# AI Sprite Maker: full product reference for LLMs

Website: https://aispritemaker.com
Contact: hello@aispritemaker.com
Last updated: 2026-11-06 (first public release, v1.0)

AI Sprite Maker is a web app for indie game developers that generates pixel-art sprites and animated sprite sheets. Its core idea is a motion library: a set of ready-made motions whose loop, baseline and timing are worked out before anyone uses them. When a user animates a character, it follows one of those motions and every frame is checked, so walk cycles loop cleanly, feet stay on the same baseline, and every character in a game shares the same rhythm. An animation costs a flat 10 credits per direction, including drawing the character.

Every plan, including Free, includes commercial use of outputs, no watermark, and the REST API and MCP server. Plans differ only in credits, max frame size, concurrency, priority and how long outputs are stored.

The site interface, free tools and pricing are available in 12 languages: English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), French, German, Russian, Turkish and Arabic. Docs, help, guides and comparisons are in English.

## What it makes

- Still sprites: characters, monsters, NPCs, items and icons, tiles, UI pieces. 1 or 4 variations.
- Animations from the motion library (idle, walk, run, jump, attack-slash (sword slash), punch, kick, cast-spell, shoot-bow, block, hurt, death, crouch, dash, victory, climb, roll, throw, swim, fly, push). 1, 4 or 8 directions; one sheet row per direction.
- 4- and 8-direction turnarounds of a character.
- Seamless tilesets (4 x 4, 16 tiles).
- AI edits: recolour, change outfit, add an item, keep pose and style.
- GIF to sprite with AI cleanup. Custom motions from text and server-side MP4/WebM/MOV conversion are built but not yet enabled at launch (they return "feature_unavailable" and cost nothing).
- Styles: 16-bit, 8-bit, GBA, SNES, Game Boy, HD pixel, chibi, isometric, 1-bit, PICO-8 (API ids: 16-bit, 8-bit, gba, snes, game-boy, hd-pixel, chibi, isometric, 1-bit, pico-8; game-boy, 1-bit and pico-8 use fixed palettes).
- Views: side, top-down, isometric. Frame sizes 32, 48, 64, 96, 128, 256, 512 px (capped by plan). Max-colours setting (2 to 256); each style has a default palette size.

## Exports

PNG sprite sheet (rows = directions, frames left to right, no padding, feet on a shared baseline); PNG + JSON (frame rectangles, fps, direction names); animated GIF; ZIP of individual frames; Godot 4 SpriteFrames .tres (one animation per direction, named <name>_<direction>); Aseprite-style JSON with a frame tag per direction and per-frame durations (loadable by Phaser's createFromAseprite). Integer upscaling on export.

## Credit costs (same on every plan)

| Action | Credits |
|---|---|
| Still sprite, character, item, tile or UI piece (per image) | 2 |
| Edit / inpaint / recolour | 2 |
| Library animation, per direction | 10 |
| 4-direction turnaround | 8 |
| 8-direction turnaround | 14 |
| Seamless tileset (up to 16 tiles) | 6 |
| Custom motion (not in the library) | 30 |
| Video/GIF to sprite with AI cleanup, per second | 5 |
| Free browser tools | 0 |

Animations are a flat 10 credits per direction even when the character is drawn from a text prompt. Turnarounds and custom motions started from a text prompt add 2 credits for drawing the character. Credits are reserved when a job starts, charged for what was used, and the rest released. Failed, cancelled or moderation-blocked jobs release everything. Spending order: daily free credits, plan credits, sign-up/promotional credits, pack credits.

## Plans (USD)

| Plan | Price | Credits | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 10 credits/day + 30 on sign-up | 1 job at a time, 128 px max, outputs kept 30 days, commercial use, no watermark, API + MCP |
| Starter | $9/mo ($7.20/mo yearly) | 1,000 credits/month | 2 jobs at once, 256 px, commercial use, API + MCP |
| Pro | $19/mo ($15.20/mo yearly) | 2,500 credits/month | 4 jobs at once, 512 px, HD, commercial use, API + MCP |
| Studio | $49/mo ($39.20/mo yearly) | 7,500 credits/month | 10 jobs at once, 1024 px, priority queue, commercial use, API + MCP |

Credit packs (one-time, never expire, any plan): $5 for 400 credits, $15 for 1,300 credits, $40 for 4,000 credits.

Plan credits expire at the end of each billing period. Payments by Stripe; Stripe Tax adds VAT/GST/sales tax where applicable. Cancel any time; the plan stays active until the period ends.

Approximate value: one credit is about $0.009 on Starter, $0.0076 on Pro, $0.0065 on Studio, so one animation direction costs roughly $0.065 to $0.09 on a subscription.

