X7 and The Importance of Principles
Вставка
- Опубліковано 10 лип 2024
- This video was sponsored by Skillshare.
Sign up via the link below to get two FREE months of Skillshare Premium!
skl.sh/videogameanimationstudy
Ever wondered why Mega Man X7 feels sluggish to play?
No?
Oh....well, why not watch the video anyway.
Follow me on Twitter to see my animations, and consider supporting the channel through Patreon to help improve the quality of research, editing, footage capture, animation and overall production of each episode:
www.patreon.com/DanRoot
Thanks a lot!
Metroid Prime coming Tuesday 29th October - Ігри
I really like your style of humor in these. Clever and cute but you get right back to the study.
Also I like how you admitted you cut your audio to patch out a mistake when so many videos do an even worse job of editing and seem to hope you don't notice. I mean I guess the layman might not notice but as an editor it's very obvious and honestly pretty funny.
Anyway I have a lot of respect for you as an animation specialist and a content creator. Keep up the awesome work!
Hey, thanks for kind words, that means a lot! I really enjoyed editting video!
Agreed.
To be honest now that I think about it I disagree, I'm kinda getting tired of his humor these days as it's a bit too much and takes away from the seriousness of the game design....back when he actually used to talk about game design -_-
Over time I realized that I miss the dan root that I used to watch where he'd talk about metroid's game design and art design, because in my opinion he was easily the best at explaining all this compared to the other youtubers, plus I could tell he was a massive fan of the series (like I was).
So it's quite a shame that he's moved on now to general animations and no longer covers metroid nearly as much, and it feels like he's treating this channel more as a job now than a passion project. It's not that his content is bad now, but it's no longer interesting to me anymore when he used to be one of my favorites....
That's a shame to hear. I find there's many serious game design video essayists on YT these days, only me and Dan Floyd are covering animation in games, and that's what I'm much more passionate about. I'd rather do my own thing than try and copy the crowd.
I've got a serious Metroid video coming next week, I haven't forgotten about those.
I only get to do these videos during weekday evenings, they're a lot of effort, and I don't like doing the exact same thing every time I do a video, because it gets boring for me, and then it'll be boring for you.
Sorry you're not enjoying the videos anymore.
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy I understand completely that you gotta do what you're passionate about though. It'd suck if you felt forced to make videos I wanted to see but you hated making after all.
Anyways, keep doing what you enjoy 👍
This is now a channel dedicated to Zero’s gorgeous hair.
And its many hair care products
I am so surprised this is the first video I've ever seen that actually notes X7's animation quality.
The biggest Megaman secret is still which shampoo Zero uses.
“Zero’s beautiful hair” I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks his hair is gorgeous.
It really is gorgeous
His hair is gorgeous.
I'm glad someone else took the time to appreciate Zero's floofy hair lol
I love how you never mentioned Axl's name even once in this video.
Yeahhh I'm not a big fan of Axle 😋
"Time constraints" *flashes the MMU logo* hahahaha
I always found the run animation in MMX to be kind of charming. X and Zero's legs move so fast and they traverse the level so slow. It reminds me a lot of Mario's frantic run in Super Mario 64. I believe that animation was done because the movement speed and jump arc were made to be identical to classic Mega Man, but the increased graphical fidelity meant that they could use more than 2 frames for the run cycle. So we see the characters madly scrambling around at turtle speed.
Just imagine a Megaman X game being made by Arc System Works
Oh my god I can't even!
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy "Heaven or Hell, Let's Rock!!!"
The one thing X7 nailed above all other X games, Zero’s hair.
I think the reason X7's jumps look and feel a little unsatisfying is the fact that there's no anticipation for them. A normal jump has just a bit of time where the jumpee has to prepare for it. This is typically very short in games, usually just a few frames and without all the preamble a normal person would do. But in X7 the characters kind of skip the build-up step and go straight to "I am now jumping and am in the air. Beep boop."
