Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Next you have the Cycle. In the ladder-climbing example, the Cycle would be a short se-
quence involving the character climbing up or down the ladder. This would then be looped
for the duration of the movement.
Finally, we have the Move Out, which is simply the character leaving the ladder and re-
turning to the default idle animation or rest pose.
Blending Animations
Blendinganimationsareusedtotransitionthecharactersmoothlyfromoneanimationstate
to another—for example, from walking to running. Switching from one animation directly
toanothercancausethecharactertostutterortojumpobviously—blendinganimationsare
intermediate animations that take the character smoothly and seamlessly from the walk to
the run. These animations can even be taken a step further so that you have different an-
imations based on which foot the character is currently on when triggered to change to a
different animation.
With the exception of major change-of-venue actions such as the ladder climbing example,
blending animations are rarely usedingames. Blending isusually handled bythe game en-
gine, which tweens the position of the character in a frame of his current animation to the
newly called animation. Obviously, tweening isn't the most visually appealing or accurate
solution, but it is fast; and if the programmer is willing to tweak the parameters a bit, it can
have a quite passable result.
Custom Animations
These are simple animations that are specific to a character or to the game itself. Custom
animations can include things such as operating a computer or transforming into a beast,
but they are not the normal set of animations used by the majority of in-game characters.
Cinematic Animations
More and more games are relying on cinematic animations—real-time cut scenes—to help
the story progress. These are scenes played using the actual game engine rather than show-
ingaprerenderedmovie.Thismethodisbeneficial because itcanhelpkeeptheflowofthe
gameintact. These“scripted” eventsusuallyinvolveananimated scenebeingplayedwhen
triggered in the game.
