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hello and welcome to new frame plus a

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series about video game animation today

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I want to dig into the climbing

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animation in breath of the wild this

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topic was requested by asmar and if you

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would like to make a topic suggestion of

0:00:13.740,0:00:17.279
your own then consider becoming a patron

0:00:15.450,0:00:21.180
of the channel but let's not waste time

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here we go let's begin by breaking down

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this climbing system into its component

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parts link can climb most things in

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breadth of the wild so if you run

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yourself into just about any vertical

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surface link will switch from his

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regular ground locomotion state into his

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climbing state and once you are on that

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wall you can climb in any direction you

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want the foundation of this

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multi-directional climbing is built on a

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set of I'm guessing eight animation

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cycles climb up climb down climb left

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climb right and probably an animation

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for each of the four diagonals in

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between just to fill in the gaps it's

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hard to know exactly how many

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directional cycles they're using under

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the hood but however many there are

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those animation loops blend smoothly

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between each other as the player adjusts

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links climbing direction if you stop

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pressing in any direction link will

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quickly blend to an idle pose and hold

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position there are two mirror versions

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of this idle so the pose can more

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accurately reflect which foot moved last

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and it is an extremely simple idle

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animation just a little breathing to

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keep link looking alive now for the most

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part links body will be oriented

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parallel to the slope of whatever he's

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climbing but as the slope of the wall

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starts to level out you will see a link

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straighten up ever so slightly and his

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climbing will start to feel a bit like

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he's walking on all fours which is a

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really nice touch really helps that

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transition from climbing back to walking

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feel more natural now there's also some

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ikb ngey to keep links hands and feet

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connected to the climbing surface

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without getting too far into the fiddly

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technical stuff I K or inverse

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kinematics is a tool for making your

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characters animation automatically adapt

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to uneven terrain it's also used for a

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ton of other things but that's one of

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the most common applications you know

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how sometimes you run your player

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character up a slope or up some stairs

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and their feet automatically raise up to

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account for the uneven height of the

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ground that is I K and here i ka is

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being used to

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help links feet and hands connect to the

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uneven surface of this wall it's easiest

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to see this in action when you have link

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idle near a corner or an edge of the

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climbing surface you see how different

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that idle pose can look the I K really

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seems to want to keep links hands on one

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side of that corner of course upon very

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close inspection you will notice that

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links hands often aren't contacting the

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surface of the wall exactly right

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sometimes they'll clip through the mesh

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other times they'll hover just over the

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surface but the camera pulls so far back

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when you're climbing that you're rarely

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going to notice it so not really a big

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deal now that covers the basics of how

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the climb itself is structured but there

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are several supplemental pieces

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supporting this foundation for one thing

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you can make link jump while climbing

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sacrificing some stamina to do a quick -

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up the wall you can do these jumps

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upward diagonally and to either side and

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this - will even round tight corners

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which not super realistic obviously but

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appreciated anyway I would much rather

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him do this than jump off the mountain

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but you cannot - downward if you hold

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down on the stick and press jump link

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will leap directly away from the wall

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and enter a freefall and of course if it

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happens to be raining out link can also

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lose his grip and slide down a short

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ways annoying yes but it looks nice but

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most of the climbing systems supporting

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animations are used for transitioning

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link into and out of the climbing state

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in various ways for example when you

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first run the link at a vertical surface

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he will initiate his climb by jumping up

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the wall a little to get you started if

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you manually jump at that same wall link

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will do a little hop from wherever you

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contact getting you just a little more

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starting height at no additional stamina

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cost when you reach the top of a

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climacus link will sort of step up onto

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the ledge and blend into his normal

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standing idle dashing up to that ledge

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will trigger the same step-up animation

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if you run out of stamina while climbing

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link will play a few frames of this odo

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animation before blending into his

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regular falling animation and this one's

0:04:12.840,0:04:16.769
arguably part of links regular ground

0:04:14.699,0:04:19.139
locomotion but if you start moving him

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up a steep slope links Run will get more