Compare the Wiley Koyote jump. It's just a few frames, but Wiley preps his jump with a small squash and lowering his head. That's all it takes. That's all a game needs to indicate "The character is about to jump, because you The Player pressed the Jump button". Not having the delay feels unnatural and off, because... well, it is unnatural and off.
I like love how fast he gets upset when a running animation doesn’t have a head bop.
I love a good head bob
Hell yeah, more Head Bob Study with Bob Head.
🤣
An Art Attack reference... my life is complete.
THAT intro takes me back
That has to be why Zero's redesign in the Mega Man Zero series works so well. He looks faster, and it matches his speed in gameplay.
Definitely!
That's probably also why everyone is slimmed down in X8. Contrast Command Mission, where there's no platforming involved, so Capcom can afford the characters being bulky.
I was NOT expecting to be reminded of Neil Buchanan today! XD
I'm glad to have surprised you!
I missed the reference because who the fuck is Neil Buchanan?
I googled him so I guess I now know _of_ him.
He's the original and best presenter of the show.
Video Game Animation Study ????
Art Attack
reasons my wife left me:
1. zero's GORGEOUS hair
I think the problem with the jump animation in X7 might be a lack of follow-through; it has the initial keyframe for the jump right, but there's no effective transitional animation for when you reach the peak of the jump and have to descend back down. Probably could've been resolved by simply having the character tuck their legs up before stretching them back out to land.
5:54 Axl getting all fancy with that wrist
Friggin ART ATTACK? You genius.
I think the actual character models in X7 look great.
The animations just needed a bit more weight, and more leeway rather than snapping into place.
Fun Fact:
_Sheepdog & Wolf_ was called _Sheep Raider_ in the US & I fricken love that game
Interesting!
Came here to make this same comment! Would love to see that games animation examined this way!
This video just randomly appeared in my feed, and boy am I glad it did!
I love MegaManX, especially X8, and I'm so happy someone is finally talking about, and giving some praise to X8.
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
0:08 - 0:12 Art Attack!
That Art attack intro
big foot syndrome: *exists*
Kingdom Hearts: *ILL TAKE YOUR ENTIRE STOCK*
“Is it bad animation? *It is* but what is wrong with...” lmao
😎
Video Game Animation Study 😎
Video Game Animation Study I definitely enjoy the goofier tone. Doesn’t feel forced, it’s just sprinkled in and good.
Huzzah, another member of the Zero's Hair Fanclub! Welcome aboard! The only reason I grew out my hair was to have a glorious haircape like Zero and it's still my primary reason for keeping it long.
There’s a lot of really cool ideas in X7. Shooting into the background, 3d movement, 2.5d side scrolling, and a lot of areas are pretty cool looking, but unfortunately it blows as a complete package and pails by comparison to the other Megaman X games.
Great breakdown of the animation as always Dan!
Thanks a lot! Yeah, it had a good heart but just.....sucked.
I’ve been following Tatsuya Yoshikawa’s work since his Shirow-like era in Breath of Fire 2 and the dude is a real gem. He has expressed his wish for another X game before, seeking to achieve the full picture they had in mind during X8.
That's awesome, I really admire his stuff.
>Dan Root upload
>It's a Megaman X7 analysis
Blessed day indeed. :-)
The whole timing thing explains why the characters in the cgi cartoon "Beast Wars: Transformers" sometimes run funny. After a decade I finally know!
Can excessive stretch be a bad thing, though?
Mighty No. 9 *really* stretches the character models whenever they jump or dash, and in motion it happens fast enough to be unnoticeable, _but the game loves to have slow-motion sequences, making these waaay to obvious_
You could said that MMX7's animation has gone Maverick!
Eeeyyy 😎
Oooooooooh
Nice video, I think you nailed the balance between criticism and understanding of the limits and challenges that the team faced. On an unrelated note, I think that first-person animation would be an interesting topic for a video. Games like Rising Storm: Vietnam, Insurgency: Sandstorm and its predecessor, Squad, Project Reality, Escape from Tarkov, Battlefield and even some Call of Duty games put excruciating detail into making their weapons realistic in not just mechanical touches, but also weight and feel.
