A conceptual idea post: Animation in video games

Certainly, video games have been becoming more impressive visually. Some of the modern next gen games look more like movies than video games, with amazing special effects and absurdly high poly counts.

However, just like modern 3D movies, the art of animation falls short. It bothers me that 3D animation so quickly became the industry standard for animated films, when 2D animation was and still is so weak and young in it's lifespan. Applying the poor foundation principles of 2D animation, principles that were formed in only a decade, to 3D animation has proven to produce weak motion and overall unsatisfactory results.

For instance, in the Devil May Cry series, the characters cannot seem to stand still. When weapons are held up to the screen, the character seems to shake constantly, the tools waving about awkwardly on the screen. Moreover, the apppearance of objects 'connecting', such as a sword slicing an opponent, doesn't look to be as powerful as it could. This is especially prevalent in 3D fighting games, where they don't use a technique utilized by the more modern 2D fighting games called 'hit stop'. This technique 'pauses' the screen for a few frames when a hit connects, making it look a lot more powerful and devastating than if it was just a single flowing motion. In 3D games that do not use this technique, the enemy getting hit simply looks as if he's moving with the attack, not being forced to move and react. This technique even has a positive impact on the game mechanics as well, in 2D fighting games, it is used to give the player more time to input their next attack.

Even more unsettling than this is the lack of convincing character animation. Especially with todays technology, I feel that characters in a game should behave just as actors do. When they focus on something, there is a specific hierarchy of actions: First the eyes turn to focus, then the head turns, then the shoulders, arms, hips and then they step towards it. This applies to all actions, even fighting or sports games; Watch some old martial arts action movies like Enter the Dragon to see what I mean. Bruce Lee is an excellent example, as he was a great showman who had real power and skills. He was particularly amazing at making a hit look very convincing, a skill that is just as hard to replicate with 3D and 2D animation as it is to do in real life. If you wish to improve your animation skills, animate a fight scene from a martial arts movie! If you can make it convincing, I'm sure it will be a testament to your skills.

However, I also think there is room for the imagination to play into this. I prefer 2D animation over 3D animation for the sole fact that 2D animation has absolutely no limitations, while 3D animation has limitations from doing convincing clothing, fog, dust, render times, water effects, etc. I have yet to see a well done 3D surrealism animation, and moreover, most 3D animation feels lifeless and stiff. Even multi-million dollar blockbusters like Wall-e and Kung Fu Panda leave something to be desired. If we don't push ourselves to get better, we never will; but if we try to jump into something before we're good and ready, we'll just as likely fail. I feel the 3D animation industry is suffering from the fact that animation is still a very unique, underdeveloped skill.

When it comes to games, 2D sprite animation has taken leaps and bounds. Using rotoscoping to draw convincingly proportional characters, games like Blazblue and King of Fighters XII have reached into a new era of animation and resolution for 2D games. However, I personally think Blazblue's animation blows KOF's out of the water. Why? Because instead of using the 3D models as an absolute reference, they used it only for the outlines and proportions, then added the never-fail 2D animation style that has yet to be replicated in 3D. A character like Arakune or Eddie from Guilty Gear would be incredibly difficult to create and animate in 3D, while in 2D it's a breeze. Something so simple becomes overly complicated for poor results when compared to 2D. References are an important tool in nearly every kind of art, but if one doesn't seek to enhance the reference, then the art will feel lifeless. Animation still has a long way to grow as an art form, instead of only an entertainment form.

In the coming weeks I hope to begin uploading some animation tests and detail some of the finer points and particular areas of interest in the animation.

It's been a while, so...

It's been some time since my last update, so I'll go ahead and stick some stuff up. Some of this I was planning on sitting on for a bit longer and working on some more, but if I don't at least show it, there's really no point :)













Click the images to go to my photobucket gallery and see their descriptions. I'm somewhat unsatisfied with the Killer picture (the big guy), but there was enough merit for me to decide to put it up, particularly in the shading style.

I'll have more stuff up later. Stay tuned.

Just one more

Been working hard on various things lately but I was able to finish one more lately, so I thought I'd post it up. I've been doing more high resolution work lately simply to expand on techniques and gather more understanding of different ways to sprite things. Expect some more low resolution stuff soon, however (well, things I can show at any rate).

Here's some more pieces:

Kirson, an original character.

I love airplanes... Oh, due to my preset background, this may be difficult to view. Please click to view it at photobucket or to look at it in a new window.

A tropical plant.

A simple tank sprite.

A robot who wants a hug!

That's all for now.

Huge sprite dump

Ok sorry to anyone with slow connections, bunch pics in this post:

Simple 'idle' animation for a girl with a huge spear.

A simple tree sprite.

Some old sword designs I decided to sprite.

Icon and menu/dialog box ideas. Very simple and low resolution for mobile stuff, etc...

A stylish fire effect.

A fantasy-themed plant.

And finally, a deformed monstrous frog... Well, maybe just a frog. But it certainly looks odd.

Expect more to come soon.

Sprite Sample

So I've whipped up a little sample of my sprite art. I think it came out rather well, seems to show a good degree of my abilities I think.

This is just a small post, but I wanted to put something here art-wise so the title is actually relevant.

The first post...

Well, here we are. Finally went and created a blog.

Hopefully, I'll stick with this one and actually do something with it. I suppose I hope to put art and miscellaneous thoughts and experiences here, something people say I should be doing. Of course, I could never make another post, but that will hopefully not happen...

Anyways, perhaps an introduction is in order. I'm a 20 year old sprite artist, currently doing some volunteer work for Skullgirls, a independently made 2D fighting game, as well as trying to 'strike out on my own' as it were. I also wish to complete a comic at some point, but that's neither here nor there.

I currently live in Ohio, but that's due to change most likely. After my recent move, I've kind of been left high and dry with no money and no job, and no real options except trying as hard as I can to get a job. Despite this, I've been trying to do as much art as I can between my ventures into the big, wide world to find myself some work, as well as attempt to do much needed introspection (of sorts...).

So with no money and little direction, I still work and move forward as hard as possible, if only to find or make my own direction for life.

I guess this is a good first post... Well, bye for now I suppose. Art later, perhaps.