Stern's Art: Speckles the Toad

[Stern]

The current animation is pretty slow in comparison to a run animation at normal speed. In the animation in the above post, there is a 150 ms pause between each frame. With 12 frames, the entire animation is 1800 ms long. If ran at its current speed, the ghast would clear 5.2 hexes at its current speed in a single stride.

Spoiler:

(For math enthusiasts)

If 1 stride = Half of the animation
-> 1800 ms / 2 = 900 ms is the time it takes for the Ghast to make one stride.

The Ghast moves across one hex per 170 ms during normal animation.
-> 900 ms / 170 ms = 5.2 hexes

Therefore the Ghast will clear 5.2 hexes per stride in the current animation.

At this rate, the Ghast will appear to "slide" more than "step."

I sped the animation up so that the Ghast would match one hex with each step by reducing the time between the frames to 28 ms as opposed to the orginal 150 ms.

Spoiler:

(More math!)

Time between frames = 150 ms
Reduce time by = 5.2 times
>150 ms / 5.2 = 28.8 ms

Half animation =6 frames

6 frames * 28 ms = 168 ms to cross the hex

This is how the Ghast would look in game at normal speed while moving across one hex per stride.

ghast-anim24-28.gif (6.42 KiB) Viewed 4250 times

I think the Ghast's walk animation is way too choppy to work properly in game. Next, I will try smoothing the animation and doing some recoloring.

*EDIT*

I recolored the Ghast and smoothed the animation. Do you think the walking animation could work in game?

ghast-anim28.gif (7.25 KiB) Viewed 4210 times

ghast-anim28-28.gif (7.25 KiB) Viewed 4210 times

[thespaceinvader]

I think we'd need to work out how to make it slower.

[boru]

Obviously, the approach that works for moving small hyperactive saurians will not convey realistic movement for large beasts like the ghast. There's also a gameplay element to consider. If it takes the ghast 2 or 3 times longer to move through his hexes, the realistic movement will come at a cost to the player.

If anyone's played Heroes of Might & Magic V, there's a unit called the Titan, who is a huge guy and moves slower than molasses. Very realistic movement, but you very quickly tire of it because it slows down the whole game.

With this in mind, it may be necessary to keep the number of ghast walking frames very low.

Another idea is to make his stride very wide so he can pass through a hex more quickly without a full cycle of his walking animation.

[Stern]

I believe that it will take some tinkering and experimentation to make Wesnoth's larger beasties look good while walking at the game's normal run speed. With that in mind, I will finish the Ghast's walking animation.
I doubled the time between the frames from 28 ms to 56 ms. I think that the Ghast's animation looks fine here. At this rate, the Ghast would cover 2 hexes per stride. It will take some in game testing to see if this would be plausible.

Does Wesnoth 1.8 support walking animations?

[thespaceinvader]

Yes. Check out how the Bat does its movement anims. I think.

[Atz]

I still find that difficult to read. I really think you need to cut down on the lurching and arm movement. Sure, it might be good flavour, but that's no use if I can't tell what's going on.

[bigkahuna]

Wow. Way too fast. It is a nice animation, but

2 hexes per stride

seems WAY too far. Also, as Atz already said,

I really think you need to cut down on the lurching and arm movement.

[em3]

Wouldn't it be sensible to have units like this walk slower? I mean a configurable, per unit, relative movement speed modifier. I'm not really familiar with the campaign, but if there are not many ghasts at a given time, this wouldn't slow the game down too much...

[Stern]

Happy Holidays!

Animated Baseframe of ZeroVirus' Santa Claus.

Santa tosses gifts to all the other Wesnothians.

santa-attack3.gif (5.34 KiB) Viewed 3966 times

gift.png (3.11 KiB) Viewed 3966 times

[boru]

lol! nice, Stern

[Reepurr]

lol! nice, Stern

QFT and I will now stop derailing this thread.

[artisticdude]

Lol, that's just awesomeness and pure win.

His hat could stand to move more though, and his right boot seems rather pillowed. Love the way you animated the sack though, the kinematics of that massive amount of cloth make me shudder.

[bigkahuna]

Lol, that's just awesomeness and pure win.

QFT. You should make some reindeer sprites now

[Zerovirus]

Haha, man, it took me a few seconds to realize that was my baseframe. Nice animation, and cool projectile

(that santa sprite is crap now I should redo it sometime)

(maybe next year)

[Stern]

As a continuation of my latest UMC project, I am developing the Ghast's Walk Cycle into a high speed run. After getting halfway through finishing the Ghast's walking frames, I decided to try a new angle of attack.
In the old walk cycle, the Ghast lurched backwards and forwards and looked as if he had trouble standing upright as he jauntily strolled along. The new run cycle I am developing brings the Ghast into a new light. A quick and speedy creature who is adept at catching prey.
Right now, the animation is still in its infancy as I am blocking out the motions and streamlining his movements. Depending on how the Ghast's animation turns out, I might afterwards write a quick tutorial for run animations.

ghast-run-11A.gif (1.79 KiB) Viewed 3734 times