I love that he shows the paper work and lists because so many ppl don't think of game design as legit work. It's legit time consuming paperwork, list making, and direction. Games are fun but game development is a job that not just requires the knowledge of games but the actual skill and endurance to do the actual work.
Exactly. People talk a lot about games, usually things they don’t like, not realizing that nothing comes automatically. Everything, even things we take for granted irl like gravity, have to be manually inputted into a game.
The reasons why many people(not me) think game developement is not an actual job is the same as people thinking being a youtuber is not a legit job; 1: They haven't seen or experienced enough of that environment IRL compared to other jobs. 2: These jobs are in the entertainment category which makes it hard for people to take it seriously. 3: These kind of jobs are relatively new to humans' society so it will take some time until it is fully realized.
I'm one of the designers behind Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, and we also used spreadsheets with attack and frame descriptions like this! So cool to see that the GOAT does this as well! Thank you so much for creating this channel and teaching us mortals Mr. Sakurai!
I'm curious, how do you guys plan out the frame data from writing alone? As in like "This amount of wind up, attack frame, and end frame". I feel that's challenging to do
@@FunkySpaceAlien I usually took the most neutral character in the game as a template, so in the beginning of a new character's creation, they will have the same frame data as that template character. Then we think about which archetype we want that character to fit into, so for example, if it's a heavy, then I already know the wind ups will be longer. Of course you have to take into consideration the attack's concept, animation, balance, etc. It's a very case by case task. Also, I wouldn't say the design is done from writing alone, we always have someone from the art team helping us sketch out whatever ideas we have, to make them more concrete and actually see if they can work out or not. Finally, we test out whatever frame data we ended up assigning to the character, tweak, and repeat, until it feels like the concept the team had in mind. I guess the real challenge comes from designing that first neutral template character, but I wasn't around for that so I would be lying if I gave any answer for that specific case.
Remember - you are loved! Jesus loved you and gave his life so that you could be free because of Him! He died for our sins so that we can be reconnected with our Creator God. He wants us all to repent of our sins and receive a new life in Him! A life of strength, faith, and the ability to truly love others as God has loved us. He wants us to follow Him, and let Him be the Lord of our lives. Why is that part important? Because through Christ we will be given the power to overcome sin in our lives today. Christ offers this blessing to all who choose to believe in Him, trust Him and follow Him xx He will never leave you nor forsake you xxx
That workload is divided up usually between 2-3 animators. Having one animator do 80+ pages of animation would literally be torture and produce crunch.
and also this is just animation for the character, nevermind modeling, texturing, recording voice and sound effects, programming, balancing... and doing all of these again and again iteratively until it looks and plays good and without bugs
You’d be surprised exactly how much work goes into games in general, but especially Smash Bros. It’s what you don’t see, the coding, that really requires dedication and focus. I took basic game design and the first thing you learn is that quite literally nothing comes automatically. Every minute *thing* that can happen in a game needs to be planned.
Animations is why a lot of platform fighters aren't nearly as satisfying to play as Smash is. The animations for Smash are so meticulously well crafted.
@@RoseStrohm I would say Sonic from Brawl 14 years ago, still has more character and depth than every single Smash inspired 3D game. You cannot compare budgets and decades of experience too, it's unfair. Maybe compare Ultimate against other AAA games...
@@RoseStrohm They still don’t really sell the animations though. You need to pay enough attention to anticipation frames before the attack and follow through frames after the attack. Combine that with the hit stun Sakurai talked about in the other video. This way you’ll be able to react to an opponent’s attacks and comprehend what you got hit by. It’s hard to follow along with what’s happening in games like Multiversus because it’s lacking in these areas. It seems like characters are just flying across the screen, and it’s hard to tell why they got there.
I love that there are whole channels dedicated to just breaking down the animations of a lot of different games. So much work goes into a single animation that I'm sure devs are happy people appreciate the work that goes into something that most people just see as apparent and obvious
I never realized how simple this was to communicate to the animators. I write down attack animation descriptions for fun, but looking back, what I did was actually very good for designing actual animations. Thank you, Sakurai! Edit: Yo dad, I think people like me!
not only for animating but for coding them aswell! writing stuff before hand is almost crucial even if you're a solo dev, since it can prevent hiccups of "And what i wanted to do here?" or "for how long this should go on?"
Writing is rlly good, I am not great at sketching animation ideas so a good description is crucial. Having an image is very beneficial but if u can visualise from text that will help a lot
It's common practice for games in general. Having everything in a list makes internal names consistent, task delegation efficient, and referencing easy. While game engines can show what assets are in the project, referencing those in scripts is still a hassle cause you'll need to know which animation is which and might have to change it manually if the name gets changed. With lists like what got shown, there's a single unique name for every animation and everyone sticks to it to make changes in the middle of development easy.
for anyone who is curious: the doll he is using in the video is commonly sold under the label "Body-kun" and is super popular among artists! :) theyre great for posing!
every resource i find says they were a limited release, and are permanently discontinued. do you know of a good way to find them, or if it's even possible? seems like a super useful tool, but all i can find are bootlegs.
@@squeegeemcgeeI know it's super annoying as the market is FLOODED with Chinese bootlegs. I was researching this question and the website AMIAMI came up at the top of everyone's list one of the most reputable sites to get anime figurines. I checked once before in the Body-Kuns/Chans were sold out. However, I checked last week though and the sports editions come in. They were released in Japan at the end of June. I ordered the male and female sports double set and the boy Pokémon version that's on sale. I'd run a grab one or two now, before they sell out. I got my package a day sooner than expected at three days. They had the right labels on them, they came from Japan and the figures are sturdy so I know that are legit. I would definitely recommend the website. ☺️
@@squeegeemcgeeLook up used goods stores online. I'd start with AmiAmi or Jungle. And for future reference, almost all figures all limited release, it's rare to get continuous reprints.
