Dragon sprite

[pixelmind]

Small Update of the impact attack.
Added another 2 frames and tweaked the existing ones

[thespaceinvader]

To make the animation feel faster and more powerful, take the middle frame out, and extend the swipe right from the start to the end of the swing. Then (as you already seem to have) have the swipe 'reel back in' to the hand. Also, I feel like there should be some motion through the wings, too - stretch them up slightly during the windup, and down slightly during the swipe - having them just move around but stay in exactly the same position is liable to leave them looking like cardboard cutouts. Otherwise, i'd say that one's a go to work up =)

[zookeeper]

I didn't see this covered anywhere, so...wouldn't the best kind of impact animation be if he simply slammed down to the ground with his palm, instead of making a swipe? He could either first rear up on his back legs like in some of the other previous animations a couple pages back or not (former being more impressive and the latter more like that mosquito thing). There wouldn't be any question of whether it looks more like blade or impact, either.

[Aethaeryn]

I didn't see this covered anywhere, so...wouldn't the best kind of impact animation be if he simply slammed down to the ground with his palm, instead of making a swipe? He could either first rear up on his back legs like in some of the other previous animations a couple pages back or not (former being more impressive and the latter more like that mosquito thing). There wouldn't be any question of whether it looks more like blade or impact, either.

I agree. The swipe makes it look like a blade, slashing attack.

[melinath]

I didn't see this covered anywhere, so...wouldn't the best kind of impact animation be if he simply slammed down to the ground with his palm, instead of making a swipe? He could either first rear up on his back legs like in some of the other previous animations a couple pages back or not (former being more impressive and the latter more like that mosquito thing). There wouldn't be any question of whether it looks more like blade or impact, either.

This was discussed starting on page 8. There was no consensus as such, but the rearing back was already suggested. I personally really like the backhand.

[thespaceinvader]

It was suggested on the previous page, but personally, I fear that it would end up looking similar to the bite attack. Though equally, you would be able to reuse a lot of frames from the fire attack.

That being said, the difficult with the dragons, particularly with Eternal's one that's on the way... is that they're covered in sharp-looking bits, so getting something which is easy to animate and looks like an impact attack *and nothing else* is difficult.

[pixelmind]

I think I'll stick with the backhanded attack.
I may try some kind of slamming animation with his whole body
but i want to avoid reusing the same type of movement as in the fire breath attack because it might get a bit too repetitive.

Added secondary motion to the wings and will start to wrap some skin arround it
( the head needs some further tweaks but i'll take care of this while drawing the actual frames )

[zookeeper]

Well, as I said the slamming wouldn't need to be with his whole body weight, just a simple one-handed insect-squashing action like this would do as well.

But yeah, I don't think there's anything wrong with the backhanded swipe.

[Vendanna]

I only see a problem with the "back-handed" and is that an animal wouldn't use that approach if possible for a few logical reasons.

1) The back of the hand usually isn't as protected as the other side (cartilague, and skin, but its rather weak to impacts)

2) If you have claws the instinct will tell you to use them, since it will hurt them more, it allows infections (if they are dirty).

So for me the only beleivable "impact" would be more like zookeper suggested, since what its does is to splash the target with the ground (and hold them in there for satisfaction to see the terron in their eyes) I have seen a few dragons (in movies and books) depicted doing that movement.

Also, realice that the "hand gesture" for splashing something and "shered" it to pieces is rather different (tought it may be hard to depict it on small scale) and to avoid confusions there is are two tricks that also helps greatly.

1) shaking screen. No "slash" does that usually, and gives an impression of a blunt hit.
2) the sound of the attack. A "thump" doesn't sound like something slashing throught (rassssh?)

and for the tail attack, take into account that a dragon would use it only if turning and attacking takes him more time. (usually a counterattack against enemiees on its back) so its actually rather hard to implement it visually (unless heavy filtering when he is attacked from the back) but orientation isn't something that is implemented, no?

That's all that I can say about it and why I think the backhand wouldn't look that good as compared to the other alternatives.

[thespaceinvader]

Unless pixelmind changes his (pixel)mind, the backhand slash is what will be made. As you correctly state, the sound will be important, and attaching a 'thump' sound to either version will make it seem like an impact. Adding a claw-rip or slash sound will make either seem like a blade attack.

I suggest that we all leave the topic alone now, and let pixelmind decide what he wants to animate. He's got both sides of the discussion coming out of his ears by now, I doubt very much he really needs anybody else's opinions.

That will be all...

[deserter]

Wouldn't something like this be considered? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdSY7E1n1iE

(I'm just kidding of course...)

[Kenpachi]

After reading through the entire thread, I just had to say; the picture is awesome, and the animation quality is incredible.

On the attack animation; I actually like both the back hand and the "bug squash".
I think it would be epic if he did the back hand, and the stomp.

So, he whacks them, then squashes them.

attack movement flow.png (576 Bytes) Viewed 4880 times

[Jetrel]

After reading through the entire thread, I just had to say; the picture is awesome, and the animation quality is incredible.

On the attack animation; I actually like both the back hand and the "bug squash".
I think it would be epic if he did the back hand, and the stomp.

So, he whacks them, then squashes them.

attack movement flow.png

I think you're talking about two alternate animations.

By which I mean to say, I don't care what your intent was - those two should not be combined in one animation, in wesnoth. It's too much motion in too short a time, and we canonically have only one "impact" per strike in the game. Not that it wouldn't look cool, it simply won't -work- in my experience. I've tried doing fancy, overcomplicated motions in my animations, and they're just awkward.

[pixelmind]

alternate animations ... would be cool but unless I really get bored I'll make just one animation per attack type ( which is already enough work considering that I have to do directional animations for 3 attacks )

Here's a little update ( still wip )

[Jacques_Fol]

I will just briefly add another vote to those who think this dragon art is simply brilliant. I do not know how much more transformation it would need to be acceptable for mainline, but I for one would also love to see it there.

Even if it doesn't, I am certain that it will get much UMC love - I for one can hardly wait to have it used for the main villain of my campaign; my only concern being that the player will then sacrifice many more ill-suited units than required just to see it in action that much longer...

To that end, of course, I (and perhaps others) will also be grateful if, once all the art is completed, someone versed in coding animation helped in achieving the same in-game smoothness of movement seen here in pixelmind's posts. Either way, I suppose we'll deal with it once the art is done. Until then, keep up the great work!