Idle animation

Idle animations are animations within video games that occur when the player character is not performing any actions.^[1] They serve to give games personality, as an Easter Egg for the player, or for realism.

History

One of the earliest games to feature an idle animation was

in-game actions aside from cutscenes where the characters are free to act independent of the player's input. ^[5] The idle animation length and details can depend on interaction between the player and character, such as third person player idle animations are longer to avoid looking robotic on repeated viewing. In modern 3D games

idle animation are done to give realism. For games targeting towards younger audiences the idle animations are more likely to be complex or humorous. In comparison games targeted towards older audiences tend to include more basic idle animations.

Examples

Maziacs - The sprite character will tap his feet, blink, and sit down.

Sonic the Hedgehog - Sonic will impatiently tap his foot when the player does not move.

Diddy Kong
juggles a few balls after a few seconds without input.

Super Mario 64 - Mario looks around and eventually will fall asleep.

Grand Theft Auto - The player character will light a cigarette.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Carl "CJ" Johnson will sing songs including "Nuthin' But A'G' Thang" and "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)."

Red Dead Redemption 2 - When left on a horse for a while, Arthur Morgan/John Marston will pet the animal.

References

ISBN 978-1118172728
.

^ Reed, Matthew (2022). "Android Nim". Matthew Reed's TRS-80.org. Retrieved May 21, 2022.

^ Davis, Ashley (July 27, 2009). "'Splosion Man and the lost art of the idle animation". Destructoid. Retrieved March 3, 2022.

^ NEXT Generation 31. Next Generation. 1997. p. 48.

^ Alexandra, Heather (May 6, 2019). "The Quiet Importance of Idle Animations". Kotaku. Retrieved March 3, 2022.

External links

Idle animations at Giant Bomb, games with idle animations

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Idle_animation&oldid=1208748779"

[1] ISBN 978-1118172728
.

[2] Reed, Matthew (2022). "Android Nim". Matthew Reed's TRS-80.org. Retrieved May 21, 2022.

[3] Davis, Ashley (July 27, 2009). "'Splosion Man and the lost art of the idle animation". Destructoid. Retrieved March 3, 2022.

[4] NEXT Generation 31. Next Generation. 1997. p. 48.

[5] Alexandra, Heather (May 6, 2019). "The Quiet Importance of Idle Animations". Kotaku. Retrieved March 3, 2022.

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