Cloud's animations

[Cloud]

Sorry all, been so busy the past few days, and my (ancient) laptop isn't playing ball, so I won't be able to get spriting until late January. I will however extract the proper frames from the Lord, just to make sure.

[Cloud]

Okay, done a little work on the Guard's blocking, the last frame needs the shield to move a touch, followed by a recovery frame or two (possibly even three). And of course the all important blur. Hopefully I can start shading this tiny delight of dwarfkind soon.

I'll also extract the proper lord-hatchet frames tonight.

[Jetrel]

Looking good.

[Cloud]

Finally got around to extracting the correct lord-ranged frames. Sorry it took so long.

More work on the guard pending me working out what comes next in the anim

[Cloud]

Double post, but it's been a while.

Changed the 5th frame, and added in weapon positions for the 6th, and potential movement for the 7th (for those who can't read my appaling mousewriting, the top arrow is the path for the spear, the middle is the path for the (left) foot and the bottom is the path for the shield). I'm not sure if a turn will work in the animation, but it seems a more fluid motion, both from a visual perspective, and real work (I now have a fire staff which functions nicely as a sustitute weapon).

The shield is still fairly rough in the latter frames, I'm doing my best to fiddle it into looking right, the motion with is it pretty exaggerated in the newest frame, I doubt it'll be quite that low in the finished frame. Also I realise now I've shortened the spear in that frame.

Also a quite note; from tuesday I should be free to do a lot of Wesnoth artwork, I'm going to try and get all the dwarven SE animations done then move onto the new Elves Jet has done with the ultimate aim of getting them finished before I return to University in September.

Update: Added in the body. Not quite sure the proportions are right, I'll see when it's uploaded (I only ever notices things here and not on the GIMP preview for some reason).

[thespaceinvader]

Don't turn him round for the recovery, it'll be very difficult to read - just pull him back.

[Cloud]

I'm not so sure I agree with you there TSI, if I add in a few extra frames to make it obvious he's turned (which I'm planning anyways), and perhaps turn the head away on the second hit frame somewhat, I think it'll be obvious enough. Even if it turns out not to be (in which case it won't be difficult to the simple pull away) it'll still be useful for directional attacks so I'll finish it anyways.

If it does work out, it can also combine nicely with either another attack or the current defense frames.

[thespaceinvader]

Feel free ot give it a try if you think you can make it work, then - I'll withhold judgement until I've seen it in-game.

[Boucman]

i'd tend to agree with tsi here, but for different reasons...

This is a lvl1 unit, so a basic fighter... I don't imagine him doing complicated ninja-like moves

This unit is heavily "tanked" themed, I.e: solid, unmovable... again I don't think giving him a movement much more complicated than similar units is thematically fitting for that unit...

[Sgt. Groovy]

Turning your back to the enemy and making a time consuming 360 degree turn just to get back to your initial position makes no sense. Try it yourself and you'll notice that taking a simple step back is much faster and more fluid.

Other than that, the animation is coming along really well.

[Cloud]

I know it doesn't seem to fit the unit. However I have my reasons for chosing it to do the way I am.

For a start, it's not anything ninja-ish; just a simple pivot on the spot, even the heaviest warrior should be able to turn on the balls of their feet with a fair amount of speed.

Secondly; try the motion. It's very akward from fully extend to retract back the way you came, especially if there's any power behind the motion. On the flipside, it's fairly easy to turn the other way, and bring the shield around quickly for defense, pivoting around one foot, like in the current animation. A bluky warrior surely should take advantage of momentum, going with the direction of travel rather than against it.

Thirdly, the recovery frames will probably be slow once the shield is covering the body, giving the impression of the tankish warrior.

The other option to convey the tankisn nature of the unit is to have his feet totally static, or to have the back foot during the strike to come forward, which to me is conter-intuative, as the unit then has to retreat two paces.

By including the two defense frames it seems (to me at least) to flow nicely.

Groovy: Again I disagree, bringing the shield forward when you're streched out at full attack will be slower than spinning. I have tried the motion and I could bring a shield around faster by spinning (it's more like 180 too).


Compare the below. Both are the same number of frames, and without the spin it will probably need one extra frame to stop it seeming too jerky or overbalanced. Also the one with the spin is able to get the shield in front sooner (the undrawn frame).

[Vendanna]

Nope I don't see it, even if he could do in reality the spinning for a very primordial reason.

You don't give your back to the enemy. Period.

Its a big no no, since its hard to defend, you are too exposed since you cannot protect the vital organs that way and any experienced warrior would take advantage of that. (and trust me, no matter how green the lvl 1 recruits are, they are trained to take advantage of that)

So even if you think it may look "cool", its feels totally wrong and the chance they will implement that seems rather low, specially because the rest of spear thrusts would also look different from this one. Just trying to save you some time before you dwell too much into it

[thespaceinvader]

Also, spinning a long spear like that takes a lot more work than pulling it back, i think. I'll do some testing when i have my prop handy tomorrow.

[Cloud]

Mmm, I might have to start this again from scratch. The main problem is the feet, bringing the right foot forward isn't viable without spinning really, as too pull back one would be all off balanace and more exposed than spinning. Bringing the left foot forward would solve all the issues I have with the motion, perhaps that's why I'm so reluctant to change from a spin.

Ho-hum, said Pooh... Guess it's back to the drawing board.

[Sgt. Groovy]

It will be 180 degrees, because he has to turn back to face the enemy again.

Even from purely animational perspective, the back and forth motion seems more natural to me. He stretches forward like a rubber band and then rebounds, like a rubber band. The turning recovery combines straight and turning motions in an awkward manner. It would work better with a lateral swing type of attack instead of straight thurst.