Game Dev Secrets: How to make your Aerial Attacks feel SUPER smooth!

[@InboundShovel]

Wishlist Isadora's Edge on Steam! store.steampowered.com/app/3125320/Isadoras_Edge/ And you can follow the Kickstarter here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/inboundshovel/isadoras-edge Thank you!

[@tenshi5124]

Seems like a cool game ill give it a try when I can!

[@Zephyr_Weiss]

Will it be on console? Ps4/5

[@valhatan3907]

I'm wishlisted it!

[@hazelbagels024]

Edge

[@endymonyt4268]

love how the solution to basically any animation problem is "separate the components"

[@khanes5376]

Pretty much. It's tedious, but what else are you gonna do?

[@Sappery_]

​@@khanes5376 something overly complicated that breaks only 40% of the time

[@officialbfi01]

@@khanes5376certainly worth the effort!

[@redstonewarrior0152]

And if you are working with polygons, you will want to make the components able to modify eachother.

[@rjay_x]

frrrrr

[@extranji]

Certified JAM in the background

[@InboundShovel]

Weehaw cowboy

[@kevinv8585]

What is that last background, robtop uses it in his game geometry dash

[@lyraisnapping]

@@kevinv8585 I think Shovel used some asset packs for his current environment art, it's not the final version for the game!

[@NZMPlays]

This is actually great advice, and wonderfully done art my man. I subbed off this as Im making a 2d Mega Man -like and tips like these are the nitty gritty im interested in

[@InboundShovel]

Thank you!

[@jellycore1316]

Ooooh, that sounds super cool! ^^ Good luck making it, you've got this!

[@tichat0025]

I actually prefer when it animation cancel when I touch the ground like that (especially if it make me able to throw another attack faster since no animation going on currently) it feel cleaner and make me feel like I got more control over the character. but I'm pretty sure most peoples don't feel that way

[@InboundShovel]

Yeah, I can definitely understand that! In my game, the smear cutting off early didn't actually let you attack any sooner, so it's mostly a visual difference, haha!

[@misterturkturkle]

i remember using this trick liberally in castlevania: symphony of the night short hop > swing > land to animation cancel > swing again could seriously increase the dps of some weapons but the slowest ones might actually be messed up if they had too many swing frames before the hitbox came out/fully extended. youd cancel the midair attack for no effect and waste time

[@chrismanuel9768]

​@@misterturkturkleGlad I'm not the only one! A tiny hop with a big sword followed by landing and swinging a second time in the interrupt meant I could kill a lot of enemies very quickly that otherwise took 2 hits to finish off

[@misterturkturkle]

@@chrismanuel9768 the best was when you started using it on bosses with predictable attacks. Jump away to dodge and come back with the old one two

[@kikosawa]

you're right, they don't

[@Shadie_]

I really love how your smear is not just ordinary smooth one but sharktooth-spiky, that just looks so mesmerising

[@copperlaktronics6705]

Your smear has a cutout for the head that doesn’t line up anymore when the animation gets cancelled

[@InboundShovel]

You're 100% right - I just saw the cutout while watching the short back now WOOPS

[@Mt.Everest]

Gotta point out, the attack smear has a hole where the head of the player used to be in the original Animation

[@slightlysaltysam7411]

Because the smear was originally intended to be "bound" to the character sprite, on the same layer. He needs to re-draw the smear by itself with no hole as if the character doesn't exist, then put that smear on the layer beneath the character sprite. That way if the character animation is cancelled early, the now-visible-part of the smear still looks clean.

[@Mt.Everest]

@@slightlysaltysam7411 that was exaclty what i was pointing out. I know the cause, but im pointing out that this has to be fixed now

[@slightlysaltysam7411]

@@Mt.Everest Absolutely. I was elaborating on why the cause exists and providing a solution. My comment was not intended to imply you didn't know why the problem existed.

[@kevincrinklaw7422]

@@slightlysaltysam7411 As a dev (but not game, certainly not an artist hah!) but want to try, and I thank you both for your Keen eye, and discussion of solution! I didn't even NOTICE that! Good knowledge, TY

[@user-dj9iu2et3r]

This IS a good callout but it’s one of those low-priority things that most people wouldn’t notice

[@ReggieTheCaracal]

As long as the hitbox follows the smear and not attack animation then yea its cool. Otherwise it makes for very unintuitive attack. Attack -> cancel by landing -> animations still play, but no attack came out = frustration on player end

[@unfolding_gamedev]

Beautiful character BTW

[@InboundShovel]

Thank you!

[@consvolt-void]

This game footage reminded me of Zero in Mega Man X4. Looks great.

