[ENG] Metapixels Tutorial for Duck Game

First of all, you need to download any version (latest recommended) of PaintDotNET
Here's the link: https://www.getpaint.net/

Once you have done that, you need to download the Hat template I made for this guide.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zjbOtOUljX9NsThcQwhfNQM2WziKBick

In this template, you can see 6 sections - the hat, the quacking hat, the cape, the custom rock (The rock you throw in the intermission) Particles (or FX) and METAPIXELS.

Now, the actual metapixels!

All the metapixels go at the right of the template

To start understanding metapixels, you need to open Paint.NET, open the color wheel, and then click "More".
It will show you some more options. The one we need is the "RGB" Section. (Red, Green, and Blue)

Now, how do metapixels work?

The R value = The ID of the metapixel. What kind of metapixel it is.

The G and B = The parameters for the metapixel. The values you're giving it.

So when you're making your first metapixel, you need to set R to number (ID) of the metapixel, and G and B to the parameters.

There are a total of 34 metapixels you can add to your hat, so I will summarize of all of them.

REMEMBER!
If it's not specified which parameter does which action, the first one will be G, and the second one (obviously) will be B. This also applies when there is only 1 parameter, it will be G. If the parameter modifies the X and Y coordinate of something, G will be X and B will be Y.
Also when you're adding metapixels/drawing or making your hat, make sure to add a new layer so you don't mess up the template.

If a metapixel is wrong, there will be an error related to that in the devconsole, you can activate the devconsole by pressing "`" ingame (Ñ in spanish keyboards).

Name: Hat Offset.
Description: Hat offset position in pixels.

I can give you a help with this one, the center of the hat is 128 and 128, so if you want to go 1 pixel left, you will put 127 in G, and if you want to go 1 pixel up, you will put 129 in B

Example:
So I said I want to add a hat offset, the value of that metapixel is 1, so that means I will set R to 1, and I said I want to go 1 pixel left and 1 pixel up, then I will set G to 127, and B to 129.

Here's what I mean with this.

Once you have done with that, you will add that color (Basically the metapixel with his metadata and their parameters) to THE RIGHT, as I said in the second section.

You will do this process for every metapixel you want to add (Just saying so I don't need to do the same explanation with every metapixel)

Name: Use Duck Color.
Description: If this metapixel exists, White (255, 255, 255) and Grey(157, 157, 157) will be recolored to duck colors.

Name: Cape offset.
Description: Cape offset position in pixels. Basically the same thing as metapixel 1. Name: Cape is foreground.
Description: If this metapixel exists, the cape will be drawn over the duck.
Does not support parameters. Name: Cape Sway Modifier.
Description: It affects the length of the cape and the swing from left to right.
G determines the cape's rotation, clockwise or counterclockwise. To not rotate it at all, pick 128, the middle value. A maxxed rotation in either direction leaves an otherwise downward-pointing cape pointing up and diagonally to the side.
B determines the cape's weight. 0 will have it flying straight upward. 255 will have it fall to the floor like lead. This is applied before the rotation from G. Name: Cape Wiggle Modifier.
Description: Affects how much the cape wiggles in the wind. Name: Cape Taper Start.
Description: Affects how narrow the cape/trail is at the top/beginning. Name: Cape Taper End.
Description: Affects how narrow the cape/trail is at the bottom/ending. Name: Cape Alpha Start.
Description: Affects how transparent the cape/trail is at the top/beginning. Name: Cape Alpha End.
Description: Affects how transparent the cape/trail is at the bottom/ending. Name: Cape Is Trail.
Description: If this metapixel exists, the cape will be a trail instead of a cape (Like the rainbow trail left by the TV).
Does not support parameters.

Name: Particle Emitter Offset.
Description: The offset in pixels from the center of the hat (REMEMBER, G = X Coordinate (Horizontal) = 128, B = Y Coordinate (Vertical) = 128 is the center of the hat (128 and 128)) where particles will be emitted. Name: Particle Default Behavior.
Description: G defines a particle behavior from a list of presets:

• 0 = No Behavior
  
• 1 = Spit
  
• 2 = Burst
  
• 3 = Halo
  
• 4 = Exclamation

Name: Particle Emit Shape.
Description:
G values (How the particles are emitted):

• 0 = Point
  
• 1 = Circle
  
• 2 = Box

B values (Modifiers):

• 0 = Emit Around Shape Border Randomly
  
• 1 = Fill Shape Randomly
  
• 2 = Emit Around Shape Border Uniformly

Name: Particle Emit Shape Size.
Description: X and Y size of the particle emitter (in pixels). Name: Particle Count.
Description: The number of particles to emit. Name: Particle Lifespan.
Description: Duration time of the particles, in seconds. Name: Particle Velocity.
Description: Initial velocity of the particle. Name: Particle Gravity.
Description: Gravity applied to the particle. Name: Particle Friction.
Description: Friction applied to the particle (The value it's velocity is multiplied by every frame). Name: Particle Alpha.
Description: G = Start alpha, B = End alpha. Name: Particle Scale.
Description: G = Start scale, B = End scale. Name: Particle Rotation.
Description: G = Start rotation, B = End rotation. Name: Particle Offset.
Description: Additional X Y offset of particle. Name: Particle Background.
Description: If this metapixel exists, particles will be rendered behind the duck.
Does not support parameters. Name: Particle Anchor.
Description: If this metapixel exists, particles will stay anchored around the hat position when it's moving. This means the particles will stay in the same X coordinate to the hat. Name: Particle Animated.
Description: If this metapixel exists, particles will animate through their frames. Otherwise, a frame will be picked randomly.
Does not support parameters. Name: Particle Animation Loop.
Description: If this metapixel exists, the particle animation will loop.
Does not support parameters. Name: Particle Animation Random Frame.
Description: If this metapixel exists, the particle animation will start on a random frame.
Does not support parameters. Name: Particle Animation Speed.
Description: How quickly the particle animates.

Name: Wet Lips.
Description: Modifies the quack sound to sound like "wet lips".
Does not support parameters.

Name: Mechanical Lips.
Description: Modifies the quack to sound like "mechanical lips".
Does not support parameters.

Name: Randomize Parameter X. Name: Randomizer Parameter Y. Name: Randomize Parameter.

If any of these metapixels are present, the previously defined metapixel value will have a random number between G and B applied to its X value each time it's used. This will generally only work with particles.
Does not support parameters.

Additional Information:
All Randomizer metapixels apply a random value to the X and Y (or G and B) values of the closest
non-randomizer metapixel above them in the hat. The G and B values of the randomizer pixel let you define
the minimum and maximum value for the randomizer to use.

(Example - placing a Randomize Parameters metapixel with G = 1 and B = 10 below a Particle Velocity
metapixel would set both the Particle Velocity X and Y to the same random value between 1 and 10.
Alternatively, placing both a Randomize Parameter X and a Randomize Parameter Y metapixel underneath would
allow you to randomize the X and Y of the particle velocity separately, or just one of them would let
only randomize X or Y and not both.)

When you finish your hat, with custom rock, cape, and metapixels, you need to remove all the layers except your hat, save it as .PNG, then copy it, and paste it to your DG folder.

(If you don't know where is your DG folder, open steam, right click in Duck Game, properties, local files, and click browse local files).

And if any of this confused you or you want to know more about each metapixel, there's also a online guide[docs.google.com] by Drake

Landon's metapixels page[wonthelp.info].