Scripted Activity Animations

[griffinz 2816]

Think Skyrim, when your character starts doing scripted animations when smithing, enchanting, cooking etc.

I think action animation would be great for:

• Opening your backpack - Spend some seconds removing/putting on backpack.
  
• Reading map (currently just crouches) - have a map out infront of the avatar.
  
• Fixing a vehicle - An animation for each (replacing wheel/fixing engine/body work/windshield replacement).
  
• Entering/exiting a vehicle - A short animation for immersion.
  
• Eating/Drinking - A short animation for canned food/snacks, long for cooked meals.
  
• Cooking - Depending on how this is tweaked (active cooking where you have to check if food is ready, or passive where its just ready right away).
  
• Fixing weapons (when it comes out) - A long animation that has the animation for deconstruction/construction.
  
• Construction - Same as weapons, but a longer animation.
  
• Subduing a player - An attack from behind should disable the victim in a neck-hold. This allows for another player to rob the victim. Then, the player can let them go. If the player had a knife/gun equipped, the option to kill should be available.
  

This will allow people to be visible to others in their current activity, and add a certain risk when doing bigger tasks as you will have to think about how safe it is at that time before engaging in that activity. The animations should be able to be canceled at any moment, without the conclusion of the action reached.

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

Please use the search function.

Only kidding! I like it. With my playstyle I like tracking people for hours so it'd be nice to see what they are actually doing. Also It'd help a lot with the immersion.

Edited October 21, 2012 by Fraggle

[griffinz 2816]

Please use the search function.

Only kidding! I like it. With my playstyle I like tracking people for hours so it'd be nice to see what they are actually doing.

Green name gets more attention ;)

(I'm a whore)

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

That explains the tight shorts then.

[starwarsfan@gmx.de 450]

Makes sense. Rocket did say they will be reworking the animations, didn't he? I sure hope they'll do this. I don't want a magic inventory where weapons just magically appear into and disappear out of your hands.

I really love the idea of actually removing the backpack from your back to get something out or put something in. It just adds a whole new layer to the immersion.

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

It's amazing how people already get so immersed in the game with what are at times some pretty buggy (or none at all) animations for certain actions. Anything that polishes these things up a bit can only be a good thing.

Edited October 21, 2012 by Fraggle

[terrvik 2409]

I wonder if there could be a way to alter the speed of the animations. Not sure how to explain what I'm thinking here but you would remove a backpack with different speed if you are in a stressful situation or not. Like if the current "panic" is activated the animations are sped up; not much but just to give the illusion of stress. Whuhat?

[iashford 73]

I think a push animation with one hand for opening and closing doors would be nice as well. I do agree, we need more animations that show what we and other players are actually doing. In addition to this, not necessarily the same, but along the same line of animations, I would like to suggest:

Having your normal-paced animations until under 5.5k blood, then you look slightly injured and move at a 20% slower pace. After being lower then 3k blood, you have heavy-limping/injured animations and move 50% slower then normal pace. I don't like how in current mod, being injured only causes your screen to go fuzzy, with no real implications on mobility. Realistically, people who are severely injured would visually show it, not to mention it could garner sympathy for an injured character if they are about to be shot. Also, it'd be interesting if they had animations that actually look like you're crawling around with a broken leg.

Along with that, Id like to see animations that show fluidity, as in actually opening a car door and getting in. Actually mounting the ladder and climbing off it etc.

[CombatWombat (DayZ) 63]

Maybe with the repairing of vehicles it could take a certain amount of time to repair each part? I mean, you aren't exactly going to replace the engine or fuel tank in the same amount of time as a wheel,

[griffinz 2816]

Got to make good use of BIS' new mo-cap studio

[starwarsfan@gmx.de 450]

I wonder if there could be a way to alter the speed of the animations. Not sure how to explain what I'm thinking here but you would remove a backpack with different speed if you are in a stressful situation or not. Like if the current "panic" is activated the animations are sped up; not much but just to give the illusion of stress. Whuhat?

If anything wouldn't stress make you more clumsy instead of just faster?

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

I guess the problem here is that people react differently to stress. I wouldn't want to see a game mechanic "forcing" my player to act clumsily or panic if I'm managing to stay as cool as a cucumber.

Edited October 21, 2012 by Fraggle

[captainwaffles 41]

I think this is a great idea i just dont want to make it to where we have to wait like 20 minutes for construction animations but not to short either

[terrvik 2409]

If anything wouldn't stress make you more clumsy instead of just faster?

Words, words, words. :)

I guess the problem here is that people react differently to stress. I wouldn't want to see a game mechanic "forcing" my player to act clumsily or panic if I'm managing to stay as cool as a cucumber.

Yeah, I did not mean that the animation should affect anything (clumsiness, whatever), just that it could look different depending on the situation. Might be hard to please everyone though. And with "panic" I meant how the game currently registers when infected are close and earlier made the character freak out.

[griffinz 2816]

The panic can come from the user clicking too fast and grabbing/dropping the wrong item from the inventory window...while desperately trying to get out of the backpack animation as fast as possible

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

I''ve been playing Dishounored recently and there's some really nice subtle touches (similar to Skyrim - both Bethesda games) that really give you the feeling that you are the player, not just watching a character on-screen.

Edited October 21, 2012 by Fraggle

[tommes 331]

But those actions should be able to abort. It's quite annoying having to wait for let's say the vault animation to be over till you finally can crouch again.

[IncognitoNico 71]

I think this is an awesome idea like have the animations to get in the cars like GTA has, I don't think there's any FPS games that have those animations.

I think this is a great idea i just dont want to make it to where we have to wait like 20 minutes for construction animations but not to short either

I would think a bit longer or shorter depending on the task, but waiting on your character for 3-4 hours to change an engine wouldn't be immersive, it would just be boring and nobody would give a damn if they found a car unless it had 4 wheels and they could leave the animation running in a hidden place while doing something else

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

But those actions should be able to abort. It's quite annoying having to wait for let's say the vault animation to be over till you finally can crouch again.

Check the last line of the first post ;)

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

I think this is an awesome idea like have the animations to get in the cars like GTA has, I don't think there's any FPS games that have those animations.

Far Cry 2 (shit game) had some great animations for things like getting into cars, opening doors, reloading guns ect.

Edited October 21, 2012 by Fraggle

[griffinz 2816]

But those actions should be able to abort. It's quite annoying having to wait for let's say the vault animation to be over till you finally can crouch again.

Read the last line of the OP :P

[tommes 331]

Sorry. Aborted reading mid post. ^^

[dragonkatol 135]

I also would like to add Sprint to Vault and Sprint to Climb Animations. I've been dying to much panicking on where the freaking ladder is.

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

Awesome.

This would certainly increase the feeling of involvement players would get in certain situations.

Getting mauled while in the "take a knee" pose doesn't promote the same empathy as actually seeing your picnic interrupted.

If the animations were to take a little longer, having someone to help might speed things up. I can picture a few guys chipping in to pitch a tent, for example.

Could this be another opportunity to encourage cooperation with strangers?

The only thing that might be harder to animate is taking things out of your buddies backpack. (and I would get busted stealing borrowing ammo more often.)

EDIT: Using medical supplies on others might also end up with "clunky" animations. Any time two characters directly interact could cause problems.

Also - We need more actions/poses like "sit" "salute" and "surrender". Pointing, waving, thumbs up. There could be a lot more options if selecting a pose was done with a mouse wheel menu.

Edited October 22, 2012 by Chabowski

[birdman 108]

If the animations were to take a little longer, having someone to help might speed things up.

Yes. Great for performing first aid or (sigh) vehicle repairs quickly as to avoid detection or danger.