OrochiEddie said:
I honestly have no clue what you're getting at....
SouthtownKid said:
I don't get it, either. All 3 sprites look pretty good to me.
I was going to say "If you don't see it, then don't bother" or something like that, but I at least owe an explanation for starting this thread. It's not about pure "frames of animation" either, I already mentioned how GGX's gameplay doesn't have room for that, but that's no excuse for shitty sprites and animation.
I ask that you bear with me with this post as it'll probably be fairly long, but that's what happens when you have to compare something really good to something really bad.
Reposting sprites for easier reference, I obviously picked Ky and Kaede because they are probably the most similar out of both casts in both color schemes and appearance/stance.
Easy, fairly non-technical stuff:
- Both of these characters' hair is a good place to start as any. If you don't see why Kaede's hair is a million times better, then just keep reading. You can also compare Kaede's elegant "skirt" movements to Ky's erratic, irregular and inconsistent ones.
- Ky's right coat flap changes shape and size for no real reason as does that blue cross thing over his chest, though slightly less so.
- His feet are not firmly planted on the ground. It's subtle with Ky, but it gives a sense of floatiness that is not visible with Kaede.
- Shadows are completely inconsistent. Look at Ky's right arm, how a shadow forms over from underneath his shoulder to his elbow for no real reason. Another example is his right shoulder, it has a fold that moves irregularly, also changing in thickness and shape. The easiest part to spot this though, is underneath what I guess is his belt. Folds appear, disappear, change shape, and direction a few times during that (I'm assuming) 8-10 frames animation. Kaede probably has the same number of frames BTW. There are tons of small places where things change size during that cycle and sure, you can say that it's because they're more detailed and, while that is true to a certain extent, it doesn't change the fact that the animation is subpar.
- General shading. Kaede has three tones of shading in his pants, shirt, skin and even hair. Ky has two, except for maybe a couple of spots (an his pants, directly underneath his "skirt" for example) and Kaede's shading is more complex, detailed and with a lot more depth than Ky's. It also has a lot more contrast, which is almost a matter of taste actually.
More in-depth stuff:
- Time out how long Ky goes from his closed arms position to his extended arms position and back. Do the same for when Kaede goes up to down and viceversa. Which one has more rhythm? If that doesn't make sense, let me put it in a more straightforward way: Ky's standing animation has two positions and every part of his body goes directly from one position to the next, without any sense of timing whatsoever. Look at his sword for example, I'm sure that if you trace out each frame, you'll get that each drawing is spaced close to or exactly the same as the previous one. Now notice how Kaede's hilt of the sword goes first, while the tip is delayed for a couple of frames before it follows. That right there is great animation. Another example of good animation is their unarmed hands. Ky's left arm goes in a straight arc back in forth with no real timing in between, while Kaede's has a slightly circular motion that moves almost independant of the rest of the body.
Yeah, you may like GGX more than any other game and you're free to do so, but don't be blinded by pretty-pretty high resolution. These sprites are no good and are probably worse than some of the older Capcom and SNK sprites.
Sprite police?
Fuck yeah!
