issue 27 Focused Feedback: Stance & Walk Customization

[The Curator]

Stance & Walk Customization

New Stance Customization Options 

• Two new Stance options have been added to the power customization system by using the 'Stance' power option under the 'Inherent' category.
• These new stances are hybrid stances utilizing a previously unused run animation:
  • Parkour - Run animation with Ninja Stance idle, jump, and weapon animations.
  • Blitz - Run animation with standard idle, jump, and weapon animations.

Time to become speed!

(Example of the new run animation for the Parkour/Blitz stance additions)

Walk Animation Customization

• Player walk animations can now be customized via the power customization system by using the 'Walk' power option found under the 'Inherent' category.
• Previously the three default walk animations were each locked to one body type each, but now players can select whichever fits the personality of their character best:
  • Casual (Male)
  • Glamorous (Female)
  • Tough (Huge)
  • Zombie (Zombie)

Looking super excellent!

(Example of Glamorous walk on male body, and Casual walk on female body)

[Spaghetti Betty]

I do appreciate the work on new animations. I really do. But something about the new running animation just makes it look really goofy. I'm sorry.

 

The lining of the pelvis while running looks wrong to me. Instead of leaning into the run, it comes off as this hunched over, "really gotta go to the bathroom" look.

 

Maybe it's just me.

[El D]

I've been wanting to swap around the Walk stances ever since the power hit Live way back when. This is fantastic and my Female model characters who've always wanted to walk normally thank you (as do the various Male characters who would have enjoyed sashaying around).

[Mystic Fortune]

I'll just leave this here...

 

[Sovera]

Finally, I'll be able to have a social costume to do the slinky walk, but a normal walk when in hero mode.

 

Top notch.

[Keen]

I am not angry

 

 

(but maybe I need a bathroom break)

[tenthyr]

Blitz's run animation doesn't work on some body types, i suspect. The legs almost seem to shoot out to the side mid stride in a way joints really shouldnt, and gives it this waddling gait that looks very uncomfortable!

[Vanden]

48 minutes ago, tenthyr said:

The legs almost seem to shoot out to the side mid stride in a way joints really shouldnt, and gives it this waddling gait that looks very uncomfortable!

 

I do have to echo this, Blitz definitely seems to have a bit of waddle to it.

[Gulbasaur]

13 hours ago, tenthyr said:

Blitz's run animation doesn't work on some body types, i suspect. The legs almost seem to shoot out to the side mid stride in a way joints really shouldnt, and gives it this waddling gait that looks very uncomfortable!

I'll third this.  There's something in the hip/upper leg area that's off.

It's less noticeable when going really fast, but with Athletic Run alone it's very clear there's something going on.

(Male character model).

Edited July 13, 2022 by Gulbasaur

[Blackfeather]

I've encountered similar issues with the Blitz/Parkour run animation - it looks like it's due to the way that the entire leg kind of swings outwards to the side while extending back. Here's a recording of what that looks like:

 

 

Compare that to the regular run, which doesn't have that splayed out leg motion:

 

 

I'm not sure if this is within the devs' abilities, but if it's possible, I'd imagine that stopping the legs from spreading outwards when they kick back would stop that odd movement on characters.

Edited July 13, 2022 by Blackfeather

[ForeverLaxx]

Based on @Blackfeather's animation recordings, the Blitz/Parkour animation doesn't actually look wrong. It's because of the slow speed that it looks awkward. Based on that animation, it's supposed to be a sort of "push off" running animation that looks weird when you move too slowly or the upper body doesn't "sway" with the push-offs like you expect it would. It's just another one of those running animations that only looks correct if you're going fast enough, kinda like Ninja Run.

[Blackfeather]

57 minutes ago, ForeverLaxx said:

Based on @Blackfeather's animation recordings, the Blitz/Parkour animation doesn't actually look wrong. It's because of the slow speed that it looks awkward. Based on that animation, it's supposed to be a sort of "push off" running animation that looks weird when you move too slowly or the upper body doesn't "sway" with the push-offs like you expect it would. It's just another one of those running animations that only looks correct if you're going fast enough, kinda like Ninja Run.

