Game Animation Fundamentals 🎮Readability
Vložit
- čas přidán 4. 06. 2024
- Head to squarespace.com/videogameanim... to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using Coupon Code: VIDEOGAMEANIMATION
Continuing this mini-series looking at The Five Fundamentals of Video Game Animation, as proposed by Jonathan Cooper in his book:
www.gameanim.com
This time we're looking at the fundamental of READABILITY, the fundamental that determines how your character looks from any angle.
MUSIC:
0:00 - Track 4 - Time Trax
0:49 - Option - Mega Man X8
1:27 - Menu - Sonic the Hedgehog (iOS port)
2:35 - Track 3 - Sheep Dog 'n Wolf
6:58 - Special Stage (US) - Sonic CD
Music not listed is my own music or royalty free music.
Link to Mark Brown video: • The Challenge of Cameras
Please consider supporting the channel through Patreon to help improve the quality of research, editing, footage capture, animation and overall production of each episode:
www.patreon.com/DanRoot
#TheFiveFundamentals - Hry
That Time Trax song at the start is so fantastic and smooth.
Lakitu's contribution to the Mario-verse is under-recognized.
You really know your stuff by the way!
Oh hey it's you! Thanks, and likewise!
Yeah Time Trax is just a killer soundtrack!
This wasn't mentioned in the video, but when you mentioned silhouettes, I thought of Team Fortress 2. There's a note left by the developers in the game, where they mentioned how it was important to make each character recognizable so that in the thick of battle, you can instantly identify the enemy's class, just by the height of their character, the form of the character, the hunched-ness of the character - everything works in tandem. So that, before you even process what the enemy looks like, just by their silhouettes, you can recognize their class, and therefore, how much of a threat they pose.
I wanted to get some Team Fortress 2 footage but I ran out of time, but I want aware of that note, that's super interesting!
Yeah, and this is also true for overwatch which actually had sombra's model be redesigned before release because her hood made her silhouette too similar to Ana's
Thanks for the shout out Dan!
I hope you don't mind, it was such a relevant video!
My review of the subtle edits in this video: 10.5/10.
There's not many channels that guide it's viewers on such a straight path like this channel.
No buts just the facts.
And I like it for that reason.
I'm not even here because I'm making a game, I just find these detailed animation videos very helpful in general, from the tips to the examples. (it also helps that it's fun to watch)
Good job explaining the emphasis on camera positioning. I feel that's why early thriller games used a fixed camera so you had to see things coming at you from a certain angle I tend to think of Resident evil.
Yeah definitely, I think that's a great way to force a player to experience things a certain way.
wait what how are these comments up before the video was released
Like in the original Resident Evil games on PS1
sorry i meant something else i edited the original comment for clarity
Oh, Patrons get to view the video early.
6:50
*4 aggressive shots to kill*
*3 defensive shots to prevent his corpse from reanimating as an infected/zombie.*
3:00 all 21 of these characters are so iconic they can be determined from their silhouettes. Great point! Even the characters with a sword you know who's who.
I only got 14-16 of them
@@HaydenTheEeeeeeeeevilEukaryote a few of them I got stumped on but it was mainly a few of the sword guys. It was a fun game.
I got:
------------------------------------------------------
*Prince of the Cosmos*
*Abe*
*Ridley*
*Cloud*
*Conker*
*Crash*
*Jim*
*Tingle*
*Pikachu*
*Mega-Man*
*Rayman*
*Hollow Knight*
*and Steve*
*_13/21_* characters.
EDIT: Goddammit, upon him being mentioned and me second checking the first one wasn't the Prince of the Cosmos, it was Gomez. I shall keep the initial guess on this comment as such to forever immortalize my lack of attention to detail.
I hope it makes you feel accomplished that I am an animation student at an art school in America, and I legitimately study your videos and take notes on them. They've been and continue to be a great and informative resource (especially now that I'm making a game of my own). Keep up the good work!
That's great to hear, I'm glad they're helping!
Can you make a video talking about how the music fits with the animations during the gameplay? I'm quite interested in that animation-music relationship.
Music and audio is definitely on the list at some point!
