Way to play animation before changing directions?

[CBSection31]

Hello everyone,

I am not sure that there is a solution to this, but I am hoping that there might be. I have an active object set up with Eight Directions movement. The active object is of a human and has animations for each of the eight directions. When the human walks around, however, the animation jumps as he moves from one direction to another. It doesn't look good.

I have created transitional animations, whereby the human rotates from one direction to another. I would like to play these animations every time the direction changes. The problem is, I am not sure how to accomplish this while maintaining the Eight Directions movement.

For example, if the Active Object is facing down and the direction is going to change to down-right, I want to automatically play a custom animation before the direction changes from down to down-right. This animation would differ if the Active Object were facing right and the direction were going to change to down-right. Does this make sense? Is this possible?

Please let me know if I'm being clear enough. If not, I can provide image examples.

Thanks in advance for your time and help.

[Phi]

Okay, this is an unoptimised method.

Player is walking left (animation 0) + needs to go right (animation 1) but inbetween is turning around (animation 2).

+On Player 1 Move Right
+Anim("Active") == 0
-Player 1 > Ignore control
-Active > Change animation to 2

+Active > On Animation 2 Finished
-Active > Change animation to 1
-Player 1 > Restore control


If you use animation numbers instead of actual animation names, it'll be easier to manipulate it by formula and thus reduce the amount of code in your application.
The ignore/restore control is used to ensure that if someone keeps pressing random keys, it'll ignore all the keys that are received until it finishes changing direction. You'll get a slightly delayed response if someone changes his mind about the direction more than once, but it won't look bizzare.

[Jacob]

You should try to keep it simple though. In Metroid, Samus looks up as a median frame between changing directions. I don't think you should need a full animation between directions.

[CBSection31]

Thanks for the suggestion, SortaCore. This sounds like it will work, and I will implement it shortly, trying to optimize it as I go. Thanks!

Jacob - For an action game, I would agree. This is a third-person adventure, though, and a bit slower-paced. I do admit, though, that it may drag the game down a bit. If it does, I'll remove it.