 

Here's what Ninja Run looks like, no Sprint or Super Speed enabled - it looks fine:

 

 

 

Here's what Blitz/Parkour looks like with Super Speed turned on - the legs still spread out weirdly:

 

[ForeverLaxx]

@Blackfeather

 

I disagree that Ninja Run "looks fine" at slow speeds. Those leg movements do not work unless you're sprinting. When at a light jog it just looks like you're moving through molasses. It's certainly smoother, but it's still not a correct run posture for that slow speed.

 

Regarding Blitz/Parkour, it's certainly jerky at high speed. The feet not bending at the ankles, the upper body not leaning correctly, and the fact that the slower animation is what you actually want at the faster speed in order to look right are what's wrong with it.

[Blackfeather]

9 minutes ago, ForeverLaxx said:

@Blackfeather

 

I disagree that Ninja Run "looks fine" at slow speeds. Those leg movements do not work unless you're sprinting. When at a light jog it just looks like you're moving through molasses. It's certainly smoother, but it's still not a correct run posture for that slow speed.

 

Regarding Blitz/Parkour, it's certainly jerky at high speed. The feet not bending at the ankles, the upper body not leaning correctly, and the fact that the slower animation is what you actually want at the faster speed in order to look right are what's wrong with it.

 

I'm not really convinced that adjusting the speed of the Blitz/Parkour animation would make it look any better - you said yourself previously that:

 

1 hour ago, ForeverLaxx said:

Based on @Blackfeather's animation recordings, the Blitz/Parkour animation doesn't actually look wrong. It's because of the slow speed that it looks awkward. Based on that animation, it's supposed to be a sort of "push off" running animation that looks weird when you move too slowly or the upper body doesn't "sway" with the push-offs like you expect it would. It's just another one of those running animations that only looks correct if you're going fast enough, kinda like Ninja Run.

 

The way the legs stick out while running are pretty noticeable, fast or slow.

[ZephyrWind]

When I have a weapon out and use Blitz, I get the normal run animation until the weapon disappears (using a bow so no sheath/holstering).  As soon as the weapon disappears, the Blitz animation starts.  Not seeing this with Parkour, seems consistent there (i.e., get the 'ninja' weapon hold when weapon is out, and after weapon disappears). Does not happen if I start running in Blitz and THEN click a power to draw the weapon, only if the weapon is out first.

 

If I am in Blitz and auto running with weapon out the transition to Parkour running is smooth.  If reversed (in Parkour with auto run and weapon out, then switch to Blitz) I go back to standard running again until the weapon disappears.

 

 

[ForeverLaxx]

10 minutes ago, Blackfeather said:

 

I'm not really convinced that adjusting the speed of the Blitz/Parkour animation would make it look any better - you said yourself previously that:

 

 

The way the legs stick out while running are pretty noticeable, fast or slow.

Because the real truth is that it needs to be somewhere in the middle. The legs should be "snapping" rather than being a continuously fluid motion. I know it's hard to explain with words, but I'm personally speaking from 17 years experience running defense/midfield on a soccer field. The "slow" animation has the right motions, but the "fast" animation is just cranked too high for each motion. For that particular running style, you should see long strides with the legs/arms in a pumping motion.

 

That's actually the real problem. The stride is way too short for that kind of "power sprint."

[Blackfeather]

6 minutes ago, ForeverLaxx said:

Because the real truth is that it needs to be somewhere in the middle. The legs should be "snapping" rather than being a continuously fluid motion. I know it's hard to explain with words, but I'm personally speaking from 17 years experience running defense/midfield on a soccer field. The "slow" animation has the right motions, but the "fast" animation is just cranked too high for each motion. For that particular running style, you should see long strides with the legs/arms in a pumping motion.

 

That's actually the real problem. The stride is way too short for that kind of "power sprint."

 

Do you have any examples of this running style? Videos and animations are best for this kind of thing. That could probably help the devs out a lot if they end up making adjustments to the animation.

[Marshal_General]

What us supposed to be the difference between blitz and parkour animations? I tried both with a female character and didn't see a difference.

[Blackfeather]

1 minute ago, Marshal_General said:

What us supposed to be the difference between blitz and parkour animations? I tried both with a female character and didn't see a difference.

