New animations

Ranger M · Post by **Ranger M** » March 6th, 2006, 8:16 am

make the head roll of the body and smash on the floor, would really improve the "fun" factor of it (not too much to make it silly though)

SmokemJags · Post by **SmokemJags** » March 6th, 2006, 8:18 am

For the 'serious' version?
I think I need to make his chest crumble like the level 1 skeleton too.
The flying bone fragments in silly version really take your eye away from it...
But with no motion like that in the 'serious' version his chest area really sticks out in a bad way.

SmokemJags · Post by **SmokemJags** » March 7th, 2006, 12:26 am

I was so disgusted with the 'serious' version when I looked at it again today, I completely re-did it.

It's shorter than the silly verison.
And there's not really anything silly about it. (Outrageous head/arm motions)

Other than the usual clean up and adding shadows, how's everyone think of this one?
And yes the final frame leaves him in a kneeling position. I kinda like it like that and DF's words about 'too long animations' kinda makes me not want to lengther it by making his body fall over.

If there are no qualms about it, I'll clean it up, add shadows, clean up the silly version a little bit, and submit both.

romnajin · Post by **romnajin** » March 7th, 2006, 12:46 am

Like that one a lot! Normally it wouldn't work, but when the body fades immediately after the animation plays, it will look fine without the body falling, I would like to see the silly animation at least as an "Easter Egg", though.

Woodwizzle · Post by **Woodwizzle** » March 7th, 2006, 5:10 am

I don't think having the body collapse would make the animation longer since it stays in the same spot as the head rolls. Maybe you could have it stall for a sec before the arms break and it collapses?

SmokemJags · Post by **SmokemJags** » March 7th, 2006, 5:17 am

I considered that, but I found that the falling body intercepted/collided with the fragments unless I gave the fragments a really crazy trajectory that would have them land about a hex and a half away.
The way I see it... the sudden collision of his arms against the ground was enough to dislodge his head from his body but insufficient to break his arms... A much stronger force would be required to cause his arms to buckle and collapse if the initial impact didn't. Somehow I don't see the weight of his torso meeting that requirement.
Plus everyone falls flat when they die. I want to try a little variety where a dead unit doesn't go completely prone.

Post by **Zhukov** » March 7th, 2006, 5:56 am

If Jags' original silly boneshooter death aimation doesn't get added, I am going to edit my game files to put it in. It's the only one worth including.

These 'serious' ones simply aren't in the same league as the amusing ones, and they never will be.

[/my opinion]

Woodwizzle · Post by **Woodwizzle** » March 7th, 2006, 6:58 am

Perhaps it is just wierd to me that his elbows lock up. What if his forearms fell flat agains the floor, but his body was still propped up by his upper arms? That might make a tad bit more physical sense and look a bit more natural for it.

toms · Post by **toms** » March 7th, 2006, 11:57 am

I think his arms should break off, and the archer should fall down with beeing completely flat adfter that. If you know what I mean.

Tomsik · Post by **Tomsik** » March 7th, 2006, 12:02 pm

Why skull crash like this? I think it should just fall on the ground.. it looks very unrealistic.

Post by **turin** » March 7th, 2006, 1:35 pm

I'm not a big fan of the "funny" death animations. They're definitely NOT what Jetryl meant when he said we could be a little more creative on the non-human guys.

SmokemJags · Post by **SmokemJags** » March 7th, 2006, 6:47 pm

So MK3 is still considered 'funny'?
I dunno what to do about it. I don't want just another unit that falls down flat like everybody else, and I want to keep Ranger M's idea of his bones breaking, namely his skull.
This is probably something that isn't going to be resolved to everyone's satisfaction so I'd like an executive decision from the art developers on this issue.
Should I bother finishing MK3 or just forget it because it's not going to be included?
Maybe a little more direction about how art should be?
The art to 'emulate' includes the duelist... his hat lags behind the rest of his body.
Skeleton doesn't have a hat... so I used his head to play with.

Should all humanoids just flop over when they die?
If this game was in 3D... you could have a universal 'death' skeleton and simply paste each individual unit's skin over that?
I kinda get the feeling that's what people are looking for. Is it?

I'll finish the really funny one just because some people have expressed special interest in it, whether or not it makes it into the release versions.

Post by **Redeth** » March 7th, 2006, 10:35 pm

SmokemJags wrote:So MK3 is still considered 'funny'?
I dunno what to do about it. I don't want just another unit that falls down flat like everybody else, and I want to keep Ranger M's idea of his bones breaking, namely his skull.
This is probably something that isn't going to be resolved to everyone's satisfaction so I'd like an executive decision from the art developers on this issue.

While we wait for that to happen, would you accept a few words from another animator-wannabe?

It's obvious that you've been working hard on all of your animations (a lot harder than I would on mine) trying to please everyone. But, as you can see, the rewards for such an effort are almost non-existant. A few keep loving your work, a few keep hating it, the rest won't care.

Some try to rationalize the whole creative process and produce 'formulas' for the 'perfect art' that everyone will like, but IMO there's not much reason behind it. It will always be subjective, such is the nature of art.

So, my humble advice is this: work on your animations until you feel satisfied with the final results, then just release them. If some art dev likes them, they may go in, or he may take it from there and make a few modifications to make them "good enough" to go in. If not, you honed your skills and hopefully learned a few tricks while making them, but the important thing is you didn't waste hour after hour doing some modifications you don't like (and never wanted) just to reach somebody else's dubious definition on what "good" is.

People should know that animating pixel art is a horribly tedious task when you don't really enjoy what you're doing. And you're not even getting paid for it, so the next time someone asks for a modification that you don't feel like doing, you can either ignore them (that's what I do) or answer them the same way Wesnoth coders and programmers do to the newbs and their 'cool' revolutionay ideas: 'do it yourself or shut it', or, in this case, it would be 'put your pixels where your mouth is'

By the way, I do like both of your funny animations, they're obviously the true representation of your style and where you put your best effort. Now, would I like to see them in game? I'm not so sure... My thing is 'realistic deaths' (my first attempt was bloody and all). Alas, wesnoth is not bloody, wesnoth is not comedy, wesnoth is not realistic, wesnoth is not silly, wesnoth is not a monkey dancing tango, wesnoth is not a lot of things... you'll get used to it. I did

Post by **Thrawn** » March 7th, 2006, 10:42 pm

Redeth wrote: By the way, I do like both of your funny animations, they're obviously the true representation of your style and where you put your best effort. Now, would I like to see them in game? I'm not so sure... My thing is 'realistic deaths' (my first attempt was bloody and all). Alas, wesnoth is not bloody, wesnoth is not comedy, wesnoth is not realistic, wesnoth is not silly, wesnoth is not a monkey dancing tango, wesnoth is not a lot of things... you'll get used to it. I did

if you made a monkey dancing tango death animation for a unit, I think it would go in...(subtle hint to see a death animation involving monkey tango dancers...)

Creative Mechanism · Post by **Creative Mechanism** » March 8th, 2006, 6:58 am

Redeath: I appreciate the insight.

As for the "funny" animations: these are very nice. I wouldn't worry about whether they're going to work or not. I'd prefer some less funny animations and these as random rewards (as has been previously suggested). In order for that to happen, you'd still have to make these. I like what you're doing and I hope you continue in the same vein. Good luck.