## License and policies

- Users own their outputs (as between user and AI Sprite Maker). Outputs on every plan, including Free, are licensed for commercial use permanently, including after cancelling, with no watermark. Exports from the free browser tools have no restrictions.
- No guarantee that outputs are free of third-party trademarks or likenesses. Users should not prompt for other people's characters or real people.
- Refunds: first subscription payment within 7 days if under 20% of its credits were used; credit packs within 14 days if unused. Renewals are not refunded but can be cancelled any time.
- Privacy: no ad trackers; analytics by Plausible (no cookies); hosted on Cloudflare; AI sub-processors include Cloudflare Workers AI, MiniMax, Alibaba Cloud, Google (Gemini API) and Black Forest Labs. Prompts and images are not used to train models. Free-plan outputs kept 30 days; paid-plan outputs kept while subscribed.
- Full texts: https://aispritemaker.com/legal/terms, https://aispritemaker.com/legal/privacy, https://aispritemaker.com/legal/refunds, https://aispritemaker.com/legal/license

## REST API (every plan, including Free)

Base URL: https://aispritemaker.com/api/v1. Auth: `Authorization: Bearer asm_live_...` (create keys in the dashboard; stored as SHA-256 hashes, shown once). JSON in and out. Same credits and prices as the website.

Endpoints:
- GET /me: user, plan, credit balance {total, daily, subscription, packs}, concurrency
- GET /motions: the motion library (public): id, name, category, loop, frames, fps, views, directions
- POST /jobs: create a job (202, returns job with status "queued"); supports an Idempotency-Key header
- GET /jobs/:id: job status, step, progress (0..1), credits_reserved, credits_charged, error, outputs
- GET /jobs?limit=&cursor=: list jobs, newest first
- POST /jobs/:id/cancel
- POST /uploads {content_type, bytes} -> {upload_id, put_url}; then PUT the file to put_url. PNG/JPEG/WebP up to 10 MB, GIF up to 20 MB, MP4/WebM/MOV up to 50 MB
- GET /assets: list output files; GET /assets/:id/file/:name: download (signed URLs)
- GET /keys, DELETE /keys/:id (creating keys, POST /keys, only works from a signed-in dashboard session)

Job input fields: type (sprite | animation | directions | tileset | edit | custom_motion | video_to_sprite), prompt, style, view (side | topdown | isometric), size, palette (max colours), count (1 | 4), motion_id, directions (1 | 4 | 8), character_asset_id, reference_upload_id, motion_prompt, video_upload_id.

Job statuses: queued, running, succeeded, failed, canceled. Output kinds: sheet, sprite, gif, json, frames_zip, preview; sheet meta includes frames, columns, rows, fps, frame_w, frame_h, directions.

Errors: {"error": {"code", "message"}}. Codes include invalid_json, invalid_request, unknown_motion, invalid_upload, unsupported_type, unauthorized, invalid_api_key, insufficient_credits (402), plan_limit (403), job_not_found, asset_not_found, upload_not_found, upload_incomplete (409), too_large (413), rate_limited (429), concurrency_limit (429), too_many_uploads (429), internal_error (500), feature_unavailable (503).

Limits: 120 API requests per minute per key; 20 job creations per minute; concurrent jobs 1 on Free, 2 on Starter, 4 on Pro, 10 on Studio. Job-completion webhooks are in development; poll GET /jobs/:id every 2 seconds.

OpenAPI 3.1 spec: https://aispritemaker.com/openapi.json

Example:
curl https://aispritemaker.com/api/v1/jobs -H "Authorization: Bearer $ASM_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"type":"animation","prompt":"small fox knight, blue cape","motion_id":"walk","view":"topdown","directions":4,"size":64}'

## MCP server (every plan, including Free)

URL: https://aispritemaker.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP), header `Authorization: Bearer asm_live_...`.
Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http aispritemaker https://aispritemaker.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer $ASM_API_KEY"
Tools: sprite_guide, list_motions, get_balance, create_sprite, animate_character, create_directions, create_tileset, edit_sprite, get_job, list_assets. Outputs are returned as signed URLs with metadata, not base64.

