Share Your Ideas for Animations! Idle, rolling, talking, and more!

[ReturnRare]

If anyone has ever played Conker's Bad Fur Day then they know about all of the expressions and animations Conker has for his various interactions with the game world. Even back when the game was Twelve Tales: Conker 64, the developers wanted Conker to dynamically react to his environment. It brought immersion to a new level as it made the game feel like an interactive cartoon!

Who else thinks that Playtonic should take a page from Bad Fur Day and put as much detail into the animations as possible? They should obviously focus on gameplay and other important aspects first but the attention to detail created by adding in all sorts of animations really makes the game feel more polished and more like a complete product. The higher above our expectations they choose to go the better.

There are some obvious things that need to be added in like a pushing animation for walking against objects and walls, and an idle animation for staying still in the Reptilian Roll, but what are some other animations that should be added in that would really up the game?

Should the 3D models move their mouths as they talk or is just the animated 2D talking heads good enough? Should the duo look panicked as they are evading attacks from a particularly tricky boss? Should Yooka and Laylee look distraught and limp around with exhaust when they're low on health? Could the duo get excited when they see a Pagie and look at it in awe?

What are some of your ideas for animations?

[Yavga]

To be honest. The animations don't have to be really that great, realistic and souped out to work imo.
I would just like to see that the animations that ARE included work flawlessly.

When I played DK64 there was something about the player character sounds and animation that really stood out for me. The attacks felt substantial and the jumps felt powerful as well, the power up moves really worked great as well. DK64 was the only Rare game that really seemed to bring out this feeling. The animation wasn't phenomenal or anything but together with the sound and impact animations it worked out just great.

I'd like to see that in Yooka Laylee as well to make the characters less fragile and more powerful without adding any game breaking handicaps. use animation and sound to bring out the best.


I include this to show what I mean with impact. starts at 0:41

https://youtu.be/XSPLFGCqJco?t=35s
barrel throwing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG2Xs2zRhL8
other characters special moves

[GeneralWalnut]

Not directly related but I do think this is worth saying somewhere.

I don't think the suggestions or feedback need to (or should) stop (and I've taken part plenty) but I do think it is helpful to remember that Yooka-Laylee, skilled as the team making it is, is a game being made for the fraction of the budget and total dev time of a modern AAA game (or even an N64 game like Conker). It's astounding what they've been able to accomplish so far with that in mind, and I'm sure that the final game will have much more polish and attention to detail than it reasonably should, but I don't think it hurts to keep in mind that they just don't have the same resources that a lot of the games it will inevitably be compared to had.

Again, not saying all the suggestions should stop or that there's no point in talking about fun additional animations that could liven things up, I mostly just think it's helpful to keep some of what you might actually expect on that front in check.

That being said: Yooka seems to have some animation that's sort of generated on the fly, stuff like his head tilt while turning, and I think it could be nice to see a bit more of stuff like that. Namely, when you land a jump while running there's no landing animation. Chris Sutherland has explained that's so the player never loses control, so the landing animation only plays while standing still. I think it would be nice though if Yooka's head could kind of bob when he lands, with Yooka's arms and Laylee providing a bit of follow-through as well. That way you never lose control and the jump has a bit more impact.

Also a slow walking animation for when you are barely moving the analog stick would be nice, as would a unique run animation for when you're being pushed along by the wind.

That combined with hands coming up when you run into a wall or object could make for some nice looking stuff when you take a sharp turn into a small corridor (like how you get into the particle effect room).

Ball roll needs one,

[Yavga]

Even if the suggestions that are made do not change anything for the end product, it doesn't matter as long as we can wish, think and create hype and share our ideas. That's what a fan base is all about. And hey great games come from publishers who listen to their fan base. I'm sure that many of the suggestions that are made are similar in nature. Within in the feedback thread I keep seeing the same suggestions being made. (which is a good thing) It shows what we would like to see and what we love about the games and I'm sure the developers at Playtonic are wishing for nothing less than this.

A company that rose from the ashes and broke free from their shackles just to create games that they LIKE to make instead of what makes most money. That's gold right there.

They love the feedback, they even ask for it. They know what do do. But if we won't tell them what we like about the experience or what we did not like they don't have anything to challenge or tackle. They will have questions but no answers.

