Bobbyaro wrote:
I have seen over the years reference to "sprites" and their being in some way not the same as graphics, or somehow they behave differently to "some other sort of graphical representation of character". what are they and how are they different?
A sprite is an image. Often the sprite is made up of lots of different images than allow it to animate, like in a flick book.
Here's a load of images of Mario - you'd call this image a "sprite sheet". The computer can choose which bits to display on the screen.
3D models are more complex, and consist of a bare model that has a texture wrapped around it to make it look pretty. Rather than being animated in a traditional sense, a 3D model moves computationally, its various bits and pieces shifting around being handled by a rendering engine.
Here's a 3D model, with and without its texture.