GR#149 - Jumping Animation

[shane.poole]

Hey there Zizka.

You really need to think about what kind of platformer it is you're going to make. If it's going to be a fast-paced one with semi-twitchy or full-on twitchy controls like meatboy, I would say omit the anticipation and landing animations completely. Focus on animating the upward jump (when your y velocity is moving you upwards) and when you come falling down. Also, that jump looks to me like you're standing in a single spot and jumping. This is all of course just my opinion (take it with a bucket of salt, I'm still a noob), but think about the x velocity as well as the y, and then make your animations work accordingly to match the speed of the character.

If you're making a slower platformer that uses slightly more realistic physics (where jumps take a while to execute), then the anticipation animation should probably be fine, provided it's not too slow.

Now the landing animation could potentially work in any situation, provided that the player is coming straight down (little to no velocity on the x axis), upon which the character's landing animation will execute. This could also work for a fast-paced platformer if you allow the animation to be interrupted immediately upon player input. In such a case, I would recommend you also put in a rolling animation if the player's x velocity exceeds a certain amount.

I probably don't need to tell you this, but think about the gameplay mechanics and fine controls first before you animate your sprites. You could also program your game and test/tweak the animations by actually trying it out while tweaking the physics, gravity or character velocity values. That's what I usually do.

I'm going to start animating my character for my game too. Good luck to the both of us! 

[Selassin]

 Having responsive controls is really important for me too, so I'd prefer something like 1 crouching frame or not at all.

 And I'd prefer this:

than this:

 Because it looks "slimy"  not very realistic.

[Zizka]

@HDMD (do you mind?)



Nice edit but I think he's crouching for too long before he jumps. That would bother me as a player. It looks good though, both animations together. 

@shane.poole:

Yeah, I've had this comment quite a bit in other forums. I find it difficult to sacrifice animation quality over game practicality. It will ultimately come to the game designer's decision, it's his game after all. I saw your game, thought it looked pretty sweet although didn't want to post to just say that. Keep on listening to Facet's advice, you're on the right path. Good luck with your animation, keep us posted here, I look forward to see what you come up with.

@Kain Nobel:

Maybe that would be a good compromise. Have the crouching animation if the jump is vertical and ditch it if there's movement before.

@sardone:

Nice edit. I feel like the head doesn't go down enough however, it doesn't convey as much ''power'' before the jump. I find that the position of the head (not being forward) looks pretty good in your edit however. I don't think Mario or Sonic croutch before they jump, no. I think it all comes down to what kind of game you're doing. Since both Mario and Sonic are games where jumping is used extensively, I think it better be as responsive as possible.

@Selassin:



I like the blur personally. I thought about putting some but I thought it might end up being troublesome in the actual game. Also, I've never seen blur in jumps in any games I've ever played.