ABSTRACT
Gameplay animation is the quintessential area of game animation; as it is the most unique to the medium, always involving game design and technical considerations in concert with the visuals. A great gameplay animator will not only produce visually appealing work but be involved in clever tricks to reduce or automate some of the less glamorous and repetitive aspects of data creation, leaving more time to focus on the animations that count. An established way to evaluate how players experience the gameplay animations is what has become known as “The Three Cs”: camera, character and control. The control of the character by way of the animation systems, combined with how the camera behaves, is the player's conduit to the game world. Rotating the character underneath any directional coverage animations is a great way to cover all angles without the player noticing. The arc of a jump is usually a simple parabolic curve, as with the classic bouncing-ball animation exercise.