Thanks for the feedback and suggestions!
Oh God. UK Boxart.
Mega Man 2 is the only one that blows all others out of the water.
Euro Mega Man Zero fans suffered so much...
I have no idea what they did to the art style from 2 onward.
It looks like a lot of the animations had almost no inbetweens at all. They appear to just go from static pose to static pose. They either didn't bother, didn't have time, or they misguidedly tried to emulate the old 8bit, three frame run cycles.
Art attack at the start.
*Childhood flashbacks*
Looney Tunes :Sheep Dog n' Wolf animation study would be brilliant!
Man, X8 was so good...
I seriously hate what they did to Zero’s hair in Mega Man X8
It was so weird.
Because I'm European?
I still didn't watched the video but here's a quote: After playing Mighty No.9, Megaman X7 became actually a way cooler game to play in comparison.
Oh yeeeessss, X series! Content I didn't think of but actually need
All the budget in the game was used to Animate Zero Hair
ART ATTACK soundtrack!?
I believe the reason you think the jumping animation is weird is due to the lack of anticipation and their legs not putting in any force to push them off the ground.
That and the actual arc and descent is kinda off. Many games, especially previous X games, didn't have anticipation and they felt fine. I think it's the weight.
> When haa anything ever not been worth paying for?
Mega Man X7 comes to mind...
5:55 dude's hand legit flips upside-down with the gun, dead
An Art Attack reference in the beginning?! Am I dreaming?
5:55 Axl what the hell is going on with your arm, bruh...
Spinning I guess lol...
Bad rigging
Bloody hell that intro was a throwback 😆
Art Attach Throwback xD
The nod to Legends working in 3d is nice, and I'd like to see maybe a deeper look into that game someday. While you do kind of float, I feel like the footstep sound gives our robot son some weight. Same with the jump sound, like you're really taking off and landing like a goddamn boulder on the other side with no stumbling or anything.
Definitely. Also, I know I sound like a broken but awesome record, a bounce in the run adds *so much!*
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Right? Volnutt is *bouncy* and that's so important. The huge profiles of the secondary weapons gives his arm swinging a ton of momentum. This robot boy can haul ass with a vacuum cleaner taped to his hand.
I feel like X7 has that potential to be great with some more time in the oven. The way characters react to auto-aiming is clever and something I think other games could learn from
I suppose, but it's not very Mega Man-like to just auto-aim, and there's no real challenge to it. Part of the fun of classic Mega Man game play is strategy over how high to jump to shoot, etc.
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy
Narratively, it also rips off X4, but doesn’t acknowledge X4’s events very well. Maybe establish Zero’s nature towards Axl being a consequence of Iris’s horrible fate? (Even though she really should be brought back)
For the improvements X8 made to animation, gameplay, and quality of life from X7- I find the slimmer, sleeker design of the X8 characters to be significantly uglier that the fuller, bulkier designs of X7 and the animation of character art from X4-6.
I think thats part of why Command Mission walked it back a bit, they also of course had the change in format letting them use much more constrained and focused animations, but like, Command Armor X running around with his beam scarf and dash Looks Good, but the models regressed towards the bulky thigh and torso paradigm and it works well
Oh god the ART ATTACK nostalgia has kicked in! NOOOOOOO
I swear one of the 12 laws of animation is "your name must be Dan." Seriously, whenever someone brings up the 12 laws of five principles I just automatically assume their name is Dan now.
It'd be safe to assume!
