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Is Full Body IK needed for a fighting game?

Development Discussion Animation
#1

Hello,

Currently I’m trying to create a 2.5D fighting game. I’m new to UE4 and game dev.
I’ve saw that IKinema’s Full Body IK plugin is at 30% off this month, so with my limited funds, that seems a good deal.
I’m still learning how the Animation tools work in UE, so I can’t decide yet if I really will need a FB IK for my game, like IKinema, or not.

Can you please help me to make a decision if I should/need buy IKinema?

Based solely on reading, FB IK seems like the only way to go. For example, my characters will be able to fight in the air. In that case, they will not always be at the same level in the air while punching themselves. So, one character will need to stretch down or up to reach for the head while punching. To make that look naturally, a FB IK solution is the only way to do it? Or is it possible with the UE current built-in animation/rigging tools?

#2

The short answer is: no.
Traditional old-school fighting games (a-la Street Fighter) are pretty awkward when it comes to characters interacting with each other due to their sprite-based heritage and the genre requiring players to read situations at a glance (consistency between states, animations and effects becomes key). I would suggest you to watch a slow motion match of Street Fighter IV and notice how awkward a lot of the hits look but how they’re smart in hiding them and how everything moves so fast that is still looking really cool.

#3

Hi there, it all depends what you want to achieve. IK is used in cases where you need to take one animation asset and modify during game play to match the game state.

The closest I could think as an example is this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqZ4VHeeBgI&feature=youtu.be&t=36
where the original asset (red skeleton) is modified via IKinema’s full-body IK

I hope this helps.

#4

Thank you all for your thoughts!

Based on the posted IKinema video, now I’m pretty sure I want to use it.
I want fluidity and precision in my characters movements and it seems IKinema could really help me achieve that based on the showcased features.

#5

Just an opinion but I find 3rd person HIK to be to slow to maintain the necessary speeds if the thinking is to make the movements more natural and realistic The effect tends to add a latency to an event that has already occurred such as pushing a button.

#6

Yes, but it helps with purely visual things like grab animations, for example. An MMA game without IK would look terrible.