Topic: Soldier / Battle Animations

@Venatrix: Thanks. And don't be "shy" about saying what is on your mind. Sometimes I get "tunnel vision" and miss some possibilities to make the subject even better. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

If you look at modern reproductions of chainmail, it is usually bright and shiny. However, "stainless" steel didn't come on the scene until the twentieth century, so "back in the good old days" any iron object was always subject to oxidization. Rust red and dull gray or even black were far more common than bright chrome. That's not to say that shiny metal doesn't have it's place in the game. I just don't think that place is with the barbarians.

I see little people.

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I also like the last one most... I am sorry that I am late to the party just to give no new input

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Here are some stills to show where we are now:

Attack ... Starting from a crouch the soldier leaps up ... and strikes

Die ... ... going ...going ...gone!

I see little people.

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chuckw wrote: Well, I've just completed a full set of animations for the barbarian soldier and I like them so much I'm almost sure you will, too. So I've decided to merge them directly with the trunk and make it easier for all of us.
This little guy isn't etched in stone (we'll save that for the empire soldier ) so I want to hear your comments. Check out trunk bzr rev#5600 https://code.launchpad.net/widelands

Great work! :) I like it very much!

Constructive criticism: The changeovers of the animations are a bit jerky (the jumping part) - it's nothing that necessarily needs a rework, but in case you find a simple way to make them more smooth...

Cheers

Nasenbaer

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Thanks for your comments!

Nasenbaer wrote: Constructive criticism: The changeovers of the animations are a bit jerky (the jumping part) - it's nothing that necessarily needs a rework, but in case you find a simple way to make them more smooth...

I'll see what I can do. A quick movement gets more abrupt with fewer frames to portray it. As I see it, I have a couple options:

1) take more time and more frames for the animation (i.e. increase the current 1000ms duration to 1500 or so and keep the frame rate at 10 fps. This would "slow" the action down but simultaneously take longer to show it.), or

2) increase the frame rate to say 20-25 fps (the eye can't distinguish anything faster) and use more frames in the transitions to "smooth" out the action .

One second does seem to fly by in a blink, but that is what we currently have for the soldier attack and evade durations in the code, so that is what I rendered. Option 1 will need a code change I think unless you coders inform me otherwise.

SirVer wrote: I feel that the animations are a little too slow for my old eyes... year, I know, they are fighting, but I wouldn't mind them doing it in slow motion (that is, make the attack animation 50% longer or so), otherwise it is quite a bit hard to follow.

IMHO, 1 second should be all we need for the attacks/evasions. The individual fights seem long enough now to me without stretching them out in "slo-mo" which may get tiresome after seeing them over and over. So I'll play with the frame rate and aim for a less distracting battle. This is, after all, "eye candy" and I wouldn't want to adversely effect the game play by prolonging the battles. However, if we decide more time is desired, I can certainly amend the animations accordingly for "old" and "young" eyes alike.

SirVer wrote: I also think that the back jumping (when evading) is a bit distracting if there are many fights going on on the same time. Maybe just jumping upwards (and not too high) would be easier in big clumps.

I was aiming to make the successful evasion very obvious (and give the attacker lots of room to be seen falling on his face). I'll work on reducing the magnitude of the successful evasion.

SirVer wrote: I also like the dying animation, but I think it could also be a little slower (and play longer).

It is very tempting to have lots of fun with the eye candy and one can easily lose sight of the effect of "too much sweets". Like real candy, they can be sickening when taken in excess. I was aiming at the most sanitary and painless death scene I could imagine and I'm happy to see that you like the approach. To play this slower and longer may also require a code change. I'm not sure.

A place where we possibly could benefit from a longer animation is the soldiers' "idle" state. Right now, like with the other animations, I believe we have a one-second cycle for the idle animation. To be honest, I haven't tried to render a longer sequence and am not sure that anything longer than one second wouldn't play. I'd like confirmation that a longer sequence is supported, though, before I expand on this particular animation. To see the soldier smooth out his moustache repeatedly is a little tiring I'll admit. (Yes. THAT is what he is doing. Believe it or not.)

So, to sum up, here is my plan for the barbarian soldier:

1) I will experiment with increasing the frame rate for the attack and evasion animations to smooth out the action.

2) I will change the successful evasion animation to reduce the size of the movement to make it less distracting.

3) Upon confirmation that more time is available for playing, I will lengthen the death and idle animations.

If I've forgotten anything, please let me know.

Thanks again for your encouragement and suggestions.

I see little people.

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