Fun seeing the animation progress through each stage! (I think the updated hair movement is definitely improved btw)

Also, dunno if I'm the only one that thinks her posture seems a bit hunched now? Its like her head and upper body are leaning as expected, but where her shirt ends and shorts (skirt?) begin is almost level with the ground (instead of leaning at the same angle as upperbody/head, if that makes sense). That said I'm aware this is a draft, so it's probably just the temp clothes throwing me off. Once the clothes are finalized with motion of her run it should hopefully alleviate the hunched look. Looking good overall though, keep it up!

I like it! all the different particles moving away at different speeds is cool. has a kind of magic vibe, I can imagine it being satisfying. Have you put it in game? that often lets you see it in a new light, the best light really, as that's where it will end up!

I might add one or two more frames at the start, with the block swelling and its straight lines becoming curves, and also maybe try drastically lightening up the block's colours on a frame or two as if its being overcome with the magic energy that pops and disintegrates it.

Thanks! The magic vibe was what I was aiming for, glad to hear it. We haven't implemented this version yet (I would if I could myself, but alas, having one programmer means he's always busy!) but if you're curious to see what we had before (and why we're changing it) here's a little cropped view of actual gameplay with a couple combos going off.

And you mentioned adding some brightness before the explosion, and I agree! We do have some programatic flashing but the problem is it settles on a non-brightened frame before the actual "pop". So that will be worth revisiting. But yeah the old "pop" was very large and overlapping and too long (blocks would fall into a just-exploded blocks space and part of the residue would still be animating on top of it, not very elegant imo.

Really cool! Would love to see more (since as we all know, all animations offer their own unique challenges/learning opportunities) since it's rare to see walkthroughs by people already working at a professional levels, partly because, I guess, they're just too busy actually working! Thanks and I'll keep my eyes peeled for new installments!

Hey guys, newcomer here, not just to this forum but to pixel art in general! My background before starting the whole game dev thing was actually in video/graphic design, so naturally I felt most comfortable in Adobe products when I started to explore pixel art. Photoshop took some serious settings tweaks and tricks to make pixel art friendly, but over the months I've gotten to a good place and able to work quickly/frustration free.

...that is, until I start animating. At first, I was thrilled to find Photoshop had a timeline with layers (reminded me of After Effects, which I was also very familiar with). But I quickly found it to be very stubborn and lacking keyboard shortcut options. I typically use a lot of layers as I work, like if I need to be overlaying multiple animated elements over a base animation, or having all 8 directions for a character animation in one project file, the layer situation can get really out of hand. Just so you have an idea (these "layer stairs" go on much longer in both directions btw):

http://i.imgur.com/8aydSSR.png

Things like trimming layers with a keyboard shortcut, or being able to shrink the vertical height of the layer chunks(so I can see more of my stuff in one view), or even applying multiple duration changes to a group selection, just don't exist. Not sure if it makes a difference, but I am still using CS6, and I was curious to ask anyone else that might be using newer versions of Photoshop (like CC) if their timeline options are a little more fleshed out. Or if they have any advice in general for the version I have currently. I've googled around without too much luck regarding whats new with the timeline stuff. Just wanted to see if I'm not the only one here fighting these battles!

Thanks for your time!

edit: and just to clarify, overall I think Photoshop is great and on the right track, the parts of the timeline that do work as expected let me do things that always felt awkward in their old Frame Animation system. I feel like it gives me a tighter control and better visual reference when I have a lot of separate moving parts. I just wish I was doing more with my keyboard and less one-at-a-time-click-and-dragging with my mouse.