70 pages per fighter!? Imagine another director of anything being this hands on with each aspect of a project. It really demonstrates his commitment to the projects he works on and just how much vision he has. Hope this series can inspire more of us to work as diligently!
That worries me a bit Because it means that the moment smash is no longer directed by sakurai, it will be the moment that the series's quality might drop pretty significantly
@@lucaantinori4834 If Sakurai drops smash, the series will go back to be mainly produced by Hal Labs, which means that current Kirby director Shinya Kumazaki and his team would now be in charge of the next game Sure, Kumazaki isn't Sakurai, they have different visions about their games, but Kumazaki believes thoroughly in Sakurai's game design vision and that is clear with the more recent Kirby games Planet Robobot and Forgotten Land are absolute gems that are thoroughly polished in every single aspect, from animation, to soundtrack, to artstyle, those games know what they are trying to achieve That's why I'm not as skeptical in the future of smash, because it most likely will fall in the right hands
Yea people have no idea how much work, pre-planning, pre-production and even negotiations between studios and rights owners to even get a character into a game in the first place. Which means there are no characters that took away slots of other characters last minute, no DLCs that are made to grab a quick buck post release, every single character has undergone years of meetings and production before they're even announced.
@@SareuoueMado I don't know HAL made awesome games, but it also made some games that feel unpolished or lazy, for example star allies, which at launch was underwhelming to say the least and it wasn't until the dlc ended that it became a decent kirby game There's also kirby battle royale, though this one is kinda understandable because the 3ds was about to end his cicle And also kirby's 3ds deluxe games, fighters deluxe was OK, but the rest... drum dash only has very few songs, team kirby clash deluxe only starts to feel enjoyable after paying 20 dollars to upgrade the tree, a F2P surely, and blowout blast only starts to be fun if you play it with the goal of getting platinum trophies, which sucks because it means that casual players who don't care about that will be bored pretty quickly
2:53 From assuring he was originally intended as playable to making him appear as much as possible, even on his Twitter screenshots, I really love the detail on how Sakurai used another spec for Pyra/Mythra to also include Rex here too. He really seems to be throwing a bone to those who wished he were playable.
I kinda love how these videos are formatted almost like a corporate training, especially with that music during the wrap up at the end. This series feels like something you'd watch during your first week working at Nintendo.
I appreciate idle animations in games cause out of all the animations each character has, it’s when they’re idle animations play that they show the most life like characteristics whether it’s Link flexing his muscles in Breath of the Wild, Samus calibrating her arm cannon in Metroid Prime, Kazooie pecking at Banjo’s Head, Mario dreaming about Spaghetti. Sometimes I even wait in games just to see them.
In every game i play, i *always* take a moment every now and then to just stand still and appreciate the idle animations. Usually, i'll stand by a window, cliffside, beach or something like that, and pretend my character is appreciating the sights, just so i can see their animations (i do this *A LOT* in Genshin) Of course, when a game doesn't have any idle animations, i do this far less (and it's sad too :/)
This one is my favorite. I've often thought about using a figure like that as reference material, but as an artist, always felt like it might cheapen the process. Having a list of things you'd like to have is super useful as well so you can have a much better idea of all the things that need to be done!
Always been fascinated with the animation of Smash Ultimate in particular. Before Min min became a fighter, I remember really liking Spring Man's body animation when he punches in contrast in how it works in their own game.
Wow. He's doing a lot of the heavy lifting, that's awesome. The more pre-production you do, the easier production will be. I deeply respect that. I wonder if Sakurai will ever make a small game just exhibiting the stuff he's showing on this channel. I think that'd be neat at some point much, much later down the line.
Im a videogame art director, and that doc animation list has give me vietnam flashbacks of the way Ive done it for animators in one of our latest projects. Is incredibly clean the way that Sakurai does it, even when im using the same principles. Gonna really use a doc like that in the future for animations, instead of the way I do it now.
This really shows to me how much knowledge a director needs to have to communicate with their whole team and make a cohesive game. I really want to strive to be so reliable.
Even outside of game development, it is absolutely critical that you can communicate your direction/ideas to people who need to implement them. People can have really strong skills and expertise, but if the communication bottleneck isn't addressed, then the overall product won't reach its full potential. It's a tricky problem, even at the level of college/university projects (where I'm at right now), and it's cool to see an expert's solution when dealing with animators that clearly has worked well.
70 to 80 pages of notes and images for just one character is crazy and it only gets crazier when you have more detailed characters that have extra accessories like capes, long hair etc. That's crazy to even think on where to start for describing something like that
Seeing the posed figure for each fighter made me realize how much personality the idle stance gives the character, which I’d never noticed before. The way Sephiroth’s knee is kind of bent, making him slump a little, shows how he’s kind of aloof and bored. I’ll have to pay more attention to how the way each character stands reveals some insight into their personality
This just goes to show how important it is to communicate your ideas and what you're looking for effectively with other members of the development team.
Hello, mr Sakurai My name is Louis, i will have 15 years old this month and I'm in a highschool I looove Smash ultimate and every smash games and since almost 10 years, i would become a game programmor because when i had 5 years old, i played at Mario kart Wii and i enjoyed this game but i was also frustrated because i wanted MORE characters and i said that : "later, i will create MY video games" and today, i watched the videos of Masahiro Sakurai, a legend of the video games Thanks Sakurai, Thanks for showing the right way to the future video game programmor and designer. Thanks for Everything PS : if my setences are don't very good, it's because i'm a French people
The inkling’s spec sheet for the side smash being a brush on nail polish on a gun is just too hilarious! Thank you Mr Sakurai for being such a legend. It’s really an honour hearing your insights on UA-cam.
This is definitely going on the "should know" list. It's nice to see that writing down a descriptor of how the attack looks like is actually really helpful. Plus that little model is a great visual aid. Love that guy. I'm always gonna be fun of non-humanoid animations, though. You really have to get creative with them, and it always makes me smile seeing so much personality on something that doesn't convey it normally.
