Satisfying Reloads | The Art in Reload Animations

[Music] [Music] you know in retrospect this probably sounds like a pretty pointless topic for a video disguised under a fairly pretentious title but I genuinely believe that reload animations carry a lot of weight when it comes to making a good FPS title wrong footage I think it's safe to say that video games have always had a pretty intimate relationship with firearms and when you consider the circumstances it really is a match made in heaven the way we're able to handle a multitude of weapons within an immersive simulated experience without the legitimate consequences actually being shot in the face kind of exemplifies the appeal of first-person shooters to begin with as a result of this we've seen two things happening on the one hand it's a genre that's allowed developers with an idea specific to the first-person shooter a framework to play with the mechanics and craft something unique but if the release of call of duty black ops 17 and a half is any sort of indication it's that the genre is undeniably the most oversaturated at least from a triple-a perspective look we could sit here for hours and discuss the ways in which this genre has become seemingly stale but instead of elaborating on that sweeping generalization I instead want to show some appreciation to one specific aspect of first-person shooters that I hold near and dear to my heart the art in reload animations so let's get started [Music] making the player achieve a sense of satisfaction is something that designers are always striving to perfect now you can consider the ways this can be accomplished from a more conceptual standpoint such as satisfaction from the completion of a challenge but what I'm referring to is much more tactile in nature the way something feels the way it looks how does it sound how does it move when properly utilized each of the previous characteristics can convey a certain feeling power a vulnerability strength weakness total [ __ ] disappointment when a game in votes satisfaction in even the most miniscule of ways it aids in making the overall experience far more enjoyable even when it's lacking in certain other areas and for a lot of people it just so happens that being presented a high quality reload animation triggers such gratification pretty damn well hey I still [ __ ] remember the first time I was taken aback by a satisfying reload in a videogame it was around 10 years ago whilst secretly watching left 4 dead 2 let's plays on my parents shitty desktop that came topped with a crispy 256 megabytes of rahem but it was specifically the combat rifle left 4 Dead's rendition of the FN SCAR L and the moment the character releases the bolt and it slides forward with a gratuitous excellent he was something magical god I sound like a psychopath donate [Music] but a reload serves as more than just visual stimulus if anything it's probably one of the strongest foundations of a first-person shooter the way a weapon reloads can really communicate a lot about set weapon it's a balancing act but at the same time it's also a subtle way of dictating the pacing of combat itself is this supposed to be a fast-paced action setting like saved battlefield are we looking to achieve a somewhat grounded and methodical approach to fighting such as day of infamy maybe your character is scared shitless and gun illiterate within a survival horror scenario like alien isolation hell is the act of reloading so utterly redundant that it doesn't even need to be there in the first place because I mean you can get rid of that [ __ ] if you want to doom did it a while ago and that actually worked towards the game's strengths well - one gun that kind of needs it to make any sense the point I'm trying to make is that the speed of the animation comes down to the intention of the developer a great point of comparison lies between these two games Red Dead Redemption 2 and insurgency sandstorm you might be thinking wait how the [ __ ] do these two compare in any way and I get that complete polar opposites in terms of setting technology design perspective story what I hope whatever but the one thing they have in common is the primary way in which they allow the player to interact with the world around them [Music] rekted redemption 2 has quickly paced combat requiring the player rapidly snap between targets to dispatch them as fast as possible in the existence of the aptly titled Deadeye mechanic only helps to exemplify this further having fast reloads to maintain consistency under these circumstances really is only natural after Morgan is able to reload these rudimentary weapons with such speed it had make the professionals shed a tear and most at times it does appear as though it's a little sped up this is clearly an intentional design choice to facilitate just how frenetic gun fights can be and I'm okay with that is it unrealistic absolutely but the game would probably be shooting itself in the foot if it decided to replicate just how frustratingly tedious some of these old-school weapons can be to handle [Music] it's pretty clear that Red Dead chooses not to dwell on the process of reloading but in peeling back the curtain and looking at these animations from a first-person perspective reveals a stunning amount of competency in detailing its animation that you can really appreciate I mean it's not like I expected any less really this is a game coming from the same people behind such classics as band theft auto 5 yeah still haven't [ __ ] forgiven you for that one Rockstar All Things Considered Red Dead 2 is a little notorious for how frequently it decides to flex its animated muscles but for a game that's played predominantly from a third person point of view it really shows the lengths they're willing to go for their craft [Music] this is a quality that insurgencies sandstone shares with Red Dead Redemption too however the speed of reloading exists on the complete opposite end of the spectrum insurgency focuses much more on trying to achieve a realistic military sim s atmosphere but it slide enough on the realism part that you won't be bored to tears the technology is modern faster more powerful more intimidating one gone are the days of stripper clips on block clips and single around loading mechanisms notable exceptions with standing now we've got magazines drum mags belts much more user-friendly designs all that's really asked of you is that when you're empty you just take one out and replace it with another I might be glossing over some of the finer real-world details but it's simple in theory combat and insurgency feels much weightier guns recoil violently through sustained fire they snap loudly whenever the trigger is pulled but most importantly even despite the giant leap forward technology-wise the act of reloading takes much longer than most other shooters sure it's slower but not really to the point that there is in some sense of urgency to the characters movements there's a real emphasis placed on timing your reloads right and insurgency you don't want to be caught with your pants down when an insurgent rounds the corner over the loaded a cave and I understand that there's an argument to be made about how the speed of reloading could interfere with the gameplay but I think they fit the perfect middle ground and besides the meticulous