Comments on: IAnim – Valve http://www.ninjadodo.net/dodoblog/archives/2009/03/08/ianim-valve/ Art, animation, games… and dodos. Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:01:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Ninja Dodo http://www.ninjadodo.net/dodoblog/archives/2009/03/08/ianim-valve/comment-page-1/#comment-1890 Ninja Dodo Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:38:02 +0000 http://www.ninjadodo.net/dodoblog/?p=209#comment-1890 (oops, this got caught in the spam filter) I agree figuring out the *when* is a really big question that is not so easily answered. Even if you can do it technically there's no guarantee the player will have the opportunity to see it. I think much can be layered on top of core actions, but it may just get lost in the bigger action. If you ask me, some kind of dynamic staging based on the principles of traditional animation except with flexible prioritizing might do the trick. So you don't run a subtle action while a big action is going on or if the player isn't looking, but you also don't try to do a big (full body) idle action that interferes with a more important (gameplay) action... that kind of thing. And I think you're right, the points where animation matters directly to gameplay is where we're most likely to make some headway. (oops, this got caught in the spam filter)

I agree figuring out the *when* is a really big question that is not so easily answered. Even if you can do it technically there’s no guarantee the player will have the opportunity to see it. I think much can be layered on top of core actions, but it may just get lost in the bigger action. If you ask me, some kind of dynamic staging based on the principles of traditional animation except with flexible prioritizing might do the trick. So you don’t run a subtle action while a big action is going on or if the player isn’t looking, but you also don’t try to do a big (full body) idle action that interferes with a more important (gameplay) action… that kind of thing.

And I think you’re right, the points where animation matters directly to gameplay is where we’re most likely to make some headway.

]]> By: Dan http://www.ninjadodo.net/dodoblog/archives/2009/03/08/ianim-valve/comment-page-1/#comment-481 Dan Fri, 13 Mar 2009 05:39:33 +0000 http://www.ninjadodo.net/dodoblog/?p=209#comment-481 I've had a half-baker about L4D's barks myself for a while. Those barks are an old trick going back well before Valve. A word though on these - animation is really really expensive. While we can do a lot with dynamic sound, animation is a lot harder, both to create and to fake. You can do things in the quiet moments (such as Alyx did in HL2), but when there's action going on moving the face is usually all you've got bones for. Where would it happen in L4D, for example? AI will get better at picking potential idle behaviors, but there's much less of a player gameplay need for it then there is for sound, so it's unlikely to make big strides. The key will be the player need - developers start new genres where it really matters, like murder mysteries where you are trying to figure out whose lying. I’ve had a half-baker about L4D’s barks myself for a while. Those barks are an old trick going back well before Valve. A word though on these – animation is really really expensive. While we can do a lot with dynamic sound, animation is a lot harder, both to create and to fake. You can do things in the quiet moments (such as Alyx did in HL2), but when there’s action going on moving the face is usually all you’ve got bones for. Where would it happen in L4D, for example? AI will get better at picking potential idle behaviors, but there’s much less of a player gameplay need for it then there is for sound, so it’s unlikely to make big strides. The key will be the player need – developers start new genres where it really matters, like murder mysteries where you are trying to figure out whose lying.

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