Theory:Theme Construction

From SMTheming Wiki

Theme Construction is the method in which themes will be built from the get-go, and how the themes will use its own elements. there are two methods in which themes are built:

• Re-package: A user taking the default theme and modifying any elements as they see fit, and repackaging it as a new theme, leaving anything they did not modify intact.
• Fallback: A user including elements that they have only modified, and then shipped with these elements only.

Themes will often use BGAnimations which will only contain overlays, such as a confirmation dialog. Some themes will store these as loadable elements and position them as if they were Actors, which is called being Object-Based. Some themes will do this imprinted in the BGAnimations itself, without re-using the same graphics, which is called being Screen-Based. it's generally frowned upon to be Screen-Based as of late because of the limitations you'd come across, and the fact you could easily make an overlay which feeds these into a setup animation ready for use.