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strained and intense showing the

0:04:21.239,0:04:25.140
additional effort required to run up

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that steep surface which leads into this

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climbing state rather nicely even if

0:04:27.090,0:04:29.850
there isn't any

0:04:27.810,0:04:32.880
bespoke transition animation between the

0:04:29.850,0:04:34.950
two and that's basically it for the

0:04:32.880,0:04:37.560
climbing system there are tons of other

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ways to initiate or stop climbing and

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lots of other stuff that can happen

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while climbing but none of it is

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supported with additional animations

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there are no custom transitions into

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climbing from swimming or gliding for

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example if you reach the bottom of a

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climbing wall he'll just pop right from

0:04:50.910,0:04:54.780
his climbing state directly into his

0:04:52.830,0:04:57.300
landing animation if you take damage

0:04:54.780,0:04:59.760
while climbing link will just flash red

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or if you take a really big hit or run

0:04:59.760,0:05:03.690
out of Health while climbing link will

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just instantly react Dolph which never

0:05:03.690,0:05:09.240
stops being funny it's kind of amazing

0:05:07.080,0:05:11.250
how stripped down and simple this

0:05:09.240,0:05:13.229
climbing animation system manages to be

0:05:11.250,0:05:15.300
for a comparison if you look at the

0:05:13.229,0:05:17.760
climbing in most Assassin's Creed games

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or uncharted those characters climb with

0:05:17.760,0:05:21.810
more authentic physicality and their

0:05:19.860,0:05:24.000
movements are tailor-made to navigate

0:05:21.810,0:05:26.850
every kind of complex terrain more

0:05:24.000,0:05:28.740
realistically meanwhile link just hits a

0:05:26.850,0:05:30.780
vertical surface and latches on like a

0:05:28.740,0:05:32.370
housefly when you get right down to it

0:05:30.780,0:05:35.130
breadth of the wilds climbing animation

0:05:32.370,0:05:37.380
is only slightly more robust than

0:05:35.130,0:05:39.840
Ocarina of times vine climbing it's

0:05:37.380,0:05:41.880
really simple but that stripped-down

0:05:39.840,0:05:44.700
simplicity is what allows the game's

0:05:41.880,0:05:46.169
climb anywhere designed to work when you

0:05:44.700,0:05:48.330
build your climbing system around

0:05:46.169,0:05:50.370
navigating specific types of terrain

0:05:48.330,0:05:52.560
with specific animations it looks

0:05:50.370,0:05:54.570
amazing but it often means that the

0:05:52.560,0:05:56.250
player can only traverse these specific

0:05:54.570,0:05:58.260
types of terrain that your character's

0:05:56.250,0:06:00.630
climbing system was built to accommodate

0:05:58.260,0:06:03.210
you can run across any ledge weave

0:06:00.630,0:06:05.280
through any trees branches and scale any

0:06:03.210,0:06:07.320
wall with conspicuously placed hand

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holds but try to traverse a surface that

0:06:07.320,0:06:12.030
wasn't specifically designed for

0:06:09.150,0:06:13.919
climbing and nope and that's fine those

0:06:12.030,0:06:16.500
are still really fun climbing systems

0:06:13.919,0:06:17.970
but if you're only able to traverse the

0:06:16.500,0:06:20.310
terrain that the level artists

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specifically designed for you then it

