Week 11 Blog Exercise: Motion/Movement

Fire Emblem

Matthew's Sprite Set

Here is a character named Matthew from the Strategy RPG: Fire Emblem. Matthew is a thief, known for quick and agile attacks. To illustrate this with art of pixel video game sprites, motion is implied through a blurring of motion lines. These "Blurred lines" is especially noticeable in the 5th, 9th and 16th frames of the animation. Instead of animating a detailed portrait of him flying through the air, the frame is giving implied motion of extending his actions through a blur. The direction he's moving in gives a sense of the Thief lunging forward, and we are expected to see him end at a position where he stabs an enemy. Pixel artists help reduce memory needed (by storing less sprites) by animating a frame that provides expectation, direction and blurring. So because of the 5th frame, you're able to tell he lunges forward (direction/expectation). From the 9th frame, you're able to tell he quickly turns around (expectation). In the 16th frame, you witness Matthew jumping back after finishing an attack (direction/expectation). The 16th frame is particularly special because only his legs are blurred as compared to the rest of his body showing a jumping back motion. Here is the fully animated sprite in action:

Matthew's Attack Animation

Lyn's Sprite Set

Another character from Fire Emblem is a character named Lyn. She also serves as an incredibly fast character, but her motion is implied differently than Matthew's attack listed earlier. Here the animator has decided for her to be so fast, that she literally disappears and strikes with her sword, the only visual cue you have is the blade streaking across the screen before she reappears again. While Matthew's attack relied mostly on motion blur, Lyn's attack relies incredibly on direction. This is most prevalent during the sword slashes, with it's jagged edges aiming towards a point in a certain direction. You can see where she originally attacks and how she slashes across. The same can be seen upon her return to visibility with the dust kick up of her sliding back. The frames strongly utilize diagonals, directions and variations in scale to show she can almost attack from any direction unseen. The slashes serve as Mathematical Function Curves despite it being a physically impossible attack to pull off in real life. Here is the attack in action:

Lyn's Attack Animation