Idle animation

Idle animations areanimationswithinvideo gamesthat occur when theplayer characteris not performing any actions.They serve to give games personality, as anEaster Eggfor the player, or forrealism.

History

One of the earliest games to feature an idle animation wasAndroid Nimin 1978. The androids blink, look around, and seemingly talk to one another until the player gives an order.Another two early examples areMaziacsandThe Pharaoh's Cursereleased in 1983. Idle animations grew in usage throughout the16 bit era.Incorporating idle animations was done to give personality towards games and their charactersas they are the onlyin-game actionsaside fromcutsceneswhere the characters are free to act independent of the player's input.The idle animation length and details can depend on interaction between the player and character, such asthird person playeridle animations are longer to avoid looking robotic on repeated viewing. In modern3D gamesidle animation are done to give realism. For games targeting towards younger audiences the idle animations are more likely to be complex or humorous. In comparison games targeted towards older audiences tend to include more basic idle animations.

Examples

• Maziacs- The sprite character will tap his feet, blink, and sit down.
• Sonic the Hedgehog-Sonicwill impatiently tap his foot when the player does not move.
• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest-Diddy Kongjuggles a few balls after a few seconds without input.
• Super Mario 64-Mariolooks around and eventually will fall asleep.
• Grand Theft Auto- The player character will light a cigarette.
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas-Carl "CJ" Johnsonwill sing songs including"Nuthin' But A'G' Thang"and "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)."
• Red Dead Redemption 2- When left on ahorsefor a while,Arthur Morgan/John Marstonwill pet the animal.

External links

• Idle animationsatGiant Bomb,games with idle animations