Post on 13-May-2015
WHY CHOOSING 2D ANIMATION FOR MOBILE GAMES ?
Senior animator - ZOYGAME
JOE TRAN
We need
a badass GAME !!
Requirement
s
1. Single camera view tower defense mobile game
2. 500+ characters in 4 classes
- bow, spear, fan & sword
- weapon glows by level
3. 4 animation direction
Requirements
3D ANIMATION
• Game object have
depths, with lighting,
shadow, bevel
• Animations are in 3-dimentional
world
The basics
3D ANIMATION In practice
3D ANIMATION Experiment
RENDERING 8 directions
• Pros:
- Beautiful graphics
- Realistic animation
- Easy rendering into any direction
3D ANIMATION Results
3D ANIMATION Testing
• Platform
- Mobile devices have very limited memory.
- (4MB / 1 character) * 500 = 2000MB
- Cannot modify frame-based animated
characters on-the-fly
• Ability
3D ANIMATION Limitation
- Character modeling takes a lot of time
• Time
Animation on single plane 4 states: walk, attack, die, idle
2D ANIMATION Experiment
ULTIMATE ARROW GOD’S RAGE
2D ANIMATION Apply
1 character
17 animations
402 frames
Size on disk: 1.3MB
FRAME-BASED animation
1 character
4 animations
300KB on disk
Size on disk: 1.2MB
SPINE animation
• Cons:
- Each animation can be rendered for 1
direction only
• Pros:
- Simple graphics requirements
- Speed
1 day = 2 full
character
2D ANIMATION Results
• 3D animation
- Multiple directions
• 2D animation
- Simple graphics requirements
- Speed
2,5 D ANIMATION 2D & 3D combined
2,5D ANIMATION A new type of animation
2,5D ANIMATION Effectiveness
Đảo Hải Tặc Võ Lâm Truyền Kỳ
Kingdom Rush
2,5D ANIMATION Examples
1. Is basically 2D animation
- Using graphical effects: shadow, lighting, reflection, perspective
2. Creates 3D feeling by
- Simulating 3D directions: back, front, right, left
2,5D ANIMATION The basics
Front Back Right
2,5D ANIMATION Experiments
• Animation with Spine
• 1 day: 2 characters / 3 directions / 3 states
2,5D ANIMATION In use
ART
- More directions to draw
- Slicing & orgranizing character parts
ANIMATION
- Re-do 1 animation in many directions
2,5D ANIMATION Caveats
1. Create a good team workflow
2. Reuse animations for characters of same class
2,5D ANIMATION Solutions
JSON
2 4
5 1
3
200KB / 1 character
2,5D ANIMATION Workflow
2,5D ANIMATION Reuse animation
1. Can effectively re-use animations
2. Creates 3D feeling
3. Gets good feedbacks from players
2,5D ANIMATION Conclusion
Trailer game Vua Thủ Thành
Results
• It’s Q/A time ;)
Thanks You