Standing and idle animations?

[Dragon Master]

saurian skirmisher could lick its eyes like a gecko

[Flametrooper]

The thunderer could accidentally shoot himself in the foot and hop around in pain
(On a slightly more serious note-here's a quick-hack Mage standing animation. Since it's a GIF, the transparency looks crappy, but you get the idea. )

[kshinji]

Troll Rocklobber could juglle rocks. Maybe from time to time he could also have one dropped on his head.

[Woodwizzle]

I'd really like to see an animation of the thunderer reload like a musketloader.

[Redeth]

(On a slightly more serious note-here's a quick-hack Mage standing animation. Since it's a GIF, the transparency looks crappy, but you get the idea. )

Not bad, except for the mage shifting up 1 pixel. It could also use some movement of the head and right arm to make it more plausible.

Ok, moving Zs version of the goblin. The Zs slowly turn transparent and vanish as they grow in size, but the .gif can't handle transparencies so that effect is lost.

Regarding the shoulders, I think it's ok if movements are exaggerated to some degree, otherwise they won't be noticeable given the size of the sprites.

What really matters is that the concept of 'cartoon inspired' animations seems to work fine. I'm thinking of 'musical notes' coming from units that are singing, whistling or dancing, or #$%@ symbols coming from very angry units, and so on

[Woodwizzle]

I think that last one looks really excellent!

[Zhukov]

Ya, good work (cute). I stand by what I said about the shoulder droop. But I won't push you, it's your work and I'm not a dev or anything.

On with the ideas...

EDIT: I moved the ideas from my previous post to here so they're all in one place.

Drakes:
-> Having those that breath fire do little snorts of flame or smoke sounds good.
-> For those that don't breath fire (Clasher line) you could have them flutter their wings a little.
-> The Glider line could spread their wings right out.

Dwarves:
-> Fighter line could put away their axe and take out their hammer for a little while, sort of give it a little test swing. Or perhaps flip the axe into the air (not very high) and catch it by the handle again.
-> I dunno about The Guardsmen line, they could just stamp their feet impatiently.
-> Runemaster: rest his hammer on the ground and leafs through hat little book he's holding. Alternativly have arcs of electricity coming off his hammer so he quickly puts it down to ground the charge (if you know what I mean).
-> Thunderer line: checks his weapon, maybe look down the barrel as if he were setting the sights.
-> Ulfserker: bear his chest, shake his fist.
-> Gryphon rider: gryphon could flex its wings, maybe rear up on hind legs.

Elves:
-> Elf Archer: experimentally pluck at bowstring. Same for Marksman.
-> Ranger could pull his cloak around himself, for the stealthy look.
-> Can't really think of anything for the fighter, perhaps just a simple sword twirl. Some for Hero and Champion.
-> Captain/Marshal: sheath sword and make some kind of hand gesture (like the 'caution' one you did before).
-> Scout line: lean forward and pat the horse. Horse could rear up maybe.
-> Shaman/Druid: perhaps scatter shimmery dust about (kind of like in their healing animations, but much less dramatic). They could grow a flower out of their staff.
-> Can't think of anything for the Sorceress branch. Just some magic glow effect around the staff perhaps...bit dull.

Goblins:
-> Wolf Rider: what I said before, goblin pats the wolf on the head, kind of ruffle it's ears affectionately. The wolf could sit up and wag it's tail, tipping the goblin off. The pillager could accidently set the wolf's ears on fire, then quickly beat out the flames.

Humans:
-> Cavarlyman line: Umm...have the horse rear up? (I don't like cavalry much. Heh.)
-> Fencer line: sword twirl. I think someone else suggested he preen himself, that sounds good, especially for the higher level ones.
-> Footpad/Bandit: Arg, no idea.
-> Heavy Infanryman line: Umm...I suppose he could remove his helemt and wipe his brow, must be hot under there.
-> Horseman line: same as cavalryman.
-> Paladin could hold his sword up to the sky, like he was praying or something.
-> Red Mage Line: pass his hand over staff and light up a glow on the end.
-> White Mage: Go on knees and pray.
-> Silver Mage: I was thinking have him shimmer and warp as if he were about to teleport, that might be a bt silly. Someone said have him levitate which sounds amusing.
-> Peasant: he could be a bit crude and give his rear end a scratch. Or he could plant his pitchfork in the ground and lean on it, like a person would on a shovel.
-> Spearman/Pikeman: sorry, I got nothing.
-> Javelineer: hold his javelin out if front of him horizontally to check its balance.
-> Swordsman/Royal Guard: Maybe do a practice figure-of-eight slash in the air.
-> Bowman line: de-string his bow, check it over then replace the string.
-> Trapper: dunno. Maybe experimentally fit an arrow and sight along it.
-> Sergeant line: sheath weapon and make 'follow me' gesture.
-> Theif line: hold out the dagger, then flip it into the air and catch it on the tip of his/her finger and balance it there for a second or two.
-> Thug/Bandit: Pat the palm of his hand with the club in a threatening gesture.

Saurian:
-> Augur/Oracle: summon up a 'vision globe' and stare into it, like in the new portrait that Jormungandr made for him.
-> Soothsayer: it would be nice to have something healing-related for him. I haven't got anything specific.
-> Skirmisher line: Alright, hows this? A fly buzzes past and he whips out his tongue and licks it out of the air like a chameleon!

Merfolk:
-> Mermaid Initiate/Enchantress line: I was thinking she could playfully duck-dive into the water and flip her tail into the air, splashing water about the place.
-> Mermaid Priestess line: some magic effect that makes the water around her glow.
-> Fighter: maybe have him just sink under the water for a couple of seconds. ("Hey, where did my unit go?! Oh, there. Phew...")
-> Hunter line: suddenly stick his spear into the water and pull it out with a fish stuck on the end. Sometimes he could get a jellyfish and quickly flip it off.
(All these Merfolk ideas would look silly if they were on land, but I'm sure there could be a filter of some kind to make them only occur in water-based terrain.)

