Attack Animation- Crits Please!

[chigsam]

i think its a lot better. the foots shading doesnt go crazy (thank god). she doesnt take forever to attack! and her tail doesnt have a segure. I love it!

[uridicy]

ok, I tried to work on the speed, number of frames, right foot, and facial expression.  Personally I think it looks loads better now.
However, I still need to work on how far the cat leans over.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.  They were loads of help  .



@Chigsam- thanks, I'm glad you like it.  I've always shied away from animations, but I feeling less intimidated now.

[Rox]

I really feel I need to suggest a change on this. It looks okay right now, but unless she's supposed to be really bad at fighting, to make the player rather try to avoid enemies, I think you'd be better off either making a more complex animation where she takes a step forward, swipes, then steps back, or simply use the other arm to hit with. That'd increase the range and make combat much easier, gameplay-wise. It just looks a bit silly the way she's standing with her left side toward the enemy but trying to hit it with her right hand.

Other than that, I really like how this is looking so far.

[uridicy]

I really feel I need to suggest a change on this. It looks okay right now, but unless she's supposed to be really bad at fighting, to make the player rather try to avoid enemies, I think you'd be better off either making a more complex animation where she takes a step forward, swipes, then steps back, or simply use the other arm to hit with. That'd increase the range and make combat much easier, gameplay-wise. It just looks a bit silly the way she's standing with her left side toward the enemy but trying to hit it with her right hand.

Other than that, I really like how this is looking so far.

Yeah, she totally needs more range. I'll try the stepping forward approach and see how that works out.

[Xion]

She sways jiggly.
Forward, backward, forward, backward...

Like Jello.


The lighting on the legs is inconsistent.


You could always just make her twist into the strike. Like, really twist her torso until her back is to the viewer and her attacking arm is fully extended.
You could also let the attack leave behind some sort of painful whir. Like you know how sometimes when characters to an uppercut they leave behind a sort of trail that goes beyond the reach of their fist?
A good example of this would be the game "Noitu Love and the Army of Grinning Darns"
Also, Kirby does this.

[Presley]

The biggest problem here, to me, is the speed, range and staticness.

I think the attack would be better if one arm pulled back, the torso twisted, whilst the other arm came across the chest, then have the character lunging forward, plowing the arm in an arc away from the character, whilst having the character pivot and shift its weight from the hind leg, to the front leg (mid pivot) then to the new front leg.

I hope that makes sense.

I think an attack like that would add a lot more character to the animation.,

[Helm]

Also, are you planning that every time the attack is done, the player sprite will stop moving? The 'castlevania system?' I think people should be able to swing their arms while they walk or run.

[ndchristie]

id be much more in favor of something like a a stepping claw (for a quick attack) and a real pounce (for a strong attack), both of which could be executed while moving or from idle.  right now there really is no motion at all and it weakens it severely.  Teenage girls move more when they "fight"

[Doppleganger]

I'll second Adarias.

I saw this a while ago but didn't comment but that was what I was thinking.

There needs to be a lot more force going into the attack. There is also the range problem. Right now it looks like the kitty is swatting at a butterfly that's floating about its face.
If you have it step forward and put forth a bit more effort into its swing it'd be a lot better off.

Additionally, the swoosh effect on just one frame isn't doing it for me. I think that the motion it conveys should be large and sudden (as it is) but, also the swoosh should take more than one frame to die down. Otherwise it doesn't look very fluid or transpire the motion it's meant to. If you were to take a stick of incense or a match in the dark and move it in a similar pattern, you'd see the huge trail but you'd also see it very quickly die down as well.

That's my two cents.

[Snippa]

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this or if I'm actually even correct on this (I'm pretty tired, about to crash)... (I swear I've seen it in a documentary somewhere at some point... or by watching my old cats)
But normally when a cat is standing on it's hind legs, if it moves it's front legs in the motion you've animated, the cat would be doing a sort of pounce on it's prey. Here's the part I'm not completely sure about, but that you could possibly use... Sweep the attacking arm inward towards the other arm. This would be a clawing attack. It would have to be a pretty swift move.

If it's been mentioned already then I'll just delete this post later tonight when I wake up.