The ragdoll system that makes the characters behave the way that they do is a major part of what makes Wobble Warriors unique. It allows the game to be silly and chaotic in a traditionally serious and orderly genre/ setting. Because of this distinction from most games, we decided to write it into the narrative. The characters used to be like any other game character, rigid and serious. When they got too greedy, though, they were cursed with the burden of obeying the laws of physics. Today, I’ll be talking about the development of this curse.
Animations
Typically, when you animate a 3d character, you use something called a rig. A rig is the character’s equivalent of a skeleton and determines where the character’s joints are. This is the same “skeleton” that our characters will use in-game. Using that skeleton, our character artist, Anna, creates several animations for our ragdoll to try and replicate. Like a non-ragdoll game, these animations are hooked up to the character and played depending on the actions of the player. Below is an example of a typical 3d character animation, specifically the walk cycle for our dragon character. The problem this system has is that physical interaction with the environment does not alter the motion of the character. To solve this problem, we used something called an “active ragdoll.”
Active Ragdoll
What the ragdoll system (commonly known as active ragdoll) does is use physics to move the joints to the proper rotation. There is a rig separate from the ragdoll that it uses as a reference for the proper rotations for each joint. When the reference rig’s joints are moved, the ragdoll updates the target rotation to match. In the GIF below, we can see the reference rig on the right, and the ragdoll on the left. Notice how the ragdoll can accurately replicate the general motion of the arm, but still wobbles around because of the physics of the rig.
Putting it Together
To animate an active ragdoll character, we move the reference rig using the previously created animations. This will make our ragdoll move similarly to how it was originally animated, but physics can still influence it. In the GIF below, we can see the original animation in the lower right corner. Like the other example of the ragdoll replicating the reference rig, the ragdoll can replicate the general movements of the animation but is also able to interact with the spheres (representing the environment in this case) that are being thrown at it.
In summary, each character in our game references and replicates a typical animation using our physics system. We used this system to create a game with a unique feeling, story, and mood. Wobble Warrior’s characters extend beyond typical character animations to not only ground the character in reality but also to produce chaotic, spontaneous movements. This system, when combined with the traditional dungeon crawler genre, creates an experience that can’t be seen elsewhere.
- Jaden Schneider | Active Ragdoll and Character Programmer
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