0:06:20.310,0:06:25.139
does put a cap on that sense of free

0:06:22.560,0:06:27.360
exploration rather than packing the

0:06:25.139,0:06:30.090
world of Hyrule with tiny crevices

0:06:27.360,0:06:31.889
complex footpaths and obvious handholds

0:06:30.090,0:06:34.590
this environment is filled with wide

0:06:31.889,0:06:36.810
smooth surfaces which are perfect for

0:06:34.590,0:06:39.090
links simple climbing animation system

0:06:36.810,0:06:40.770
and sure that does mean you sacrifice

0:06:39.090,0:06:43.410
some of that really cool-looking

0:06:40.770,0:06:45.300
animation detail but this choice is part

0:06:43.410,0:06:47.669
of what makes this world so enticing to

0:06:45.300,0:06:50.580
explore because nothing feels out of

0:06:47.669,0:06:52.349
reach you can climb all of this and the

0:06:50.580,0:06:54.300
only thing you have to worry about is

0:06:52.349,0:06:57.509
managing your stamina and finding your

0:06:54.300,0:06:59.639
route it's simple and it's intuitive but

0:06:57.509,0:07:01.620
despite that simplicity the thing I like

0:06:59.639,0:07:03.840
most about links climbing is that it is

0:07:01.620,0:07:05.970
surprisingly expressive when they

0:07:03.840,0:07:07.800
requested this episode topic as Marv

0:07:05.970,0:07:09.300
pointed out that one of their favorite

0:07:07.800,0:07:11.460
things about climbing and breath of the

0:07:09.300,0:07:13.470
wild is how you feel the effort Linc is

0:07:11.460,0:07:15.479
putting into climbing that wall and I

0:07:13.470,0:07:17.940
agree he is just throwing himself at

0:07:15.479,0:07:20.490
this there's this great rhythmic bounce

0:07:17.940,0:07:22.050
to his climb which I'm pretty sure isn't

0:07:20.490,0:07:24.270
good climbing technique but that

0:07:22.050,0:07:26.190
exaggerated movement sells both the

0:07:24.270,0:07:29.130
effort and just the sheer determination

0:07:26.190,0:07:31.110
in every step even just running up a

0:07:29.130,0:07:33.870
steep slope to get to the climbing part

0:07:31.110,0:07:35.520
he's working so hard I love how he's

0:07:33.870,0:07:37.590
always looking in the direction of that

0:07:35.520,0:07:39.719
next handhold I like how when the

0:07:37.590,0:07:41.430
incline gets really steep you even start

0:07:39.719,0:07:43.469
seeing these little sweat droplets which

0:07:41.430,0:07:45.690
is just I don't know it's cute and when

0:07:43.469,0:07:48.030
the rain causes him to slip it happens

0:07:45.690,0:07:50.159
really fast but he does this panicked

0:07:48.030,0:07:52.500
scramble and you can just feel the poor

0:07:50.159,0:07:55.409
guy's whole body clinch like no no no no

0:07:52.500,0:07:57.539
ok ok frustrating as it is to have this

0:07:55.409,0:08:00.240
happen in the rain I do adore this

0:07:57.539,0:08:02.159
little moment of fear I don't know what

0:08:00.240,0:08:04.620
it is about Zelda game animation but

0:08:02.159,0:08:05.490
somehow it's always better than the sum

0:08:04.620,0:08:07.830
of its parts

0:08:05.490,0:08:10.349
right like if you think about it there's

0:08:07.830,0:08:12.300
very rarely anything that stands out

0:08:10.349,0:08:14.250
about the animation in Zelda games I

0:08:12.300,0:08:16.770
mean it usually isn't particularly

0:08:14.250,0:08:18.360
flashy or stylish nothing compared to

0:08:16.770,0:08:21.120
what you'd see in like a Devil May Cry

0:08:18.360,0:08:23.190
it's not especially detailed or

0:08:21.120,0:08:25.139
realistic certainly not in comparison to

0:08:23.190,0:08:27.389
a Red Dead or an uncharted but the

0:08:25.139,0:08:30.210
animation also doesn't tend to be super

0:08:27.389,0:08:32.159
exaggerated or stylized either even when

0:08:30.210,0:08:35.010
