Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
ideal. It is too mechanical and there are many visible bugs; nevertheless, it can be
used for a preview purpose. You should take such frames, create the sprite sheet,
and test the character inside the game world, regardless of minor demerits that can
be fixed later. The following figure shows the intermediate phases of the protagon-
ist's motion:
Once the draft animation fits naturally into the game, you can continue to work on the
walking cycle. The sequence can be enriched by additional phases of motion placed
between the main phases.
The following additional rules can help you:
•
Arcs
: The trajectories in the walking cycle are not straight lines, all elements
moved along curved paths. The height of the character is not constant. The
legs work like levers and change angles relative to the pelvis at all times.
The height is at maximum when the leg is completely straightened; in other
cases, the pelvis and the whole body moves downward. Thus, the figure of
the character always fluctuates—it moves up and down. The faster the char-
acter walks, the stronger the visual wavering is.
•
Flexibility and delay
: The character, even when it is a robot, is not a solid
object such as a rock or bronze statue. It consists of individual parts connec-
ted together, each joint gives the figure some range of freedom, and the body
is flexible and bounces when the figure walks. This means that impacts on
its parts are irregular, some of them react fast, while others react with a slight
delay. Everything depends on their mass, type of joint, and the distance to
the point of application. There is an obvious example from the real world: if
you move a cup with a tea bag inside fast enough, the paper label attached
to the tea bag with a thread will lag behind. When you stop, the label will
stop a little later. By introducing such behavior in the animation, you can in-
crease the artistic expression of the character, making it look more complex
and alive.
•
Recoil
: Objects don't stop without opposing actions.
