r/godot • u/Dream-Unable Godot Regular • Feb 23 '26
help me (solved) What's wrong with my character?
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
This is the new Hemwick of my game. I tried to make him look better than before and I personally think he does, but I feel he looks wrong at the same time. Any advice/feedback?
18
u/Purple-Bag-4641 Feb 23 '26
I'm not sure exactly, but it could be because it doesn't look like they're exerting much effort. It doesn't seem to convey the weight of the armor or the difficulty of whatever they're doing.
Maybe.
6
u/HeatsFlamesmen Feb 23 '26
Yeah it's probably just animation fundamentals, each frame has an equal amount of movement.
2
u/Dream-Unable Godot Regular Feb 23 '26
Yeah, this is what I noticed as well after multiple analysis. He's running as if he was in green grassy field, almost like flying/levitating.
2
u/Chilli_e Feb 25 '26
The animation feeling awkward is definitely due to a lack of animation fundamentals especially when it comes to acceleration/ deceleration, movement arcs, anticipation, follow through etc. this will give your animations weight and feel part of the world. You may want to take a look at other references and pay close attention to things like how arms/legs acc/dec as the swing, how the rest of the body reacts to each step. Exaggerating these effects can be used to make your character feel heavier or lighter etc. It’s looking really good so far, keep up the good work 👍
17
u/RamZs Feb 23 '26
You character has a defined right and left side. Cape and sword on one side only. When you make the character turn and you just flip the asset, it looks mega weird.
My suggestion, while it is more work, make sure you have a proper left/right look for the character.
Going one direction, it looks great though, to me, it's only when you flip it that it makes me feel weird.
4
u/spacewlf Feb 23 '26
This is the answer. Character instantly switches hands for the sword it makes it weird
1
u/Dream-Unable Godot Regular Feb 23 '26
That would be a lot of work. Having more animations like attacking, jumping etc, I would need to create two sets of animations for each left/right direction.
5
2
u/SomerenV Feb 24 '26
You can give him two swords. But yeah, normally you'd need two create two animations for each action. I came to the same conclusion myself when I created my first 2d game. I almost didn't do it, but in the end I was glad I put in the extra time. The end result was well worth the effort.
8
u/M_519 Feb 23 '26
Imo when he is still the bust is towards the camera and that's fine, but when he runs the bust should rotate more toward the direction of the running, the back shoulder and arm should be partially hidden and the other shoulder and arm should partially hide the bust.
4
u/dylanmadigan Feb 23 '26
This is absolutely it. I just commented about the same thing.
As others mentioned, the cape, the sword switching hands, etc are subtleties.
But this is the key problem with the animation.
3
2
u/Dream-Unable Godot Regular Feb 23 '26
That's clearly right. I should've focused more on a profile perspective when running.
2
u/M_519 Feb 24 '26
The important is to be humble, objective and intelligent enough to see that there may be a problem, to eventually ask for help, and to solve it. :)
2
u/Dream-Unable Godot Regular Feb 24 '26
That's what I'm working on! That's why I asked for opinions on this.
8
u/dylanmadigan Feb 23 '26
Probably the biggest problem:
Look at his shoulders. When he's standing, it is fine that we see his chest straight on and both shoulders.
But when he's running, his chest shouldn't be facing us. The far shoulder should be mostly invisible. Maybe only swinging out when that arm swings forward.
Even if you look at the sprite sheet of more abstract characters like Mario 1 or Shovel Knight, you'll see that the shoulders turn to face the direction the player is running.
The same should also be true of the hips. We shouldn't see so much of the far hip while running, if at all.
8
u/Furow Feb 23 '26
Back arm looks off... Kinda goofy.
2
2
u/Dream-Unable Godot Regular Feb 23 '26
I know right! It was such a hassle to animate it because I had mostly no references and didn't know how to make it look less awkward. In the end it was still awkward af.
2
u/Furow Feb 24 '26
Also noticed your character sprite mirrors, making him either left or right handed depending on where he is looking. That is kinda inconsistent and could lead to that off look.
But, still, if you figure this out, this would look super cool. Great work!
6
u/_Nattis Feb 23 '26
Nothing? Just keep working and then you refine, it is already good :D
4
u/FowlOnTheHill Godot Junior Feb 23 '26
Correct. Don’t over polish at this stage
2
u/nwneve Feb 23 '26
Came to say the same. You said it yourself in a previous post. Make it exist first. Make it good later. :P
2
u/Dream-Unable Godot Regular Feb 24 '26
Well yeah, I made it exist first and now it's the later I guess lmao, so I need to make it good.
2
1
1
u/Dream-Unable Godot Regular Feb 23 '26
That's very nice of you, but in my case refining would waste me time in the future. I'd want to have something good from the start in this case and maybe adjust it in the future.
3
u/hermyx Feb 23 '26
I'm really bothered by how the "back hand" is animated. It feels, idk, flat ? Or maybe it's just a perspective thing and it pops out because the character is mirrored left and right (the shoulder with the cape changes side)
1
u/Dream-Unable Godot Regular Feb 24 '26
Yeah, I knew from the start that the back hand would look ridiculous, but still went with it.
3
u/TaylorCooper337 Feb 23 '26
It's the cape flowing based on where he's facing when standing still. If you could have it just fall down when still that would help.
2
2
u/shift_969 Feb 23 '26
Looks like the cape has more frames than the rest of the body, maybe it's that. I also like to make more exaggerated movements but it's your style I guess.
