Punching your way through a fighting game, you need to think of landing that perfect combo or mastering the next move rather than looking into the subtle details of animation used in these epic fights.
Nonetheless, for a fighting game to both feel powerful and look realistic, skilled animators must make every punch, kick, and special move seen on screen as fluid as possible.
Well, how does one animate fight scenes for a game? What does it take to make those street fighter animations that sticks with players? And how many fight animation moves can one expect from an average 2D anime fighting game?
This article goes deep into the world of animation fighting games, tackling these questions and more.
In this blog, we provide simple instructions for making a game involving fighting and the specific techniques needed to animate fight scenes.
We also explore what constitutes outstanding fight animation, how to make high-energy sequences that involve animated characters in video games, and why fps is important for animating fight scenes.
Plus, we’ll look at examples from well-known cartoon fight games and cartoons where the characters are engaged in fights; hence, you can easily grasp the concepts of good fight animation.
So, let’s get started!
The Main Principles to Animate Fight Games
Crafting a cartoon fighting game, a 2D anime fighting game, or something more realistic like Tekken demands a strong understanding of the main principles of fight animation.
Let’s go over the main principles you need to know in how animating fight games can help you create a fighting masterpiece.
Prediction, Action, and Reaction
In fight animation, each act must have a clear cause-and-effect relationship.
Just before throwing that blow, there must be a moment of anticipation, a slight pullback/shift of weight/muscles getting tensed.
This prediction that something will happen gives the player an immediate indication and makes the action more satisfying.
For instance, think about Street Fighter animations.
As Ryu prepares to release his Hadouken, he draws his hand back, indicating an impending energy blast.
The reaction completes the entire sequence, as it either pushes back or deflects the opponent, making every move seem dynamic and realistic.
Physics of movement in video gaming
Even when the characters may have exaggerated features in cartoon fighting games or perform impossible moves, they still need to be able to move in a way that seems believable.
To do this, realistic motion physics must be used. Character movements must account for gravity, force, and momentum to allow for a fight animation that looks and feels real.
For example, in Tekken, a character’s jump is not just a straight upward motion; it follows an arc that accounts for the force of the jump and gravity pulling the character back down.
Exaggeration
While realistic physics is important, exaggeration is also critical for 2D anime fighting games and cartoon fighting games.
The exaggeration effect makes the action more exciting and visually appealing, therefore enhancing intensity and making it more dramatic.
Think about the Dragon Ball Z fighting games where characters fly at lightning speed, punch opponents through screens, sending them across landscapes and fire energy blasts capable of obliterating whole landscapes.
These effects are what makes these games thrilling to play.
The Overlapping Action
This is another principle that will add life to your fight animations. This approach refers to how different body parts move at separate speeds.
For example, when a character delivers a punch, his fist may move faster than his shoulder, and even after the punch is thrown, his hair or clothing keeps moving.
Mortal Kombat, for example, has overlapping action in its cape and long hair designs for different characters during fighting moves.
Thus, the fight animation becomes more fluid and realistic, with characters looking more alive and dynamic.
Action, Arcs, and Trajectories
Most movements in fight animation should follow a natural arc or trajectory. Especially punches, kicks and jumps.
When a movement follows a straight line, it often looks unnatural and robotic, while an arc adds gracefulness and fluidity to the animation’s features.
For instance, in street fighter animations, you will notice that an uppercut or spin kick of a character follows a curve. Giving it the appearance of it being performed naturally and powerfully
This movement’s visual appeal is heightened by its use of arcs, which highlight the energy of an action.
Motion Clarity
In fast-paced fighting games, motion clarity is a must. Whenever a fight is intense, players have to be able to see and comprehend what’s happening on their screen.
This implies that all movements should be distinct and have clear poses facilitating action tracking.
In fact, in games like Super Smash Bros, animations are created so that it is easy to tell the difference between each move despite having multiple characters at once.
This aspect ensures quick reactions and intelligent decision-making by players during gameplay.