I think the fundamental problem with the animation is the fact that it simply doesn’t feel good from a gameplay perspective. While I’m no animator, much less a game animator, I think I know enough to say that the animation should feel good and that functionality is very important. That’s were X7 fails, it simply feels bad, the wall jump feels janky, the free fall thing that happens when you get hit is ridiculously stupid and everything about how zero plays in this game is wrong. It’s slow, clunky, hard to hit anything with precision which is such a drastic change of pace from 4-6. The great about zero’s animation in those games is three things from my understanding, 1 it looks good, 2 it’s super fast so it serves the gameplay and 3 it has very clearly defined arks so you know which parts of slash hit the enemy or why you missed a target. X7 appears to take twice as long per sword swing meaning it loses all functionality, the slow clunky animation doesn’t feel or look good and it’s lack of a defined ark makes it especially difficult to hit any target precisely, even in the 2d sections. You can’t see where the hit connects and that’s really bad in a close range play style.
Edit: something I noticed with zero which makes him even worse is the fact that they seem to have changed certain animation simply because it may be hard to recreate in 3d(I wouldn’t know I’m not an animator) which goes at the direct expanse of the gameplay. Once again the chief example of this is zero and specifically his mid air slash. In the previous games he had a carefully defined curve in midair which gives you a very clear attack both in front of you and a bit above you as well, allowing for you to easily hit enemies in front of you. X7 ditches this sort of animation and instead goes for some sort of weird air twirl and the only reason I can think for why it is this way is because the PS1 animation for mid air slashes may have been difficult to recreate in 3D. While this may have been easier on the animators, this change is a critical reason why zero is so useless in this game as the twirl is so hard to use correctly and 9 times out of 10 you’ll just crash into the enemy instead. It makes the animation easier but makes the gameplay all the more frustrating for it.
That adds up about right yeah, its difficult to re-create the kind of persistent cones and sharp swings 4-6 used(I fucking love the X6 combo), so you get something more like the X3 saber swing, except with, ya know, none of the speed nor power, I think thats why X8 had a the alt-weapons have so much twirling involved, it helped define Attack Zones without having to figure out how to stretch and interpolate a swing(which can be done, Smash Ult does it constantly, especially on Smash Attacks and Sora, but its a unique challenge compared to 2d)
The Wall Jump honestly feels rather functional, I think its actually betrayed by the NORMAL JUMP, there's no jump-squat or a follow-through that implies a jump squat could have existed, the cast just suddenly ascends in full aerial position
I never thought the day would come when Mega Man and Art Attack would come together in a video. Step aside Avengers, the real crossover special is here!
Here's the problem with the jump: There's no lift off. With sprites there was some leeway but the fact their legs and body doesn't bend down before launching really hurts the animation when scrutinized. They did copy the way X's arms moved in the broad strokes when he jumped, but they didn't give it any weight.
And that's the biggest problem with the characters in general, they feel inconsistent weight wise. They feel heavy when walking and way too light in the air, and they needed to make it more consistant where they had impact when they jump up and down to convey weight or make them faster and more nimble to make them feel more consistently light.
You're right there, I think
I think this is a problem Capcom has been constantly struggling with since Mega Man 8 (watched the analysis on classic Mega Man's animations, BTW), and while the no-startup jumping animation may have worked in side-scrolling camera angles, the fact that X7 has almost top-down camera angles de-emphasizes the jumping movement (which is probably why most top-down RPGs don't have jumps), so some visual hint that the character is jumping is necessary, either with a startup squash or some sand-kicking effect.
Dude, Art Attack was my favorite thing ever as a kid
As bad as Megaman X7 is, I kinda like how Zero swing his sword in X7 more than in X8. In X8 it looks like zero swing his whole arm just to swing his sword and it ends up looking stiff compare to X7.
pretty sure that's more about a profile image, than actual animation design. its one of those "key frame" kinda deal.
The transition of the video around 00:44 is superb, and I'd love to know how that was done.
Thanks! That's just clever video editing in After Effects
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy After effects? oh well, is too complex, i gave up then.
Thanks for tell
Many series struggle when transitioning from 2D to 3D. Transitioning from SF3: Third Strike to SFIV for example, or KOF 13's beautiful spritework to KOF 14. They have to experiment with what works and what doesn't, and art style and fluidity often take the hit until they figure out how to do it better for future titles.
