Feature Request: Symbol-like Functionality Similar to Adobe Flash

Dear Aseprite Development Team,

First of all, I would like to thank you for creating such a fantastic and efficient tool for pixel artists. Aseprite has made my workflow much more enjoyable and productive.

I would like to suggest a feature that I believe would greatly improve animation efficiency in Aseprite. Specifically, I am referring to a Symbol system, similar to what existed in Adobe Flash/Animate.

The basic idea is as follows:

The ability to convert layers or groups into reusable “Symbols” or “Instances”.

If the original Symbol is modified, all instances across different frames or animations would automatically reflect those changes.

This would make it much easier to manage repeated elements like character parts (heads, weapons, etc.) or background objects, without having to manually update each frame.

Currently, tilemaps provide some of this functionality, but they are more rigid and grid-based, which is not ideal for complex animation parts or non-rectangular objects.

To summarize:

Reusable Symbol system for pixel animations.

Automatic update of all instances when the Symbol is edited.

Freely placeable, not restricted by grid snapping like tilemaps.

Greatly reduces repetitive work for animators.

I believe this would make Aseprite even more powerful, especially for those of us working on detailed pixel animation with reusable elements.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

and… I don’t speak English very well, so I wrote this message with the help of GPT and translation tools. I did my best to express my idea clearly despite my limited English skills. Thank you so much for reading this far.