Palette Cleanup
From The Battle for Wesnoth Wiki
This is WIP
Purpose
Unit sprites are supposed to be pixel art, but sometimes this breaks down. Maybe someone accidentally edited an image with an anti-aliasing tool (e.g. cut-paste lasso, paintbrush) or maybe the original contribution just had too many similar colors. Starting in 1.17, an effort was made to enforce a set palette: https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/issues/6417
Why do sprites need to be pixel art?
The game works just fine with non-pixel art images, but there are few reasons for the pixel art sprite convention:
- Simplifies color swapping - having a set palette makes it simpler to map the original colors to new colors. The most obvious example of this is the team coloring magenta/pink conversion to red for player 1.
- Distinction from terrain/scenery - The terrain and scenery images are not pixel art. With the current conventions, the sprites or "game pieces" should have a clear distinction from the background or "game board"
- Stylistic decision - pixel art is an art form, not simply a limitation, even if it may have had its origins in graphics limitations.