Misc Monsters:
-> Cuttlefish: this could be an easter egg. You know how he has that funny inkwell attack icon? Perhaps for an animation it could pull out the inkwell and a piece of parchment and write. (Yeah I know, very silly.)
-> Scorpian: blank...sorry.
-> Spider: go up on it's back four legs and wave it's front four in the air. If you have ever seen a spider do this you will know what I mean.
-> Gryphon: preen it's wing with it's beak (like a bird does).
-> Mudcrawler: melt into a blob (like in death animation) then pull itself back into shape.
-> Sea Serpent: go into a kind of frenzy, thrashing and splashing water about...?
-> Tentacle: For a bit of silliness, how about it ties itself in a knot?
-> Yeti: Raise himself to full height and beat his chest gorilla-style.

Naga:
-> Fighter line: they are described as pretty skilful and dexterous. I can imagine a sword twirl for them, but it's hard to explain in words...

Ogre:
-> Scratch his head.

Orcs:
-> Archer: fire an arrow into the air, then quickly hop aside as it lands right next to him, look around to make sure nobody saw then pull the arrow out of the ground and put it back in his quiver.
-> Crossbow/Slurbow: have his crossbow suddenly go off by itself, reset crossbow by hand (no pansy winches for them).
-> Assassin/Slayer: run hand along edge of his dagger, like he is either checking the edge or applying poisen.
-> Grunt line: he could scratch the back of his head, tipping his helmet slightly forwards. Or perhaps just have his shoulders relax and he shakes his arms in a 'limbering up' motion.

Troll:
-> Whelp: like a little green Yeti, stand up on back legs and beat his chest.
-> Adult/Warrior: pat palm of hand with club/hammer.
-> Rocklobber: take rock out of sling and casually toss it up and down in one hand. It could land on his head (like someone else said?), he then shakes his head and retrieves rock.

Undead:
-> Adept/Necromancer: a flash of magic pops in his (or her) chest and he doubles over or goes on one knee as if in pain. For a humour effect his hair could go super frizzy (like a cartoon character that gets zapped).
-> Lich: someone's idea for a Shakespearean reference sounds neat.
-> Death Knight: damn, I got nothing.
-> Ghost/Shadow: he could warp and fade, as if having trouble staying in this world.
-> Wraith/Spectre: for a silly reference, have the baneblade thing 'turn off' like a star wars laser sword.
-> Ghoul/Necrophage: I remember something about how his stomach was orginally supposed to open like a mouth. That would make a nice standing animation. For a macabre touch, some guts could fall out, then he gathers them back up and stuffs it all back in!
-> Skeleton line: head falls off. He catches it before it falls to the ground and replaces it.
-> Skeleton Archer line: similer to above, the arm holding the bow falls off and is retrieved and replaced.
-> Bat: I can't really think of anything. Some kind of hanging upside down thng would be cool, but I can't think how it would be done.

Wose:
-> Yeah, I still like my idea of having a bird fly out of his foilage.

NOTE: when I say 'line' I mean the unit named as well as it's advancements. So for example "Grunt line" means the Grunt, the Warrior and the Warlord.

Ok, that's the lot. Like I said, I was popping with ideas. Most are fairly serious, a few are silly. I hope there is some good stuff in there, use as much or as little as you want.

[Cuyo Quiz]

Merfolk:
-> Mermaid Initiate/Enchantress line: I was thinking she could playfully duck-dive into the water and flip her tail into the air, splashing water about the place.

I lol'd (here we go again...).

[Zhukov]

Merfolk:
-> Mermaid Initiate/Enchantress line: I was thinking she could playfully duck-dive into the water and flip her tail into the air, splashing water about the place.

I lol'd (here we go again...).

Huh? That one wasn't particularly intended as a humorous idea...

/me is confused

[Oreb]

Keep those ideas coming, they're great and I'm writing down the ones I like the most.

This is perfect. Don't change it.

Nice sleep animation.

How about having the unit selected being the one that 'bobs' and has random moving, instead of having your whole army 'bobbing' and sleeping.

[Jetrel]

(All these Merfolk ideas would look silly if they were on land, but I'm sure there could be a filter of some kind to make them only occur in water-based terrain.)

Yes, they can be filtered according to terrain (afaik), and this means that *different* animations can be used on land. For ideas, look at what beached seals look like.

Ok, that's the lot. Like I said, I was popping with ideas. Most are fairly serious, a few are silly. I hope there is some good stuff in there, use as much or as little as you want.

Those are really good ideas! It's like you're reading my mind, except I haven't sat down and really thought about this yet.

The only caveat I'd say is that... ixnay on the uttlfishcay. That's a little too out there. unless it was filtered to only happen in terrains that the cuttlefish is rarely in. Likewise for the tentacle.


These ideas have my approval - the only warning I have for anyone trying to start one of these is only do it if the sprite is at a final version. The green ones on this page are good candidates:
http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic. ... 435#154435

[Dragon Master]

the death knight could open is mouth almost in terror and have snakes and creepy crawlies crawl out of the holes in his skull.
Scorpion could click its claws impatiently.
Saurian Soothsayer could pull out some herbs and begin grinding them up and mixing them.
Maybe on land, mermen could wave a hand at their face like their fanning themselves, or slump down like they are breathing hard.

[JW]

Humans:
-> Spearman/Pikeman: sorry, I got nothing.

He should definitely scratch his butt.

[dreampilot]

I think he should drop his hat and put it back on

[kshinji]

There should be both standing random animations, standing funny animations, and activated animations. Tough, there should be no standing looped animations.