Character and Ability Animation Ideas and Suggestions?

Conrad

What are your suggestions about animations for abilities and characters? Body animations while moving, attacking, doing the abilities etc

(This will be pretty much a megathread for animation suggestions)

[Placeholder for suggestions, will update as i finish each point up]

Khronus

Short and sweet animations are best. I want to pvp, not make animated shorts and sell them to Pixar.

Dygz

LMAO
But...Ashes is a PvX MMORPG.
It's not a "PvP as much as can be made possible" game.

Azherae

I want to see an Archwizard's Elementally Augmented Blink ability leave a line of fire or frost, or call down multiple lightning bolts, or even just become a lightning bolt instead, doing damage as they move to their new location through their enemies.

And I want the Castigation whip to turn Black for Shadow Disciples on one of their augments, perhaps with a blue or purple edge, because I feel like that would look cool.

Conrad

Azherae wrote: »

I want to see an Archwizard's Elementally Augmented Blink ability leave a line of fire or frost, or call down multiple lightning bolts, or even just become a lightning bolt instead, doing damage as they move to their new location through their enemies.

And I want the Castigation whip to turn Black for Shadow Disciples on one of their augments, perhaps with a blue or purple edge, because I feel like that would look cool.

That's VFX, completely irrelevant to animations

Azherae

Conrad wrote: »

Azherae wrote: »

I want to see an Archwizard's Elementally Augmented Blink ability leave a line of fire or frost, or call down multiple lightning bolts, or even just become a lightning bolt instead, doing damage as they move to their new location through their enemies.

And I want the Castigation whip to turn Black for Shadow Disciples on one of their augments, perhaps with a blue or purple edge, because I feel like that would look cool.

That's VFX, completely irrelevant to animations

So it is.

And you've made me realize that I don't care about animations because anything that actually animates properly isn't fast enough for me.

I'm saying, if there aren't 'motion blur' levels of stuff happening at some point, what are you even doing?

"Realism" or something I guess. Not my style (no sarc)

Denahi

I am not sure if by animations you are referring to movements and such, but if you are then I have some suggestions. Make combat enganging and make it reflect real live action, by that I generally mean that characters and mobs shouldn't shrug of any and all attacks without showing any reaction to what hit them. It just feels unbelievable fake to me. Also to resolve the issue of it being regarded as too disruptive for combat, not every single attack, has to reflect or cause a reaction from a character or mob. A character that is stabbed or hit from behind should momentarily stagger forward. Mobs that are hit by spamming auto attacks from a wand should flinch or brace themselves whilst moving towards the character. A mage who so often is referred to a glas canon, should have animations that reflect their smaller frames, whereas a heavyweight tank shoukd be sturdier and instead of being knocked down on the ground by, say a bash attack, they would instead be pushed back with a proper animation that reflects the heavy weight behind the bash attack, something along the lines of the character briefly cowering or bracing for impact. Again I genuinely belive that this should be implemented, and these sort of animations don't have to occur too frequently but at least every now and then. In terms of animation I want to be fully immersed in a battle that has some realistic elements in it, not just tab targeting a mob with no reactions other than it running forward completely unscathed until it dies.

Seirym

Conrad wrote: »

What are your suggestions about animations for abilities and characters?

(This will be pretty much a megathread for animation suggestions)

[Placeholder for suggestions, will update as i finish each point up]

Could you specify more to what you refer? so we can have a more clear concept of what's vfx and what are you looking for when you say animations. Do you also mean emotes when you say "for characters"?

Khronus

Dygz wrote: »

LMAO
But...Ashes is a PvX MMORPG.
It's not a "PvP as much as can be made possible" game.

Only fools will step into Verra thinking PvP isn't the primary focus to be done as often as possible. Those fools will fill my guild coffers.

CROW3

I'd like the character animations (idle, jump, combat) to vary by race as well. One of the things that WoW did well was give each race their own specific set of animations. A night elf holds a sword differently than a Blood Elf, and the attack animations are also different. Same for jump animations and idle/emotes.

It would be ideal if these could vary again by class, but that may be asking for too much. I just think it would be cool if a Rogue held a dagger underhanded (with the blade down) while a Mage might have a mongoloid grip (with the blade up). The combat animation would be different as well. That's a HUGE catalogue of animations to manage, but still - would be cool.

Azherae

CROW3 wrote: »

I'd like the character animations (idle, jump, combat) to vary by race as well. One of the things that WoW did well was give each race their own specific set of animations. A night elf holds a sword differently than a Blood Elf, and the attack animations are also different. Same for jump animations and idle/emotes.

It would be ideal if these could vary again by class, but that may be asking for too much. I just think it would be cool if a Rogue held a dagger underhanded (with the blade down) while a Mage might have a mongoloid grip (with the blade up). The combat animation would be different as well. That's a HUGE catalogue of animations to manage, but still - would be cool.

FFXI has clearly spoiled me. I didn't even consider the possibility that this would not be how it was done.

Conrad

CROW3 wrote: »

I'd like the character animations (idle, jump, combat) to vary by race as well. One of the things that WoW did well was give each race their own specific set of animations. A night elf holds a sword differently than a Blood Elf, and the attack animations are also different. Same for jump animations and idle/emotes.

It would be ideal if these could vary again by class, but that may be asking for too much. I just think it would be cool if a Rogue held a dagger underhanded (with the blade down) while a Mage might have a mongoloid grip (with the blade up). The combat animation would be different as well. That's a HUGE catalogue of animations to manage, but still - would be cool.