I've stumbled upon your channel and am definitely enjoying your content. I've noticed you using remixed Mega Man 4 music tracks here and there, and since that's my favorite Mega Man game, and favorite game Period, of all time, I just wanted to send an extra shout out and appreciation your way.
Thank you, I'm glad you've enjoyed it!
Its funny to me how you kinda struggled to come up with a closing conclusion, often I find that a sign of a failure to properly express a thought but here it just makes sense, its hard to transition from a multiplicity of animation failures to any concise thought about how to improve, the answer very much just boils down to "git gud", do things that generally make you better at it
Deep cuts with the Art Attack riff. That was some serious nostalgia.
I always figured the speed of the gait in X7 was that they were emulating the original SNES X games' run animation. The jump even looks similar. Once you got a feel for X7, it was easier to control, but the movement speed feels like it should have been kicked up a notch.
Yeah, it was definitely sluggish, but I see what you mean about copying the SNES games.
The transition into the Skillshare sponsorship 😑👌
Thaaaaank yooooou 🥰
X7 gives me PTSD
Pleasant Times Singing "Dadada"?
Nice video! I'm glad you brought up the Legends games - Mega Man's animations are _so_ expressive there. It would be nice to see a closer comparison of what makes them work where X7's don't.
Art Attack?!
THIS IS ART ATTACK!
wait a sec, thats not Neil Buchanan!
6:29 Holy shit that's cool.
I didn't know that till now.
This is a cool channel!
This is the best transition to a sponsor announcement that I've ever seen. Felt so natural
Hey, thank you! 😃
SOME OF THESPROBLEMS
🤠
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy nothing personal of course. happens to everyone. thanks for the video :)
Oh, it was a deliberate mistake, if you thought it was an accidental?
I purposely made it wrong for comedy value 😎
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy it completely flew over my head then 🤣
Hearing the art attack music put a smile on my face, thanks for that! :D
I knew it! Great times!
The lack of X9 continues to hurt me on a daily basis.
I'm sure it'll happen one day
An Art Attack ref at the top, a pancake analogy (I'm gonna steal) in the middle and a Sunny gag at the end. I like these less serious videos! Good job man!
Thank you, my kind little cherub.
The way you talk in this video gives off the vibe of when you're chilling with a friend, and he brought another friend you don't know, and you're smoking some weed together, and then your friend falls asleep while his friend is talking about his job or hobby or whatever, and you're too stoned to take part in the conversation, but you nod every now and then to signal that you're still listening, and he just keeps talking, and it's genuinely interesting, but you already know that about two hours later you will have forgotten everything he told you, including his name.
The animations look clunky, heavy in the sluggish sense (as in moving a bag of bricks) and stiff.
They could've gone for keyframes mainly and a lot of swift blur inbetween. Think the original Megaman games, those 2 keyframes showing for like 0.2 seconds each, and the rest is a swift pose change. Instead, here it feels like they gave each frame the same weight, and the result is an animation that is too fast for it's game.
There definitely are ways to solve this "fast animation on slow game" problem , but here it feels like they barely tried.
Surely there's limitations, and I can see problems like the Dash looking nice from certain angles, but that's a smaller problem.
I bet you were SO Close of losing your sanity with that fire guy
BURN BURN BURN TO THE GROUND!
Didn't even play that level for the video :-p
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Well thank goodness, bullet dodged xD
Oh please, don’t start talking about Zero’s luscious hair else it'll take me back to when I thought he was a chick in X1 and I seriously don’t want a confused Fred atm.
😆
Man, i really want you to analyse Ballan's Wonderworld animations. They feel weird to me but can't pinpoint what is it about them that's causing it.
I unironically like X7. It had some interesting set pieces and ideas, but with clunky mechanics.
I've beaten X7 over about 40+ times during the last decade. Not sure why, but I adore this game so much.
