The 12 Principles of Animation

We have been asked to create a blog post detailing the 12 principles of animation as set down by the "Nine Old Men" of Disney and then show good and bad examples of them from games. This turned out to be trickier than it sounds. It is difficult to summon up 24 examples of games that have specific problems with these 12 principles from memory. The best I could do was to find a lot of retro games that could not use the 12 principles because of technology limitations. However, these games often make up for their limitations by stylising the game so that the animation flaws don't stand out so much.

1.  Squash & Stretch
Squash and stretch is the act of squashing and stretching an item to give it and organic or dynamic feel. Some good examples include bouncing balls and muscles. 
The bad example I chose was the original Super Mario Bro's by Nintendo. When showing people jumping they will crouch and then stretch as they jump. This is a very common usage of squash and stretch which was not found in this early platformer. 

I chose the PSP platforming game Daxter for my good example. Unlike Super Mario, Daxter shows evidence of squashing into a ball before a jump and then elongating to launch himself into the air giving the animation a much more dynamic and appealing look.

2. Anticipation
Anticipation is the act of gathering energy before an action giving the animation a much more life-like feel. Examples of this effect can be seen when a character draws his fist back before a punch or when pulling backwards before a run. 
The "bad" example I chose for this game was the original Legend of Zelda game for the NES. The main character never shows any evidence of drawing back before a sword strike, walking or any other action. 

The opposing example I have chosen is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a later installment of the same franchise. The main character shows a subtle, but visible pull backwards when he starts walking. A similar effect is seen before many other actions in-game, such as opening chests and opening doors and performing evasive rolls.

 3. Staging
Good staging is just a question of good composition. It is the act of making sure that whats going on is clear to the audience. In game, making sure the player understands the situation and context tends to be the job of the designers not the animators.
The bad example I am using for this principle is used a few times in this blog post. This is simply because it is considered a bad example of everything in game. The game is E.T. The game almost entirely relys on the player having seen the film of the same name to understand the context in which the game is set. The game gives no real clues as to what is going on, what the player is supposed to do or why the player is supposed to do it.

  4. Straight Ahead & Pose to Pose
Straight ahead and pose to pose are techniques of animation. Straight ahead is used much more in traditionally drawn animation and is the act of drawing a scene frame after frame in the chronological order in which they appear. This provides much more fluid and flowing animation. Pose to Pose was where animators would draw specific "key frames" which are later connected together by more frames. This is better for keeping good composition but often loses a lot of pose and character consistency. 
Since these are techniques and a means to an end, it is nearly impossible to find specifically good and bad examples for this principle.   

5. Follow Through & Overlapping
Follow through and Overlapping are actions that take place after action has been performed. Examples maybe a character skidding across the floor in order to stop himself suddenly or the crouched position taken at the end of a jump.
Street Fighter II Turbo by Capcom demostrates a lack of follow through or overlapping. In the character Ryu's signiture move, Hadouken, the move is not followed up by any kind of recovery. 

However, in Street Fighter IV the same character is given a head sash which gives all of his move a subtle but noticable follow through. This tiny feature gives the player the feeling that some kind of force was put into the move.

 
 6.Slow In, Slow Out 
Slow in, Slow out simulates acceleration and deceleration that the laws of physics observe every moving object must abide with (with the exception of electro-magnetic waves, including light, which neither accelerate or decelerate) .
The Atari 2600 platformer Pitfall demonstrates how lack of acceleration or deceleration in a character's walk can make that character look unatural and mechanical.

SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog shows the difference made when a similar genre adds accerlation and deceleration to a character. The movement feels much more natural and believable. 

 7. Arcs
Organic movement very rarely moves in a straight line. Even when a character performs a straight punch, their joints and general gesture move in a distinct arc. This is a particularly difficult one to find examples of, simply because most games new and retro, employ the use of arcs in jumps, punches and general movement. 
The game which shows the most distinct lack of arcs is Pac-Man. Every corner is turned in a very unnatural and robotic why.

  Space Invaders, however, demonstrate arcs in their descent. The "invaders" move side to side and then down in a continuous "S" shape. Although this still looks mechanical because the sprites jump, instead of moving smoothly from one position to another, the "S" shape gives it a more natural feel, like a feather floating to earth.

8. Secondary Action
A Secondary Action is a smaller, less noticable action added onto the main action. The idea is to give the primary action more character. The idea of this would be to have a character fiddle with something whilst talking, or smoke a cigar whilst shooting a shotgun. 
Asteroids employs no use of a secondary action for the ship's primary, shooting, action. 

Halo 3, however, adds character, and the feeling of force behind the shot, by adding a recoil action to the primary shooting action. 

  9. Timing
 Timing is used for both theatrical and physical purposes. Perfect timing can be used to execute perfect comedy or give a punch extra force.
The PSX action, shooter Dino Crisis is a good example of bad timing. Demonstrating out of time, stiff looking walks and badly synced dialouge. 

One generation up from this is the PS2 game Devil May Cry, which demonstrates perfectly timed combat. This gives the feeling of real force put into each blow and makes every footstep feel natural.

10. Exaggeration
  Exaggeration is the act of "over-doing" an action to make it more pronounced for dramatic or comedic effect. Examples of this could include cartoons such as Wile E. Coyote and Bugs Bunny which has an almost instantly recognisable style that uses exaggeration to great comedic effect.
Some games require a lot less exaggeration than others. For example Heavy Rain takes on a Film Noir style which requires a gritty realism. This means many of the animations are not exaggerated except to make it more clear as to what the character is thinking or doing. 

In opposition is Ubisoft's classic Rayman which takes on a much more cartoony , comedic style. This makes heavy use of the exaggeration principle to give both a more comedic effect and to add to the style of the game.

11. Solid Drawing
Animators require the same knowledge of form, function, tone and colour as traditional artists. Amazing animation will never look good without the decent artwork to back it up. 
For my "bad" example I have to refer back to an example used earlier in the post. Even when compared to other games of the same era the artwork of the Atari game E.T. is truly aweful. 

However, the game Super Meat Boy shows how a game with a pixelated style can still look charming.

12. Appeal
 Appeal is, more or less, how well the principles above are executed in a way that looks unique and charming. 
One last time I am forced to look at E.T. which uses very few of the above principles, even the ones that the technology of the time aloud. The game looks and feels just...just aweful.

 
  The game I have chosen to demostrate good appeal is the action RPG, Mass Effect 2. The gameplay has it's own charming style and each character has their own believable and unique way of moving.