Squash and Stretch
Squash and stretch is an important principle across all forms of animations, especially when animating fight scenes.
This technique involves distorting either the character’s body or an object to emphasize impact or immediate movement, giving the animation a sense of elasticity and life.
In various cartoon fighting games, characters may squash down as they prepare to leap up and then stretch as they fly through the air, thus exaggerating their motion and making them more dynamic.
Time and Rhythm
One crucial aspect of fight animation is the perception of time. A punch that feels snappy, a kick that appears heavy; they both rely on timing. By altering the timing of frames in between, you can depict the velocity, strength, and feeling behind every motion.
For instance, a speedy jab could be animated with fewer frames to make it seem swift as well as sharp. On the other hand stronger haymakers may use more frames to create suspense before the blow lands.
Skills & Tools You Need for Fighting Game Animation
Different styles, including 2D, 3D, pixel art, and isometric projection, can be used to achieve the same goal of animating a fight.
Let us look at the stages required by animators to create an engaging fighting game.
2D Fighting Game Animation: The Basics
In 2D fighting animation, all actions take place in two dimensions; they have only width and height.
The process is classified into three parts: pre-production, production, and post-production.
Pre-production involves tasks such as scripting, choosing colors for a palette and creating preliminary sketches of characters.
The production stage involves combining all these elements to create animated fight scenes.
Lastly, during the post-production phase, animators incorporate sound effects and finalize edits to refine the fighting animated scenes.
Key software tools in any 2D animation firm comprise Blender, Moho, Toon Boom, Cinema 4D, Maya, and Pencil 2D.
3D Fighting Game Animation: Bringing Depth to Life
In 3D fighting game animation, the objects are manipulated through a three-dimensional space to add depth to the characters and environments.
This includes concept creation, storyboarding, 3D modeling, texturing, rigging, and rendering stages.
Storyboarding brings out the narrative of the game in 3D, while modeling is responsible for making characters’ shapes. A 3D animator then applies textures and colors to models after modeling them.
Rigging gives characters a skeletal structure so that they can move, while rendering produces the final frame sequence. Most artists use Zbrush, 3DS Max, and Daz3D, among others, to achieve their tasks effectively.
Pixel Art in Fighting Game Animation: A Nostalgic Touch
Pixel animation is an exceptional type that builds graphics with an intermediate resolution between 8-bit but not higher than 16-bit, often seen on retro video game consoles and graphing calculators.
Savior, Kickstarter, and Broforce are examples of pixel-art fighting game animations. The process of creating a pixelated fight game encompasses the ideation, production, and release phases.
Ideation defines how the entire animation fight should appear, while production involves making movements and transitions look how we want them to.
Eventually, fighting animation comes into the picture for sale. Important tools for crafting pixel art animations include Marionette Studio, Krita, and Paint.Net.
Isometric Animation: Making 3D Illusion in 2D
Isometric animation is an orthographic projection representing objects from three dimensions in 2D. It is based on principles such as equal measurements, illusive perspective and maintaining the same order of objects in the composition.
Isometric fighting animations give the player a feeling of depth and immersion into a 3D environment, yet it is just displayed in 2D.
The developmental stages for isometric animation are similar to those for pixel art—ideation, production, and game launch. Programs like Illustrator and After Effects have become common tools for making these unique projections.
How Many Frames Are in a Fighting Game?
Most fighting games have a frame rate of 60 frames per second. Each frame or image takes only 16 milliseconds to be displayed on the screen for the player. It’s basically a tiny slice of time that cannot be further divided.
How Long Does it Take to Animate a Fight?
For simple animation with fewer details, it will take about four weeks. However, more complicated scenes, such as a fighting scene with multiple complex movements, might take at least a few months.
How Animation Works in Fighting Games: A Complete Breakdown
Concept Art and Design
The first step to animate fight games is brainstorming and designing.
Here, we put these characters, their moves, and the game environment on paper.
