Helper Bot Movement and Eye Animations
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2017-02-16 On their journey into the deep the player and BLUP will end up gaining a small helper-robot as a follower. Its origins are mysterious, and it looks ancient, almost arcane in its design. The robot will basically function as a warning alarm that lets out a noise, and blinks red with its single eye whenever the player enters the proximity of a hostile creature. So apart from the basic movement animations it also needed separate animations for the eye. When assembling the character in unity we need to be able to let the eye and the body animate independently, as the robot may need to express something or warn the player at any time in any state of movement. This meant that the eye had to be removed from the animations of the body movement and instead be layered on top as a child with a separate animation controller The animations were created much in the same way as the ones for BLUP. It lacks a turning animation though, as I put that on the ”to do when the all of the other most important graphical features are completed – list”. Here are the animations, with the eye included to show the full character in a closer state to what it will look like in-game:
Here are the separate eye animations that will be contextually activated (Randomly in case of the blink animation):
Stylistic ChoicesReaching a similiar feeling of warm appeal as with the Main Character was set as a goal when designing the Helper Robot. However, it was to look more alien and foreign in order to fit with the story of our game, while still remaining friendly, which led me to pursue round shapes yet again. In contrast to BLUP, who almost looks fit to fly around in space, I thought that The Helper Robot could use a more old-looking design. I became inspired by old diving helmets, which I heavily based the design off of.  In addition I decided to have it use fins to move instead of a propeller, just to differentiate it even more, and make it look more creature-like. Having only one eye was a decision made on much the same principle, it would make it look more alien, but it also felt fitting as it would make it more clear when it alerts the player if there is a big red flashing eye instead of two smaller ones. In this way I deviated from the sketch that I began painting based on:  Colour-wise, compared to BLUP, the Helper-Robot is colder. This was also a decision made in order to reinforce the more alien nature of the Robot, and to make sure that there is no confusion what so ever when differentiationg between the Helper-Robot and BLUP in the darkness. The seaweed/kelp that is hanging off of the Robot was put there in order to reinforce the old and overgrown feeling of the character. It may have been on the bottom of the ocean for years upon years – who knows? The motion of the kelp also helps with emphasizing the movement. /Felix Wahlström Lead Artist of Team Rukh  |