Why do you think people need enemies and critics in life?

Let the ideas run wild how weird and grand in scope they are!

Perhaps they can be put to use in a later timespan

A great idea starts with an madman.

And this... this is the stuff from dreams that is being made reality right now.

[ShanPen]

[Foxune]

I don't have any specific ideas, but I'm hoping for more goofy idle animations.

Tooie, DK64, and Conker had a wide variety of them. The "Laylee bites Yooka" animation we have is great, but there should definitely be a few more!

[Tomato]

Here are some I can think of.

- Tiptoe animation when walking at the slowest speed.

- Confident expression when they see a small enemy.

- Slightly cautious expression when they see a medium enemy.

- Occasionally panicked expression and body movements when they see a massive enemy/obstacle. It doesn't have to be a constant thing, it depends on the specific context. They shouldn't be scaredy cats, just have that acknowledgement of major threats.

- Exhausted expression and body movements when really low on health, plus frightened head turning towards any enemy/obstacle. They're on a fearful lookout for all danger since they're close to death.

- Head turning and possibly finger pointing towards health pickups when really low on health.

- Victory dances for reaching specific collection goals.

[Pisuke85]

Perhaps not move the lips as voice mumbling doesn't really require it, but a little animation when you bring the camera close to the characters they could look at you (as far as their neck can turn!) like in CBFD. This would break the fourth wall but classic Rare game got tons of that kind of humorous things.

And I really expect that when you just walked on a dirty or wetting surface and set foot on a nearby platform, it will temporarily drip some drops upon it.

[ReturnRare]

[rocho]

I would like to see an animation to when you get a Pagie I felt that was missing in the toy box!

If pages are one of the most important items in the game, some special animation would be cool to let the player know that. (Specially for people that play it for the first time).

We know pages are important because we are up to the news but someone outside might not know it.

[dotEXE]

Oh man, there should definitely be a Pagie Dance. At LEAST the first time you get a Pagie in a given world. I think for the sake of saving time, it would be okay to only see the dance once per world, but I looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove the jiggy dance from Banjo Kazooie.

[Kitsunary]

Somewhat related and a little bit of feedback for toybox, I think the rolling animation should either have its own single idle animation or a set of idle animations for each point in the roll.

When you go into the roll, but keep the buttons held and stop moving, the characters just look frozen. Instead of just stopping at a particular frame, the characters could have an idle animation that they return to where Laylee starts looking around, maybe going back to standing with two feet, and Yooka starts blinking more and making subtle eye movements while waiting for Laylee.

The other option to deal with this is, instead of an idle animation, there could be small animations that play at every part of the roll, but this would be more of a set of idle animations rather than just a single one. It would require things like Laylee actually trying to balance with whatever foot currently planted on Yooka with Yooka just looking around and blinking at whatever point in the roll she/he is at.

[Karate Joe]

[Nanirourou]

Even though I missed the jiggy dance when it was removed in B-T, I liked being able to move better. That jiggy dance was super cathartic, though. When I think of a great example of animation, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker comes to mind. Link's facial expressions that are constantly reacting to his environment are still incredible. His face would change while running, too. I don't think it's impossible to satisfy both camps when it comes to the collecting pagies animation. Y-L could still be mobile while the pagie circles them, and their heads could follow it with an appropriate expression on their faces.

One more Wind Waker animation I want to point out is when he's pushed around by a strong wind. His whole body flinches, he almost loses balance, his eyes squint and his teeth clench. He looks really uncomfortable! That's the kind of reaction I was expecting from Y-L when they were in that wind section.

[dotEXE]

[WyvernWings]

[GeneralWalnut]

I like the dance a lot buuuut I also liked not being stopped at all in Banjo Tooie. I agree if something like that's there it shouldn't be for every pagie.

[Yavga]

[GeneralWalnut]

[Lufkin]

They could do an animation everytime you collect a Pagie like in BK, but just don't lock the movement. If the player want to see the animation each time, don't move and watch the animation until it finishes. If they don't want to watch the full animation, moving the stick cancels it.

There's probably a way to make it elegant and even do something funny when the animation is cancelled.