This is where we establish fighting styles, fine-tune character concepts, and draft out major combat animation sequences.
Character Modeling
Afterwards, our 3D artists produce digital models of the fighters based on these ideas.
They shape every part of the character, from its body to clothes and accessories, while also preparing the model for animation by setting up a skeletal structure necessary for animating fighting clips.
Rigging and Skinning
During this stage, we create digital skeletons for the character models, which enables them to be animated in fight scenes.
Additionally, skinning joins this mesh to the rig, such that it moves naturally during the fight sequences.
Keyframe Animation
This is when keyframe animation comes into play.
Our animators make key poses within fight animations that define how they move around.
These key frames are important because they help establish the timing, spacing, and flow of animation fighting sequences.
In-Betweening
In other words, tweening fills in the gaps between two successive frames.
This way of doing things makes the fight animation look more natural and flexible in its transitions, giving an appearance of progressiveness.
Refinement and Polishing
As soon as a basic fight animation is created, it should be improved upon.
Our animators adjust every detail, from secondary motions to timing, to achieve the most realistic and engaging fight animation possible.
Testing and Iteration
While making animations for fights, we test how they look and feel while playing the game.
If anything appears unusual, we tweak it until all animated sequences match perfectly with gameplay.
Finalization
The final stage revolves around optimization.
We ensure that any remaining bugs are dealt with so that these animations run smoothly on all platforms where games are played; game release preparation also includes readying these animations for play on this kind of platform.
Famous Fighting Game Animation Examples
In fighting games, animation is essentially the key to an experience that feels real and exciting. Let’s discuss a few of the notable games that have used animation to set standards that have attracted millions of fans across the planet.
The King of Fighters XII
In 2009, The King of Fighters XII was notable for its different approach to animation techniques. Animators used the traditional method of rotoscoping 2D from 3D models, which enhanced the resolution of characters to a whopping 720p.
Another cool fact about this game is that it helped incorporate three-dimensional forms into games in that era.
One remarkable element of The King of Fighters XII is its attention to detailed animation. Each character in it has between 400-600 frames of animation fighting. Making every move and combo look fluid and dynamic.
The game retains its classic 3v3 team system, with each round consisting of five grueling rounds.
What’s interesting here is that there are no pre-set story or default teams. This means that players can arrange their dream team and have a fresh approach during every other battle.
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, a game released in 2008, is a good example of how to revive traditional 2D fighting games.
In this game, you can actually see fighting moves in exceptional detail as they are shown in super sharp 1080p. Thanks to animation tricks such as rotation and framing, the characters still look like the ones we know.
What’s awesome about this game is that it features the same lineup as Super Street Fighter II Turbo but with a twist: classic and HD Remix modes.
While Classic mode gives you a retro feeling, HD Remix also offers newness. Not to mention solid multiplayer options that include Local Multiplayer, Player Match, Ranked Match, and online tournaments against players from all over the world.
Soulcalibur VI
Soulcalibur VI launched in 2018 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, acts as a reboot of the beloved series, bringing back iconic characters as they appeared in their classic outfits from Soulcalibur.
The first thing that should strike you about Soulcalibur VI is its focus on weapons. Every fighter has their favourite weapon. Giving the combat a touch of depth and variety.
The weapons range from huge blades that deliver mighty sweeping blows to lighter ones that allow quick, rapid-fire moves. The game’s fight animations are meticulously designed to reflect each character’s fighting style.
This improves the game’s visual appeal through detailed animation in its fighting scenes and adds value to the strategic elements of the battle by making it unique at every turn.
Final Takeaway
Fighting games have always been in demand due to the primal instincts they bring out of fans. So, learning how to create a fighting game is always a lucrative option.
Furthermore, if you want to outsource game 2D animation services, Prolific Studio is the only animation studio you need to get in touch with to animate fight games, whether they are 2D or immersive 3D animations, that not only look great but also maximize your ROI.
