LittleNapoleon
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Next Funding Goal: What Will "Limited Animated Effects" Entail?
🕑 Added 2017-11-09 20:02:22 +0000 UTC This week, instead of sharing the latest Campbell Homestead backgrounds we've finished (booooring!), I thought you guys might like a quick behind the scenes look at some recent Changeling Tale R&D.While we are still a ways away from hitting our next funding goal, "Limited Animated Effects," I invested some time over the past few weeks to get a sense in advance of the workflow involved with animating assets in the game. This included building a sprite from the ground up and learning to animate it in Live2D (video link above), as well as becoming more familiar with the animation functions built into Ren'Py itself (gif below).
Here's what I learned:
- Fully articulated sprites can look really good, and are surprisingly straightforward to make, if labor intensive! Unfortunately, sprites have to be constructed in a very specific manner to be able to manipulate them effectively in 2D animation programs like Live2D, Dragonbone and Spine. That basically means we would have to redraw all our existing sprites from the ground up, which would be prohibitively difficult for Changeling Tale. It's definitely feasible for the next game, though, if we go into it with the goal of fully articulated sprites in mind!
- The engine we are using, Ren'Py, also currently isn't 100% compatible with the outputs from 2D animation programs. However, visual novels made with Ren'Py don't have to look static; the engine has lots of great functions that enable movement and timed cycles. It's a bit more rudimentary than full articulation, but it can still be used to good effect, like with the pulsing star flare and distant shell bursts above. This can bring backgrounds alive and be extended to sprites with blinking animations, etc.
So, in summary, "Limited Animated Effects" in Changeling Tale would not involve full sprite animation, but it would include simple animations like blinking and more extensive motion and cyclical effects in the background. If and when we get closer to hitting that goal we can start exploring our options in depth, but for now I will use what I learned to make sure upcoming assets are constructed in a way that facilitates their future animation.
(And I'll leave that animated background, above, in the next build of Changeling Tale as a taste of the game's animation potential!)
Thanks for reading - I hope this was insightful! Let us know what you think, and if there's anything else in the Changeling Tale pipeline that you'd like to know more about!
Comments
CADAMAN
Love the direction you all are taking with this project. I'm ecstatic to see a full alpha and or beta build of the game in the upcoming future. Keep up the great work! :)
Little Napoleon
She has that je ne sais quoi! :D Thanks!
Cischiral
She is just too adorable.
Little Napoleon
Well, I went into it knowing pretty much zilch! It's definitely been a learning experience.
Nekonomicon
Wow you really know your programs. I feel dumb by comparison.
Tygepc
That sound really exciting and very impressive. I'm looking forward to seeing all your efforts. Good luck.
Little Napoleon
Thanks! Fortunately with the backgrounds, Ren'Py makes it really easy with built-in features. And by next game, hopefully we'll have the resources to be able to dedicate the effort to sprite animation from the get-go ^^ We've got lots of ideas for the next one and plan to open it up to Patrons' suggestions too - but one game at a time!
Little Napoleon
Thank you! :D
Little Napoleon
The movements may not be as smooth as in the animation test, but the expressiveness will be there, definitely!
Tygepc
Wow. That's pretty impressive and ambitious. I'm sorry it won't be for this game, but it's good to hear there's plan for another one. Backgrounds will be fun though. I could see a lot of potential in that. Good luck. I hope you're able to streamline it so it's not so intensive.
Drek the Bat
Loving what I am seeing. Keep it up, everyone!!
Mephia Keibin
That's kind of what I was thinking, was that the sprites could blink, or blush or in one of the subtler scenes, can smirk, look off to the side, that kind of thing.
RedShift
Definitely! Even if the characters themselves won't be animated, it'll still look amazing regardless. I wish I could pledge more per month
Little Napoleon
It's definitely a cool program that can give a game a really professional look! I hope we get to use it in the next game. And thanks! Hope we hit the goal so we can animate the backgrounds in Changeling Tale, too - it'd add a lot to the game, I agree ^^
RedShift
I can't wait to see more of this and do love what you've done with live2d. Just backgrounds is more than enough to keep me happy and I love it!
