About swing animations

[Aeon]

Re: About swing animations

Yikes. Hey, like you said, YMMV, but if swing animations are the biggest problem ESPN's got, i'll be a happy man.

[jim416]

Re: About swing animations

JoeB,

I agree. It's not a game killer, by any means, but you wouldn't want a round football in a football video game and the swing just grates on me.

I just can't understand why it didn't grate on the developers. It couldn't have been that hard to fix it up a tad.

[jim416]

Re: About swing animations

JoeB,

I agree. It's not a game killer, by any means, but you wouldn't want a round football in a football video game and the swing just grates on me.

I just can't understand why it didn't grate on the developers. It couldn't have been that hard to fix it up a tad.

[jim416]

Re: About swing animations

JoeB,

I agree. It's not a game killer, by any means, but you wouldn't want a round football in a football video game and the swing just grates on me.

I just can't understand why it didn't grate on the developers. It couldn't have been that hard to fix it up a tad.

[BigBlue]

Re: About swing animations

The pitcher/batter battle is 90% of the baseball game. It's the part of the game that you spend the most time immersed in. Yes, gameplay is the most important part of a videogame. BUT, the most frustrating thing about the swing animation is that EVERY OTHER BASEBALL GAME's animation is a smooth, fluid, and realistic motion. Everybody else got it right! Some of the games may not have the 'individual' batter walkups or followthroughs. But the art of stepping into a pitch, shifting your weight from back foot to front and swinging through the ball while keeping your eye on the ball as it makes contact with the bat is completely lost here.

The same problem is existant in ESPN NFL2K4. Running backs turning on one foot instead of planting and changing direction as in real life is one of the problems in trying to defend the run. Nobody can turn 180 degrees ON ONE FOOT with their full momentum behind them and go in the opposite direction. You'd shred your ankle and blow out your knee! Yet, I still love the football game and play it to this day!

I have preordered this game and expect that it will play well. I'm also certain that VC's top priority for next year will be to clean up the animations in all of its games as it seems that it's the one area of its games that needs the most attention.

Just my $.02

BigBlue

[BigBlue]

Re: About swing animations

The pitcher/batter battle is 90% of the baseball game. It's the part of the game that you spend the most time immersed in. Yes, gameplay is the most important part of a videogame. BUT, the most frustrating thing about the swing animation is that EVERY OTHER BASEBALL GAME's animation is a smooth, fluid, and realistic motion. Everybody else got it right! Some of the games may not have the 'individual' batter walkups or followthroughs. But the art of stepping into a pitch, shifting your weight from back foot to front and swinging through the ball while keeping your eye on the ball as it makes contact with the bat is completely lost here.

The same problem is existant in ESPN NFL2K4. Running backs turning on one foot instead of planting and changing direction as in real life is one of the problems in trying to defend the run. Nobody can turn 180 degrees ON ONE FOOT with their full momentum behind them and go in the opposite direction. You'd shred your ankle and blow out your knee! Yet, I still love the football game and play it to this day!

I have preordered this game and expect that it will play well. I'm also certain that VC's top priority for next year will be to clean up the animations in all of its games as it seems that it's the one area of its games that needs the most attention.

Just my $.02

BigBlue

[BigBlue]

Re: About swing animations

The pitcher/batter battle is 90% of the baseball game. It's the part of the game that you spend the most time immersed in. Yes, gameplay is the most important part of a videogame. BUT, the most frustrating thing about the swing animation is that EVERY OTHER BASEBALL GAME's animation is a smooth, fluid, and realistic motion. Everybody else got it right! Some of the games may not have the 'individual' batter walkups or followthroughs. But the art of stepping into a pitch, shifting your weight from back foot to front and swinging through the ball while keeping your eye on the ball as it makes contact with the bat is completely lost here.

