Unpopular Opinion: Mech animations

[Ridiculix]

Call me ridiculous, but i think that

- human walking and running animations of the mechs should be replaced with animations of what an actual Mech would move like; Stiff arms, no swinging while walking/running, see MechWarrior 3&4. (that includes the "gets hit" animations) The animations from the base game were closer to an (what i think is) authentic style of movement already, than the newer ones.
- no kicks to the leg of another mech, which makes its cockpit explode.
- and no kung fu kicks in general, especially not this: small mech jumps and kicks tall mech in the head. (stomping vehicles is fine of course).
- also; please don't fool people into thinking some mission objectives are optional (by making them look optional and not actually telling us, they are critical), while in reality, you lose the mission (flashpoint), if you ignore them.

I mean, these are battlemechs and not yaegers (Pacific Rim for example), with cockpits where you sit in a chair und use joysticks, but don't transmit your body's movement to the mech's.

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Oh, and here's is what some of your missions sometimes look like;
Objectives:
- defend base, until reinforcements arrive
- OPTIONAL (for bonus rewards): ALL buildings must survive

But what happens in ROUND ONE (their first moves), is:
- mech 1 moves into sight range of buildings
- mech 2 gets into weapon range, destroys building; optional objective failed - LOL


Capiche ?
Merry Christmas!













PS: I love the game nontheless!

 

[iLuvMyGauss]

Figure this is a good place to segue my opinions, please let me know if ok for this thread or if i should start up a new one with my mixed bag below:

Overall i like the animations of the movement, i have no gripes with the walking styles (although as someone mentioned earlier, copying the StarWars 'Chicken walker' gait for some of the similar mechs would be cool.

My suggestion for animation movement is based more on deaths and knockdowns.

Every knockdown appears the same, mech staggers, then tips over backwards onto it's back, exposing all its target points to the world for free call shots.
I believe the knockdown animation and how the mech ends up on the ground should be dicatated by what got hit, and from which direction.
> if the mech lost its left leg, it should tip over to the left and land on its side, thus making called shots on anything on the left of the mech harder to hit
> if the mech was knocked down from stab. dmg by a missle volley from behind, it should animate falling face forward and only showing it's back targets for called shots (mech tips over to opposite side of where stab dmg occurs)

Death animations (lethal headshot dmg) should be instant crumple, no staggering. Think of it like someone getting shot in the brain, IRL they just fall instantly as the neurons stop sending signals to the muscles, unlike Hollywood headshots where much flailing ensues. The animation would take into account the initial momentum of the mech being hit - ie. if the mech's last movement was walking backwards, a lethal headshot would make the mech crumple and fall with backward momentum. If it was standing still braced, it would just fall into its own footprint.

Braced/Guarded mechs should actually be posed to show a stance that looks like its feet are dug in and arms out in front of its core as if it's blocking and deflecting incoming fire.

Cockpit oxygen tank explosions/ballistic & missile ammo explosions should create huge pluming fireball explosions into a small mushroom cloud that convert into thick black burning smoke. Currently there is animation for small area's burning on a severely damaged mech, but i think the volume of smoke should be raised if the area housed ammo.

Cored death animation should have a random chance of engine explosion where the mech detonates into many chunks rather than falling as entire husk with a hole blown through its center.

Would be nice if devs implemented nvidia gameworks flow for volumetric smoke that could be emitted from explosions that would surround and interact with the mechs (obviously make this optional graphics setting as it could seriously impact performance). Would be nice to see lingering smoke trail a moving mech that is still on fire from damage.

These are all mainly aesthetic enhancements that would make the world feel more gritty and dangerous.

 

[Havamal]

Figure this is a good place to segue my opinions, please let me know if ok for this thread or if i should start up a new one with my mixed bag below:

Overall i like the animations of the movement, i have no gripes with the walking styles (although as someone mentioned earlier, copying the StarWars 'Chicken walker' gait for some of the similar mechs would be cool.

My suggestion for animation movement is based more on deaths and knockdowns.

Every knockdown appears the same, mech staggers, then tips over backwards onto it's back, exposing all its target points to the world for free call shots.
I believe the knockdown animation and how the mech ends up on the ground should be dicatated by what got hit, and from which direction.
> if the mech lost its left leg, it should tip over to the left and land on its side, thus making called shots on anything on the left of the mech harder to hit
> if the mech was knocked down from stab. dmg by a missle volley from behind, it should animate falling face forward and only showing it's back targets for called shots (mech tips over to opposite side of where stab dmg occurs)

Death animations (lethal headshot dmg) should be instant crumple, no staggering. Think of it like someone getting shot in the brain, IRL they just fall instantly as the neurons stop sending signals to the muscles, unlike Hollywood headshots where much flailing ensues. The animation would take into account the initial momentum of the mech being hit - ie. if the mech's last movement was walking backwards, a lethal headshot would make the mech crumple and fall with backward momentum. If it was standing still braced, it would just fall into its own footprint.

Braced/Guarded mechs should actually be posed to show a stance that looks like its feet are dug in and arms out in front of its core as if it's blocking and deflecting incoming fire.

Cockpit oxygen tank explosions/ballistic & missile ammo explosions should create huge pluming fireball explosions into a small mushroom cloud that convert into thick black burning smoke. Currently there is animation for small area's burning on a severely damaged mech, but i think the volume of smoke should be raised if the area housed ammo.

Cored death animation should have a random chance of engine explosion where the mech detonates into many chunks rather than falling as entire husk with a hole blown through its center.

Would be nice if devs implemented nvidia gameworks flow for volumetric smoke that could be emitted from explosions that would surround and interact with the mechs (obviously make this optional graphics setting as it could seriously impact performance). Would be nice to see lingering smoke trail a moving mech that is still on fire from damage.

These are all mainly aesthetic enhancements that would make the world feel more gritty and dangerous.

Greetings

Please start a new thread or post in a topical thread for the non-animation topics in there.

Thank you

 

[Ridiculix]

Wow, a lot of replies and discussion in here, while i wasn't around!
Some interesting thoughts and quotes i see here.

They way i interpret those quotes, i think that i was on the right track.
Unless you are an extremely talented Master in Mech-piloting, your mech shouldn't be able to move human-like or as agile as an Archer does ingame. And even then, it shouldn't be the norm.

But i accept the fact now, that this was definitely envisioned to some extend by the Battletech's inventors.

 

[Corraidhin]

Wow, a lot of replies and discussion in here, while i wasn't around!
Some interesting thoughts and quotes i see here.

They way i interpret those quotes, i think that i was on the right track.
Unless you are an extremely talented Master in Mech-piloting, your mech shouldn't be able to move human-like or as agile as an Archer does ingame. And even then, it shouldn't be the norm.

But i accept the fact now, that this was definitely envisioned to some extend by the Battletech's inventors.

Just think of the 'Mechs as giant Boston Dynamics atlas (appropriately) robots. They learn independently from the pilot, and work in conjunction with them. The longer a 'Mech is in use, the better tuned and more fluid it's movement processing will be. Of course, a better 'trained' chassis will start out with greatly improved movement as a baseline.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

Just think of the 'Mechs as giant Boston Dynamics atlas (appropriately) robots. They learn independently from the pilot, and work in conjunction with them. The longer a 'Mech is in use, the better tuned and more fluid it's movement processing will be. Of course, a better 'trained' chassis will start out with greatly improved movement as a baseline.

Also helps explain the Ratings and Popularity of Solaris Games. : )