malixegames
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More appeal in less time
🕑 Added 2024-08-28 07:47:10 +0000 UTCHello, everyone!
As I said in the last post, I'm working on speeding up assembling scenes. The goal is to be able to produce a complex scene in about an hour. I separate the process into the following steps:
Scripting
Flow design
Positioning and framing
Keyframe animation
Procedural animation and interactions
There's nothing I can optimize in the scripting, so let's ignore this part.
I created a component to help with framing called "Cameraman". The idea is to create an invisible character, position him inside the scene looking at the character who is speaking, avoiding any obstruction in the field of view, and use him to position the camera.
This way, I will have a functional scene assembled automatically right after the design of the scene flow and still have to correct the details and adjust for a more artistic result.
Keyframe animation is the data that informs the pose changes of characters and objects over time, unlike procedural animation, which is calculated and executed during the game's operation. "Keyframe" allows for super detailed movements, while "procedural" lets you interact with and modify the animations in real-time.
Unity is an ideal engine for games that use a limited number of keyframe animations, such as platform games. Making a game with such an exaggerated amount of animations can make things quite complex.
To solve this, I recently created a simpler system for controlling animations. It eliminates the need for complex configurations and allows adjustments such as changing the speed and mirroring. It also allows me to trigger animations in sequence and randomly.
Another issue that was resolved, which seems like a small detail but makes a very positive difference, is adjustments to the character's flesh during poses. Before, each adjustment had to be made in the keyframe, in each different pose, which is a lot of work and I ended up not doing it.
I just created a system that makes these adjustments procedurally, so I don't have to worry about the adjustments individually.
This addition is very welcome because these details improve the appeal of the girls' poses and movements.
I always have trouble explaining achievements when they are more technical than visual. Usually, I feel like I'm just being verbose and I'd rather not post the text, but these achievements are really good and I needed to share this with you.
I also made improvements to the characters' gaze system. I thought this would fix Nicole's funny walk, but nah... I confess that I don't completely dislike her walk. Maybe I can soften the movement without spoiling it.
That's the news. The next step will be to add all of this to the scene creation system to see if the work paid off. I'll come back later with the results.
Thank you very much for the support!
Comments
MaliXe
Hi! Thank you so much for your insightful feedback! I'm glad you found my explanation interesting. With these improvements, it will be easier to show content instead of just explain. I can't wait to be able to focus on the artistic side and flood you all with images and animations, as well as the playable content that really matters. On the other hand, I've already implemented some improvements to the cutscene code that I need to share with you, so I'll allow myself another post full of technical explanations soon. But don't worry, I'll include some images, as I did in this post. Best! See you soon.
Archy_TaxiWhy
Hello, Always so interesting and very instructive. It's true that scripting can be very difficult to automate if it's only plagiarizing other people's scripts ^^. It's really ingenious this idea of putting an invisible character in place of a camera that saves a lot of time in staging and also allows you to better change the angles according to the desired rendering. Thanks for the details between a keyframe animation and a procedural animation, which I find really interesting. It's really cool to have found a way to simplify the control of animations that should save you time but also help you test the choice of scene without having to redo everything. I can't even imagine the time it must take to make adjustments to the details of the skin, especially the gold in certain scenes. Congratulations on putting an end to this. The rendering is really clean. Of course, for someone who knows nothing, it's hard to see the technical advances, but in my opinion you know how to explain them well and make the information accessible to all. Being a curious person by nature, it's always a great pleasure to discover the realization of something so complex. The walk is fun, but I don't think it's too good for the joints and the back. She'll end up with scoliosis XD. On a more serious note, I can't wait to see the modifications to the gait because it can be fun once it's adjusted. I wish you every success in creating the scene condition ! Best regards and see you soon
