It was a difficult task, as I've never animated for a video game - there isn't as much freedom with the acting, since the camera is fixed in one angle and everything needs to be timed out to work with the player's button input - That being said, I tried my best to make sketchy as alive as I possibly could
Here are the animations I did for Sketchy:
Idle:
I actually gave him two idles, so when you stop, he'll do a little animation to regain his composure, from there he'll just do that standing around loop, with the occasional blink
Walk:
Had the most difficulty with this one - the arm swings can give the character so many different personalities - in the end I went for a very dainty and friendly walk cycle - here are the arm swings, I tried:
Jump:
This was another tricky one, because you can't have an anticipation to your jump - otherwise there will be a delay from the time the player clicks the jump button, to the character actually performing the jump - that button to action thing needs to be instant for nice game feel.
I also had to make a jump poses very distinct yet vague - it needs to work so that in any point of the jump, it could transition to the falling animation without it looking too jarring - the pose also needs to work for a straight up-down jump, as well as a moving jump.
Falling/landing:
I added a nice squash-stretch-idle pose for the landing - just so the impact felt like his fall had some force to it - while keeping that cartoony feel consistent
Wild take:
Speaking of cartoony and falling - at the very beginning of the game, I made a huge drop that eventually scares poor sketchy into an elaborate wild take before splatting on the ground.
This little interactive cut-scene establishes the cartoony aesthetic and mood of the game, before anything else
The next thing you are introduced to, in the game, are the limited animated stereotype characters - I had an absolute ball animating these guys!! since it was making fun of lazy animation, I found out I had a surprising amount of freedom with their acting, despite it just being talking and idle animations:
As for the enemy, I put a bit more effort into that one, as a gross glitchy fusion between sketchy and limited art styles
This little guy is asymmetrical, so I have to redraw his walk, almost completely - i think only the feet and tuft of hair are flipped - In the game, this character is quarantined behind a fence
I was also able to get a special guest appearance NPC from my friend's game 'Bronze origin'!! I am so honored to include, in my one-level game, their amazing character, Crate!!!
On the topic of sharing (and on a slightly less joking note), My game kind of seemed a bit too basic for my liking - there was a lot of empty space, so I also got some help from Gino - who suggested a wheel barrow - a wheel barrow that I totally took credit for
I traced it and gave it a bit more variations so it fit with my game's style more - Here's how it turned out
I already have a lot of subtle background stuff like blades of grass and pebbles and such, but I found tillable graphics can only get you so far - So the wheel barrow really added to my level's detail
For the end of the game, I just put in a little thanks for playing graphic ala any NES game
I feel like this game is pretty polished, however if given more time, I could have expanded on some of the concepts - the UI was a pretty quick edit, I changed the dialogue boxes and font to fit the game's aesthetic - I could have added buttons and such.
The floating platforms also could have been done better, I've just changed the colour to the green - it currently looks weird without the dark green outlines.
I took the sound effects from previous works of mine, so some of them are a little out of place - but it works for some part, like the enemies and the falling - the little sound blips for the pick-ups seemed like more of a banjo kazooie game - i think something more delicate like a twinkle would have suited better
