Animation Feedback

I'm just about to get into act two so I haven't played too much. I feel like the time between clicking on barrels, corpses, chests, ect and the time the loot drops is too long. Idk if that's because I'm used to Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 beta but to me it feels sort of clunky and I feel like it keeps me out of battle because I've got to wait what seems like an eternity (eventhough it can't be more that 1 second) this is the only thing I've noticed so far. I'm excited for the release! Keep up the good work guys!

After playing for a bit, in my opinion the animation stands out as the thing most in need of work in the game.

-The animations on the character creation screen are restricted looking and unrealistic.

-The animation for the drowned coming back to life looks like Gumby is being resurrected.

-The Player running animations are bland and unrealistic, with little movement of the hips or shoulders.



I hope I don't sound like I'm being too harsh, I love the game and I'm only giving my opinion because I think it deserves to do great. :)

At this time, I have played Ranger through Normal difficulty, Templar for as few levels, and Witch for a few levels.


Ranger (exclusively with Bows): I like both the animations, the overall model (very good proportion-wise) and the armour/weapon design.

Witch: Surprisingly good. In the beginning, I'd have thought that those slouchy animations would detract from her. But again, the proportions are just perfect to go with the animations. Only thing I found worth noting is the animation of the Wands. Looks more like she's trying to swat flies than channel magical energy.

Templar: Both one-handed (with shield) and two-handed animations somehow lack power. They don't get the feeling across that there's force behind the blows.


Enemy animations: Over-all, very good, with a few notable weak points: The hound/cat-hybrids (after the Prison sequence in Act I) somehow are animated too "round". Again, feels like there's no power behind their movements, they're rolling off too smooth. Another would be the humans themselves (bandits for example). Their model is just a tad too gangly for my tastes, and so are their animations.
One note on the zombies and skeletons: Again, over-all nothing to complain about, but i thought about how they should animate, and here's two suggestions:
Zombies: Should animate more like they are not fully in control of their extremities, i.e: jerky movement of single extremities, with some joints being too rigid and others maybe too loose. Make it feel like a force inhabits them that does not fully understand how the body works (i.e. by letting the head roll around uncontrolled).
Skeletons: You know those stop-motion films from way back? I find nothing scarier than a monster animated like that. Again, jerky motions, but of the whole model. Some motions too fast (attacking, like they frenzy?), others too slow (especially when not attacking - say idle, taunting or maybe even closing on the PC).
By he by, I absolutely love the way the bones splinter and fall apart whenever a skeleton dies. Made me wonder: how about a "construction" animation for skeletons where bones on the ground build up to become a skeleton. Could be used when dormant skeletons are triggered to live (like the spiders triggered to climb from the depths in some temple areas - which is awesome, by the way!).

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Avireyn wrote:

By he by, I absolutely love the way the bones splinter and fall apart whenever a skeleton dies. Made me wonder: how about a "construction" animation for skeletons where bones on the ground build up to become a skeleton. Could be used when dormant skeletons are triggered to live (like the spiders triggered to climb from the depths in some temple areas - which is awesome, by the way!).

Yes ! Make the bonepiles become skeletons sometimes instead of loots :D

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zriL wrote:

Yes ! Make the bonepiles become skeletons sometimes instead of loots :D

Genius idea :-).
Just add a subset of "trapped" bonepiles (not distinguishable from normal ones until klicked):
Add a random timer (1-5 seconds) after which the former bone pile comes to horrid un-life.

Those skeletons (since they're prone to be encountered when alone) could even have a unique subset of abilities (why am I thinking of skeletal hands holding the PCs feet, rooting him/her?) or be at least "blue" in terms of difficulty.

I'd like to ask for one thing,is the idlecombat (when you stand still outside a town) and run animations final for all characters?
Was playing some time ago a marauder using 2H weapons,and the run/idlecombat animations just seemed a little bit off,i mean i carry a stone mace or huge iron sword or two handed axe,and i hold it like it would be a feather,for a marauder i think the 2H weapon animations should resemble the sheer weight they carry,for example when you run as a marauder,you could be holding the axe/mace/sword with one hand and resting it on the shoulder of the same hand,for me at least that would make a whole lot more sense.
As for idle combat,the maces and axes are fine but the swords,even from a historical point of view,nobodey would hold a greatsword like that,you'd have to be a hercules to do that,while knights were idle and combatready they would usually point the greatsword to the left or the right side of their body(depending on which one is your main hand) and rest the sword on the ground with the tip of it,at least that was the case for nords since they had some really big greatswords.

I think the Ranger's body sways too much when firing arrows...the feeling is laboured. There should be only slight movement so it would feel stern and effortless

I've been watching my boyfriend play and I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the animations considering its an indie game without a crazy high budget. The game looks like a lot of fun, I look forward to getting a chance to play it- my boyfriend isn't going to share :p

from stress test weekend i seem some monsters animations .... strange especialy that unique ones. they start chasing you and then stop turn back go little bit then run to you . some monsters do it too . to atack or not to atack confusion

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wengeance wrote:

from stress test weekend i seem some monsters animations .... strange especialy that unique ones. they start chasing you and then stop turn back go little bit then run to you . some monsters do it too . to atack or not to atack confusion

Yes, i also noticed this behaviour, it looks too clumsy and dumbish, cause in a fight you would never want to turn your back to your opponent.

Besides looking clumsy, makes an already easy to kit monsters even more easy.