IAnim – Uncharted 2
Mar 15th, 2010 by Ninja Dodo
It’s been a little while, but there’s much still to be said on the subject of interactive animation. So let’s continue…
Once again, I’m going to be talking about old games as well as new, because we already have the technology, we’re just not using it very much.
These are some exceptions…
Let’s start with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
It has been much lauded for its use of animation and there’s definitely a few interesting things going on in-game. Nathan Drake adapts to his surroundings by layering together different contextual animations like shielding himself from fire, clutching a gunshot wound, losing balance, taking cover and so on.
Of particular interest is the game’s use of what I’m going to call “contextual anticipation”…
When Drake is climbing around he will extend his free hand towards reachable areas, indicating to the player it’s safe to jump as well as where this will take him.
A more subtle example is when you’re hiding behind cover and a guard comes around the corner. There is a short window of time where Drake can surprise the guard and disable him without making a noise. At just the right moment (the window within which the player can stealth-attack), Drake ducks down, arms ready, anticipating the grabbing action. The sudden change of posture (1:00) communicates that now is the time to strike, and it’s all you need.
We spend much of our time staring at our avatars in 3rd person games. Not a bad place to put your gameplay feedback…