[@InboundShovel]

Zero's gameplay in Megaman X4 is a HUGE inspiration for my game, I love to hear that it's noticeable! Thank you!

[@josephross8753]

This is a good choice for godot because frame data is a useful trigger for events, if the animation cancel when on the ground then a lot of potential glitches can happen

[@AshenOne11]

In Castlevania. I used to do a trick where I would cancel the attack animation before it ended using the jump so I could attack faster. It's great to see a workaround to this.

[@rafaelcorreabitencourt8923]

wow your game looks AWESOME

[@InboundShovel]

Thank you so much!

[@DieDona]

This is mind blowing for me. I'm only programming for corporate software, but this really hit me as decomposition of problems. Really smart

[@darknessitself8259]

awesome video!! definitely gonna do this next time i work on something like this :)

[@InboundShovel]

Thanks, and best of luck!!

[@BoBoN4Uto]

The oldest trick in a book: devide and concur

[@heyitsteej339]

It would be nice to add a small landing animation if possible but I can definitely see the complexities in trying to do that. It’s just that this still leaves a choppy cut in the animation but honestly it’s so much more important to complete the rest of the game that this is just nitpicking. Game looks amazing so far!

[@TheAllcreatorLiveArchives]

You can also tie the effect to damage so that you can have different types of projectile attacks later on. This method allows the player to learn how attacking and platforming are two separate things, rather then feel like the character is the damage hitbox. Which can help them figure out placement in combat and subtlety help them improve there ability. When you make the character the damaging hitbox (like Mario's stomp) it prevents them from learning to dodge better because they focus on treating the character like a weapon instead of treating them like a hitbox. It's why games like strider, Megaman, and Ninja Gaiden were always for more hardcore players.

[@gamesdisk]

she is going to be cut into single pixals by the end lol

[@CaptainGreenCoin]

I've actually played games that do this and I've always wondered what was happening and now I know and it makes me happy

[@j.r7872]

Bro!!! This looks legendary. Amazing.

[@InboundShovel]

Right on! :D

[@jedstanaland2897]

You have been so helpful with research on information that I have wanted to know about a metroidvania style game that I'm currently working on the planning portion of. I know that I have the skills to do it at least in part but I also don't have lots of experience. Thank you for your information. I'll keep working on it and I have done bits and pieces of coding for it but nothing definite yet.

[@Kenny0136]

I cant wait to get my hands on this game its looking like everything i want in a 2d platformer! And as someone who wants to start makikg games your shorts are amazing.

[@InboundShovel]

Thank you so much, I really appreciate your comment! :D I'll have it available for wishlisting on Steam very soon!

[@malunyn]

thats awesome!!! ur games looking amazing, let us know when it reaches the wishlists !

[@InboundShovel]

Will do!

[@AhRinge]

I think that’s one of those things where you noticed it and it bothers you, but nobody else notices it really. But it’s still fun to see the work around

[@befreitnilpferd]

I'm currently having this problem! Thank you very much for the nice tip~

[@MathurinHand]

I find it funny that the video for witch a discovered this amazing channel was posted on my birthday

[@Jakob.Hamburg]

Y, this is clever. : ) Thank you for showing and explaining. Nice game art.

[@Jay_Hendrix]

That game looks gorgeous ❤️‍🔥

[@legithopecrew]

Decouple decouple decouple, great advice, thank you!

[@EvilrobotAM]

It would be cool if when she did an aerial attack she would do a mini jump in the air. Not like the animation of her doing a jump but her bouncing a little. Like a mini-double jump whenever she does an aereal attack.

[@thunderbee]

Yo this looks amazing I'll be sure to remember this when I try animating.

[@keiharris332]

I always love to test the limits of animation canceling when i play a new platformer. Heck i won't even leave the first screen for a few minutes till i find the edge cases of air to landing and vice versa animation cancels.

[@ace-catel]

This is really good advice! It especially helps designers overcome that hurdle who have this particular concern.

[@jvogler_art4708]

You can do this with the upper and lower bodies of a character too. Like for example, gun recoil continues as a character lands and stops or starts running. I believe metal slug had the characters upper and lower half’s separated

[@user-ov8sy3nz3d]

Love the game dev terminology explanation very intuitive would you happen to any game dev tutorials on adding after images to characters when they're in motion etc?

[@davidaitken8503]

If a game has a slower attack you want to make sure landing doesn't cancel the attack itself, too. Castlevania is a perfect example of how to do things the right way.

[@davidbanan.]

