Spite Jam - Animation (CLOSED)

[Creamy]

SPRITE JAM: ANIMATION



Dozens Thousands of characters have been created in the sprite jams over the years.
Yet they remain immobile assets of fictional games that we're left to imagine.

For this jam, I'd like to see some ACTION.

It can be a simple speech view, a complex walkcycle, or whatever comes to your mind.

Preferably, take one of your previous sprite jam creations and make it come to life.

Never entered a sprite jam before? You can find a sprite to animate in the Treasure Trove or the Reality-on-the-Norm ressources.

You'll only be judged on the appeal of your animation, not the chara-design.

Deadline: April 1st.

Move it now!

EDIT: any animation made this month is allowed.

[Creamy]

Another jam in perdition.

Let's allow any animation as long as it's been made this month.

[Chomba]

Hi!
Here is my contribution! A wizard doing a power up or something like that, I didn't go into detail because otherwise I wouldn't finish it in one sitting in front of the PC.

[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/Abgboev.gif[/imgzoom]


I made it for this specific proposal, I hope you like it

[Blondbraid]

I tried animating a dancing woman in graphicsgale:

[Creamy]

[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/Abgboev.gif[/imgzoom]
Wow, it's long. I love how the stick fills up with colors.





Nice. Let's dance together [imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/9fmfLGY.gif[/imgzoom]

[lorenzo]

I wanted to practice animation and this was a good excuse to do it. At the start, I wanted to do something smaller, but I was having fun so I kept going...



For a long time I had this idea of a wordless game, with small characters and lots of animations, that would look something like this.

[Blondbraid]

Nice. Let's dance together [imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/9fmfLGY.gif[/imgzoom]

Why not?

[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/Abgboev.gif[/imgzoom]
Wow, it's long. I love how the stick fills up with colors.





Nice. Let's dance together [imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/9fmfLGY.gif[/imgzoom]

[Creamy]

For a long time I had this idea of a wordless game, with small characters and lots of animations, that would look something like this.

It's very fluid. Do you picture it as a platformer that would be played with a gamepad or a point and click?

[lorenzo]

Thanks! I imagined it as an easy point-and-click game, that kids of all ages, computer skills, and languages could play without a problem.

[Misj']

Sticking to the original rule-set...because I think it was a great and challenging idea, that should not have been let go.

I went back to a character from 2015: the Baron from Villains, bosses and henchmen.

Spoiler

[close]

I specifically chose him, because of his asymmetrical character-design. And having a character walk with a cane automatically creates an opportunity to do something different. You can't just do your basic walk-cycle. Also, because the character himself is - intentionally - quite stiff, and as a result moves more rigid (and limited) than many other characters (there is e.g. very little stretch-and-squash), it was a challenge to add this element of his character to the walk-cycle; but still have it be interesting to look at. Again, the cane really helped out here.

There were some minor tweaks to the character. Mostly, because I've only drawn the Baron twice before; over five years ago. But also, because I didn't like the design of his sleeves, the sash didn't work for me, and the waistcoat could be a little simpler. I also brightened his colours a little, and ignored the shading (the latter due to time constraints).

I've created both a left- and a right-walk-cycle. I really hate it when, in games, asymmetrical character-designs are merely flipped for the left-and-right-walk. Even if it's something small; like a name-tag or something. And having his cane move from his right to his left hand just made no sense.
                               

And to see him in action, I used a background from a 2017 Background Bliz.
The styles don't entirely match...but it does give an impression of what the character would look like in-game.


In case your browser doesn't support animated PNG's...I've added versions in GIF-format (which has more artifacts due to the limits of the format)
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EDIT: removed initial paragraph.

[Creamy]

Sticking to the original rule-set...because I think it was a great and challenging idea, that should not have been let go.

Thanks Misj'. I liked this idea too but after 9 days without replies, I could see a number of reasons why this jam would have flopped:
-   animations take a lot of time to make. With a restrictive topic on top, it can be dissuasive.
-   the sprites of previous jams were created with a contest in mind and may not be very suitable for animation.
-   those who don't have a sprite of their own may not feel like animating someone else's work.

[imgzoom]http://www.banneret.nl/images/doodles/20210328_Misj_SpriteJam_theBaron_Left.png[/imgzoom]

I specifically chose him, because of his asymmetrical character-design.

That's exactly why I wouldn't have picked him. Lazy me

I went back to a character from 2015: the Baron from Villains, bosses and henchmen.

Initimidating. He fits in perfectly with the theme. By planting his stick every two steps, he gives me the impression that it's more used to hit people than to walk.

[Joseph DiPerla]

I bought Aseprite and Studio Pixel Pro yesterday. I created the head in Studio Pixel Pro and animated in Aseprite. This is my first ever original animation I made from scratch in 2D Pixel form.. So it is not impressive. But it is to me. Took me 15 minutes to do. Excuse the long image. I plan on adding a body and that is why the GIF exported that way.

