Note that RPG Maker VX Ace displays characters offset four pixels from tiles so as to more naturally portray them with buildings. The size of this character is calculated based on one-twelfth the width and one-eighth the height of this file. In each file, arrange characters two down and four across, for a total of eight. A character can be of any size, and a total of twelve patterns (four directions (down, left, right, up) × 3 patterns) are arranged in the designated order. Characters (Graphics/Characters) Files containing images of characters to display on the map screen. PNG files with 32-bit color (alpha channel) are fully supported. From the help file: You can use PNG and JPG files. What $ does is allows you to treat a sheet as a single sprite rather than a set of them. Character sprite sets can actually be any size the scripts will cut them into sheets.