What I'm hoping for from the Sprites
Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 2:24 amThough basic sprite support is a fantastic step forward, I feel that doubling down on this feature is going to be key to making KOTC2 stand the test of time. Animation brings characters to life and characters breath life into games that would otherwise suffer from old age. Further- when this game eventually goes onto Steam, the artwork is what will sell it: a sad but unavoidable reality when dealing with the median gamer.
My basic wishlist would include support for:
• A looping idle combat animation
• A looping idle non-combat animation
• An attack animation
• A spellcasting animation (a catch all, like the character holding their hands up)
And if I really was really going to overask:
• A Wounded flag for near-death characters that would allow a swap of the idle animations.
• A Dodge animation for attacks that miss your character, or successful reflex saves.
• A Resist animation for successful Fort and Will saves.
• Status-based idle animations for things like nausea, blindness and the rest. This feature doubles as UX, providing information to the player without breaking immersion with text and/or infographic boxes.
• Weapon state awareness that would allow interlacing of character sprites with floating equipment sprites-- so your character's completed animations would reflect their held equipment.
• Armor state awareness for the same.
• Weapon Handedness awareness that allows for swapping animations when using two-weapon or two-handed styles, or bows, crossbows or slings.
Though I don't dare to dream that *all* of these would be implemented, it's worth noting that, if they were, creators should be allowed to ignore all or near-all of these features, allowing them to devolve downward in a cascading style. So, if the creator doesn't add an idle combat animation to a sprite pack it might devolve downward to merely walking, or further downward to merely standing. If there is no attack animation, it might just default to the bump style.
My basic wishlist would include support for:
• A looping idle combat animation
• A looping idle non-combat animation
• An attack animation
• A spellcasting animation (a catch all, like the character holding their hands up)
And if I really was really going to overask:
• A Wounded flag for near-death characters that would allow a swap of the idle animations.
• A Dodge animation for attacks that miss your character, or successful reflex saves.
• A Resist animation for successful Fort and Will saves.
• Status-based idle animations for things like nausea, blindness and the rest. This feature doubles as UX, providing information to the player without breaking immersion with text and/or infographic boxes.
• Weapon state awareness that would allow interlacing of character sprites with floating equipment sprites-- so your character's completed animations would reflect their held equipment.
• Armor state awareness for the same.
• Weapon Handedness awareness that allows for swapping animations when using two-weapon or two-handed styles, or bows, crossbows or slings.
Though I don't dare to dream that *all* of these would be implemented, it's worth noting that, if they were, creators should be allowed to ignore all or near-all of these features, allowing them to devolve downward in a cascading style. So, if the creator doesn't add an idle combat animation to a sprite pack it might devolve downward to merely walking, or further downward to merely standing. If there is no attack animation, it might just default to the bump style.
