Animators are key : V

» Thu May 19, 2011 3:47 pm

Animation is a key part to any game. But Beth has neglected this fact in the last game they released, ie New vegas,
only three payed animators worked on New Vegas so has the amount of dedicated Animators increased in Skyrim... And is it needed?

» Thu May 19, 2011 6:46 pm

I'm pretty sure Todd has acknowledged that animation has grown into a weak point in BGS games over their career and reassured us that they're taking steps to improve them. It was either in the GI podcast or cover story. Certainly what I saw in the gameplay trailer looked to be a massive overhaul.

But I agree. I've always touted animation as the primary immerser.

» Thu May 19, 2011 8:10 pm

If the improved animations in the trailer aren't an indication, I don't know what is.

» Thu May 19, 2011 7:27 pm

I thought it was the developer's decision (Obsidian, not Bethesda) how they do the animations.

» Fri May 20, 2011 12:26 am

Pun intended? I'm not trying to frame you or anything. Ha ha.

Seriously though, I agree. But I think Bethesda are way ahead of us on this one - what did you think of the character animation in the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSRtYpNRoN0?

» Thu May 19, 2011 5:55 pm

Clearly they are not key because I didn't notice any lack of animation in New Vegas. I thought it was fine.

Guess there will always be demands for more more more though.

» Fri May 20, 2011 12:23 am

The animation improvement is hard to quantify... just from the trailer I'd say they're about 193278253x better than Oblivion.

» Fri May 20, 2011 2:40 am

The woman leaning on a fence (in the trailer) or the barman's hand on the counter in the tavern screenshots are definitely proof of better npc animations. However the combat animations might be harder to make, I don't know but in the trailer there is a fighting scene where the sword is nowhere touching the opponent but the blood still sprung

» Thu May 19, 2011 3:53 pm

8+ Month left in development. So it's forgivable, for now.

» Fri May 20, 2011 12:52 am

The contact thing is not an animation problem.

» Fri May 20, 2011 4:06 am

Im just hoping for improvements. My main concern is that they may leave the animations as a low priority. As far as the new engine goes thats great. But to maximize the true potential they need more people working on animations than they have ever done before. Hopefully if Todd brought up this problem it should be resolved... hopefully. :celebrate:

» Fri May 20, 2011 1:02 am

in all honesty we cant really say new vegas is an indicator on how things will be done, it was never intended to be "fallout 4"
it was basically an oversized add-on which was good in its in ways because it seemed like a 'playground' for bethesda to try out new things .. some of these worked and some of them didnt.. so saying they didnt do anywhere near enough on animation isn't really fair, because as far as im aware with bethesda games they don't really release a succesor with that little thought

» Thu May 19, 2011 11:30 pm

Errr...guys, why are you talking about New Vegas like it was made by Bethesda? FNV is a game (a Fallout 3 mod in my opinion) made by Obsidian.

» Thu May 19, 2011 10:59 pm

Bare in mind they have in skyrim that new Havok Behaviour system in place that makes the animations also react with the environment and enemies.

» Thu May 19, 2011 2:37 pm

The animations will be better. Why? Because even with morrowind-quality animations, havok behaviour will at least add dynamic, believable reactions and more context sensitive animations. Walking uphill is different from walking downhill, for example, and even given a terrible starting point that'll look better than nothing.

» Thu May 19, 2011 2:33 pm

Animations still don't look dynamic enough though. The scene with the wolf is a great example, looks very similar to Oblivion where it's just floating around. It doesn't feel like its even touching the ground. And looks a bit off. But the animations in themselves look much much better.

» Thu May 19, 2011 1:55 pm

Clearly they are not key because I didn't notice any lack of animation in New Vegas. I thought it was fine.

Guess there will always be demands for more more more though.

It's more or less arbitrary but I disagree. I'm not expecting Uncharted quality animations but the animations in FO3 were laughable, I have no doubts that they will be greatly improved though.

» Fri May 20, 2011 4:54 am

Animations still don't look dynamic enough though. The scene with the wolf is a great example, looks very similar to Oblivion where it's just floating around. It doesn't feel like its even touching the ground. And looks a bit off. But the animations in themselves look much much better.

Not at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9XiCdzoKNg&feature=player_detailpage#t=12s

» Thu May 19, 2011 5:16 pm

They've been working on this for 4 years.... And they probably now have like 6 animators..... The people who made dark messiah are helping too and im quite sure their working on animations...

» Fri May 20, 2011 4:32 am

This isn't New Vegas it's Skyrim. Bethesda will put as much as they can into this game and it will be more than New Vegas. I love that game but Skyrim is being developed by BGS and it is using a brand new engine. This is Bethesdas crown jewel and their biggest release since 2008. They won't skimp on this game.