2D Game Change Weapons

[[BROKEN]]

We're building a 2D RPG here, can anyone think of a better way of having the graphic change weapons rather than having to make a sprite for every combination of weapon availiable? In 3d the weapon would be a seperate model, and would be attached to the player, but how would I do that in 2D?

Thanks

[sudi]

Just the same way.
use the (alpha)force...lol
i made a examepl pic but figured out that i can't attach an image to the post without uploading it somewhere else.....to bad

[[BROKEN]]

What you mean have the sprite of your character, and a seperate sprite of his weapon, and move it with him? Hey can u email that pic to me please at

rippingandfailing@gmail.com

Thanks

[Ced666]

He meant that you'll need two sprites: one that contains your character without the weapon, and one containing only the weapon. Then you need to blit them separately on the screen (of course, you use a colorkey in order to avoid blitting everything that cannot be blitted).

[sudi]

Thats what i meant...and the pic isn't that great that it should be send by email....it's just a stick man

[[BROKEN]]

Thats all well and good, but then wont I need the weapon animations to match the player animation perfectly? I don't know if it would work that well, but thanks for the input...

Oh also, has anyone made a better keyboard input class yet? Because just to add a chat feature to my game i have to collect input ftom every key seperately include capitals and all the $%^& and so on which is very long winded! Is there a better way of doing this? thanks