Character animations and movement are ruining the experiencee

Just as a quick first impression -

Altho it seems that there are many improvements in the game already, and I am pretty impressed with some aspects of what I've seen in the release 2, but an instant let down again is the character animation and the way that movement in the game "feels".

I have to be honest here, I haven't seen as clumsy character animation and "feel" of the movement in a 3d computer game since 1997, and I am being totally honest here. It destroys the immersion instantly and takes all the fun out of the pre-alpha release. I am going to continue exploring the release, but it feels like work to me because the movement is so bad. The game just doesn't "feel" right, and the problem is not on the speed of the movement..

I think that this is something that needs a LOT of attention, and its something that cannot be put under "this is not a triple-a title" category..

You might want to look into games like Dark Souls for reference into character movement. If you don't get it right, all the other efforts you are making will be a wasted opportunity.. Just saying.

 

Completely agree with devastat. That is the first thing I noticed is the ugly character animation. I am assuming obviously that since we are still in alpha testing, there will be improvements to this. Running looks more like a child about to spread his arms and pretend he is an airplane.

Character animation and the look of the character are a very important part of any MMO. All I could think of is that it looked like poor avi from 2004 Second Life. No use on making a beautiful world if the people in it are fugly.

 

I second this. Look into Dark Souls for a good reference.

 

Breaking Immersion in a Pre- Alpha...with another 10 months of production pipeline, I'm pretty sure you can find a legitimate thing to give constructive feedback about.

 

Character movement is "stiff" and it does take away from the experience ...

 

I would expect the (main) character movement and animation to be something that is developed in very early stage in a game. Also, there is a pre-release coming with combat on March and you would assume the movement to be finessed by then. I don't see any improvement on that regard from Release 1 which makes me very worried..

And I am not just talking about the way it looks..

 

Have you guys ever professionally Animated anything? Maybe ask them about the animation process for the next Pen of the Avatar?
Or better yet, watch some behind the scenes of movies with the animatics of scenes and characters and see how rough they are in pre production, it is usually cleaned up and fine tuned in stages. These guys aren't using state of the art mocap studios that James Cameron lent them between avatar movies with instant playback onto the models..just good old fashioned animation.

 

Well, I wouldn't personally compare a main player character movement in a game to an animated movie. If we would be talking about a sketch/animatic for a cinematic animation within the game then yes they wouldn't have to be finalized at all at this stage..

But we are talking about the way you as a main character are interacting with the game world in these pre-alpha releases after 10-months of game development. You would expect your character's movement to be at least somewhat fine tuned by now - especially before a pre-release combat testing in March.

 

The feel has improved tremendously since R1.

I do think the run and jump animations needs some more work. Not crucial as mentioned at this point, but it wouldn't take much work to make them better.
I am sure this is not their final animations.

 

I can agree with the sloppy feel of character animations. I also know that i'm no graphical animator, however, this is a forum to discuss what we feel is wrong with the game and what could be done to give it a more immersive feel. One simple thing I can immediately point out is that the character, when you turn him, simply faces the way you want him to, without turning.

 

We know that. But I have had the experience many times that something is wrong early on in the development process and it stays that way for final release.

So I think there's nothing wrong with the OP stating his impressions; I share them; but at the same time I'm seeing some nice progressions.

If we can get these character animations fixed it will be a huge deal for the game. It might be too early, but it's never too early to say "This is not up to what I expect".

 

My issue is with not understanding how this Pre Alpha thing works, Forum posting a complaint that the character moves like a 1997 game and it's like work to play is like stating the obvious.
It is work, we are essentially QA, here to test and break the system so they can get information to develop it better.

I am sure the people responsible for the animation are very aware of the level of quality of the animation. Have patience and faith.

 

Haha wow, it's not THAT bad. It's not AAA quality but its nowhere near as bad as it could be. They'll polish it in the coming months but it's not exactly an "immersion breaker" is it?

 

I don't think anyone has picked up the pitch forks and torches and taken to the streets

I think, at least for me, I am stating a feel that takes away from the game ... the character feels "stiff" moves like a robot ...

I think the devs would like to have a description as to why something feels odd and negatively affects game play ...

 

Well, it pretty much is an immersion breaker.

The way your character's movement feels is THE solid foundation of any gameplay. It's been like this since the early days of Mario Bros.

The way your character moves, fights, the physics - the way he reacts to the world etc.. is what creates the gameplay experience, and if it is somewhat lacking it ruins the whole experience.

 

How about putting in a bug report... If you're having fun in a pre-alpha 2 release you should put in a bug for that too.

 

Sounds kind of silly to bust on a players opinion in a feedback form... specifically designed for players feedback and opinions.

I think most people do realize this is pre-alpha, and that a multitude of things are going to be further refined and polished before the game is released to the public. But, by us mentioning what we think could use improvement, directly impacts where the dev team focuses there attention/resources in the coming days vs. coming months, and thus gives them more time to improve things before release date in the event that things do still need further polishing for core game play elements.

Its kind of like, if they need to make 3 separate tweaks to a system before the community feels it is where it should be for the greater public, and the dev team gets a 6 month window of opportunity to fix it vs. attempting to cram those 3 tweaks into a one month window instead because the community didn't properly relay their opinions early on in development, due to a few guys trolling/flaming the others to keep there opinions to themselves because we obviously don't know anything about the process or expectations.

 

I agree with character animation being an important aspect and could see some improvement from the current design. You're staring at your character a massive amount of your experiences in the game, and what your eyes are met with makes a big impact. At least it is true for myself, and small things like good foot movement/placement on objects and the ground in games is an indicator of quality for me. I would like to see my character actually having an animation when turning, and in general more lifelike animations. Small and fluid animations for various things, at least in the long term.

 

I totally agree about the feel of moving around! really clunky.. the animations can be updated anytime, so I'm not worried about that. As a test, turn off the animations and just drive around..

 

Dude...getting a little defensive here aren't you? This is a player feedback forum. And that is just what the players are doing...giving their feedback. Animations are important, and they do take time to create. All of us here realize that. And stating our opinion about the subject is not hurting the game. It is why we are all here, to test and to give opinions on where we think things need improvement. And hopefully the Devs look into it. I don't think trolling is really giving any useful input.