I gotta like animation in games. From looking videos of people movements for references to animating the thing all together. It's a tough job but you gotta do what you gotta do.
Wow I thought I was just a noob for making all this paperwork in my game direction, but seeing how Mr. Sakurai still uses legit paperwork too instead of some alien software gives me a confidence boost, hahaha. This was really interesting to watch. I will also try getting one of those figures for easier reference. The "is this feasible?" at 2:03 sends me, so relatable hahaha. Sometimes Directors come up with the weirdest ideas and ask themselves if the animators can keep up (they usually can).
This might be by far the best. Seeing those images behind all those animations is SOOO great and explains so much about why the animation in Smash is so perfect. You can actually tell it was all planned by someone with a stick figure somehow. The way the bodies move, everything is just so precise and expressive. And wow so much care and work put into the figure pictures for the animators, WOW. and that pause where Sakurai just looks at his stick figure made me laugh so much, I think I rewinded 3 times. This channel is such gold.
Obviously he is the game director and he is bound to guide the general direction of the game, but I couldn't have imagined he was this ridiculously involved in every single step like this. Amazing work Sakurai!
As a person getting into animation as of recently, this can be helpful when I could potentially be part of an animation team *doubtful* . It is the truth that one of the hugest parts of projects with teams is communication.
All that work for each and every single one of those characters. Wow... it leaves you with an even greater sense of appreciation for what all of these people do in the games they work on!
As a college student enetering his first year in video game design your videos have been extremely interesting to me. Thank you for your hard work Mr Sakurai.
YO! Sakurai is a true action figure fan!! Seeing him talk about his Smash collection and then him using figures to help with production of the game makes me exceedingly happy!!
The photos and notes going over different key poses is incredible. I'd LOVE to see more of exactly this, heck, even all the pages for a single character if that was possible.
This is so interesting! I just recently bought a similar figure for art reference, and this really helped me feel inspired to start using it more often! But, this is also very cool for getting some insight into how Smash especially has such strong pose to pose animation! I've always been curious about how all this got communicated, and it's wonderful to see it all laid out!
These animations also had to be doubled for Kirby when he inhales other fighters. That essentially doubles the workload, especially for every Smash DLC characters.
During development of one of the SSB games, they first drew his positions with a generic humanoid and then referenced that for kirby. Yes that includes the inflated flying pose, and yes it looks weird on a humanoid.
Well, technically, only the Neutral Specials have to be doubled, as Kirby can only copy those in Smash, not entire movesets nor unique moving/idle animations.
Less doubled and more like an added animation for every character. From an animation standpoint, it would be like if characters had forward/ backwards specials
@@stevep9177 so if all of Kirby's animations have action figure references... What about Pikachu? Is that modded version with the Bayonetta skeleton the logical midpoint of this process?
I‘m convinced that if Sakurai ever steps down from making Smash Bros., there will be absolutely no one to fill in the gap. How much detail and preparation goes into these games is just utterly insane. But I think we are actually in luck, seeing that he‘s still in his twenties.
This is fantastic and definitely explains why the animation in the smash series is so good! That level of communication and direction is something I'd love to have as an animator.
This feels like the sort of video that you never think about until you actually get to the meat of a project, but makes so much sense once you hear how it’s done. Incredibly insightful!
I don't know what to add to the point of the video so I'll say something random about SSBU animations: The walk and run animations have a pretty interesting property. In the file, the character's physical position actually moves, instead of staying still. This is because their "Trans" bone is moving. Every fighter has a "Trans" bone, for Transform. On every move, there's a flag that dictates the bone's function. By default, nothing happens, and the bone acts like every other bone. However, if the flag is on, the character's position will be updated to the position of the Trans bone. Walks and runs aren't the only ones that use this. Moves like Megaman's Up-tilt, Joker's Down-tilt, and all dash attacks have this flag on too. I assume this was done because animating a character moving is way easier if you actually animate the moving. So by implementing this functionality, the animators have more creative freedom.
This could actually pretty useful for whenever Sakurai eventually retires & someone else takes up the mantle of directing Smash. I understand that he already tried finding a successor & failed, but I’m thinking more in the long-term.
It's hard to probably match his work ethic also. I mean the guy types out so much, sets up presentations, and makes crazy lists. He's worked himself to collapse in the past. Not only does his replacement have to be knowledgeable about games but has to have his level of drive. That combo for getting a game out is not easy to find for such a demanding franchise like Smash too.
@@MegaKirbySuperstar To emphasize his work ethic, Samurai is ALWAYS playing new games. When he gets home from work, he's watching some recorded TV show at x2 (which ain't half bad if you get used to watching videos at x2) while playing games, while on a stationary bike. Most developers don't have the COMPLETED game library he has, let alone the discipline to build so.
If anyone's curious about the figure that Sakurai used in the video, it's called "Body-kun" and you can grab it from Amazon for cheap these days. There's also a female variant called "Body-chan", and there's a "DX" version for both that include multiple hands and objects such a sword, a gun, computer and tablet. I recently ordered a pack with both for roughly $32. Great for a drawing reference as well, but extremely delicate, not the best built, and definitely have to work with them a bit. I'd keep the reviews in mind if you're considering about ordering any. There's a good chance most places are selling knockoffs than the real deal. (I only got mine a week ago and the boxes were beaten to hell if it's any indication how much care they have. At least everything inside was fine.)
I never actually thought about how much work goes into just explaining something as common as an idle animation. I guess that I should take even the simplest ones with more gratitude because a lot more work than I realized goes into them.
I admire Sakura's meticulous commitment to animations. Smash has some of the most polished animations I've seen and it goes a long way in making the game feel alive. :) Also, fun fact: Sakurai has a frame 17 jab
For awhile I've wondered if I put too much effort into my animation planning and organization, but not enough effort animating. It's really exciting to hear Sakurai's documentation style is similar to what I do. Now I just need to polish my skills for another 35 years.