A particularly underrated & beautifully animated "odd exception" was 1998’s _Heart of Darkness_ from Éric Chahi. My childhood right here.
The same was true of Chahi's earlier Another World / Out Of This World. Lester was always properly side-on during gameplay. And that game had some amazing animation, especially considering the constraints of computers circa 1990. Lester's made of, like, twelve polygons but his animation is still super-smooth.
Fez, Abe, Big Daddy, Ridley, Chun-li, Cloud and Conker.
Crash, Earthworm Jim, GLaDOS, Tingle, Alucard, Pikachu and Geralt.
Master Chief, Rock Man, Strider Hiryu, Rayman, The Knight, Steve and Lara Croft.
OH MY GOD you got one that NO ONE else has got so far!!
Actually...is that all of them??
2:58 - I guessed 17 of the characters correctly! Noticed the ones I didn't (apart from #10) were all because they could have been multiple characters and I couldn't figure out which they were.
Perfect to illustrate the exact point you are making!
The ones that I recognized at 3:00 are:
Fez, Big Daddy(?), Ridley, Chun Lee, Cloud, Conker, Crash, Earthworm Jim, GLaDoS, Tingle, Pikachu, Mega Man, Raymen, The Knight, Steve/Alex, and Lora Croft(?).
Something I've noticed when playing Two Point Hospital recently is how the little pratfall of a staff member slipping on a monobeast corpse never fails to amuse me, despite having seen it probably half a dozen or a dozen times by now. Might be interesting to see a break down on that animation (or the animation in management/sim/god games generally)
This channel just captivates me fully! I can't look away. Usually, I come into CZcams to just listen while performing other tasks. But here, I just can't do anything else! 😁
Awesome work as always, dude! This was a huge help!
I'm not sure if you've done this yet, but one thing that would be interesting to see a video on is
Menu/UI animation. an odd topic, I know, but definitely something to think about since there's quite a lot that goes into it.
Thanks!
It's definitely something I've thought about!
Shout out to the Sheep Dog n Wolf music!
Seriously how is your channel not big this is crucial information for aspiring Devs like you don't even need to buy a book (although support the publishers )
The book goes into much more important details, this is just surface level stuff, but thanks so much!
Just commenting to help the algorithm.
supersonicsaga go go algorithm
2:59 Gomez (Fez), Abe (OddWorld), Big Daddy (Bioshock), Meta Ridley (Metroid Prime), Chun-Li (Street Fighter), Cloud (FF7), Conker, Crash Bandicoot, Earthworm Jim, "Skip", Tingle (Zelda), Alucard (?/Castlevania), Pikachu (Pokemon), Geralt (The Witcher), Master Chief (Halo), Mega Man, Strider Hiryu, Rayman, The Knight (Hollow Knight), Steve (Minecraft), Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)
20/21 Correct (I hope)
6:32
👀👀👀
3:00 Gomez, Abe, Big Daddy, Ridley, Chun-Li, Cloud, Conker, Crash Bandicoot, Earthworm Jim, GLaDOS, Tingle, Alucard, Pikachu, Geralt, Master Chief, MegaMan, Strider, Rayman, the Knight, Steve, and Laura Croft
Boom!!
Video Game Animation Study surprised I could remember Gomez’s name correctly lol
The thing I hate about your videos
is that they don't have enough views
Instant like for showing Hyper Light Drifter
Top to bottom, left to right...
- Don't know
- Don't know
- Big Daddy?
- Maybe Ridely
- Know, but forget name
- Cloud
- Conker
- Crash
- Earthworm Jim
- Not sure
- Tingle
- Maybe from Castlevania
- Pikachu
- Don't know
- Don't know
- Mega Man
- Don't know
- Rayman
- The Knight
- Steve?
- Don't know
4 of which I didn’t know by Name, 2 of those 4 silhouettes I knew the game not the name.
im just happy i saw rayman in the silhouettes part
anyway i think i recognized most of these but the more realistic silhouettes did get me confused
2:59 uuhm let's see
The fez guy
The oddworld guy
The Bioshock guy - Big Daddy I think?