I'm really surpirsed you aren't bigger, yor content is fun and informative, the production value is good too. Keep it up, man, you're doing great, and the game looks great as well

[@garffild]

Thank you for this awesome tips series! Love it!

[@zephyrstrife4668]

The best part about stuff like this too, is that it allows players to see where the hitbox for their attack is, especially if it lasts till the end of the animation. There's no guessing where you have to stand, no messing around with goofy hit boxes, no need to be standing so close to an enemy that you get hurt while doing your attack. I also agree that it makes the attack look really cool.

[@TheTupMan]

I think each have their benefits. If you want to make it more technically complex, and easily understandable at the same time, having the entirety of the animation cancel is probably more beneficial for that. But if you’re wanting it to be a little less extensive, letting the effect play out is perfectly fine and obviously more pleasing to look at. You don’t really have to go for any sort of realism in a 2D pixel art style because the suspension of disbelief is already so high. Either way makes complete sense in that regard.

[@JiroTheFro]

All my years of fighting games and this is the first short that helped me grasp how animation canceling works. I’m filing this away for the future

[@MikeCrain]

Another option is to have the legs and upper body as separate objects you can animate independently of each other.

[@arieldraws4829]

First video i see of this channel, this actually reminded me of the Megaman Zero and ZX series, which has saber as the main weapon and each unique animation of attacking, example is an walking slash, where you can just see the trail fading when you stop moving, or the air attack where you do a overhead slash that covers the character a bit, with the trail still appearing if you attack near the ground

[@raulthetorchic7324]

Congrats. It is now an optimal strat to constantly jump in combat because the animation cancel does not cancel the attack.

[@Metrocysh]

Love the art here!!! It's definitely a nice tip for smoother aerials :3, but really, game looks very great! Hope to get more on my feed haha

[@FlyingGorillaContent]

The attention to detail is epic with a different animation for the smear when you slash in the air and on the ground

[@spidermankey1398]

The slash is also sticking to the character so I would spawn it where it was triggered detached from the character's position so if you jump attack the slash feels like it was done in air and gives a good feeling. Although if the hitbox stays longer then it might give a wrong impression that the attack won't hit the enemy

[@doodgoi9102]

Alternative: Create an aerial attack and animation that can cancel into ground moves. Players love variety

[@miamesa8652]

Just make sure that the hitbox works the same way. Wouldn't want to have a slashing animation that does nothing.

[@multi.instrumentalist]

This reminds me of the difference between one-shot and sustain modes on a sampler

[@alix6xgorg839]

Genius! I remember using such techniques. Orcham's razor in practice.

[@TwoToo_]

gotta love when watching coding/animating info and they say "and the way of fixing this" and you instatly think separ... but he cuts you off and spells out your own thoughts

[@plazma0325]

God this makes me want to try making games again...

[@edriadk-1624]

A programming tip: you could better set the damage output to the smear and not for the sprite. That could upgrade performance and not having trouble by cancelling the animation AND damage output for your main character

[@Nyarlartt]

I just started playing bloodstained and found out about the landing cancel. Makes firearms pretty cool to use as you can short-hop shoot, land, shoot, backstep, shoot, and it's over. But you could instead of shooting after the backstep, shorthop again, and repeat the process

[@lemmesmash]

I also noticed this castlevania aria of sorrow. when jumping while you're swinging the claim solais. It causes you to double smack the enemies. later I found out that speedrunners utilize this to a god level of degree.

[@10XSeiga]

i think the only way to make it feel weightier is to add a very short air stall on the swing. but otherwise, this game looks beautiful. thanks for working on this game!

[@breakfasttime]

I love the animation cancel in game because it could lead to big damage in some game

[@Spookweave]

Babylon Bee is a classic 😂 I love that skit

[@DGdevv]

As my character has a triple combo attack the player must wait for the animation end and then press the button again for the next slash or else wait for the animation end and back to the previous state. And a cool trick I've made for the character is that when you're about to land in the ground and you're still in the slash state, when he lands while playing the animation of slashing, instead of play idle is played the animation of idle slash very fast.

[@ivanalmeida4555]

This is actually a great advice, I'm making a MegaMan Zero-inspired game with lots of melee cancels

[@fishactivation5087]

I swear, at some point every individual pixel is gonna be its own separate object.

[@3l_Larry]

I'm thinking of code a videogame for my friends only, yet I don't know anything about coding, but the concept I feel it's ready to code. :V

[@HyMyNameIsMatt]

Funny, this exact thing exists in Vernal Edge where you can dash cancel basic attacks and carry the hit box/smear with you for a few frames.

