaks are kept.

To set the size yourself, change Tile X and Tile Y (1 to 30 each), or drag the balloon's handles with the Transform Tool (Tools > Use Transform Tool, or press B). The balloon grows or shrinks in whole tiles and the text stays the same size instead of stretching. Either way, Fit to Text switches off; tick it again to go back to automatic sizing. Balloons in projects saved before this feature existed keep the size they had.

Common mistake: With Fit to Text off, text that doesn't fit is cut off at the balloon's edge. If words go missing, make the balloon bigger or tick Fit to Text. The text always uses the same font and size; there are no font, size, or bold settings.

Text color, flipping, and changing style

  • Text Color has one-click White and Black presets, a color wheel button that opens a wheel with a Brightness slider and a Hex Color box, and Default, which goes back to the balloon's own text color. The color is saved with the project and appears in exports.
  • Flip Balloon X and Flip Balloon Y mirror the balloon shape, for example to point the tail the other way. The text is not mirrored.
  • To try another style without retyping, select the balloon and click a different Chat Balloon thumbnail. The style changes and your text stays.
  • Some balloons are animated. They get a Frame box and an Animate checkbox like any other animated item.

Name tags

Name tags are under User Interface > Name Tag. Besides position and flip, the Name Tag Properties tab has one text field, Name Tag Text. A name tag is always one line: line breaks become spaces. The tag widens to fit the name and keeps it centered, so you never have to resize it.

The text color comes from the tag style itself, and there is no color setting for name tags. If you need a particular color, pick a different tag style. Place the tag just under the character's feet, where it sits in the game, and group the two layers with Group Selected Layers so they move together.

Custom faces with the Face Mixer

The Face Mixer builds a new face from pieces of existing ones, such as the eyes from one face and the mouth from another. Open it by selecting a character and pressing Create Custom Face in Character Properties.

  1. Press Add New Face next to the Selected Faces list. The Add Face window opens with Gender Options (Male, Female, No Gender) and a grid of faces.
  2. Click a face, then choose its color from the menu that pops up. It joins the Selected Faces list. Add as many as you need.
  3. Select a face in the list and set its Face State and Face Frame, for example the mouth from a Smile.
  4. Crop the face by dragging the red lines around it, so only the part you want (the eyes, say) remains.
  5. Position the piece by dragging it in the Result box, which shows a ghost head for reference, or type exact X and Y offsets (-100 to 100). The zoom slider under Result helps with small adjustments.
  6. Use Move Face Up and Move Face Down to decide which piece sits on top, and the eye button to hide a piece while you work.
  7. Press Add. Only visible pieces are used.

When you opened the mixer from a character, the custom face replaces that character's face. The result is a single still drawing, and its recipe is saved in the project. A custom face that sits on its own Picture layer shows an Edit Custom Face button for later changes.

File > Import Custom Face PAK reads a custom face stored in the original BannedStory's Face Mixer PAK format and adds it as a new "Custom Face Layer". A file that is not a Face Mixer PAK is refused with "Invalid BannedStory PAK file."

Skill and special effects

The Effects and Skill sections of the gallery hold the flashes, auras, and attack animations from the game; skills are organized by job, such as "Warrior" or "Fighter". An effect is its own layer, with its own State, frame box, and Animate checkbox in Properties. A skill often has several states, such as "Effect" and "Hit".

Tip: Effects usually look best in front of the character. Put the effect's row above the character in the Layer Panel and line them up on the same frame. The Appearance tab's blend modes, such as Add or Screen, can make an effect glow over a dark map.

Imported pictures (JPG, PNG, and GIF)

File > Import Image brings your own artwork into the scene: a photo for a background, a logo, a hand-drawn prop, or text made in another program. The file picker accepts .jpg, .png, and .gif files.

  • The picture becomes a "Picture Layer" with a Picture Properties tab. Move, flip, scale, and filter it like any other layer.
  • An animated GIF keeps all its frames and its own timing. A Frame box and Animate checkbox appear, and Layers > Clone Layer Frames splits the frames into separate layers.
  • PNG transparency is kept, so a cut-out PNG sits cleanly on top of a map.
  • Imported pictures are stored inside your saved project, so it opens the same on another computer.

If nothing happens after importing: Files that are not .jpg, .png, or .gif are ignored without a message, and that includes files ending in .jpeg. Rename the file to end in .jpg and try again. A new picture is not moved into view, so if you are scrolled across a big map, use the Focus Layer button on its Layer Panel row to find it.

Putting it together: a simple comic panel

  1. Load a map from Window > Maple Maps, or import a background picture.
  2. Build two characters and give them expressions with Face State, or a custom face.
  3. Add a chat balloon above each, type the dialogue, and set the arrows toward the speakers.
  4. Add name tags under their feet.
  5. Export with File > Save PNG Image > Whole Scene, then repeat with new dialogue for the next panel. Saving the project between panels lets you come back to any of them.

Building scenes on top of full maps is covered in Building Scenes with Maple Maps, and getting the panels out of the editor in Exporting Your Work.

  • Building and Customizing a Character

    Skin tones, face and hair colors, which equipment replaces what, cash items, per-item recoloring, and the Random Generator for quick outfit ideas.

  • Building Scenes with Maple Maps

    Load a full map from Maple Maps, search thousands of locations, organize the map's layers, put characters in the right spot, and keep a big scene manageable.

  • Making MapleStory Music Video Scenes

    A shot-by-shot workflow for MapleStory music videos: planning, reusing your cast, exporting stills and animation frames, and matching game timing to video frames.

New to the editor? The User Guide walks through a first character step by step. Browse all BannedStory 4 guides for other topics.