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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
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your own then consider becoming a patron
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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
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arguably part of links regular ground
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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
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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
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there isn't any
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bespoke transition animation between the
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two and that's basically it for the
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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
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his climbing state directly into his
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landing animation if you take damage
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while climbing link will just flash red
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or if you take a really big hit or run
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out of Health while climbing link will
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just instantly react Dolph which never
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stops being funny it's kind of amazing
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how stripped down and simple this
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climbing animation system manages to be
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for a comparison if you look at the
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climbing in most Assassin's Creed games
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or uncharted those characters climb with
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more authentic physicality and their
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movements are tailor-made to navigate
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every kind of complex terrain more
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realistically meanwhile link just hits a
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vertical surface and latches on like a
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housefly when you get right down to it
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breadth of the wilds climbing animation
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is only slightly more robust than
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Ocarina of times vine climbing it's
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really simple but that stripped-down
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simplicity is what allows the game's
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climb anywhere designed to work when you
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build your climbing system around
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navigating specific types of terrain
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with specific animations it looks
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amazing but it often means that the
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player can only traverse these specific
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types of terrain that your character's
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climbing system was built to accommodate
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you can run across any ledge weave
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through any trees branches and scale any
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wall with conspicuously placed hand
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holds but try to traverse a surface that
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wasn't specifically designed for
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climbing and nope and that's fine those
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are still really fun climbing systems
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but if you're only able to traverse the
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terrain that the level artists
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specifically designed for you then it
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does put a cap on that sense of free
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exploration rather than packing the
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world of Hyrule with tiny crevices
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complex footpaths and obvious handholds
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this environment is filled with wide
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smooth surfaces which are perfect for
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links simple climbing animation system
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and sure that does mean you sacrifice
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some of that really cool-looking
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animation detail but this choice is part
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of what makes this world so enticing to
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explore because nothing feels out of
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reach you can climb all of this and the
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only thing you have to worry about is
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managing your stamina and finding your
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route it's simple and it's intuitive but
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despite that simplicity the thing I like
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most about links climbing is that it is
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surprisingly expressive when they
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requested this episode topic as Marv
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pointed out that one of their favorite
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things about climbing and breath of the
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wild is how you feel the effort Linc is
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putting into climbing that wall and I
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agree he is just throwing himself at
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this there's this great rhythmic bounce
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to his climb which I'm pretty sure isn't
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good climbing technique but that
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exaggerated movement sells both the
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effort and just the sheer determination
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in every step even just running up a
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steep slope to get to the climbing part
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he's working so hard I love how he's
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always looking in the direction of that
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next handhold I like how when the
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incline gets really steep you even start
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seeing these little sweat droplets which
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is just I don't know it's cute and when
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the rain causes him to slip it happens
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really fast but he does this panicked
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scramble and you can just feel the poor
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guy's whole body clinch like no no no no
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ok ok frustrating as it is to have this
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happen in the rain I do adore this
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little moment of fear I don't know what
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it is about Zelda game animation but
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somehow it's always better than the sum
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of its parts
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right like if you think about it there's
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very rarely anything that stands out
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about the animation in Zelda games I
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mean it usually isn't particularly
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flashy or stylish nothing compared to
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what you'd see in like a Devil May Cry
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it's not especially detailed or
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realistic certainly not in comparison to
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a Red Dead or an uncharted but the
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animation also doesn't tend to be super
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exaggerated or stylized either even when
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a particular game's art style very much
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is the acting animation usually isn't
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anything special and of course yes there
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are some occasional standout moments of
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expressive character appeal but usually
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the animation in Zelda games is always
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just like good enough it's pretty good
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but it is always good enough and it is
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always visually clear and it always
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functionally
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everything each game needs it to Zelda
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as a series just has this really
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utilitarian approach to character
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animation even when no one aspect of it
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stands out as visually impressive it
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always works and there is still
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something very charming about it I think
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for the climbing here if there's one
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addition that could really improve this
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it would be adding some fidgets to Lynx
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climbing idle idle fidgets are just such
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a great tool for getting a little more
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flavor and characterization on your
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player character like maybe if you leave
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link just hanging on the wall for a few
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seconds he could start looking around a
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little taking in the view or maybe he
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could look down nervously at how high up
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he is or okay say we'd rather keep him
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focused on the task at hand maybe
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instead of looking around he could
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adjust his grip slightly or try to get a
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more solid plant with his foot it would
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all be little stuff but you can get a
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lot of character out of touches like
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that those moments where the player
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isn't making the character do something
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are a perfect opportunity to let the
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character do something to express
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themselves and it kind of surprises me
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that the team didn't take advantage of
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that here but yeah taken as a whole I
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think breadth of the wilds climbing is
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extremely successful it's visually clear
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its expressive it feels good in your
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hands just incredibly solid work all
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around thank you again to asmar for
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requesting this topic if you enjoyed
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this and you're in the mood for a little
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more breadth of the Wild animation talk
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the other Dan who talks about game
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animation on YouTube also has a new
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video about links sword attack
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animations you should check it out I
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will link to that below anyway thank you
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very much for watching be sure to
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subscribe and consider supporting the
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show like all of these good folks here I
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will see you again soon for more new
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frame plus
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you