[@brandonadams916]

My solution to this is not only to break out the smear animation, but just make sword attacks projectiles that follow the player. Since I already had a projectile class that would take in animations, collisions, and movement behavior, it was pretty easy!

[@chargeheby882]

KZbin algo is on a roll. Loving every short so far. Okay, got me subbed!

[@codeimagine6824]

Also i think we can use this to create specific special effects for different weapons like a fire weapon would have a fire smear and a ice weapon would have a ice smear etc..

[@Straigo]

It’s all about giving the user great tech like jump cancelling.

[@murphymcclellan5418]

I'm so glad psych2go is bringing awareness to this topic, because they're right, it is a silent battle that so many people can struggle with, and you wouldn't even know. When these things happened to me, I thought I was so alone, I felt so unwanted and used, and I felt disgusting. The emotions that survivors can feel can be so intense, and you can feel so alone. But I promise you, whoever is reading this, if you have experienced this pain, you are not alone. There are people who care for you, and people who want to help your through this pain. I might be a stranger to you, but, I know what you're going through, because this is a pain we share. I just want you to know you're not alone, and that there are so many people out there who wants to help you through it.

[@samushunter242]

You can also do what a link to the past did and make the sword it's own object

[@ryanmisale]

I’ve been doing this trick for a while now. Glad to see I’m not the only one. 😅

[@Gutu-pd4xr]

honestly, this looks good, but i see people cant resist to give as detailed animations to everything even as simple as a swing

[@felipe-4795]

Cool, Mega Man X does that with Zero's Saber

[@tPlayerioT]

watching these shorts is basically just separate everything that is on motion or will be

[@Xiimo_]

this also allow for smear customization, like in hades when you pick up a boon the smear actually changes to reflect the upgrade theme

[@InboundShovel]

Oh that's an awesome idea, definitely gonna try it out

[@Leafeye7942]

Love the style

[@392redienhcs]

Make the smear stay where the attack was made and it would look even more dynamic.

[@BrandonChT]

yeah Im nowhere near this point in my game so everything here looks soooo cool. character design, sword, the sword swinging... I suck so much with making animations and and pixel art so making my regular walking animation took forever, especially since I had to learn everything while doing it. Im probably still doing something wrong and will find out in the future when its nearly too late

[@jdarokhajiit9153]

This makes a lot of sense, thanks!!

[@mls3017]

Loving these videos, but here's a challenge: Is there a way to keep the smear where it happened vice travelling with the character?

[@gortcapybara6982]

"yo can you help me? my character's animations aren't syncing up that well-" "SCALE OF THE DRAGON." "RECOIL." "TWIN METEORS."

[@maxshabbits1687]

I love smash because I can use sword attacks just before I hit the ground. Smash doesn’t prevent me from seeing the smear

[@el_fresh_memes2334]

Man this gonna be the best damn game

[@TotalCodeMonkey]

Would love to hear stuff about collisions and hit boxes. And how they link to animations

[@portalscout]

My main worry with something that keeps the animation going is whether it's conveyed that the attack is still active during the animation. It's super cool visually though but I'm a nerd who likes to "optimize" attack strings in certain games

[@XGazudin]

Is this your own art? It looks amazing! Subscribed :)

[@cholasimmons]

earned yourself a subscriber!

[@Zenith07]

Damn this is some very good tips idk ill ever even put to use but its good to know still

[@meep3899]

ok hear me out on that character SM-

[@kaynanbirro7277]

Ah, so thats what the Megaman Zero series uses to be so smooth

[@grendab]

So what I've learned from your videos is that you have to make separate animations for walking, smears, and normal attacks without all that, god this is why I don't do 2d animation

[@gametree-ep1pn]

Thank you :3

[@InboundShovel]

No problem!

[@ShadicGD]

If you wanna be THAT GUY you can slow your game down by playing a tiny animation of them landing with the attack. I know smash is nothing like pixel based games but every character has an animation for when they land with an attack that is "proportional" to how far they are in the move. Best example is Luigis forward air which is a tiny "chop" in the air, if you hit the ground while this move is active he actually hits his hand on the ground and gives a little wince in pain. Dunno how this applies to pixel games but its a suggestion that also slightly solves this problem but still adds another one. Game dev is hard

[@Khoaikk16]

game looks really good, added to whislist

[@pokeplazagamer]

Hollow Knight just doesn't have a ground animation, but it's hard to notice due to the size and proportions of the knight.

[@Invus1]

Well it probably doesnt actually create gameplay via animation cancels (thats likely there already) but it does visually work better.

[@playbehnder]

thats smart. Thanks for the advice. Definitely i will use this in my game

[@claymorwan]

At this point I just need an open source game to see how all that works