I am in love with all this detail. When I saw the extensive animation assignment list I was in awe at the meticulous planning. I appreciate all the work that goes into simply communicating a vision for the animation. Thank you for sharing!!!
Even for an experienced designer watching, this video is filled with so much insights that they can learn from. Learning the delivery of art requirements from design has been confusing me tons lately, so this was perfect timing. And to learn of a AAA game's process is just finishing it with sprinkle on top.
I didn’t major in animation but some of my friends from college did. We see things move all the time and experience animation daily but we don’t always take time to *observe* just how detailed and expressive it is, nor think about how it was “built.” Smash is one of those games where you really feel the animations. It all looks so natural while being filled with personality. It is very hard and time-consuming to achieve such a result, especially on a strict production schedule. Thank you Mr. Sakurai for sharing your wisdom.
I was waiting for Mashiro to do a video on animation, as it's the most fascinating aspect for me of video games. When he said 70-80 pages of animations are done for a single fighter, it put everything into perspective for me. Mashiro, you are truly a master of your craft, and you've worked so unbelievably hard. Thank you.
This stuff makes me wish we could get a Smash Ultimate art book. Even aside from more of these poses for the animations for each character, I'd love to see more on the effort that went into visually overhaulling old stages like Brinstar Depths, and cohesively realizing new locales from old games, like Northern Crater. Legally speaking, I imagine a Smash art book would be difficult to assemble, but it is a longtime wish of mine.
Interesting way on how you tell your animators what you need, I always see videos explaining how to animate but not how to communicate your ideas to your animators outside of storyboards.
I remember doodling some of these for fun when making game concept art as a kid. I even had a phase where I draw up entirely movesets for tons and tons of videogame characters, including my own and some non-game-characters, and this even included *three final smashes!* 🤣 I believe I called them "Standard Final Smash", "Alternate Final Smash", and "Dark Final Smash".
This is why people say only Sakurai can make Smash. He and his team put so much effort into things that I wouldn't have even thought about. Gonna use some of these tips for sure.
![Eight Hit Stop Techniques [Design Specifics]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tycbMSjDDLg/mqdefault.jpg)
![Eight Hit Stop Techniques [Design Specifics]](/img/tr.png)
![Attack Poses [Animation]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/99gdMDF7V2E/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Perils of Interpolation [Animation]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/oFwamE6Hy04/mqdefault.jpg)
![Make It "Pop" [Effects]](/img/n.gif)
I love that he shows the paper work and lists because so many ppl don't think of game design as legit work. It's legit time consuming paperwork, list making, and direction. Games are fun but game development is a job that not just requires the knowledge of games but the actual skill and endurance to do the actual work.
You are correct. There is not just planning. There's also a bunch of pre-planning, as well.
Exactly. People talk a lot about games, usually things they don’t like, not realizing that nothing comes automatically. Everything, even things we take for granted irl like gravity, have to be manually inputted into a game.
The reasons why many people(not me) think game developement is not an actual job is the same as people thinking being a youtuber is not a legit job;
1: They haven't seen or experienced enough of that environment IRL compared to other jobs.
2: These jobs are in the entertainment category which makes it hard for people to take it seriously.
3: These kind of jobs are relatively new to humans' society so it will take some time until it is fully realized.
Game design is a full-time job. And with a bad design (decision, plan, written concept), the entire game project can be cursed from the beginning.
@@Ertain1 I love this Kirby to Kirby communication
His pause to look at the figure was EVERYTHINGGGG
He was like "don't look at me like that, you know what you did"
What? No.
Reminds me of the non-especified action figure from one of the old Wii U trailers lol (The one that Iwata talked to in a one-off video too)
He hit that figure with a clean 🤨
Masahiro(ck) Sakurai
I'm one of the designers behind Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, and we also used spreadsheets with attack and frame descriptions like this! So cool to see that the GOAT does this as well!
Thank you so much for creating this channel and teaching us mortals Mr. Sakurai!
I'm curious, how do you guys plan out the frame data from writing alone? As in like "This amount of wind up, attack frame, and end frame". I feel that's challenging to do
@@FunkySpaceAlien I usually took the most neutral character in the game as a template, so in the beginning of a new character's creation, they will have the same frame data as that template character. Then we think about which archetype we want that character to fit into, so for example, if it's a heavy, then I already know the wind ups will be longer. Of course you have to take into consideration the attack's concept, animation, balance, etc. It's a very case by case task. Also, I wouldn't say the design is done from writing alone, we always have someone from the art team helping us sketch out whatever ideas we have, to make them more concrete and actually see if they can work out or not. Finally, we test out whatever frame data we ended up assigning to the character, tweak, and repeat, until it feels like the concept the team had in mind. I guess the real challenge comes from designing that first neutral template character, but I wasn't around for that so I would be lying if I gave any answer for that specific case.
Now it's like seeing a crossover between smash brothers
What were your thoughts upon hearing that the game would launch without voice acting?
I've heard of you, Mr. Villalobos. You have quite the reputation. Don't worry; it's a good one. lol
Sakurai legit showing us the creation process of a Smash character. This is the best timeline.
And a weird one too tbh, humanity went from life without any technology to... all of this! If you think about it, it's pretty weird
Remember - you are loved! Jesus loved you and gave his life so that you could be free because of Him! He died for our sins so that we can be reconnected with our Creator God. He wants us all to repent of our sins and receive a new life in Him! A life of strength, faith, and the ability to truly love others as God has loved us. He wants us to follow Him, and let Him be the Lord of our lives. Why is that part important? Because through Christ we will be given the power to overcome sin in our lives today. Christ offers this blessing to all who choose to believe in Him, trust Him and follow Him xx He will never leave you nor forsake you xxx
70-80 pages per character? No wonder the SSBU DLC took so long. Got to give major props to Sakurai-san.
That workload is divided up usually between 2-3 animators. Having one animator do 80+ pages of animation would literally be torture and produce crunch.
and also this is just animation for the character, nevermind modeling, texturing, recording voice and sound effects, programming, balancing... and doing all of these again and again iteratively until it looks and plays good and without bugs
And that's just the DESCRIPTION of the ANIMATIONS.
