Hello cozy coven!
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Bringing Fairhaven’s characters to life was a big job! 🌸 First, they’re written, then conceptualized and designed in a 2D format. Once a characters design has been finalized, our 3D artists render them out to their final form, then they pass over to our Mike who brings them to life through movement ✨
Today we’ll be taking a deep dive into the animation process for Wylde Flowers, specifically the work that our talented (and only!) 3D animator, Mike Taylor, does! 🎉
Tl;dr! 🌸
- As our only animator, Mike is responsible for lots of elements related to animation, including creating movements and walk cycles, cutscenes, and even trailers
- Making cutscenes feels like making mini short filks
- Mike kept each of the characters’ unique personalities in mind when developing each their walk cycles.
- One of his favorite parts of the job is shooting video references of himself for different movements he needs to animate.
Audrey: As you are currently our only animator, you wear a lot of hats. Can you explain some of the roles and responsibilities you’ve had over the course of making Wylde Flowers?
Mike: As animator, I’m responsible for animating most of the characters and farm animals. This includes developing an overall style of animation and making sure everything that moves is related to that style. I also had to help develop a way for the characters to share as much animation as possible while also showing some individual personality.
Before animation can happen, the characters have to be set up, or rigged, to be able to animate them in Maya, the animation software that we use. I rigged all of the characters and farm animals with the help of a third-party auto-rigging plugin.
I’ve also been slowly getting more involved with cutscene work. Cutscenes are the little vignettes that give the player some important story element. For me, it’s like setting up a little play or mini-short film and I get to play a little with acting, cinematography and editing. I have a lot of fun with these!
Since Wylde Flowers release on Nintendo Switch, I’ve been in charge of making the trailers to help promote the game as we release updates. This is both very enjoyable and very stressful - but in a good way. Prior to working at Studio Drydock, I didn’t have much experience making trailers other than working on short films and commercials. I’m very thankful to have been trusted with this and hope I’ve done the game proud. That was part of the stress - making sure I made something that best represented the game. That and basically learning how to make a trailer on the job. Most of the process, though, is a blast and I have a great time making each one.
Audrey: What is the process like from when you get the 3D model of a character to it being fully implemented in the game? What steps do you have to take in that process?
Mike: Before animation can start, as I mentioned, the model has to be set up in Maya with a rig. A rig consists of a skeleton of joints that deform the model’s mesh and a set of controls that the animator uses to pose the skeleton and set keyframes.
For animation (the best part) I almost always shoot video reference of myself acting out the action or I find an appropriate clip on the internet. I’ll use the reference as a starting point for the animation. It helps me create the poses and set rough timing for the action. Then I’ll throw out the reference and retime, repose and tweak until I have a ‘finished’ animation.
I post every animation I make to the Studio Slack channel because, for me, feedback is a very important part of the process. With feedback in hand, I’ll then change up and polish the animation, as necessary.
The finished animation is exported from Maya and imported into Unity. In Unity, each character has a whole set of tools on them to run and blend animations during gameplay. Those tools are set up by people much smarter than me.
Audrey: Each of our characters has a unique walk cycle - can you explain a little more about how you designed each one? Which one is your favorite?
Mike: Where to start?
There are different approaches. Some characters’ walks just appear in my head when I see their design or learn who they are as I read their backstories. Shelby stands out as a favorite here. As soon as I saw him, I knew how he was going to walk. As an animator, it’s a gift when the character you’re animating tells YOU how they want to move!
For other characters, I have to dig a little more and think about who they are, what their motivations are and how much or what kind of energy they have. Kai, for example, is very laid back, but Giva is always on the move, so their walks need to reflect that (both are favourites).
Once I have that in mind, I either act out the walk repeatedly until I land on something - video taping everything - or search the internet for something appropriate and inspiring.
Audrey: Are there any special touches have you added to the game that especially amuse you?
Mike: Yes! I drew a ‘Mikey’ on the bottom of Marty’s boot like Woody in Toy Story with ‘Andy’ on his boot. Marty reminds me of Woody and Toy Story is one of the reasons I got into animation, so I claimed him for my own!
Big thanks to Mike for his insightful answers to my questions and everything he does for our game! ✨
And now a question for you! What part of the development process would you be interested in seeing us cover next? Let us know in the comments!
🌸 xo, Audrey and the Studio Drydock team
Keep up with everything Wylde Flowers by following our channels! 🔮
Discord: https://discord.gg/QdrMPAcYpx
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StudioDrydock
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wyldeflowers
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studiodrydock/?hl=en
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/WyldeFlowersGame/
Wylde Flowers Wiki: https://wylde-flowers.fandom.com/wiki/Wylde_Flowers_Wiki