a particular game's art style very much

0:08:32.159,0:08:37.320
is the acting animation usually isn't

0:08:35.010,0:08:39.690
anything special and of course yes there

0:08:37.320,0:08:42.329
are some occasional standout moments of

0:08:39.690,0:08:44.190
expressive character appeal but usually

0:08:42.329,0:08:47.100
the animation in Zelda games is always

0:08:44.190,0:08:50.970
just like good enough it's pretty good

0:08:47.100,0:08:53.459
but it is always good enough and it is

0:08:50.970,0:08:54.600
always visually clear and it always

0:08:53.459,0:08:57.750
functionally

0:08:54.600,0:08:59.570
everything each game needs it to Zelda

0:08:57.750,0:09:01.500
as a series just has this really

0:08:59.570,0:09:04.500
utilitarian approach to character

0:09:01.500,0:09:06.630
animation even when no one aspect of it

0:09:04.500,0:09:08.340
stands out as visually impressive it

0:09:06.630,0:09:11.400
always works and there is still

0:09:08.340,0:09:13.110
something very charming about it I think

0:09:11.400,0:09:14.970
for the climbing here if there's one

0:09:13.110,0:09:17.160
addition that could really improve this

0:09:14.970,0:09:19.920
it would be adding some fidgets to Lynx

0:09:17.160,0:09:21.600
climbing idle idle fidgets are just such

0:09:19.920,0:09:23.520
a great tool for getting a little more

0:09:21.600,0:09:25.950
flavor and characterization on your

0:09:23.520,0:09:27.930
player character like maybe if you leave

0:09:25.950,0:09:29.970
link just hanging on the wall for a few

0:09:27.930,0:09:32.280
seconds he could start looking around a

0:09:29.970,0:09:34.530
little taking in the view or maybe he

0:09:32.280,0:09:37.320
could look down nervously at how high up

0:09:34.530,0:09:39.210
he is or okay say we'd rather keep him

0:09:37.320,0:09:41.010
focused on the task at hand maybe

0:09:39.210,0:09:43.350
instead of looking around he could

0:09:41.010,0:09:45.630
adjust his grip slightly or try to get a

0:09:43.350,0:09:47.700
more solid plant with his foot it would

0:09:45.630,0:09:49.290
all be little stuff but you can get a

0:09:47.700,0:09:51.120
lot of character out of touches like

0:09:49.290,0:09:53.280
that those moments where the player

0:09:51.120,0:09:55.140
isn't making the character do something

0:09:53.280,0:09:56.640
are a perfect opportunity to let the

0:09:55.140,0:09:58.860
character do something to express

0:09:56.640,0:10:00.300
themselves and it kind of surprises me

0:09:58.860,0:10:02.610
that the team didn't take advantage of

0:10:00.300,0:10:04.230
that here but yeah taken as a whole I

0:10:02.610,0:10:06.810
think breadth of the wilds climbing is

0:10:04.230,0:10:08.910
extremely successful it's visually clear

0:10:06.810,0:10:11.310
its expressive it feels good in your

0:10:08.910,0:10:13.650
hands just incredibly solid work all

0:10:11.310,0:10:15.390
around thank you again to asmar for

0:10:13.650,0:10:16.920
requesting this topic if you enjoyed

0:10:15.390,0:10:18.690
this and you're in the mood for a little

0:10:16.920,0:10:20.820
more breadth of the Wild animation talk

0:10:18.690,0:10:22.650
the other Dan who talks about game

0:10:20.820,0:10:24.300
animation on YouTube also has a new

0:10:22.650,0:10:25.830
video about links sword attack

0:10:24.300,0:10:28.230
animations you should check it out I

0:10:25.830,0:10:29.700
will link to that below anyway thank you

0:10:28.230,0:10:31.560
very much for watching be sure to

0:10:29.700,0:10:33.480
subscribe and consider supporting the

0:10:31.560,0:10:35.520
show like all of these good folks here I

0:10:33.480,0:10:38.030
will see you again soon for more new

0:10:35.520,0:10:38.030
frame plus

0:10:41.550,0:10:43.610
you