You’d be surprised exactly how much work goes into games in general, but especially Smash Bros. It’s what you don’t see, the coding, that really requires dedication and focus. I took basic game design and the first thing you learn is that quite literally nothing comes automatically. Every minute *thing* that can happen in a game needs to be planned.
When you look at the phenomenal work the Smash team did with the animations you realize they would *need* these 80 pages.
Animations is why a lot of platform fighters aren't nearly as satisfying to play as Smash is. The animations for Smash are so meticulously well crafted.
Every character feels unique
I think multiversus really sticks out too. There's a ton of character in their attacks
@@RoseStrohm I would say Sonic from Brawl 14 years ago, still has more character and depth than every single Smash inspired 3D game.
You cannot compare budgets and decades of experience too, it's unfair. Maybe compare Ultimate against other AAA games...
@@saricubra2867 Tom and Jerry's animations are leagues better than brawl sonic animations lol
@@RoseStrohm They still don’t really sell the animations though. You need to pay enough attention to anticipation frames before the attack and follow through frames after the attack. Combine that with the hit stun Sakurai talked about in the other video. This way you’ll be able to react to an opponent’s attacks and comprehend what you got hit by.
It’s hard to follow along with what’s happening in games like Multiversus because it’s lacking in these areas. It seems like characters are just flying across the screen, and it’s hard to tell why they got there.
I swear, if every game design class was taught by this man there would be a lot more good games than there ever was
Game design class 🤨
Has more to do with the corporate/budget side of things more than lack of game design knowledge.
@@moosesues8887 Those exist
@@kaleenar963 I took one. It sucked compared to Sakurai.
@@psychokinrazalon yeah. He has a better class than most game designers do.
I love that there are whole channels dedicated to just breaking down the animations of a lot of different games. So much work goes into a single animation that I'm sure devs are happy people appreciate the work that goes into something that most people just see as apparent and obvious
Can you recommend me a couple of those channels pls?
@@morz2094 you should check out new frame plus!
@@ImNotGoodAtAnimation And don't forget Video Game Animation Study, can't have Dan without Dan
Mockrock does a lot pf smash animation rankings
@@morz2094 sugar punch has a series about animation
Still can't believe this legend made this channel. Such an honor to hear insight on his design ideas.
Yeah and in just three weeks of opening his channel. He's nearly at 500,000 subscribers
I never realized how simple this was to communicate to the animators. I write down attack animation descriptions for fun, but looking back, what I did was actually very good for designing actual animations. Thank you, Sakurai!
Edit: Yo dad, I think people like me!
not only for animating but for coding them aswell! writing stuff before hand is almost crucial even if you're a solo dev, since it can prevent hiccups of "And what i wanted to do here?" or "for how long this should go on?"
Writing is rlly good, I am not great at sketching animation ideas so a good description is crucial. Having an image is very beneficial but if u can visualise from text that will help a lot
*write
To be fair animator dont really read attack description 😅. Most of the time they just want a good mock-up of the movement with a small description 👍
right down?
This is really fascinating, I'm not sure if this is common practice for fighting games or not but it's really clever!
@@thefastcommenter7774 i thought Inkling
It's common practice for games in general. Having everything in a list makes internal names consistent, task delegation efficient, and referencing easy. While game engines can show what assets are in the project, referencing those in scripts is still a hassle cause you'll need to know which animation is which and might have to change it manually if the name gets changed. With lists like what got shown, there's a single unique name for every animation and everyone sticks to it to make changes in the middle of development easy.
Hold up? Ain't you Nathaniel B?
for anyone who is curious: the doll he is using in the video is commonly sold under the label "Body-kun" and is super popular among artists! :) theyre great for posing!
every resource i find says they were a limited release, and are permanently discontinued. do you know of a good way to find them, or if it's even possible?
seems like a super useful tool, but all i can find are bootlegs.
@@squeegeemcgeeI know it's super annoying as the market is FLOODED with Chinese bootlegs. I was researching this question and the website AMIAMI came up at the top of everyone's list one of the most reputable sites to get anime figurines. I checked once before in the Body-Kuns/Chans were sold out. However, I checked last week though and the sports editions come in. They were released in Japan at the end of June. I ordered the male and female sports double set and the boy Pokémon version that's on sale.
I'd run a grab one or two now, before they sell out. I got my package a day sooner than expected at three days. They had the right labels on them, they came from Japan and the figures are sturdy so I know that are legit. I would definitely recommend the website. ☺️
@@squeegeemcgeeLook up used goods stores online. I'd start with AmiAmi or Jungle. And for future reference, almost all figures all limited release, it's rare to get continuous reprints.
70 pages per fighter!? Imagine another director of anything being this hands on with each aspect of a project. It really demonstrates his commitment to the projects he works on and just how much vision he has. Hope this series can inspire more of us to work as diligently!
That worries me a bit
Because it means that the moment smash is no longer directed by sakurai, it will be the moment that the series's quality might drop pretty significantly
@@lucaantinori4834 If Sakurai drops smash, the series will go back to be mainly produced by Hal Labs, which means that current Kirby director Shinya Kumazaki and his team would now be in charge of the next game
Sure, Kumazaki isn't Sakurai, they have different visions about their games, but Kumazaki believes thoroughly in Sakurai's game design vision and that is clear with the more recent Kirby games
Planet Robobot and Forgotten Land are absolute gems that are thoroughly polished in every single aspect, from animation, to soundtrack, to artstyle, those games know what they are trying to achieve
That's why I'm not as skeptical in the future of smash, because it most likely will fall in the right hands
@@SareuoueMado I have faith in HAL because they always make amazing quality games with great attention to detail
Yea people have no idea how much work, pre-planning, pre-production and even negotiations between studios and rights owners to even get a character into a game in the first place. Which means there are no characters that took away slots of other characters last minute, no DLCs that are made to grab a quick buck post release, every single character has undergone years of meetings and production before they're even announced.
