Creating the Death Animation

After looking at the reference videos on death animations, I started to think of a possible animation for the pike man. I started out with sketching out on paper, since I was working at school.  I didn't have my tablet with me, and I don't really like the big tablets that the school has. I chose to draw a quick 6 frame sequence that I think looks realistic enough for the character.

Update: This is one of the frames colorized

How Do Characters Die?

After talking with my teammates, I feel like I should probably work on creating a death animation for the pike man. I'm not quite sure exactly how I want to do it. I want the animation to be unique but at the same time I don't want the animation to be too long. I also have to take into consideration that the pike man enemy will be spawning a lot, so a quick death may be more appropriate than a long "oh what a cruel world" slow death animation.

I did some research by looking up game death animations. Specifically, I want to refer to death animations that may include a spear. I found some good reference videos. I looked at three videos of League of Legends animations. I remembered that the these characters have a spear/long pole.

Starting the Second Sprint: What next?

I just finished the first sprint, and overall I think it went rather well.  I finished up the movement sprites for the pike man in all four directions.  I am not sure exactly what I should start on next for this upcoming sprint, but I'll talk with the other animators/product owner to see what a good start to this sprint would be. I'll be sure to try and update in future posts.

Front Remake and End of Sprint 1

A few weeks into the semester I had a go at making a very simple jab motion for the pikeman. However, now that several weeks have passed and I am more comfortable in pixel art, I wanted to redo the front attack. I wanted to see if I could use my better skills to make a more animated attack. Furthermore, I felt the the first animation did not fit with the other three sides. In addition, I updated the sprite sheet that I have for the pikeman.

The original attack is on top while the new animation is on the bottom. I learned a lot from this sprint. Primarily, I learned to better express shadows on pixel art, which I feel adds a lot more to the picture as a whole. I look forward to finishing up the rest of the "inbetween" animations such as an idle animation, death animation, and damaged received animation.