Crow pretty much is on point with animations. Though, I do forget people might not be aware about what is an animation in video games so I probably should clarify xD

Arthus Dawnbreaker

CROW3 wrote: »

I'd like the character animations (idle, jump, combat) to vary by race as well. One of the things that WoW did well was give each race their own specific set of animations. A night elf holds a sword differently than a Blood Elf, and the attack animations are also different. Same for jump animations and idle/emotes.

It would be ideal if these could vary again by class, but that may be asking for too much. I just think it would be cool if a Rogue held a dagger underhanded (with the blade down) while a Mage might have a mongoloid grip (with the blade up). The combat animation would be different as well. That's a HUGE catalogue of animations to manage, but still - would be cool.

THIS! ^

Conrad

Actually, a dagger being held down being a rogue only thing would make sense considering different fighting style so things like that would be cool

Like, if a warrior holds weapons like a warrior, a paladin could wield them with elegance for example

JustVine

Hmm. I would appreciate the summoning animation to be dependent on subclass and maybe good vs evil in necros case. Given your response to people earlier in this thread I won't mention the vfx component so it doesn't confuse.

This is all based on the fact that I expect there to be some casting time involved with summoning.

Examples:

I'd like necromancers and shadowmancers summon animation to be outstretched hand palm up in a forward leaning focused manner as if 'pulling things from the ground/underrealm by sheer will'. Finishing by actually raising the hand up.

I'd like good necromancers, conjurers, and maybe spellmancers to do either similar but palm down as if pulling the summon out of the heavens/surrounding essence. Finishing the summon by lowering the hand down. I would also settle for a cool hand gesture type 'prayer' like ffxi's summon animation.

I'd like enchanters, wild blades, and beast master to do some sort of vocal shout head tilted up in a fairly neutral but focused pose both arms stiffly at their sides, arms bent slightly as if they are pulling energy from inside themselves to call fourth their bond or personal will. Then end the animation by pivoting their torso slightly, dominant arm pulling back as they do so with a clenched fist. Then the summon comes out as they snap their pivoting torso the opposite direction, taking a small step forward, and pointing ahead of them as if marking their enemy for their trusty friend/weapon.

The unsummon command if that is even a thing in this game (we still don't know,) for necromancer, shadowmancer, conjurer, and spellmancer to be the same as the summon animation but palm facing the opposite direction. As if willing it back whence it came. I'd find it amusing if they just swapped animations for summon and desummon for these two groups if they want to save time.

For enchanter/wild blade they can make a 'stop' pantomime like a referee. (Probably should be a basic emote anyway.)

Beastmasters can put a foot forward and simply wave good bye (again more easy to borrow animations.)

Focus on target and retreat commands should be generic and be the same as point forward and come here (which are already in alpha if I remember my testing correctly.)

For attack ability commands for summon abilities I would like them to be based similarly on hand motions/pantomime, hopefully having standardized motions based on a combination of which part of the holy trinity (dps, healing, tanking) the move is geared towards and what the intention of the ability is in combat (utility/self buff, single target, multitarget) for a total of 9 different animations. Let vfxs do the heavy lifting for impact, flavor, and more indepth description. They should still be clear enough gestures that if you are watching for them you get a decent idea of what is about to happen, while still being generic enough to allow for the more customized part of the summoners abilities to be diverse.

I won't comment on summon animations at this time. I may have opinions when we have more information about summoner exclusive mobs if that is even going to be a thing (I doubt it.)

Dygz

CROW3 wrote: »

A Mage might have a mongoloid grip (with the blade up).

Pretty sure you mean Mongolian Grip??

CROW3

Dygz wrote: »

Pretty sure you mean Mongolian Grip??

No. The 'mongolian grip' is more for archery where your index &/or middle finger overlap the outside of the thumb. I'm more referring to a ham-fisted deathgrip on the hilt..

The image below is an example of a non-rogue grip v. rogue grip on a dagger. Much faster for knife fighting.

Dygz

Okaayyy... then, you should not perpetuate your fencing coach's poor behavior.

JustVine

Dygz wrote: »

Okaayyy... then, you should not perpetuate your fencing coach's poor behavior.

Poor behavior?

CROW3

Dygz wrote: »

Okaayyy... then, you should not perpetuate your fencing coach's poor behavior.

Fair point. Correcting above.

CROW3

JustVine wrote: »

Poor behavior?

Yep. Plain ignorance on my part. Sorry about that.

Conrad

I'm confused wtf is going on haha

Conrad

Bump

fantasyashegmr

Would love to see mage animation do away with spinning while casting. Seems like part dancer part wizard currently. Simply lifting off ground Luke cleric is awesome. Having some elements around based on the cast would be great imo. Spinning doesn't inspire awe it makes one laugh

maouw

I'd really like animations to take inspiration from dancers, acrobats and parkour (PARKOUR!)

Paying particular attention to the way these people offset their centre of gravity when in motion.
This will help with giving animations weight/momentum - especially for melee classes who need to be agile.
(although, I'm pretty sure combat styles like Kendo are big on maintaining centre of gravity...)

I know it's a lot to ask, but I'd also like the weapon animations to take into account the weight of the weapon.

I wonder if this is getting into the polish side of things though?



Also from a technical perspective, if the animations could be paramaterized to make adjustments easier (assuming they aren't already paramaterized) and potentially reuseable.