The same problem is existant in ESPN NFL2K4. Running backs turning on one foot instead of planting and changing direction as in real life is one of the problems in trying to defend the run. Nobody can turn 180 degrees ON ONE FOOT with their full momentum behind them and go in the opposite direction. You'd shred your ankle and blow out your knee! Yet, I still love the football game and play it to this day!

I have preordered this game and expect that it will play well. I'm also certain that VC's top priority for next year will be to clean up the animations in all of its games as it seems that it's the one area of its games that needs the most attention.

Just my $.02

BigBlue

[bubba4]

Re: About swing animations

Looking at ESPN's swing animations, it appears that every swing is an uppercut. And this relates to how the bat is held in the batters hands. Even when the bat comes through the strike zone, the end of the bat is always tilted upward. There doesn't appear to be much wrist action in the animation of the swing, thereby making it look stiff and awkward. In the other baseball games, when a batter swings for a low and outside pitch, you can see the players wrist adjust, and the head of the bat is pointing downward. I guess for Sega to be able to fix this, they will have to scrap the whole animation and start fresh. Which is probably why it hasn't been changed in the first place.
Bubba4

[bubba4]

Re: About swing animations

Looking at ESPN's swing animations, it appears that every swing is an uppercut. And this relates to how the bat is held in the batters hands. Even when the bat comes through the strike zone, the end of the bat is always tilted upward. There doesn't appear to be much wrist action in the animation of the swing, thereby making it look stiff and awkward. In the other baseball games, when a batter swings for a low and outside pitch, you can see the players wrist adjust, and the head of the bat is pointing downward. I guess for Sega to be able to fix this, they will have to scrap the whole animation and start fresh. Which is probably why it hasn't been changed in the first place.
Bubba4

[bubba4]

Re: About swing animations

Looking at ESPN's swing animations, it appears that every swing is an uppercut. And this relates to how the bat is held in the batters hands. Even when the bat comes through the strike zone, the end of the bat is always tilted upward. There doesn't appear to be much wrist action in the animation of the swing, thereby making it look stiff and awkward. In the other baseball games, when a batter swings for a low and outside pitch, you can see the players wrist adjust, and the head of the bat is pointing downward. I guess for Sega to be able to fix this, they will have to scrap the whole animation and start fresh. Which is probably why it hasn't been changed in the first place.
Bubba4

[Blzer]

Re: About swing animations

You don't shift your weight from the back to the front when swinging, where did you get your information? Haven't you heard of "stepping on thin ice" and "squishing the bug"?

[Blzer]

Re: About swing animations

You don't shift your weight from the back to the front when swinging, where did you get your information? Haven't you heard of "stepping on thin ice" and "squishing the bug"?

[Blzer]

Re: About swing animations

You don't shift your weight from the back to the front when swinging, where did you get your information? Haven't you heard of "stepping on thin ice" and "squishing the bug"?

[BigBlue]

Re: About swing animations

What effin difference does it make where I get my info? Shifting your weight; Stepping on thin ice; Squishing the bug; Stepping in SH!T; Turning the Hips; Rotating your wrists; ETC, ETC, ETC

I think you get the message without getting too technical about the actual swing. No matter what you call the actual transfer in body weight throughout the course of the swing. The fact remains that ESPN's swing animation is the worst of the bunch. And I'm sure it won't be next year.

I don't want to get in a war of words. Let's stay on topic here. I'm not sure that filling a few frames is going to solve the problem. This is going to require full mo-cap for hitting.

That's all.

[BigBlue]

Re: About swing animations

What effin difference does it make where I get my info? Shifting your weight; Stepping on thin ice; Squishing the bug; Stepping in SH!T; Turning the Hips; Rotating your wrists; ETC, ETC, ETC

I think you get the message without getting too technical about the actual swing. No matter what you call the actual transfer in body weight throughout the course of the swing. The fact remains that ESPN's swing animation is the worst of the bunch. And I'm sure it won't be next year.

I don't want to get in a war of words. Let's stay on topic here. I'm not sure that filling a few frames is going to solve the problem. This is going to require full mo-cap for hitting.

That's all.