Glad to see you dropping a gem of a vid on X7!
It's totally fine to genuinely enjoy X7, I'm glad it does get love instead of constantly berated 😆
Thanks for watching!
Not only a good video, but a good musical selection too. Thanks for the effort you put towards making this, I really appreciate it.
Coincidentally enough, I've been getting into the Megaman series, mostly by the Zero series, and slowly getting to the rest
(I've played Battle Network as a kid but didn't know what to do in the _second room of the game_ )
Yikes. I can't wait for there to be a Battle Network collection, bloody loved those games.
Battle network is awesome
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy starforce should be part of it, as they are the same universe.
I'm starting to study animation and your videos really do help me.
Thanks a lot🤗
Thank you! Check out New Frame Plus, too. He's got some golden stuff over there!
Maaaaan I just wish this video were longer! I could listen to you talk about the differences between X7 and X8's animation for hours. It was so interesting!
Thanks! I wish I had more time to spend on video production, really. Maybe I should try three or four long-form videos a year, like Ahoy.
It’s good to have fun with your work. I liked your tone this time around! Sorry for the headaches.
Haha, thanks. I don't mind being serious, but I feel as though my videos become far too samey if I narrate and edit the same ALLL the time.
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
X6 was developed in 6 months, this game took 2 years.
More power to X6
To be fair x6 still really sucks
x6 is the "it kinda sucks, but not really". gameplay wise, its solid, they put managed to refine it even more, they fixed alia's bs, the bosses have interesting and unique designs(even if fighting them isnt anything special), and the weapons are... bland but functional.
the problem with x6 comes from both fatigue, as well bad implementation of the nightmare system. still, its, at least, on par with x5.
i would still put it in the second to last game in the series, no doubt, i just dont agree all the hatred is warranted.
@Dude Guy Dude Because showing a fan project fixing a game that sucks means that the game itself doesn't suck to begin with... wut
Come on guys, play nicely.
Thank you! I always had the feeling that something was "off" about the visual design and/or animation in X7 but couldn't quite put my hand on it.
I’m no animator of any quality, but I think X’s jump problem is the lack of the illusion of anticipation- that is, the substitute for anticipation that can’t exist because the character has to jump because the player presses the button and wants to jump then (you can also see it a lot in attack animations, like in hollow knight, where the Knight’s attack animation is mostly completed by the time the arc is formed) . X, however, doesn’t have that, and springs up into the air without any indication of how his stock-straight, fully extended legs did that, like as if his run/standing animation was instantly swapped out with his jumping animation and he was pulled upwards by invisible wires. Indeed if you watched someone supposedly jump with those wires, but their legs were perfectly straight, and they suddenly got hurled into the air, you’d basically replicate what I think is wrong with his jump.
But I’m probably wrong, heh, just my two cents
I think you've got it pretty spot on, really!
lessons learned from this video: X7 was garbage "and it's still actually", X8 and Maverick Hunter X were friggin awesome.
Thanks so much for making this! These animations were one of the many things I never liked about X7 but in this case I could never understand why. This explained it really well!
Funny enough, X7 was my first Megaman X game. Even 11 I knew this game severely, severely poorly animated.
Wow, funny coincidence, I just recently finished playing through Megaman X1, X2, and X4 (I skipped X3 due to what i've heard about it) however I played X4 as X, so I think I might play it again as Zero
I knew you were playing those games, that's why I made this video!
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Funny, though one thing I forgot to mention in the first comment is this is actually my first time playing and beating these games, in fact, prior to X1, i've never played a Megaman game before
Blimey! Well, even though you've heard bad things and it's not my favourite, I'd still recommend you okay X3, there's still lots to enjoy.
Ignore my video on why it's bad....😬
@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Actually i never watched your video on it, I heard about its problems from SomecallmeJohnny
I like how informative and chill these videos are!
Yes, Zero's hair is lovely ❤️✨