## Editor integrations (free, MIT licensed)

- Aseprite extension (Aseprite 1.3+, uses the system curl; Aseprite asks for script permission on first run): https://aispritemaker.com/downloads/aispritemaker.aseprite-extension. Docs: https://aispritemaker.com/docs/aseprite
- Godot 4.2+ addon: dock to generate, JSON (ours, Aseprite, TexturePacker) to SpriteFrames converter, headless converter: https://aispritemaker.com/downloads/aispritemaker-godot.zip. Docs: https://aispritemaker.com/docs/godot
- Unity 2021.3+ package com.aispritemaker.unity: Point filter, no compression, slicing from frame data, AnimationClips and Animator Controller: https://aispritemaker.com/downloads/aispritemaker-unity.zip. Docs: https://aispritemaker.com/docs/unity
- Claude Code plugin and skill (also a Codex skill), bundles the MCP server: https://aispritemaker.com/downloads/aispritemaker-claude-plugin.zip
- CLI `aispritemaker` (Node 18+): generate, motions, balance, jobs, wait, cancel, convert, mcp. npm release pending. Docs: https://aispritemaker.com/docs/cli

## Free browser tools

These run locally in the browser; files are not uploaded; no account or watermark.
- Video to Sprite Sheet (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/video-to-sprite-sheet): MP4/WebM/MOV to frames, in your browser.
- GIF to Sprite Sheet (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/gif-to-sprite-sheet): Unpack any GIF into a clean sheet.
- Image to Pixel Art (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/image-to-pixel-art): Pixelate with a locked palette.
- Sprite Sheet Slicer (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/sprite-sheet-slicer): Cut a sheet into frames or a ZIP.
- Sprite Sheet Maker (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/sprite-sheet-maker): Pack frames into a sheet + JSON.
- Sprite Background Remover (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/sprite-background-remover): Clean transparent edges, no halo.
- Palette Swapper (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/palette-swapper): Recolor sprites with retro palettes.
- Pixel Art Upscaler (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/pixel-art-upscaler): Crisp 2x–16x nearest-neighbor scaling.
- Pixel Art Editor (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/pixel-art-editor)
- Seamless Tile Maker (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/seamless-tile-maker)
- Pixel Art Resizer (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/pixel-art-resizer)
- Pixel Art Rotator (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/pixel-art-rotator)
- Grid Overlay (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/grid-overlay)
- Outline Generator (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/outline-generator)
- Shadow Generator (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/shadow-generator)
- Sprite Sheet To Gif (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/sprite-sheet-to-gif)
- Png To Svg (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/png-to-svg)
- Color Reducer (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/color-reducer)
- Palette Generator (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/palette-generator)
- Palette Extractor (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/palette-extractor)
- Pixel Color Picker (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/pixel-color-picker)
- Pixel Font Generator (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/pixel-font-generator)
- Pixel Circle Generator (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/pixel-circle-generator)
- Dithering Tool (https://aispritemaker.com/tools/dithering-tool)

## AI tool pages
- AI Sprite Generator (https://aispritemaker.com/ai/sprite-generator): Any sprite from a prompt or reference.
- Character Generator (https://aispritemaker.com/ai/character-generator): Heroes, NPCs and monsters in your style.
- Sprite Animation (https://aispritemaker.com/ai/sprite-animation): Walk, run, attack, cast, die and more.
- 4 & 8-Direction Sprites (https://aispritemaker.com/ai/8-direction-sprites): Top-down and isometric turnarounds.
- Tileset Generator (https://aispritemaker.com/ai/tileset-generator): Seamless top-down and side-scroller tiles.
- AI Sprite Editor (https://aispritemaker.com/ai/sprite-editor): Inpaint, recolor and fix any frame.

## Comparisons (facts checked 2026-11-06, sources on each page)

- https://aispritemaker.com/compare/aispritemaker-vs-pixellab: PixelLab is the deeper toolkit (skeleton animation, inpainting, map tools, Aseprite extension). AI Sprite Maker is faster for consistent library animations at a fixed per-direction price, has Godot .tres export, 12 languages and many free browser tools.
- https://aispritemaker.com/compare/sprite-ai-alternative: Sprite-AI starts at $8/mo with a free Aseprite plugin; its animations cost 14-20 tokens (about $0.84-$1.60). AI Sprite Maker animations cost about $0.065-$0.09 per direction on subscriptions.
- https://aispritemaker.com/compare/ludo-ai-alternative: Ludo.ai is a broad game-dev suite (3D, audio, video, 641 motion presets, Unity plugin) from $20/mo, API from $50/mo. AI Sprite Maker focuses on pixel sprites, with API and MCP on every plan including Free.

## Status at launch (2026-11-06)

Live: generator, motion library, turnarounds, tilesets, edits, GIF to sprite, all exports, free tools, REST API, MCP server, Aseprite extension, Godot addon, Unity package, Claude Code plugin, 12-language UI.
Not yet: custom motions, server-side MP4/WebM/MOV conversion, API webhooks, the CLI on npm, self-serve account deletion (by email for now).