discussion Animation or still images

[Alderin]

A bit of well done animation can be pretty good to look at, but I don't consider it a necessity

 

[albatross]

A combination of both please.

 

[User_9860]

good animation is great, but a perfect still shot will also do it

 

[Redditer2024]

Animation.

 

[HarryMason]

I like animated but static can be fine if it changes and has good dialogue.

 

[Bananana73]

Simple animations are fine if complex animations take too much time and effort. Like, if I'm playing a game, the focus is on the game aspect, if I want to watch movies I'll just go watch movies.

 

[Viir Hahnu]

This is a topic i think about a lot (Probably too much too be honest), I believe both have their merits [1] but what I think really matter's is how they implement the scenes. Too often do I see Dev's get to caught up in just making a Scene that they don't stop to consider what really makes a SCENE (Sound in all forms [2], Tension, Dialogue, build up and Emotion). So If you are a developer take a step back look at things from a different perspective, build things up from the base level and go from there.

[1] - For animation i think you have to go for at least semi-fluid for it to be decent and enjoyable, no frame lag where you can tell it's just changing images it takes away from the scene. But i think animation is the ideal way that developers (more so their player's) want to go in but it's just not that simple and easy.

In regards to still images they might be seen as lazy but it stands as a good place between text and animation for developers to utilize and its quicker and cheaper to implement than animation. The Issue is that some Dev's leave it at that... a still image (No dialogue or sound) and that is such a lack of true potential.

[2] Now I might not be fair in saying this but its feels like only 1 in every 15 of these games fully utilize audio or sound to it's full potential. I think that all sorts of sound design can make these games better if implemented. Sound Examples (Music, *** Noises, moans (not too loud, looking at you Japanese visual novels - that's not moaning its screaming) and if possible voice acting to well written Dialogue.)

 

[master cruss]

Animation is good as long as it’s well done not just a few frames looping.

 

[BS3DX]

Animations. Still images are the old way and Animation are so much easier to make nowadays compared to when JAVN where first made.

 

[Barryton42]

Animation of some sort, but smooth animation is the best

 

[Dovahkiinzz]

Animation is definitely better

 

[rocketsheep]

I guess it's an example of the 80/20 rule. Going from no images or shoddy AI images or real porn to something with good and consistent renders achieves 80% of the perfect game in this respect with 20% of the effort. The Higher Society, Text-Based is pretty horrible. The Higher Society Illustrated is so much better. I guess it has some illustration, so isn't a perfect example of this, but I am not even sure it does. It doesn't make a big difference in how much better it is.

Of course when animations are present in a game and they aren't horrible, I do tend to enjoy them. If you want a game to really stand out, animations can definitely be part of that.

 

[Charmingone]

Good animations do it for me

 

[miniYoumu]

Animation is where it's at, but the Live2D style I'm fine with too.

 

[Magooo]

TL; DR good images > bad animations

I usually prefer animations. However I know some games with choppy animations and weird character representation where I think they would have better been left out.

 

[bdogvn25]

For me it's pretty much gotta have. Animation. If not I skip it.

 

[xatfx]

Animations of course

 

[Jakeisone123]

Gonna have to go with animations, played some that i wish had it

 

[Chamomile]

I think it depends: animations are only worth it if they either have a handful of frames or, if they have a lot, they should not be too unrealistic, like choppy or machine-like (movements following a straight line etc.)
If animations are good, I think a mix of the two is great, but if I have to choose between only 4-5 good animations or hundreds of still images, I'll take the latter

 

[PervyGod]

Personally i don't mind the lack of animation, especially if the dev doesn't have dedicated helper for making these animations. Iirc dev of Grandma's House made a side game to experiment on how much animation would affect the dev time and he said that it tripled the required dev time for same amount of content he normally delivers. So either animation would be something that got added later on or like i said, there's dedicated helper for creating those animations, so it won't affect the dev time too much. I already see people complaining too much about how long it takes these solo- or small dev teams to make updates on the games, and i doubt people would be too accomodating with the longer dev times for same amount of content or less content for the same dev time.