Ridley
Chun-Li
Cloud
Conker
Crash Bandicoot
Earthworm Jim
The Xenoblade... Thing
Tingle
I'm not sure if that's Alucard or the Simon Belmont redisgn
Pikachu
Don't know
Master Chief
Megaman
Don't know
Rayman
The Knight from Hollow Knight
Minecraft Steve
Lara Croft
Elia, forse pretty on point, though the xenoblade thing is actually GLaDOS, and to the right of Pikachu it’s Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher. As for the one to the right of Mega Man I have no idea
@@blajablaja1 Ooooh yeah, so that's glados, it makes so much more sense. I was thinking of Riki from Xenoblade Chronicles
Elia, forse well, I’ve never played Xenoblade so I was biased to see Glados lol
@@blajablaja1 The one right of megaman is Strider Hiryu
Christian Aguilar I knew it looked somewhat familiar
Your narration is super chill, I like it!
I liked the editing, the nice cool things like the diamond framing 8:15 (as minor as this example is) didn’t go unnoticed.
I'm really enjoying this series so far.
Especially since it's saving me reading the second hand copy of Game Anim I've had in my shame pile for the last few months. ¬_¬
Trust, there's lots more to get from the book, this is mere tip of the ice berg! But thank you, still.
i like how Megaman running animation in Dragalia Lost is still using 2 frame instead of fluid motion, and its so iconic they didnt change it
Oh, thanks for telling me about this, it looks fantastic! :-)
Production quality on point as always.
FEZ hero (?) - Abe from Oddworld - Big Daddy - Ridley - Chun-Li - Cloud - Conker
Crash - Space Worm Jim - (crap can't get this one) - Tingle - Alucard - Pikachu - Geralt De Riv
Master Chief - Megaman - Strider - Rayman - Stinger(?) Hollow Knight hero - Steve - Lara Croft
I love your videos, they're very insightful! I'm not an animator but since I'm trying to be a solo dev, I'll probably have to get into animation before too long haha. Plus I just really like and appreciate animation a lot. I definitely appreciate all your videos and will likely rewatch a bunch of them for reference!
Really enjoying that jazzy jungle track in the background... artist?
Wonderful vid Dan! Always enjoy your content.
The music is in the description. It's all video game music.
Man, what a great video, thanks:)
Another excellent video. I found the part about considering center of gravity to be especially illuminating.
Anyway, just commenting to say good job and to help the algorithm pick up this video.
Thank you for using the Sonic CD (US) Special Stage music. :)
I love both the JP and US soundtracks equally, but man that US special stage music is special!
Loved it thanks!
outstanding
I recognized all but 4. The thing right from Earthworm Jim, sword guy left of Pikachu and the people next to Mega Man.
I'm sure of 20 out of 21 of the silhouettes. That chunky one on the left side of the second row is a real head scratcher for me.
Not many people have got that one
It's been a joy reading Gameanim :D
also, it's a little different from animating on a movie (even 3D ones) - which is about how it looks good and readable on a shot
Lovely video
My game answers:
1. Fez guy
2. Abe from Oddworld
3. Big Daddy
4. Ripley
5. Chun Li
6. Cloud
7. Conker
8. Crash Bandicoot
9. Earthworm Jim
10. (Not sure)
11. Tingle (I think that's his name)
12. (Not sure)
13. Pikachu
14. Geralt of Rivea
15. Doom Guy (I think. Not sure)
16. Mega Man
17. Strider (I think)
18. Rayman
19. Hollow Knight
20. Steve from Minecraft
21. Lara Croft from Tomb Raider
That's it! Fun game. Hope I did well. How'd I do? :)
All correct apart from Doom guy
Quiz: Gomez from Fez, Abe from Munchworld, Big Daddy from Bioshock, Ridley from Metroid, Chun-Li from Street Fighter, Cloud from FF7, Conker, Crash Bandicoot, Earthworm Jim, ???????, Tingle from Zelda, ?????(I would guess Fire Emblem?), Pikachu, Geralt the Witcher, a spartan from Halo, Mega Man, Strider Hiryu, Rayman, Hollow Knight, Steve from Minecraft, and Lara Croft
This video is very readable!
Nice video!!
