Environmental Specific Idle Animations for Behavior Flavor

[orchid phoenix]

Seeing as 1.0 will be bringing in updated animations and stuff for our dragons, one animation idea occurred to me that I don't think has been mentioned. I do know of some simple idle animations, which is great! BUT picture this - take it a step further and consider SOME EXTRA idle animations pertaining to the environment the dragon is in. An Environment that makes survival harder and more uncomfortable for the dragons should be visible on the dragons!

Imagine if you will, an ASD or perhaps the Micro Feathered Zygovo in the Frozen cold winter zones of the Frostfel Ice Wyvern. The Frostfel is comfy and at home, but the ASD and Micro Zygovo must be freezing and SHIVERING from that drop in temperature, especially if they are there for a long period of time. What if one of the idle animations, for some dragons in this particular climate, included some form of the dragon reacting to the cold. It doesn't need to make noise per-sey... Unless you want one to perhaps... sneeze? HAHA. But with all this in mind, imagine also how it could be a big opportunity to show more of the dragons' personalities and natures in this animated behavior.

One dragon could do a stationary shiver then maybe shake it off? Or maybe the Micro Zygovo could temporarily sit down and put its front paws on it's tail tip like a cat may do in the snow. It's freezing it's tail off after all! Or let's go in the exact opposite direction. The desert! Our dragons will be parched for water. Maybe a dragon could do a brief panting animation or lick its lips/swallow in a desperate attempt to keep it's mouth moist. The possibilities are endless! But I'm sure Real Life Animals are a great place to start and find inspiration.

Now, I am aware this would not be a priority function to the game, but think about it as some extra flavor to bring your dragons further to life AND them reacting to the alive world Jrakhon itself in the game. So whaddya think? 🙂 I'd love to hear other ideas for dragon reactions.

[wraith jay]

I love this idea! Please add something like this!

[subtle oracle]

YES! How did I not think of this, this is awesome for people like me who love their "character" to react to their environment :0

[orchid phoenix]

I would also imagine some of these reactions would activate with significant timers or could meet certain criteria too. Though, that begs the question, what are you standing around for? lol So they can't be too long of timers. I just thought of them as being possible additional animations that could play in specific environments. Maybe certain stats on your dragon could also trigger it? A weaker dragon could have the reaction more frequently? Stat Es or low like it? Low Ice resistance leads to more chances of "shiver" activating? lol a lot to consider and it could also show some nice attention to details to the player base. Again, not priority, but perhaps later on. This is more of some real nice polish I guess. 🙂

[subtle oracle]

Well it could happen after being in that certain biome for a while, not specifically just standing, if that makes sense. It would be very awesome if they could happen also while sitting and laying perhaps ? Our dragons would not be magically immune to the harsh cold and heat simply by resting after all

Linking these animations to stats might be too troublesome, but maybe dragon species could be involved ? A dragon made to live in warm biomes would have more severe shivering or the idle would just happen more often than with others perhaps.

[orchid phoenix]

Yeah, having them connected to stats may be more cumbersome coding wise. I did consider that a stretch. It would be interesting though. But I definitely wanted unique reactions per species and especially for an opposite elemental species of dragon. Flame Stalker in the cold or Frostfel in Lava Lands. Ofc.

[orchid phoenix]

I also considered this, but I wouldn't be too pushy... I mean some of the animations we have right now kinda bleed into other positions... woth just their heads. Lolol it can sometimes look funny. They can go that extra mile for when sitting or laying down if they want or just leave their heads still in motion. Though that would be even more animations to plan.

Regardless, if they did do this they should take care to choose something that defines each dragon well. Bonus if it syncs up no matter the pose haha.

[remote granite]

Would be cool if when it's raining and you enter an area with a roof (like the new cave), the dragon shakes off the water
Same for when they come out of a water pond!

Or shakes off the snow in snowy biomes (when snowing)

Lift and twitch a leg to get rid of water after stepping on a hatchy pond
Idem for when they have been walking on sand

Sneeze during a sand storm

Licking their wounds when injured and idle for a while

Another add-on would be dragons being slightly covered in snow when sleeping (must be snowy and a very long process), that has lots of potential for sneak attacks, with some dragons (IR in particular) being unable to do so due to they fire element

[orchid phoenix]

Ya see!? That's all super creative and can add to the dragons' personality and natural behavior. That is exactly what I'm talking about!!! 💯 I can't believe i forgot about something as simple as shaking off water. 😅 if the old ps2 game Okami can make that for thr wolf when it got wet, I'm sure they could do this for dragons.(though to be fair thatbwas one wolf model.... ACTUALLY if you dragged water to NPCs and they got wet They would shake it off too!) This is totally possible! 😄

[orchid phoenix]

Sitting in the snow getting covered though would be risky wouldn't it? Liek won't you get pretty cold doing that? Plus, I'm no coder but that sounds like it would be a little rough to figure out.

[remote granite]

My guy we need to combine our strengths and pull out an entire airport of ideas

[orchid phoenix]

🤣

[remote granite]

Absolutely!

Some dragons are nocturnal, like the shadow scale (I think it's nocturnal at least), it would be cool to have dragons yawning when they are awake on the wrong time of the day

[orchid phoenix]

Ehhh, that one might be a stretch. Lol for survival, if you push yourself enough, you don't feel some things. But, as a random idle animation out of others, tempting. Too many precise triggers for actions may be a lot for Jao lol

Though... that wound licking one you mentioned does have me thinking.... we need to lay down and or sleep to heal faster... perhaps "licking wounds" could be an additional action that could slowly speed that up? Like maybe for a time? I dotn want to completely negate sleeping. Rest is always best when you out of sorts... but I don't see why we can't try to adress our own wounds... especially if we may not have a Singe Crest nearby. 🙂 your own natural personal temporary band aid lol.

Hec. What if that helped with bleeding? Maybe a requirement though is that you HAVE to be laying down to apply it. You can't do it immediately ina fight... or maybe you can if you are hidden fast enough? Lol idk, I don't pvp enough yet.

[wraith jay]

Wound licking is a cool idea especially with bleed, they could make it a keybind to f while laying down or sitting only to do it for example. Sleeping will still be necessary with the new stamina bar they’re releasing anyways. It’ll give the injured player something to do instead of just sleeping off their injuries. Even if the licking is ONLY to get bleed stacks off of you.

[remote granite]

Yes, 100% when laying down, licking the wounds is something that happens after the fight