effort put in by the animators to make these incredibly detailed animations that hit all the beats for a very satisfying reload is undeniable if you want to take a better look at some reload animations with just as much care put into them as these there are plenty of great view model animators on this very website with channels worthy of note some of my personal favorites being mr. Brightside who worked on not only insurgency sandstorm but also the original insurgency and day of infamy respectively Harvard if you like beautifully precise movements Sully if you enjoy some good use of exaggerated motion and a bit of stylization minton minton asipi R Fanta memes and hyper you've probably already stumbled across either from one of his many animated reload shitposts or because you've played titanfall too but what is it that makes a good reload animation what exactly constitutes a satisfying whilst of course the word satisfying does imply subjectivity I think when it comes to reloading in videogames we all pretty universally gravitate toward the same things the m1 garand is kind of a testament to that you've likely heard of the 12 principles of animation 12 essentials that animators should always consider in order to achieve the most lively appearance of motion after religiously watching someone else's hands on a screen put bullets and guns for the past few months I've picked up on a few principles so to speak that work to make a reload stand out these are the things that even through a controller or a mouse and keyboard help to communicate the weapons so well I can basically imagine myself holding it it's really nothing complex after all I'm a simple man I mean someone who typically chooses a gun based off the noise it makes over how well it performs so you really don't have to do too much to get me hooked wait and timing I mean this in reference to how the weapon moves in the hands of the character the first part there is fairly self-explanatory take for example the Beretta m9 in two different games in Killing Floor 2 the characters swing the weapon around effortlessly and that's representative of not only how heavy it is but also how influential it'll be in later play whether that last parts intentional or not it gets the point across going back to insurgency sandstorm the weapon holds a little more value the character moves slower appearing as though the gun weighs far more than its size would imply like carrying around sack of bricks with one hand but that's not a bad thing if anything the extreme actions of its animation only served to emphasize this point touching on animation theory again in extreme in animation is the moment when immersion is at its most extreme essentially they're the few frames that describe specific movements with reload animations you have a lot of opportunities to really emphasize these points pulling back to the bolts on a rifle breaking open a double barrel taking out a magazine bumping in a new one loading individual shells releasing a slide it all depends on what kind of gun is being used in the case of our m9 you see that upon releasing the slide the weight of the motion brings the gun and the character's hand slightly forward and down the extreme being the moment where the gun is at the peak of its forward movement and hey feel free to go crazy with just how exaggerated the movements are but what ties this all together is the overall timing of each movement improper timing only serves to break how strong an animation feels and how real it looks one thing in particular I've noticed is how some animators will prolong the extreme frames in their animation to emphasize the strength in each movement there are many games out there that captured this concept perfectly in a lot of instances but let's focus on this footage of the double take from titanfall to animated by a familiar name capturing these few extra frames where the character slash weapon is caught in the decay of their previous action really helped to convey weight rubbing an animation of these extra frames takes much of its punch away resulting in a far less impactful set of movements another good example lies between one of titanfall 2 is weaker animated links the Hemlock VFR that I really don't like and its subsequent remastering apex legends that I genuinely love [ __ ] mate the animations in that game are really good do you feel an accuracy I think should go without saying but it's certainly not a deal-breaker when animating weapons it goes a long way to have a fundamental understanding for how they operate it's not even that you need to highlight every single miniscule detail simple things like having a different animation for both a premature reload and an empty reload can go a long way and if anything these days that's become the norm but some games are simply willing to go above and beyond in this regard battlefield ones acute knowledge of knowing when to use clips when to load seat of the rounds old when to use a combination of the two or better yet Killing Floor 2 expert attention to detail with completely different sets of animation for both skilled and unskilled reloads leading to weapons having a base of 4 unique reload animations each and others a total of 6 it's [ __ ] ridiculous I swear to God but don't get me wrong it doesn't need to be that excessive all I'm saying is that staying accurate to the source and showing those fine details can go a long way [Music] [Music] the last principle is a little different matter of fact it's not even something that falls on the hands of the animator and yet I'd probably consider it to be the most important sound design sound design really ties the whole thing together as catching the ears just as important as catching the eye when handling a weapon you want to hear those beautiful metallic sounds of polished metal sliding back and forth pieces locking into position the clinging is fine and mechanisms are ready for the next shot not the sound of someone fumbling around with twenty different versions of the exact same tin can when it isn't done well it stands out and in some cases it disappoints people anticipate the sound of a gun before they even use it so when you give the people a weapon as exciting as this it's best not to let them down with this the sound design works in harmony with the previous two principles and when careful consideration is taken to make sure the sound perfectly mixes with the animation the results can be glorious [Music] in summary reload animations can be pretty damn mesmerizing especially when they're done well and until the day comes that guns begin to generate amaura without any exterior input I doubt they'll be going anywhere anytime soon well unless you're making a doom style game look some za you know what I mean I just have to see more first-person shooters in the future focusing on the weapons as much as their contemporaries and hell maybe after all this I've even helped you to possibly find some new level of appreciation for this aspect of the genre oh liner for the fact is that I'm likely on some sort of government watch list thanks to all the [ __ ] I looked up in the research phase of making this video feel free to click on all the footage credits below if you'd like to join me oh and before I go don't forget [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: AveragePixel