1-Fez, 2-?, 3-The guy in bioshock, 4-Ridley, 5-Shun Li, 6-Cloud, 7-Conker, 8-Crash, 9-Earthworm Jim, 10-?, 11-Tingle, 12-Alucard, 13-Pikachu, 14- Geralt, 15-Master Chief, 16-Megaman, 17-?, 18-Rayman, 19-The knight, 20-Steve, 21-Lara Croft
Just want to tell you great videos they are always very top notch and informative.
Also you may want to know the description is wrong.
Thank you so much, and thanks for letting me know, I've just changed it 😅
this is super important
While there have been exceptions to the 3/4 facing part (in more 2D styled animation), I do occasionally get annoyed when I see a game not use the 3/4 posing and the characters just look so boring in motion.
Yeah, there's a reason most use 3/4 as it's the most interesting.
thsnks
From the silhouettes: From top left to bottom: The guy from FEZ. If I got the name right. I definitely recognize the character, Abe, Big Daddy, Ridley, but that's a weird angle of her, Chun-Li, Cloud, Conker, Crash, Earthworm Jim, Fuck if I know, Tingle, I'm not sure. I'm going to guess Alucard from, Castlevania, Pikachu, Geralt, Sheeeiiit, Megaman, Strider Hiryu, Rayman, Hollow Knight, Steve, Lara Croft.
Only two on there I don't know.
Of the silhouettes I recognize, in order they are: Fez, Big Daddy, Ridley, Chun-li, Cloud, Conker, Crash Bandicoot, Earthworm Jim, GLaDOS? I think, Tingle, Pikachu, Geralt, Halo, Megaman, Rayman, The Knight, Steve, and Lara Croft. 2, 12, and 17 are unknown to me.
You've done well!
This was uploaded the moment I fell asleep but I guess I can give my thoughts still:
Readability is basically what the title says. It's like reading a book but through different perspectives. But instead for a game, it's different angles and reading frames of animation. It may be one of the hardest skills to perfect in VideoGame Creation and so it's pretty impressive when done right.
As for the silhouettes:
?, Abe, Big Daddy, Ridley, Chun Li, Cloud Strife, Conker, Crash Bandicoot, Earthworm Jim, ?, Tingle, ?, Pikachu, ?, ?, MegaMan, ?, Rayman, Hollow Knight, Steve, ?
Great video!
Yeah that's kind of it! And good guesses!
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Thank you!
at 3:00 Most silhouettes i couldn't recognize are those who has swords with them. Curious.
Actually, the only swordsman i could recognize is Cloud.
There are so many swords people out there.
Now i want to exploit this realization.
I dont plan on developing a game. Just think your videos are neat.
Oh crap I almost forgot to watch this today I’ll go ahead and do it now before I forget again
If the 2nd one is from oddworld, the only one i didnt know was the first. Fun game!
Gotta love reading!
Wait... this isn’t about books!
I recognized 19 of them, can't name all of them tho
mega man, minecraft steve, conker, pikachu, rayman, crash, hollowknight.
I’m curious about your thoughts on the more “static” games, like strategy or turn based combat. Since the camera is often fixed, it might be easier to create more interesting silhouettes, but there’s often a wide variety of animations of different attacks and spells and status effects that would make it harder to consistently fine tune.
Hmm interesting, I have done a video on puzzle have animation called "the absence of animation", that might cross over.
Ok, Here's my guess from top left to bottom right:
1) FEZ (does that character have a name?)
2) Abe from Oddworld
3) Big Daddy from Bioshock
4) not sure, but it might be Riddley from Metroid
5) Chun-Li from Street Fighter
6) definitely from Final Fantasy but I don't know his name
7) Conker from Conker's Bad Fur Day
8) Crash from Crash Bandicoot
9) Earthworm Jim
10) I have absolutely no idea
11) I think his name is Tingle and he's definitely from Zelda
12) no idea
13) Who's That Pokemon?! ..... It's Pikachu!!
14) Is that The Witcher?
15) I have no idea. It looks a little like Master Chief from Halo, but not quite.
16) Mega Man
17) no idea
18) Rayman!
19) The Knight from Hollow Knight
20) Herobrine from Minecraft (I can't believe they still haven't fully removed him yet)
21) Laura Croft maybe? I don't know.