@@SareuoueMado
I don't know
HAL made awesome games, but it also made some games that feel unpolished or lazy, for example star allies, which at launch was underwhelming to say the least and it wasn't until the dlc ended that it became a decent kirby game
There's also kirby battle royale, though this one is kinda understandable because the 3ds was about to end his cicle
And also kirby's 3ds deluxe games, fighters deluxe was OK, but the rest... drum dash only has very few songs, team kirby clash deluxe only starts to feel enjoyable after paying 20 dollars to upgrade the tree, a F2P surely, and blowout blast only starts to be fun if you play it with the goal of getting platinum trophies, which sucks because it means that casual players who don't care about that will be bored pretty quickly
More wisdom from Sakurai, always a pleasure.
That's Sakurai Sensei for you.
2:53 From assuring he was originally intended as playable to making him appear as much as possible, even on his Twitter screenshots, I really love the detail on how Sakurai used another spec for Pyra/Mythra to also include Rex here too. He really seems to be throwing a bone to those who wished he were playable.
1:32 this part is so amazing
I kinda love how these videos are formatted almost like a corporate training, especially with that music during the wrap up at the end. This series feels like something you'd watch during your first week working at Nintendo.
I appreciate idle animations in games cause out of all the animations each character has, it’s when they’re idle animations play that they show the most life like characteristics whether it’s Link flexing his muscles in Breath of the Wild, Samus calibrating her arm cannon in Metroid Prime, Kazooie pecking at Banjo’s Head, Mario dreaming about Spaghetti. Sometimes I even wait in games just to see them.
In every game i play, i *always* take a moment every now and then to just stand still and appreciate the idle animations. Usually, i'll stand by a window, cliffside, beach or something like that, and pretend my character is appreciating the sights, just so i can see their animations (i do this *A LOT* in Genshin)
Of course, when a game doesn't have any idle animations, i do this far less (and it's sad too :/)
@@pomelo9518 Hell yeah lol
This one is my favorite. I've often thought about using a figure like that as reference material, but as an artist, always felt like it might cheapen the process. Having a list of things you'd like to have is super useful as well so you can have a much better idea of all the things that need to be done!
Hey Charriii5
No way charii!
Hope this channel helps you out with SoulStar.
Always been fascinated with the animation of Smash Ultimate in particular. Before Min min became a fighter, I remember really liking Spring Man's body animation when he punches in contrast in how it works in their own game.
Yeah, now it just reminds you that *Min Min exists.*
@@themarioking7127 Actually, it reminds me of her Down Smash where she does a little breakdance as a way to get back up.
Wow. He's doing a lot of the heavy lifting, that's awesome.
The more pre-production you do, the easier production will be.
I deeply respect that.
I wonder if Sakurai will ever make a small game just exhibiting the stuff he's showing on this channel. I think that'd be neat at some point much, much later down the line.
Im a videogame art director, and that doc animation list has give me vietnam flashbacks of the way Ive done it for animators in one of our latest projects. Is incredibly clean the way that Sakurai does it, even when im using the same principles. Gonna really use a doc like that in the future for animations, instead of the way I do it now.
I hadn't realised Sakurai was so hands on. An insane amount of work from just one person.
This really shows to me how much knowledge a director needs to have to communicate with their whole team and make a cohesive game. I really want to strive to be so reliable.
Even outside of game development, it is absolutely critical that you can communicate your direction/ideas to people who need to implement them. People can have really strong skills and expertise, but if the communication bottleneck isn't addressed, then the overall product won't reach its full potential. It's a tricky problem, even at the level of college/university projects (where I'm at right now), and it's cool to see an expert's solution when dealing with animators that clearly has worked well.
70 to 80 pages of notes and images for just one character is crazy and it only gets crazier when you have more detailed characters that have extra accessories like capes, long hair etc. That's crazy to even think on where to start for describing something like that
Seeing the posed figure for each fighter made me realize how much personality the idle stance gives the character, which I’d never noticed before. The way Sephiroth’s knee is kind of bent, making him slump a little, shows how he’s kind of aloof and bored. I’ll have to pay more attention to how the way each character stands reveals some insight into their personality
Also, look at the difference between Pyra and Mythra up taunt. Their personalities are so distinct, despite the fact that they're the same basic pose.
That's the beauty of animation and posing! Every single character's idle (not to mention numerous other poses) are all used to convey character.
This just goes to show how important it is to communicate your ideas and what you're looking for effectively with other members of the development team.
Hello, mr Sakurai
My name is Louis, i will have 15 years old this month and I'm in a highschool
I looove Smash ultimate and every smash games and since almost 10 years, i would become a game programmor because when i had 5 years old, i played at Mario kart Wii and i enjoyed this game but i was also frustrated because i wanted MORE characters and i said that : "later, i will create MY video games"
and today, i watched the videos of Masahiro Sakurai, a legend of the video games
Thanks Sakurai, Thanks for showing the right way to the future video game programmor and designer.
Thanks for Everything
PS : if my setences are don't very good, it's because i'm a French people
This shows all the work that goes into a masterpiece, I admire the work of Mr sakurai and the time he takes for the small details.
Smash especially is pretty ridiculous with how many little details there are. There are SO many small touches and subtle references in the animation.
This man might be the most wholesome UA-camr I have ever seen.
That's the goat right there my friends. An honor to peek into the work of a master of the craft.
Love the "(Is this feasible?)" at the end of K. Rool's Up Throw, made me laugh.
Likely makes paperwork more fun with those smll details.
The inkling’s spec sheet for the side smash being a brush on nail polish on a gun is just too hilarious! Thank you Mr Sakurai for being such a legend. It’s really an honour hearing your insights on UA-cam.
didn't know Sakurai was this talented. Just using that figure to make good poses takes a lot of skill and knowledge.
