Doodle Defender

The main project for the 2D Animation and Asset Production course I took in college was to design a game and create assets for said game. Rather than actually creating the game, the focus was on designing a character and the animations that would be utilized in the game.

My game idea was Doodle Defender, a 2D platformer set in a notebook overrun by rogue doodles. The main character is the eponymous Doodle Defender who is responsible for capturing the rogue doodles with nothing but his trusty sack.

Over the course of the semester, we were tasked with creating several common game animations. We used Flash, which had not quite gotten the axe yet, but was certainly on its way out at the time. Still, as someone who grew up on Flash games, it was a cool opportunity.

Let's take a look at some of the animations I created.

Idle Pose

The idle pose was one of the first animations we created. I had a few goals in mind for mine. First and foremost, I wanted to experiment with the sketchy art style I was going for. I accomplished this by redrawing each frame so that slight variations in the stroke weights created that classic wibbly outline look. Committing to redrawing every frame was not the best idea for a college student who was struggling to balance course work and a sleep schedule, but I do think it was the right choice for the aesthetic I was going for.

Next, I wanted to convey some aspect of the character through the animation, while also creating a practical game animation. Idle animations are a bit tricky in the context of a game because they are typically the entry point for several other animations. On top of that, a game character, especially a player-controlled character, is going to be spending most of the time not idle. With that in mind, I knew my idle animation needed to be short, sweet, and keep the character in a fairly neutral position that would be the basis for the other animations. I ended up opting for a simple heavy breathing animation to impart a sense that the character is winded, but not quite weary. He's been wrangling rogue doodles all day, but still has a ways to go.

Finally, I wanted to include a small, additional sequence to be played when the character has been idle for an extended period of time. Games often include sequences such as the character checking their weapon or scratching an itch as a fun detail to add a little personality while the character is standing around. As an example, Sonic in particular is well known for his impatience. For my character, this was an opportunity to expand on his main design feature: the sack. The Defender scoops up the rogue doodles into his trusty sack, but they don't cease to exist once they are in there. To hammer that point home, I added a small sequence of one of the trapped doodles pushing out against its burlap confines, poking the Defender in the back in the process and causing him to wince. The animation above is condensed down for demonstration purposes, but the idea would be to loop on the breathing animation and inject the extra sequence only once in a while.

Walk Cycle

The walk cycle is a staple character animation exercise (pun intended). There are countless reference sheets available for the positioning of the head, hands, and feet with each step of the sequence. To jazz it up a bit, I tried to use scale to add some depth to the walk cycle. By scaling the character's upper body and head in sync with the footsteps, I attempted to make it appear that the character is swaying towards and away from the camera. I also, once again, wanted to add some personality to the animation by giving the Defender a bit of bounce in his steps. The bounciness is accentuated by the sack he carries bobbing up and down behind him.

Jump

For my jump animation, I kept things pretty conservative. Typically games demand responsiveness in actions such as jumping, so, much like the idle animation, the entry and exit sequences need to be snappy. The character could be jumping to a higher position or down to a lower position, so the rise and fall sequences also need to be relatively simple so they can be held or looped to account for differences in jump height and duration. Luckily, once again the sack is there to add an extra layer of interest to the animation. The sack lags behind the motion of the character, stretching as it gets pulled after him. It helps reinforce the heft and is another reason why the sack was a great addition to the design of the character.

Attack

I know we're not supposed to pick favorites, but the attack animation definitely got a bit more love and attention than the others. It was one of the final animations I created for this project and acted as a sort of practical application of the concepts I had learned. Fundamentals such as anticipation and follow through, squash and stretch, and secondary motion are all on full display. Plus, the animation is oozing with small details that give it a lot of the weight I had been striving for. I love the way the contents of the sack slide forward as it hits the ground. I also like the way the Defender uses both hands to hoist the sack back up and toss it over his shoulder. Touches like that do wonders for elevating an animation beyond a rigid, gamey action

To me, more than anything, this animation solidifies the sack as a proper element of the character's design, rather than just a prop. While the sack certainly added much needed oomph to the previous animations, all the Defender does is carry it. Seeing him actually use the sack in some capacity beyond just lugging it around is what integrates it as part of the world. This animation also carries a bit of story weight, knowing that the sack contains captured doodles. Paired with the Defender's angry expression, it paints quite a picture when he chooses to smash rather than capture.

So those are the animations I created for Doodle Defender. Back in the day, I was certainly appreciative of the fact I didn't actually have to make the game. Animation is time consuming, especially when you're insistent on redrawing every frame, and I don't think my sleep schedule would have survived making an entire game on top of it. Looking back now, though, there is a small twinge of regret that this project didn't go further. It's hard to showcase such a small scale art project like this, especially since Flash went the way of the dodo and browsers now treat SWFs like a plague rat. But at least I have the blog to show off this sort of thing and ramble on about it.