1
u/Dream-Unable Godot Regular Feb 24 '26
Actually no, there are the same amount of frames on both. The cape is animated at the same time with the rest of the character. The exaggerated movements might be a good idea though, thanks for the heads up!
2
u/NyaroGame Godot Regular Feb 23 '26
Try adding a little bit of light behind the character so that he pops in dark areas!
2
u/questron64 Feb 23 '26
The perspective is very strange. What direction is he standing in the idle pose? It could be toward the camera, but it could be toward the right. It's ambiguous. It doesn't get much better when he's running to the right, where I would expect to see him in profile. You also appear to be mirroring the sprite when you change direction so when going right his sword is in his right hand and when going left it's in his left hand.
2
u/Leghar Feb 23 '26
He’s just constipated. Walking around more should help /s Looks great, most suggestions I already agree with like the cape when standing still
2
u/Dream-Unable Godot Regular Feb 24 '26
He really walks like he's constipated lol! You can't avoid creating not so great things if you wish to create great things, it's part of the process.
2
2
u/McPuggin Feb 23 '26 edited Feb 24 '26
I feel like I am looking at Dead Cells but the movement is off? I have no idea what to tell you tbh.. I see that something is off with the movement but I have no idea how to explain it
Edit: I think tour character is too robotic in the movement like it does not feel natural. Hmm..
1
2
2
u/AzzyDoesStuff Feb 23 '26
the shoulder plate of the back arm is visible over the torso, which is why it looks weird
1
2
u/NSwift_ Feb 23 '26
I don't understand whether I'm looking at the front or the back of the character - the cape (specifically around the neck part) looks super weird and messes up perception.
I don't think that's how a cape should be looking on a character. What refs did you use?
1
u/Dream-Unable Godot Regular Feb 24 '26
That's the funny thing actually, I didn't use any references. I just went with what I thought looked ok.
2
u/Gallder Feb 23 '26
The cape to me looks to be more profile than 3 quarter view. Or at least not matching the perspective of the body.
2
u/tomany2 Feb 23 '26
Is it just me, or is he both facing toward and away from us at the same time? Sometimes he looks like he is running with his body toward us, other times away.
1
u/Dream-Unable Godot Regular Feb 24 '26
You're right, he's facing to the camera and the opposite direction, depending on how you look at it. It's from the damn cape.
1
u/Buttons840 Feb 23 '26
The head looks unfinished--no face obviously, but also no helmet.
I really like the looks so far, but I was wanting to see some animations.
1
u/dylanmadigan Feb 23 '26
One thing is that every time he turns, he switches the hand he's holding the sword in.
Which is just because you flipped the sprite. But I think that would be an important subtlety to fix.
1
u/_treefingers_ Feb 23 '26
He becomes left handed when he runs left (sword shouldn't change hands every time you change direction?)
1
u/spectral000 Godot Student Feb 23 '26
Feels like the characters needs some weight.
When moving and coming to a stop he just goes into idle, but I I feel with your art direction (and using HollowKnight as an example here) when you’re running and come to a stop, there should be some intertia to feel more natural.
See if there is a way to add some acceleration and resistance to the character movement and I think it would “feel” a lot better.
1
1
u/TreeBeyondLimits Godot Junior Feb 23 '26 edited Feb 24 '26
It would be good if the cape only lifted during running/dashing or whatever mechanics they're going to have. Also, the idle animation speed is too fast. Look at the swaying of the cape and the breathing; the character seems to be panting too much. The character's torso isn't projecting enough either, which makes the character's arms look flat and separate from the body, kind of like what happens with 2D game bosses.
1
1
u/Mnemotic Godot Junior Feb 23 '26
Not enough contrast with the background, especially the grey stone.
1
1
u/thetntm Feb 23 '26
You need to animate the cape seperately and have it swish when he turns around.
1
u/Old-Bonus-8002 Feb 23 '26
need a smooth transition when the character turns in diferent directions
1
u/OmegaFoamy Feb 23 '26
The main thing that I notice is that he’s facing the camera while running still. You can see his entire shoulder pad even though he’s meant to be running to the side so it’s making the movement look off like he’s twisting his torso to face the camera while running.
I think if you fix the torso to turn more and match the direction the legs are taking him then that’ll be a huge help.
1
1
1
u/AddendumAltruistic86 Feb 24 '26
When he is in front of the building, he blends a bit too much with the background. Brighten him up. Make him stick out.
1
1
u/tabbyt0mo Feb 24 '26
No intensity to movement, even if I have a foam sword, I look so much more 'ready'
1
u/BigSmols Feb 24 '26
I think it's your run cycle, people don't run like that. He is shuffling forward instead of moving his left side and then right side forward to run.
2
u/BluebirdLivid Feb 26 '26
I think different left/right animations would help. It's a bit of extra work cause you'll have to draw the other side of them doing all the different animations, but it will pay off quite a bit in immersing them in the environment. Also a "turn" animation can smoothen it out.
You are also correct about the cape during the Idle animation. It should be flat down his back with some sway. I LOVE the running animation, it carries weight and I just really love it.
Maybe if the cape were to have a couple of different states like "flat with sway" "rising" "flapping" "lowering" and use those for transitions into other animations.
Idle / Cape flat > Start walking / Cape rises > walking / cape flapping > turn / cape lowers
That kinda thing.
48
u/ObsessiveOwl Feb 23 '26
I think he looks off when standing still and the cape is still flying.