Sunday, January 22, 2012

A Future For Traditional Hand Drawn 2D Animation?

I've started developing a 2D video game to be played on mobile phones. It's a basic gather and chase game using one of my studio's animated characters as the hero.
As I develop the game, I'm concentrating on short animation cycles that convey my hero's personality...very much of a throw back to early cartoon pantomime. Makes me think "is this the future for 2D animation?" By the way, I'm drawing pencil on paper and scanning the drawings into Photoshop.
I find myself approaching the project as an early Fleischer cartoon in that I'm not censoring my imagination at this point of development. The characters in my game will perform actions that are eccentric and fanciful, as well as realistic. The overall design of the game will embrace both caricature and cartoony elements. Right now, I'm jotting down all ideas that come to mind. But the most important element is the playability of the game! Without that nobody will buy it!
I'm writing and designing this game as though it were a traditional cartoon short with a sympathetic and relatable character...but with the viewer being able to guide the main character past the villains and obstacles to a successful conclusion. The fun is that it is all action with sound effects and music,etc.

 

12 comments:

  1. They may be more held back than what you are working on, but are you familiar with some of the old Lucas Arts games or Earthworm Jim? Might be good reference for building up from the past. I love 2D animated games, and am really excited to see what the one you are working on ends up like!

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  2. Katy, I'll take a look at those Lucas Art games. I am not familiar with them, but I was a senior animator on "Space Ace" and "Dragon's Lair 2" back in 1983-84. Those first laser disc games are very different from today's mobile phone games; however, they have an entertainment value that I'd like to weave into today's more interactive games.

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    1. I recall Earthworm Jim as well, though never did play that one, the 90's certainly opened a door for more interesting video game characters and interesting stories definitely.

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  3. I'm interested in how you will deal with and your overall opinion on transitioning the animations. For Example: the player is running and then jumps. The run cycle will be going, but you really have no way of knowing exactly when the player will press the "jump" button. Do you worry about which foot you are pushing off the ground with in relation to where the player is in the run cycle or is it all so quick that no one will notice?

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  4. Ben, I'm still in the experimental stage, so I don't have all the procedures down yet. But right now, I'm planning for the transition phase to take one or two frames (1/12th of a second maximum) to respond to the game player's choice of move. So, since this will be a cartoony style of motion, I'm not worried about being realistic in the manner you are describing. The play action is most important. So, I'll see what compromises need to be made. As long as the action flows and is believable, then I will go with what works the best.

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  5. 2D animation is the older one in any of the technology. Now the 3D animation has changed the arena. Also mobile phone is the another way where technologist are thinking to revolution it with the 3D technology and people are awaiting for this.


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  6. As long as you and I are doing animation in the traditional way (and I am sure others are as well) it's still alive. Eventually, it will become the scribblings on the cave walls.

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  7. Yesterday, I received a comment from Cris Monde, which unfortunately was accidentally deleted. Quote: "I'm so excited to see that project. I wonder what it will look like, will you post it here after you finish it?"

    Thank you, Cris. My answer is that I definitely will post samples from it once, it has been finished and published.

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    1. No problem if you accidentally deleted my comment. :D

      Good to know that we can see that project here. Keep up the good work sir!

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