Melee Combat Animations

[Kubanator]

In this topic I will discuss the various melee/stances moves the spies and mercs should preform. Be aware that this is not official, and is only made using my knowledge of the martial arts, and weaponry.

Spies

1. Standing, No Movement

Headbutt

Why?: Because the headbutt relies on the snapping movement of your spine, and the crown of your forehead striking on the nose. If done properly, it can incapacitate a person. However, seeing as mercs have undergone military training, it is fair to assume that they can handle it, and therfore are only stunned.

2. Standing, Slow Walk

Elbow

Why?: Because the elbow increases in strength if a step is taken while preforming it, and it does not take a long time to preform. Since it uses the strength of your whole body, it is also very powerful.

3. Standing, Running

Flying Knee

Why?: Since the flying knee requires momentum, it is ideal that it is done from a running position. It strikes directly to the abdomen, and would have a knockback effect similar to the elbow. The spy however, does not need to jump to preform this, and instead can simply run into the merc.

4. Crouching, No Movement

Rising Palm

Why?: The rising palm strikes directly to the bottom of the chin, allowing it to requiring no forward momentum. It also allows for a quick escape and uses the whole body to strike.

5. Crouching, Slow Walk

Rising Elbow

Why?: The rising elbow requires slight amounts of forward momentum, to create the diagnol upward strike nessasary to twist the head. This would make the merc very disoriented, as his brain and mervous system would be shook (sp?)up.

6. Crouching, Running

Rising Elbow into Abdomen

Why?: Because while a rising elbow would preform marvoulously, you would need to rise about 1m away if you wanted to maintain momentum. This however, allows you to wait till you are within elbow's reach to rise.

7. Standing, Merc Crouching

Knee

Why?: Because a knee to the face is a instantanous knock out.

8. Grab, Lethal

Neck Snap

Why?: It requires minimal time, it silent, and is a guaranteed kill if done correctly.

9. Grab, Non-Lethal

Rear Naked Choke

Why?: While the strike the Chaos Theory was quick, it allowed for little options. With a choke, you can decide how long they will be knocked out for. However, if speed is what you are after, you could always add a Knifehand to the back of the head as another option.

10. Ledge Grab

Ledge Grab

Why?: While the animation is fine, the insta-death is not. Falling 2 feet will not kill you. Perhaps if the ledge is less than a 8 foot drop you survive, otherwise you die.

Mercanaries

1. Charge

Running with gun pointing forward

Why?: Because as anyone who is trained with guns knows, you always point the gun where to intend to aim, not randomly pointing to side. The running animation should look like the Gears of War roadie run, except with the gun pointing forward.

2. Charge, Striking

Twisting Strike

Why?: Because it uses the maximum force possible, while still maintaining balance and ability to stop.

3. Berserk

Berserk

Why?: It is fine the way it is, except for one thing. The merc should not be capable of jumping after preforming the maneuver, and instead should have to regain his balance.

4. Spy Lying on Ground, Kill

Knife to Throat

Why?: While the smack to face is acceptable, there is no guarantee of death, as there is not enough force to guarantee a neck snap. Also, anyone carrying a a high powered rifle will carry a knife, in case he needs it.

5. Sniper Stance

Sniper Stance

Why?: This is entirely fine the way it is.

New Additions

1. Gun at Shoulder

Gun at Shoulder

Why?: Any educated shooter will know that while fighting, shooting at the hip is ineffectual. But by doing this, you limit your view, and slow your movement speed, as running and shooting will completely throw you off balance.

2. Gun at Hip

Gun at Hip

Why?: While inaccurate, having your gun at your hip increases your view, and allows you to run faster, as firing will not throw off balance.

[Xris]

wooo!! nice post, all sounds good to me  :D

[frvge]

Just get us another animator  ;D

[Farley4Fan]

YEah, or 5 more animators lol  It all sounds good to me.  Plus realism isn't bad.

[Kubanator]

I can make more universal combat maneuvers if you want, it's just I thought it would be far cooler if the spy acted like a spy would.

[Xris]

Just get us another animator  ;D

im sure goodkebab can do it all  ;)

[Cyntrox]

Just get us another animator  ;D

im sure goodkebab can do it all  ;)

As far as I know, Goodkebab isn't even the animator...

[Westfall]

That is a nice list. Is it too realistic?

[Kubanator]

It's total realism, based on the fact that these are the moves I would preform if they have to be fast, strong, and short (Meaning minimal movement). I do not understand what you mean by too realistic.

[Westfall]

For the game. Can it be programmed to match all of this well? Are there better moves? Its really up to the devs if they can implement it all to work well.

[Kubanator]

The thing is that all of these moves can be put within the same animation time, making it completely balanced. Also, different levels of stun can be put on different animations, reward people who ambush as opposed to aggro.

And as for better moves, there are a few different moves, but niether is better than the other. For example, the walking elbow could be replaced with a palm strike or a knee, but a knee requires that you are closer, and a palm strike has a longer range, making it look awkward when the spy is forced to move closer, and makes the player feel less immersed in the game world.

[limikkin]

good stuff....very well thought out list. great explanation of the logistics for each. this will be very helpful for the animation process of melee and will certainly be referenced and taken into account.
as for as which moves/actions will actually be used, how they will be implemented (or altered), and the effect each will have on the opponent in-game...is of course contingent on gameplay functionality, the balancing of character classes, etc. (as you mentioned) and tweaked from there. But i think the actions you purposed are great, and provide the exact detail and comprehension needed for animating. ;)

Thanks for sharing, Kubanator  ...great post  8)

the importance of gun positioning and influence is an interesting aspect to explore. (i'm not sure if that's been brought up or addressed yet...i dont think so) ...but could come into play as a variable for class balancing if needed...idk
but rather than viewing it like... hip vs shoulder (placement) is to stability vs accuracy, maybe it could be speed vs accuracy. or easier to taken down (or do more melee damage) to an opponent with the gun at shoulder position.

what i do know is...the "knife to throat" animation makes me smile.  ;D

[neth]

limikkin, could you tell us what part of animating process is done now ?

I think that has not been discussed yet. Do you guys think that there should be an option to make a partial zoom, like in cod ? Bullets would not be as deadly as when you go into sniper zoom but the accuracy would be better - with possiblity to shoot slow full auto or burst.

[Gawain]

i agree with kubanator 100%, good job dude ;)
the only unrealistic move remaining would be berserk, which could be made more realistic against jumping with a more vertical spin over the head.
imo you shouldn't hit much shooting out of the hip without using the laser.

@limmikin: there are no different character classes in svm. it would be really awesome if you take the time to implement kubanator's suggestion.

[Kubanator]

The purpose of beserk is to stop spies from jumping on you, and it does that by spinning, which prevents the spy from being able to target a specific part of the body. Remember, after you start a jump, it's hard to change your trajectory.