Reel Run Poster

Reel Run

Project Length: 9 months

Team Size: 12 members

Role - Animator, Rigging Artist

Made in Unreal Engine

Reel Run is a 3D hack 'n slash, action game where the player travels through three levels and fight against film burn enemies to restore the films. Each level is themed after a different film genre: western, horror, and romance.

Reel Run Trailer

Check out our game here!

In-game Screenshots

Saloon Level in the Western Film: Dakota Steele Fights against film burn enemies, destroying tables around her

Pool deck of the Romance Film: Alejandro poses for the camera against his enemies

Cafeteria area in the Horror Film: Syd Sweeney slashes and cuts down various film burn campers around him

All major characters (left to right): Cyrus Crowe, Sabrina Swan, Alejandro Ortiz, Dakota Steele, Syd Sweeney

Animation pipeline

For this project, I worked on rigging and animating all of the characters to fit their films' style and appearance. Since the game has differing genres of films, the most difficult task was figuring out the references and style of animation for each character. I chose to break down each style of animation based on each films protagonist and how enemies would react to their style of fighting.

Western characters are "squared-up": always ready to brawl and attack the playable character. They hold their arms up and keep their stances wide to show their ability to fight. The intended playable character acts as the underdog, but matches the energy of the enemies.

Horror characters are in two positions: terrifying and terrified. Horror characters react to their environment and the playable character, running away in terror when approached or choosing to fight as a last stand.

Romance characters are vain and flamboyant by design. While they attack playable character, they also prioritize posing and flaunting towards the female lead. Each character uses poses and dance moves rather than conventional fighting styles, expressing that comical nature of the romance film.

Each character's rig and animation would take about 3 weeks: 1 to 2 weeks to set up the rig and weight paint the model, and 1.5 weeks to animate all of their animations, including idle(s), walk/run, light attack(s), heavy attack(s), finisher (Close Ups), dash, damage, and death.

Character Animations

Playable Characters

Dakota Anims.mp4

Dakota Steele

Dakota Steele is the protagonist of the Western film. Her design is reminiscent of older Spaghetti Western films She is the first major character to be animated, and was one of the most difficult characters to understand when it comes to her fighting style. She fights with her speed, having her attacks and dash be snappy and responsive.

Syd Anims.mp4

Syd Sweeney

Syd Sweeney is the protagonist of the Horror film. His character design and animation is based on the various antagonists from iconic horror film villains. His movements are heavy, based on his more top heavy build and the large axe he carries at all times, so I made his animations focus more on his torso and arms.

Ale Anims.mp4

Alejandro

Alejandro is the protagonist of the Romance film.

His character design and animation is based on flamboyant, Casanova-styled men from romance films. He prances around to gain attention, using sweeping motions of his limbs to draw attention from others.

Ignacio

Ignacio is the antagonist of the Romance film, and twin brother to Alejandro.

Ignacio is a complete mirror match to Alejandro, both in model and in style, using his animations as a base to work from.

Enemies/Non-Playable Characters

Lightweight Anims.mp4

Lightweights

The lightweight enemies the basic grunts of the game. These guys are not meant to pose much of a threat by themselves but together they become more of an annoyance. Their short stature and long arms gave more ability for traditional fighting styles, like boxing.

Shooter Anims.mp4

Shooters

The shooter enemies are the far ranged attackers that try to stay away from their opponents. Their lanky figure shows their inability to fight hand to hand combat, so I kept their animations in guarding or shooting position.

Heavyweight Anims.mp4

Heavyweights

The heavyweight enemies are the bruisers that are constantly gunning for the characters. Their large and bulky figures allow them to swing in wide attacks and target the player. Their figure also them to walk through the environment around them, destroying props and objects.

Bosses

Cyrus Anims.mp4

Cyrus Crowe

Cyrus Crowe is the antagonist of the Western film.

His character design works in parallel in Dakota, relying on kicks for long range and short punches for his attacks. He carries an arrogant, but rivaling energy, so I worked to have him match various aspects of Dakota in posing and attacks.

Sabrina Anims.mp4

Sabrina Swan

Sabrina Swan is the antagonist of the Horror film.

She embodies the fear that reacts to Syd Sweeney. She relies on a hunting rifle to attack from far away, running away if her opponent gets too close or calling more enemies to distract and shoot from a distance.

Overview and Major Takeaways

To rig flowing elements, such as hair and capes, Dynamic IK splines are a helpful tool to reduce joints & controls being keyframed!
Humanoid characters should reuse a base skeleton to lessen time creating skeletons and rigs.
NGSkinTools is an amazing addition to the rigging process in Maya. I would recommend this tool to every one of my fellow animators.

I would say this project really pushed me into refining my process of rigging, weight painting, and animating to a much higher expectation. Being the sole animator, rigging and weight painting every character came with their own unique challenges. However, this allowed me to learn completely new tools that have drastically increased my work speed in working. If I were to redo aspects of my rigging and animation, Dakota is the character I would revisit the most due to unnecessary bones and test tools added to her rig. Her cape and hair are the most dysfunctional parts of her character rigging.

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