 

It's the idle/jump animation, I think:

 

17 hours ago, The Curator said:

• Parkour - Run animation with Ninja Stance idle, jump, and weapon animations.
• Blitz - Run animation with standard idle, jump, and weapon animations.

Edited July 13, 2022 by Blackfeather

[ForeverLaxx]

6 minutes ago, Blackfeather said:

 

Do you have any examples of this running style? Videos and animations are best for this kind of thing. That could probably help the devs out a lot if they end up making adjustments to the animation.

 

This is the closest I could find on short notice. Notice how her form differs slightly from the animation, has a longer stride, and how she transitions her upper body into a more vertical posture. I'm not expecting something like this 100%, but the animation speed of the run currently on beta should look more like this.

 

I'm not sure it's entirely possible, of course. Generally, running animation speed is sped up/slowed down based on the actual movement speed of the player and likely can't be adjusted without adversely affecting how it looks when stuck in, say, a Tar Patch or something.

[Cobalt Arachne]

For those unaware, the run animation used in Parkour/Blitz stance is from the unreleased Freerunning power from the unimplemented Utility Belt Origin Pool. So it existed in the game's files, just unused before we attached it something.

What this means is, unfortunately, we don't have the source files for the animation and it cannot be edited/adjusted other than simply sped up/slowed down. In City of Heroes nearly all files go through a conversion from their original source to the proprietary format used by the game, and without the pre-conversion source files we're limited to using it as it is.

Even with this limitation, we felt it was worthwhile to add as an option for players regardless, since it was just that, an option, and players who don't like the way it looked on their character didn't have to use it.

It's also the reason they use default/ninja weapon movement animations because there were no weapon-holding versions of the run, just like Beast Run, but with sheathed weapons being added in this update, we felt it better to give them alternate runs holding the weapons instead of using the setup of hiding the weapons while moving like Beast Run currently does.

[Sovera]

The real problem is that we want to use the same animation to all speeds. In RL no one does the movements of top speed sprint when we jog. Our arms don't swing and our feet barely leave the ground.

 

This is an animation/coding problem too deep to be easily touched for an old game (DC online does it though).

 

In a perfect world we would move with Sprint's animation up to X km and then change to Super Speed/Parkour/Ninja animations once reaching Y km. Animating usually involves cheating in some way that is masked by motion much like the Dragon Ball Super animations with players spazzing at the 'quality of the animation' in stills despite being fight/fast scenes and not meant to be viewed for longer than a second. Which they obviously did not bother animating perfectly because one second glance and gone.

 

With all of this said if there are no files allowing editing then it's a moot point. We either take it or discard it. Not that I feel we -really- lacked another temp power run considering beast, ninja and athletic are already in.

[ScarySai]

It looks weird on some costumes, but on others it looks fine.

 

Parkour run is going to be my main stance for quite a few characters. 🙂

[Mystic Fortune]

12 hours ago, Sovera said:

Not that I feel we -really- lacked another temp power run considering beast, ninja and athletic are already in.

 

Actually, I feel like we were desperately lacking that speedster forward leaning run animation made famous by characters such as The Flash. Parkour/Blitz fills that slot nicely, sure it's not perfect, but neither are most of the animations of this game. The fact that Cobalt managed to utilize it such as they have is a feat in and of itself.

 

One thing that is a bit worrisome though, with this animation being pulled from the unimplemented Freerunning power from Utility Belt, does this mean we're unlikely to see the last two Origin Pools added? Especially if they are that incomplete?

[Herotu]

 

On 7/12/2022 at 9:14 PM, Spaghetti Betty said:

I do appreciate the work on new animations. I really do. But something about the new running animation just makes it look really goofy. I'm sorry.

 

The lining of the pelvis while running looks wrong to me. Instead of leaning into the run, it comes off as this hunched over, "really gotta go to the bathroom" look.

 

Maybe it's just me.

Some people really gotta go to the bathroom. That's natural. 

 

This will help the goofy characters do their thing and give us all a laugh. The rest of us can look cool and awesome using other animations.

I hope to see some of these on NPCs and enemies one day! 😉

Edited July 14, 2022 by Herotu