Views: 2,905,573

Keywords: AveragePixel, averagepixel, average pixel, pixel art, 3d, low poly 3d, reloads, reload animations, satisfying, video games, call of duty modern warfare, titanfall2, red dead redemption 2, insurgency sandstorm, get to the orange door, animations, 12 principles of animation, DOOM, battlefield, video game reloads, Killing floor 2, fps, average, pixel, grand theft auto 5, hyper, MrBrightside, Sully, Ha_ru, MintiMintness, Destiny 2, CSGO, counter strike global offensive, Vanguard, Black Ops Cold War

Id: ym_mNU6DWK8

Length: 16min 58sec (1018 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 27 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/swimming_fish1]

I found this subreddit because of him, it’s got such a high quality finish

[u/distance7000]

Jesus Christ the amount of animation in this video is nuts.

[u/SWOLEvietRussia]

Excellent video that I hope helps build his channel. Glad to see Sandstorm get some credit in it too. :)

[u/Classy_Viper]

I love that he used Titanfall 2 in his video! Such an underrated game.

[u/Lucadmin]

Never saw a such good edited video

[u/ZooksCS]

I came to this sub because of his vid, I’m glad with my decision so far. I’m really surprised he dosent have more of a following on yt for how high quality his videos are.

Edit: I’m aware he only have five videos and that’s probably why

[u/mdhunter99]

That’s what brought me to this sub. Joined because it brought me here and I LOVE awesome reloads.

[u/Jack_Nukem]

This was just posted 11 days ago, it's still on the first page of the sub ffs

[u/STLAdapt]

This video is one of a kind on Youtube.