Interesting that you said herobrine and not steve
Pretty good going, I think you might have the most!
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy It's killing me, what were the ones that I missed?
[edit] Oh my god it was GladOS how could I have been so blind?!
GlaDOS indeed!
First try:
Fez, IDK, Bioshock, Ridley, Chun-Li, Cloud, Conker, Crash, Earthworm Jim, IDK, Tingle, Dracula, Pikachu, IDK, Master Chief, Mega Man, Strider Hiryu, Rayman, Hollow Knight, Minecraft, Lara Croft.
Just don’t know those 3
Well done!
Video Game Animation Study Thank you! If you don’t mind, could you tell me the ones that I missed?
Abe from Oddworld, GlaDOS from Portal and Geralt from The Witcher.
(also it's Alucard, not Dracula!)
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Ah gotcha. Thank you for the answers and correction!
In the silhouettes i recognized:
Gomez, Big Daddy, Ridley, Chun Li, Cloud, Conker
Crash Bandicoot, Tingle, Dracula, Pikachu, Geralt
Masterchief, Megaman, Rayman, the Knight, Steve and Lara Croft
What's my prize?
A million points!
I damn near got all of the silhouettes except for one.
I knew 17 and have a pretty good guess of the other 3
List em! ☺️
The only one I didn't recognize is the bulky one between Earthworm Jim and Tingle
Secrets
9:26 you too
❤️
Gomez, Abbey, Big Daddy, Ridley, Chun-Li, Cloud, Conker, Crash, Earthworm Jim, (unknown), Tingle, (idk, some Fire Emblem character?), Pikachu, (unknown), Master Chief, Mega Man, (unknown), Rayman, Hollow Knight, Minecraft Steve, (Modern Lara Croft??)
Mostly right!
6:52 when you sacrifice your life for science
(≧▽≦)
2:30 I got all except 4
Great video! What game is shown at 0:03 (after the Spiderman clip)?
Thanks, that's Shadow of the Colossus
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Whaaat. I had no idea the remaster looked that good!
i think you should link the gmtk video you suggested at the end or in the description or something so ppl can more easily find it
Good idea!
Video Game Animation Study hell yeah it is, I came up with it after all
It's added, btw ☺️
Video Game Animation Study nice
I was thinking about buying the book but the site connection is not secure so I don't feel comfortable putting my card information on there. They should update it to be actually secure.
My guesses for the characters are (from left onwards):
- Fez
- Abe (oddworld)
- big daddy (bioshock)
- Ridley (metroid)
- chun li (street fighter)
- cloud (FF7)
- Conker (bad fur day)
- crash bandicoot
- earthworm Jim
- *I dunno help!*
- tingle (legend of rupees)
- *dunno again*
- Geralt (Witcher)
- Master Chief (Halo)
- Megaman
- Strider
- Rayman
- Hollow Knight
- Steve (Minecraft)
- Lara Croft (Tomb Raider reboot)
You're right apart from the two you missed!
The first dunno is Glados (Portal). That one threw me off for a second too. Her design relies a high contrast colour scheme to create silhouettes within silhouettes, so reducing her down to a pure black silhouette like this does make her look a bit blobby and amorphous (also doesn't help that she's not entirely anthropomorphic like the other characters so her silhouette is much harder to parse at a glance).
The second dunno has me stumped too. It's not a bad silhouette but it's generic as hell so I can't say I recognise it.
Big daddy from bioshock, Ridely, that girl from street fighter, cloud, Conkers, Crash, the Super worm dude, Tingle, Pikachu, The Witcher, Megaman, Rayman, Hollow knight, Steve.
I want all of those to be the official names
It really readabilities like Mario
Why is the video bar different from other videos, like cut into segments? Never seen that
It's a new thing CZcams has done, they've turned timestamps in a video description into video chapters now.
It's a bit annoying in some cases, as mine are for music and not related to the video content.
3:00 recognized 17
3:00 I recognise 16 maybe
where is the league of legends gameplay at 6:12 from? never seen the rift from that angle
It's from one of the trailers from their CZcams channel, one of the early ones.
