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[battlerager]

Yeah I like that one better, too!
Good job, guys

This is going in a gooood direction. 

[Blaizer]

One thing I want to say is that the air run looks pretty ridiculous. For it to be believable he should swipe the air much more rapidly, forcibly, and effortful-ly.

Also when using it on the wall, to make it look more authentic, like the original game, there should be a trail.

Now that I think of it. If there are any levels with walls, a wall speed boost to running would look nice (the left right thing on ground in the game), but might overpower Nikujin a bit on that terrain. In fact, any level with walls would be perfect for Nikujin slaughter.]

EDIT: you also have to decide if you want him to stop wall climbing at the top of a wall and flip himself up (like in the original game) or to just continue the action as an air run. I'm not sure which I would prefer.

[Rostiger]

Thanks for the edit, Radnom - that does look a lot better.
I just wish feedback like that would come a little earlier, before I waste my time on shading out everything.. 

Anyway, here's another edit for the running cycle, it's kind of a mix between the last two:


I took out the strong toe tipping but kept the angle - what do you say?

Also, to stay in line with godsavants wonderful slash through effect, I updated all other animations with similar effects. Also I touched up some of the animations and added a falling sprite in the jump animation.

Also when using it on the wall, to make it look more authentic, like the original game, there should be a trail.

Agreed. However, I think the wallrun itself looks quite ok. Sure, there is some stuff that could be improved, but for now the other animations have priority. But feel free to edit the animation yourself!

[Soulliard]

Those are the best sprites yet.

[Cokho]

Actually I think Ninja (so Nikujin) don't run the occidental way.
I don't know, but in the manga I saw, they never bend their legs!

(I'm sorry, i thought that sprite was a great illustrating of what I was talking about. And I don't know how to editing a sprite  )

PS: I'm actually hating Naruto, don't missundersant

[Soulliard]

I think you're confusing Ninja with Anime.

PS: Welcome! Make sure to post in the mancrib.

[Cokho]

Yeah I probably do   

I've looked again and actually the actual sprite rocks!
I can't wait the next milestone to play a (finish?) Nikujin!

[Soulliard]

One thing I want to say is that the air run looks pretty ridiculous. For it to be believable he should swipe the air much more rapidly, forcibly, and effortful-ly.

Forgot to respond to this. I agree- I made that animation quickly just so people would have some idea of what was going on. I really hope someone edits it.

[Radnom]

Awesome work, Rostiger, they look incredible 

Sorry for calling you Rogister in my previous post, must be mild dyslexia 

[William Broom]

I think the shuriken animation with the dust cloud is a little too much; it almost looks like he's firing them out of a bazooka. Otherwise, great stuff.

[Rostiger]

Awesome work, Rostiger, they look incredible 

Sorry for calling you Rogister in my previous post, must be mild dyslexia 

Thanks, gald you like them. No worries about the name - stuff like that happens to me all the time.

I totally should be working instead of spriting for IB, but I just can't leave my fingers off of it.  So here's another updated version of the shuriken throw and the low slash animation:


If the slash is too slow, you might want to take out the fourth or the fifth frame.

I also played Nikujin a lot lately (still can't get under 3 minutes at the parcours.. *sigh*) and I realised what's missing for the headstab: the naked ninja actually flips off the victims shoulders - I think that will make for a more interesting ending of the animation.

I'll also wait to finish the walk cycle until the next build and leave it up to Soulliard to decide which one fits best - I still kind of like Radnoms edit better than my last one, since it just seems more powerful.

Oh, and chutup, it would be awesome if you could update the first post some time so the most recent animations are all collected at one place. Cheers! 

[Soulliard]

The low slash looks perfect.

It's been a little hectic lately, going back to college, but I'll try to update all of Nikujin's animations tonight.

[Rostiger]

Updated headstab:



Also here my first try on the staff animation:




Quite.. meh.. imo. Looks more like he's showing off his cool staff juggling skills. Also there's no real force in the motion.
On the other hand, it kind of fits to the move ingame concerning speed and damage area. Visually, a motion like this might work better:
Get out the staff, hit one time to the front, spin around, hit to the back, turn to the front again while spinning the staff behind his back and repeat the whole process. However that would take to long considering that the move does damage in front and back almos simultaneously.
Suggestions?

[Soulliard]

The headstab looks about perfect now. I love how the flip turned out.

The staff spin looks pretty cool, but your second suggestion might work better. It's not a problem to mess around with the attack's timing and area.

[Rostiger]

Ok, good to know that there's some flexibility with the way the move will work in-game.
I searched for some reference material for the staff spin and found this:





I could either go for a spin like he does at 0:13 which probably would be rather easy to animate and would fit the current way it works in-game.

The move he starts at 0:22 would be more stylish, but harder to animate, because there's a lot of body rotation.

On another note, I was thinking about editing the wall run. The problem I see with it though is that it looks perfectly fine when Nikujin runs up an enemy like this, because he's doing many short but fast-paced kicks, which works quite well.
For running up a wall it would be better if the steps were farther apart and there was more power in each of them.
Maybe you can implement two different types of animation, depending where the move is executed?

Another thing is that if the move is contucted when there is no enemy or wall it looks awkward no matter what. Could it be restricted to only when there's a wall or an oponent close by?

[battlerager]

I'd imagine it could look a lot like Yoshi's double jump in the Smash Brothers games when there's no wall around. 

[Rostiger]

You mean to just add a backflip?

[battlerager]

I mean, some people said "he is climbing in thin air" and maybe that would be okay if there was an animation that would kinda embrace that and..


well, change the small steps into like, wide motions or something. I dunno how to describe it...





This video attempts to explain some sort of glitch, but the jump can be seen in slow motion right at the start.

[Soulliard]

Ok, good to know that there's some flexibility with the way the move will work in-game.
I searched for some reference material for the staff spin and found this:





I could either go for a spin like he does at 0:13 which probably would be rather easy to animate and would fit the current way it works in-game.

That looks pretty much like I would envision the move. It stays pretty close to the source.

On another note, I was thinking about editing the wall run. The problem I see with it though is that it looks perfectly fine when Nikujin runs up an enemy like this, because he's doing many short but fast-paced kicks, which works quite well.
For running up a wall it would be better if the steps were farther apart and there was more power in each of them.
Maybe you can implement two different types of animation, depending where the move is executed?

I think the steps do need to be farther apart, and with more power. I'll just stick with the new animation for both situations. Really, the current one is pretty bad.

Another thing is that if the move is contucted when there is no enemy or wall it looks awkward no matter what. Could it be restricted to only when there's a wall or an oponent close by?

No. He'll still need a recovery move.

[Blaizer]

I have some strong ideas about Nikujins' wall/air running and such.

I definitely think he should flip himself onto a platform when he gets to the top of it. The whole wall running and flipping up at the end should be as close to the source animation as possible as it looks perfect in the original. I also think he should be either invulnerable when he flips up, or uses the flipping up as a quick attack so that he can't just be easily hit back off again.

The air running looks nice with Yoshi. Starting leaned forwards; then leaning back; then back to normal as it slows down and ends.

You may also want to do a separate animation for when he's walking on an enemy as this might not look quite like he's walking on an enemy.

Or. Add in those white air marks when he's air running and remove them or change them somehow when he's walking on an enemy.

With the staff, maybe juggling it around doesn't look so good. In the game, they just spin it around and white crescent disks come out the front and back really quickly. Would look fine, but if you want a more complicated animation, go ahead.

Also, does anyone have a time better than 57 on the tutorial level... I'm pretty sure I have the world record...