Animated Sprite Maker - Phase 1 Complete

It actually seemed like a long time and a lot of work to get the first of 3 parts of my new Animated Sprite Maker tool working... by the looks of my last update it only took a week. Huh! That's pretty good, I gots to say! Gives me some positivity to the next two stages of development. The bulk of it will be in the 2nd phase, there's not a whole lot to the 3rd, at least I think, but we'll see I suppose.

The Animated Sprite Maker is broken up very similar to the Tile-Based Map Editor MapTastic I was working on before. Stage 1 consisted of creating Tiles to be used in creating whole Maps in Stage 2. Here, Stage 1 consists of creating a Skeleton to be used in creating Sprites and Animations in Stage 2. Stage 3 in both will consist of a Test/Debug mode where you can make sure things are working as needed (most probably by allowing user control as if it were really in the game).

I said I would post a movie of Skeleton creation when I finished the first stage, and I will, but I do have some very minor changes to make before it, just cause I'm a stickler for details. I should get it up there tonight. I'm very excited to see what I can do with this. It should work very well with a crude MoCap system and so me and Pat will probably attempt to take advantage of that as soon as the technical junk is ironed out. I was cackling with glee when my first skeleton came to be and I was moving it around. Good things are too come, just wait and see!

A New Day, A New Focus

2008!? Hooo... ray... wooo... ehh... yeah, whatever. It's a new year, the holidays are past. I've never been one to really dwell on the prospects a whole new year might bring. I'm a little more narrow-sighted I suppose... it's a new day TODAY and that means all kinds of short term possibilities. Maybe that outlook (or lack thereof) has something to do with the fact that my development has shifted once again.

Yes, I've shied away from the input command tree that I was raving about in that last post and shifted my focus to other things... far more fascinating for the time being, but also incredibly productive and ought to cycle back around to the input stuff I'm neglecting when I finish anyways. That input stuff is fun and all, but it pales in comparison to 2D Skeletal Animation!! WOOOO!!

My immediate goals are using a mouse and keyboard to supply bones and joints to a 2D skeleton. The body parts will of course be attached to the individual bones. What this means, is I will be able to supply a great deal of very fluid animation in the game without drawing thousands and thousands and thousands of frames of animation. I love cartooning, but I'm not that sadistic... It also means ANY sprite can act and contort any number of ways. This will help avoid thousands and thousands more drawings. It ALSO will aid with attaching weapons and armors and whatnot to characters, AND I will be able to provide animation far more advanced than normal. Especially considering my budgetary restraints (the likes of which Houdini wouldn't even be able to loose).

I'll keep you updated, and when I have something visible to show I'll post a clip of it. I'm just shy of the "something to show for all the work" phase, so maybe within the week. Here's hoping!