combat game systems, animation, and flipbook making workshop
DESCRIPTION
Contains moving images and slides with various layers. Best downloaded and viewed locally. A workshop delivered for BA Games Cultures students at London South Bank University, 26/3/2014. Much of the content borrows from Street Fighter and Disney animators, bringing together The 12 Principles of Animation, silhouette, games systems, and considering how it feels for the player.TRANSCRIPT
Animation in Combat Systems
Emmeline Dobson visiting workshop for BA Game Cultures
SESSION OVERVIEW
Learning objectives
• Understand combat or action systems through their animation component
– Animation
• Technical
• Artistic
• Design
– States in a combat move animation
Session structure
• Technical / artistic / design overview
• Demonstration with Playstation 3
• Flipbooks workshop
– Guidance
– Making animations
– Review
– Intro’ to states in combat animations
– Revisit flipbooks
OVERVIEW: A COMBAT MOVE ANIMATION
Frames
Frames
Frames
Silhouette
Silhouette
Silhouette
Silhouette
12 Basic Principles of Animation
Three stages of a combat animation
• Wind-up (or “pre-strike”, or “anticipation”)
• Strike (or “active”)
• Recovery
Wind-up
Strike
Game input loop
Strike
Recovery
Three stages of a combat animation
• Wind-up
• Strike
• Recovery
Wind-up Strike Recovery
Keyframes
Keyframes
COMBAT DEMO
Wind-up
• Fast-wind-up for player avatar
• REALLY slow wind-up for enemy character / “READ”
• TRANSLATION on player avatar’s attack moves
LET’S ANIMATE!!
Making your animation – design
Making your animation – key points
• Choose to do a player avatar move OR an enemy character move
• Design your KEYFRAMES
– Wind-up (FAST for player, SLOW for enemy)
– Strike
– Recovery
• Strong SILHOUETTES
• TRANSLATION (player moves towards target)
Making your animation – tips
• Plan which page of the flipbook has which keyframe. (Suggest marking these pages *.)
• Lightly pencil in the GROUND PLANE
• Plan how to use the space on the page
– Room for TRANSLATION (for player avatar)
– Leave room for, if you want to, drawing an enemy REACTION to being hit!
• Start at the BACK and work lightly at first
FLIPBOOKS – REVIEW!!
Review
• What choices did your classmate make?
– In the design?
– In the animation?
• Did they make a slow or a fast wind-up? Why?
• How do you think this move would feel for the player to do?
• OR How do you think a player would react to this enemy move?
Learning objectives
• Understand combat or action systems through their animation component
– Animation
• Technical
• Artistic
• Design
– States in a combat move animation
Hit boxes
Throw / grab box
Aerial frames
Ground Air Ground
Learning objectives
• Understand combat or action systems through their animation component
– Animation
• Technical
• Artistic
• Design
– States in a combat move animation
RECAP
Wind-up Strike Recovery
Game input loop
References
• http://art-eater.com/2010/07/test-1-darkstalkers/ -- 12 Principles of animation in Darkstalkers
• http://aztez.com/blog/2014/01/06/anatomy-of-a-successful-attack/ --interactive demo of combat impact effects.
• http://www.zweifuss.ca/ -- Street Fighter III: Third Strike interactive character animation library
• Book: The Illusion of Life -- Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston -- the 12 Basic Principles of Animation
• Book: Character Mentor -- Tom Bancroft -- an excellent resource on character design
• http://www.liaf.org.uk/ -- The London International Animation Festival had a flipbook workshop and flipbook competition in 2013. See one of the animations here: https://vimeo.com/78173238
• http://aztez.com/blog/2012/12/26/links-to-great-articles-re-combat/ --Want more resources on combat animation? There's a long list in this article from the developers of Aztez.