It really makes you appreciate all the animations of every fighter
1:31
The Comedy Gold is making me love this man even more.
And for the figure's neutral special, he wields a gun.
I remember when I was learning animation in high school. I have respect for anyone that can do that consistently because it’s hard and takes FOREVER
speaking as an artist, solid guidance and reference like sakurai provides here makes a WORLD of difference
1:32 *has a flashback to every moment of his life leading up do this moment*
This is definitely going on the "should know" list. It's nice to see that writing down a descriptor of how the attack looks like is actually really helpful. Plus that little model is a great visual aid. Love that guy.
I'm always gonna be fun of non-humanoid animations, though. You really have to get creative with them, and it always makes me smile seeing so much personality on something that doesn't convey it normally.
Possibly the most interesting episode yet, it was informative while also giving a behind-the-scenes look at the development of Smash Bros.
I gotta like animation in games. From looking videos of people movements for references to animating the thing all together. It's a tough job but you gotta do what you gotta do.
the guy from Twitter?!
Wow I thought I was just a noob for making all this paperwork in my game direction, but seeing how Mr. Sakurai still uses legit paperwork too instead of some alien software gives me a confidence boost, hahaha. This was really interesting to watch. I will also try getting one of those figures for easier reference. The "is this feasible?" at 2:03 sends me, so relatable hahaha. Sometimes Directors come up with the weirdest ideas and ask themselves if the animators can keep up (they usually can).
This might be by far the best. Seeing those images behind all those animations is SOOO great and explains so much about why the animation in Smash is so perfect. You can actually tell it was all planned by someone with a stick figure somehow. The way the bodies move, everything is just so precise and expressive. And wow so much care and work put into the figure pictures for the animators, WOW.
and that pause where Sakurai just looks at his stick figure made me laugh so much, I think I rewinded 3 times. This channel is such gold.
Making a good, perfect and clean animation in 3d and 2d. Super Smash Bros. Series
I can't help but to feel like this helped inspire the change from the Fighting Polygon Team to those wireframe characters in later titles.
This may have been the coolest episode yet. It's awesome seeing how even the little aspects in smash are designed!
This channel is so fascinating, I never imagined Sakurai or game directors in general to be this hands on with animations.
Obviously he is the game director and he is bound to guide the general direction of the game, but I couldn't have imagined he was this ridiculously involved in every single step like this. Amazing work Sakurai!
As a person getting into animation as of recently, this can be helpful when I could potentially be part of an animation team *doubtful* . It is the truth that one of the hugest parts of projects with teams is communication.
You'll get there. Just keep at it. I believe in you
@@The_WIll_OF_D99 dear me, that’s so nice of you sir, thank you. :)
@@pastapastajfollower2919 😊 no problem. You got this 🔥
Keep practicing your silhouette/gesture drawings and your timings. A clear silhouette is a clear key pose :)
@@pastapastajfollower2919 squash and stretch and smear frames
All that work for each and every single one of those characters. Wow... it leaves you with an even greater sense of appreciation for what all of these people do in the games they work on!
As a college student enetering his first year in video game design your videos have been extremely interesting to me. Thank you for your hard work Mr Sakurai.
Seeing the figure posed for ssbu animations is so cool. I knew that was done for melee but it's cool to see it still used!
I belive this is common practice in animation, tho sometimes animators pose the animation themselves, Its cool to have the figure infront of you
It looks cool
In case anyone’s wondering, that figure is called “Body Kun”, from the SH Figuarts line
It's really relieving to see that the tools many people use are used by Sakurai as well!
1:30 the way the music went quiet after this and sakurai looked at the figure was... hilarious, for some reason. XD
YO! Sakurai is a true action figure fan!! Seeing him talk about his Smash collection and then him using figures to help with production of the game makes me exceedingly happy!!
The animations of Smash Ultimate are all beautiful. Glad there’s a video on this.
The photos and notes going over different key poses is incredible. I'd LOVE to see more of exactly this, heck, even all the pages for a single character if that was possible.
This is so interesting! I just recently bought a similar figure for art reference, and this really helped me feel inspired to start using it more often! But, this is also very cool for getting some insight into how Smash especially has such strong pose to pose animation! I've always been curious about how all this got communicated, and it's wonderful to see it all laid out!
The fighters in Smash being figurines makes so much sense now.
I absolutely no desire to torture myself and be a game developer but these videos are so interesting
These animations also had to be doubled for Kirby when he inhales other fighters. That essentially doubles the workload, especially for every Smash DLC characters.
During development of one of the SSB games, they first drew his positions with a generic humanoid and then referenced that for kirby. Yes that includes the inflated flying pose, and yes it looks weird on a humanoid.
Well, technically, only the Neutral Specials have to be doubled, as Kirby can only copy those in Smash, not entire movesets nor unique moving/idle animations.
Less doubled and more like an added animation for every character. From an animation standpoint, it would be like if characters had forward/ backwards specials
@@stevep9177 so if all of Kirby's animations have action figure references... What about Pikachu? Is that modded version with the Bayonetta skeleton the logical midpoint of this process?
Wait I take that back, I was thinking of Kirby Super Star
I‘m convinced that if Sakurai ever steps down from making Smash Bros., there will be absolutely no one to fill in the gap. How much detail and preparation goes into these games is just utterly insane.
But I think we are actually in luck, seeing that he‘s still in his twenties.
This is fantastic and definitely explains why the animation in the smash series is so good! That level of communication and direction is something I'd love to have as an animator.
This feels like the sort of video that you never think about until you actually get to the meat of a project, but makes so much sense once you hear how it’s done. Incredibly insightful!
Yes indeed I would like to see these ideas put into *motion* 👀
Man of culture I see
Ah yes, probably one of the reason why Overwatch was popular...because of a certain Rule
@@nightday2030 why is it capitalized wait oh no
It's great to see something related to Smash Bros development. :>
I don't know what to add to the point of the video so I'll say something random about SSBU animations:
The walk and run animations have a pretty interesting property. In the file, the character's physical position actually moves, instead of staying still. This is because their "Trans" bone is moving.