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy do you think you could link it or tell me the name of the video? having trouble finding it. thank you! love your content
It's this one: czcams.com/video/76cG7bcmmqM/video.html
During the Silhouette part, I got 20 of em. Just one I didn't recognize.
I'd list them, because lots of people haven't got them..
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Alright.
First is the main character of Fez, then Abe from the Oddworld games. After that is Big Daddy (Bioshock), then Ridley, looking specifically like the 3D model used to recreate the opening of Super Metroid in one of the other games. Chun Li from Street Fighter. Final Fantasy VII sends in Cloud Strife. Conker (Conker's Bad Fur Day) for more mature humor. Crash Bandicoot from same titled game. Earthworm Jim (also self-titled game). Here's who I didn't know, the chain person. Then, gah, Tingle from Zelda. Alucard is next from Castlevania, followed by the Pokemon Pikachu to be cute, then Geralt from the Witcher. Master Chief from Halo is next (only IDed by his gun), then the super fighting robot, Megaman! Next is Strider Hiryu from Strider. Rayman bobs in next. The adorable little fellow next is the main character of Hollow Knight and has many nicknames. Steve from Minecraft is next and last but certainly not least is Lara Croft from Tomb Raider.
All correct apart from the one you didn't know.
A hint; it's a robotic AI
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy It's going to be someone, that once I'm told I go 'Ooooh, why did I miss that?'
... just read down a bit, yep it was.
I got 20/21
2:46 what is the third silhouette??
Buttercup from Powerpuff Girls
I got around '11
I may just not be familiar with the game but who's on 2nd row, 3rd column?
Fez, Abe, Big Daddy, Ridley, Chun Li, Cloud, Conker, Crash, Earth Worm Jim, ???, Tingle, Alucard, Pikachu, Geralt, Master Chief, MegaMan, Strider, Rayman, Hollow Knight, Steve, Lara Croft
I thought it might be Baz from Shovel Knight. Not convinced it's GLaDOS.
1. FEZ creature
2. Don’t know lmao
3. Big Daddy
4. Ridley
5. Chun-Li
6. Cloud
7. Conker
8. Crash
9. Earthworm Jim
10. GLaDOS
11. Tingle
12. Alucard?
12. Pikachu
13. Idk
14. Don’t know
15. Mega Man
16. Sword guy
17. Rayman
18. The Knight
19. Minecraft Steve
20. Lara Croft
2:59 FEZ(?), ?, Big Daddy, Ridley, Chun-Li, Cloud, Conker, Crash, Earthworm Jim, ?, Tingle, Alucard, Pikachu, ?, Master Chief, Mega Man, ?, Ray Man, Hollow Knight, Steve, ?
Obviously, not I'm not the best at recognizing...
You've done pretty well!
Silhuetes: Bugs Bunny, Uncle Scrooge, Buttercup, Bart, Sonic, Mario, Snake, Fez, Abby, Big Daddy, Ridley, Chun-Li, Cloud, Conker, Crash, Earthworm Jim, (don't know), Tingle, Alucard, Pikachu, Gerald (?), Master Chief (?), Megaman, Strider, Rayman, Hollow Knight, Steve, Lara Croft.
So, how many I got right?
All apart from Abbey, unless your predictive text is on?
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy LOL I simple remembered wrong. Abe's Odyssey that one. Since i'm here, wich is the one between Jim and Tingle? I believe it's from a RPG, but I can't figure out.
7:40 - 7:42
Probably just weird edit mistake but I still wanted to point it out.
What was weird?
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Oh, nevermind, I appears that I did a mistake here. I have mistaken Muramasa with Dust: An Elysian Tail and thought that the title is somehow not correct.
I could guess 16 characters
I recognize 7
The protagonist of Fez
No idea
Big Brother (or is it Big Daddy?) from Bioshock
Ridley
Chun Li
Cloud
Conker
Crash Bandicoot
Earthworm Jim
No idea
Tingle
Alucard?
Pikachu
Geralt?
No idea
Super Fighting Robot Mega Man
That ninja with the loud-ass laser sword? I think his name is Stryder?
Rayman
The Knight
Steve
No idea
You've got the most so far and the only one to recognise Alucard, Geralt and Strider!