Animation Evaluation - (D2)

For this Unit we were tasked with planning, presenting and creating an animation to help advertise our game. I went into this task aware of my limitations; as such I planned my animation on what I knew I could do without too much trouble, while also making it somewhat enjoyable.

So I decided to create it in Adobe flash, due to me knowing a little bit on how to use it; and with the time limitations I could not afford or be bothered to learn a new piece of software. To help streamline the process I utilised classic tweens to create basic movement; and then I created looping animations adding a little head bob or a shake to help spruce up the movement a bit. In fact with a few acceptations I would say that most of the movements were made some tween or another. Exceptions would include the splitting building where I had to highlight two areas of the building and periodically pulled them apart frame by frame. The man’s bobbing head animation was made by redrawing his front and back, his eyes and mouth are also completely drawn. I also incorporated other tricks; such as simulating a volcano smoking from afar with just two different clouds. Shaking animations were also created by simply creating a looping animation by using the arrow keys to adjust its position every few frames.

This required a lot of layers to pull off; so to help organise everything I created folders for each shot, which made finding things much easier, although I can't imagine that it did any good for the file size.

My feedback showed that people found my animation quality to be rather fluid; finding little places where it required much improvement. My audience also found that it did well to tie-in with my game since it details the events that lead up to the games setting, I also included a website address for those who are more curious. One criticism was that it did not match the aesthetic of the game although, I somewhat disagree with this as it is shown through screen shots and promotional art that the buildings and such are in fact large grey monuments. But there is also the case to be made that while my protagonist is designed like a regular human, while the people that I show are small grey blob things, so I will give them that. I was also told to add more colour; which I can understand since it is all grey until the volcano rises from the ground, although I found it somewhat symbolic. I decided to add a blue sky to the background of shot 2, well for that and another reason; it being that without a solid background, it would show up as transparent when imported onto the website.

Overall I think it turned out rather well, I was able to implement ideas from both storyboard ideas into one with the best bits of both. If I had to change anything; it would be how I filled in the buildings, if you were to look outside the stage you would find that the proportions of the buildings on the first two shots are greatly exaggerated. This was not a problem later on but it still bothered me when I started out.