EDIT 1 more:

This is all the same Aseprite project file. Thanks to it's layer and animation system, animating and changing characters is a cinch!

[Misj']

the sprites of previous jams were created with a contest in mind and may not be very suitable for animation.

Weird...that's exactly the reason why I wanted to join. To prove to everyone (and mostly myself), that my character-designs (albeit with some minor tweaks) would work in a game. That's also why I chose to do a walk-cycle. It's not the most original thing in animation...but it's the most fundamental animation in the world of point-and-click.

Initimidating. He fits in perfectly with the theme. By planting his stick every two steps, he gives me the impression that it's more used to hit people than to walk.

Well, he certainly doesn't need it for walking. It might be a fashion-statement. But there might just as well be a hidden blade in the cane...and yes, I'm pretty sure both these statements are true.

[Creamy]

That's a good start. Aseprite got a lot of praise on the AGS forums recently.

Weird...that's exactly the reason why I wanted to join. To prove to everyone (and mostly myself), that my character-designs (albeit with some minor tweaks) would work in a game.

Let me rephrase: I also think that most sprites produced in the jams would work great in a game. However, many weren't thought from the ground up to be animated. For instance:
- this one has too many patterns and colors to be easily animated
- this one should have been cut into different pieces from the start to be conveniently animated in a bone rigging software.

That's also why I chose to do a walk-cycle. It's not the most original thing in animation...but it's the most fundamental animation in the world of point-and-click.

True. Inserted in a background, it already looks like a point & click.
----------------

VOTING TIME

Now please choose your 3 favorite animations.
3 points for the first choice, 2 points for the second and 1 point for the third.

1) Chomba


2) Blondbraid
[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/GP10dTa.gif[/imgzoom]

3) Lorenzo


4) Misj'
                               


GIF-format in case your browser doesn't support animated PNG's:

Spoiler

                               

[close]

5) Joseph DiPerla


Please focus on the animation to cast your votes.

Deadline: April 9th

[Sinitrena]

Chomba: A simple sprite makes for an easier animation. I don't mean this in a negative sense, more like, it's a good choice for an animation. And it does look pretty good. There's a lot of detail, not in the sprite but in the animation - the way the wizard looks down, the magic collecting... It's all in all very smooth too. I like it, and I could certainly see it in a game. Good job.

Blondbraid: I like her moves, but I think the animation could be a bit smoother. It looks a bit choppy. Especially for someone dancing, I think the smoothness is important. There are certain details I really enjoy, though: the fact that she has the skirts in her hands and moves it and her shoulders and hair and not just her legs. In general, the movments of her different body parts go well together, but the animation could use a few more frames, maybe.

Lorenzo: That's not just the animation of a sprite, that's a whole story - or, in other words, it's several different animations: jumping up to the roof, swinging up, running, jumping over to the other house, jumping down, sommersaulting, ect... There are a lot of small elements that stand out to me, for example that the cat's body gets compressed or stretched and the fact that the tail is not rigid. In short, every part of the body seems fluid, which is pretty well done. Of course, no colours or shades makes animating easier.

Misj: Probably the most normal animation here - just a general walkcycle. But that's maybe the most important part of a (player) character, as this is the animation a player will see constantly. The stick in his hands makes this animation stand out from other walkcycles, not just because it makes two different sets of frames necessary but also because it adds quite a bit of character to the character. And that he doesn't just put it down every step but instead moves it around some more makes for an interesting concept.

JosephDiPerla: The least intersting animation of the bunch. Just having the mouth move but not the eyes or the hair makes this animation seem rather static, unfortunately. I'm sure there's more in this character, but it's not there yet.



Alright, votes:


1st (3 points): Misj

2nd (2 points): Chomba

3rd (1 point): Lorenzo

[lorenzo]

I liked the original idea for the competition, but I think I only entered one sprite jam (that I remember), and I didn't really want to animate someone else's sprite instead.

Anyway, my votes:

1st Misj': nice to see someone who followed the original ruleset.
2nd Chomba: the wizard looks lovely and I really like the way you animated the colours.
3rd Blondbraid: nice animation, although it could use a few frames more.

Joseph DiPerla: one has to start somewhere! The animation is simple, but it could definitely work in a game.

[Joseph DiPerla]

I had intended to go further with it. I have a body drawn out. But the body didn't do much. My original intention was to have him shoot at the screen and have the shot ricochet. But I am still proud of what I did draw since I am not a pixel artist by any means.

[Creamy]

Since there are only 2 votes, I'll add my grain of salt:
1st Lorenzo
2nd Misj'
3rd  Chomba

Which gives us the following result:
Gold medal: Misj' with 8 points.
Silver medal: Chomba with 5 points.
Bronze medal: Lorenzo with 4 points

A big thank you to all the participants. See you next round.

[Misj']

Thanks everyone!

It only took 15+ years. But I finally made it into the hall of fame.