Every fighter has a "Trans" bone, for Transform. On every move, there's a flag that dictates the bone's function. By default, nothing happens, and the bone acts like every other bone. However, if the flag is on, the character's position will be updated to the position of the Trans bone.
Walks and runs aren't the only ones that use this. Moves like Megaman's Up-tilt, Joker's Down-tilt, and all dash attacks have this flag on too.
I assume this was done because animating a character moving is way easier if you actually animate the moving. So by implementing this functionality, the animators have more creative freedom.
This could actually pretty useful for whenever Sakurai eventually retires & someone else takes up the mantle of directing Smash. I understand that he already tried finding a successor & failed, but I’m thinking more in the long-term.
When was this?
It's hard to probably match his work ethic also. I mean the guy types out so much, sets up presentations, and makes crazy lists. He's worked himself to collapse in the past. Not only does his replacement have to be knowledgeable about games but has to have his level of drive. That combo for getting a game out is not easy to find for such a demanding franchise like Smash too.
@@r.u.s.e3586 Before smash ultimate's development. He tried to get someone else to direct the game and it was disastrous.
@@skunthundler source?
@@MegaKirbySuperstar To emphasize his work ethic, Samurai is ALWAYS playing new games. When he gets home from work, he's watching some recorded TV show at x2 (which ain't half bad if you get used to watching videos at x2) while playing games, while on a stationary bike. Most developers don't have the COMPLETED game library he has, let alone the discipline to build so.
If anyone's curious about the figure that Sakurai used in the video, it's called "Body-kun" and you can grab it from Amazon for cheap these days. There's also a female variant called "Body-chan", and there's a "DX" version for both that include multiple hands and objects such a sword, a gun, computer and tablet. I recently ordered a pack with both for roughly $32.
Great for a drawing reference as well, but extremely delicate, not the best built, and definitely have to work with them a bit. I'd keep the reviews in mind if you're considering about ordering any. There's a good chance most places are selling knockoffs than the real deal.
(I only got mine a week ago and the boxes were beaten to hell if it's any indication how much care they have. At least everything inside was fine.)
I never actually thought about how much work goes into just explaining something as common as an idle animation. I guess that I should take even the simplest ones with more gratitude because a lot more work than I realized goes into them.
I really found the notion of writing down all of the animations to be incredibly helpful. Just doing so much up-front I hadn't considered.
One of my favourites parts in games, the animations and how they make the characters feel alive.
I love the animations in SSBU. It's amazing to see how much hard work goes into each character, item, stage, etc.
The fact that Sakurai showed Joker's gun when talking about neutral special
I admire Sakura's meticulous commitment to animations. Smash has some of the most polished animations I've seen and it goes a long way in making the game feel alive. :)
Also, fun fact: Sakurai has a frame 17 jab
For awhile I've wondered if I put too much effort into my animation planning and organization, but not enough effort animating. It's really exciting to hear Sakurai's documentation style is similar to what I do. Now I just need to polish my skills for another 35 years.
Sakurai thank you so much for your videos!
I'd love you doing a video of different genres of games and what you find fun in them!
He did this for 89 characters! The amount of respect i have for him is so unreal
Thank you for sharing all of this!! This will help so many game devs for years to come.
I'm an inspiring animator so I'm so happy Sakurai has a whole category where he'll be talking about animation.
I am in love with all this detail. When I saw the extensive animation assignment list I was in awe at the meticulous planning. I appreciate all the work that goes into simply communicating a vision for the animation. Thank you for sharing!!!
Even for an experienced designer watching, this video is filled with so much insights that they can learn from. Learning the delivery of art requirements from design has been confusing me tons lately, so this was perfect timing. And to learn of a AAA game's process is just finishing it with sprinkle on top.
I didn’t major in animation but some of my friends from college did. We see things move all the time and experience animation daily but we don’t always take time to *observe* just how detailed and expressive it is, nor think about how it was “built.”
Smash is one of those games where you really feel the animations. It all looks so natural while being filled with personality. It is very hard and time-consuming to achieve such a result, especially on a strict production schedule.
Thank you Mr. Sakurai for sharing your wisdom.
I was waiting for Mashiro to do a video on animation, as it's the most fascinating aspect for me of video games. When he said 70-80 pages of animations are done for a single fighter, it put everything into perspective for me. Mashiro, you are truly a master of your craft, and you've worked so unbelievably hard. Thank you.
Amazing! No surpise why Smash Bros is such an amazing game franchise
Dang, now he is teaching software engineering! And it is really interesting to see the principles of an accomplished director.
Love to see all the Smash Bros character motions!
>Pyra/Homura in the thumbnail
Impressive, very based.
Smash Bros Ultimate is so cool! It's in my top 5 Switch games! Thanks Sakurai!
you can see how sakurai's been working with this for a while, the poses are super clean and mostly very close to the final result
Animation is key to create a good game.
This stuff makes me wish we could get a Smash Ultimate art book. Even aside from more of these poses for the animations for each character, I'd love to see more on the effort that went into visually overhaulling old stages like Brinstar Depths, and cohesively realizing new locales from old games, like Northern Crater. Legally speaking, I imagine a Smash art book would be difficult to assemble, but it is a longtime wish of mine.
Interesting way on how you tell your animators what you need, I always see videos explaining how to animate but not how to communicate your ideas to your animators outside of storyboards.
I remember doodling some of these for fun when making game concept art as a kid. I even had a phase where I draw up entirely movesets for tons and tons of videogame characters, including my own and some non-game-characters, and this even included *three final smashes!* 🤣 I believe I called them "Standard Final Smash", "Alternate Final Smash", and "Dark Final Smash".
This is why people say only Sakurai can make Smash. He and his team put so much effort into things that I wouldn't have even thought about. Gonna use some of these tips for sure.
Crazy how Sakurai created the base for every animation in the game 😵💫