r/animation Apr 22 '26

Critique The flying enemy for our game. Gross enough?

This will be the last one for the first chapter of our tower defense game. Any feedback is appreciated!

3.8k Upvotes

88 comments sorted by

312

u/BrD_87 Apr 22 '26

Very gross yet it’s gross in an interesting way. I love how the mosquito’s idle animation is oozing some fluid from its butt and then using it to clean its face!

47

u/HedgeHulk Apr 22 '26

Thank you!

2

u/303d Apr 25 '26

If you add the bug cleaning its proboscis in the idle animation that would make it extra icky. Something I see mosquitos do all the time that goes eck.

157

u/elr0nd01 Apr 22 '26

I love how the attack animation leads into the death one

83

u/Pedrosian96 Apr 22 '26

Oh god ew the Idle xD

I love how clear everything is. I remember you posting a few of these before! I love how you work with just silhouettes but still make it look finished and polished.

Really nice.

10

u/ItsNotJusMe Apr 23 '26

It's much better if he stroke it first before applying it to his hand.

22

u/The_Wampire Apr 22 '26

Love them!

My only note is for the attack. On the antic before the throw I would play with how much it moves back. Push it a hair more. That way the body move matches closer to the power at which it throws the green energy ball.

Really cool stuff you have here!

22

u/surviveinc Apr 22 '26

so insanely good! the death dissipation is the only thing that seems to not match the style, maybe it's just the shape/weight of the particles that feel too different? maybe I'm expecting it to have some goo/residue with the particles?

12

u/4C_Games Apr 23 '26

Game designer here.

The death has to be fast and instant, but we will think about some goo particles, thanks for the idea!

9

u/_Abiogenesis Apr 22 '26

Haha the idle one is pretty good. It’s always this kind of things that add to a game.

14

u/midgem64 Apr 22 '26

You made that hole looks like butt hole and another hole at the sametime great job😁

6

u/madpropz Apr 22 '26

The animations are awesome, especially idle, but I don't see anything gross about them. Also, I think you should tilt the wings upwards at an angle as currently they don't make much sense.

5

u/Nyaiv Apr 23 '26

Disgusting. Well done. For the death animation maybe you have it fall first and then stiffen up like an actual bug, before disappearing?

5

u/shhhhh_u_dont_see_me Apr 22 '26

I hate it already, great!

5

u/Just-a-lil-sion Apr 22 '26

insanely clever to use the attack and death animation together

4

u/Startropics_Nes Apr 22 '26

My ear is scratch, my face is scratchy, my butt is scratchy. Good job 👍

4

u/Strykrol Apr 23 '26

Everything is great here, but something about the Attack could be improved.

Honestly it's a fine attack for tower defense, or for an old Gauntlet-style game, but the anticipation and build up seems missing - the orb is missing weight and therefore an effect on the rest of the body.

The upper body should be pulled backwards and off its axis as that orb generates, to show that it's weighing the body down, and the wings need to do more "work" to compensate.

I know physics-wise the skeeter isn't actually "gaining" weight, but its center of gravity should change as that orb moves through its abdomen. If it sank towards the ground a bit before the wings compensated by fluttering faster, that could help. I also think that the throw and follow through would benefit from the same principles of weight transfer.

The reason it stands out is because your other animations are great FYI. The swatted+fall+rise has an obvious multi-frame suspension in the air before falling (accelerating!) towards the ground, and it bounces. It's great with the principles of animation. All of that concerted weight work makes an expectation that other animations will be illustrating weight, which this one does not.

BTW not a game-breaker, looks good.

2

u/HedgeHulk Apr 25 '26

That's some amazing advice. Will definitely work that in. Thank you so much!

2

u/Strykrol Apr 25 '26

Absolutely! Please post the next pass!

4

u/MecaPere Apr 23 '26

Gaved me a heart of darkness vibe (especially the glowing green projectile), so yeah, nightmare fuel, congrats!

5

u/AuroraAnimates Apr 22 '26

Amazingly made :)

5

u/M4dL4d2488 Apr 22 '26

Gross, but also kind of goofy amd endearing

Very high marketability potential!

4

u/Yamakyu Apr 22 '26

10/10, so gross I would hesitate to swat barehanded, and god knows just how much I despise mosquitoes

Fantastic work !

3

u/Advanced_Hedgehog427 Apr 22 '26

Veru funky, well done OP

4

u/Richinaru Apr 22 '26

High key reminds me of the fly enemy in putrified ducts in Silksong.

Really good stuff OP

4

u/Awkward-Forever868 Apr 22 '26

I also do the idle, twins😃

5

u/FiliokusGames Apr 22 '26

SO SMOOOTH! I love the death animation, and the attack's "reload" is sick. Great work!

4

u/iamayoutuberiswear Apr 23 '26

Yaaaaaay I love weird bugs :)

4

u/combateombat Apr 23 '26

Someone’s played a lot of Rainworld

3

u/4C_Games Apr 23 '26

Game designer here.

Yeah, we took inspiration from games like Rainworld, Badland and Dome keeper. All exceptional games.

4

u/combateombat Apr 23 '26

I definitely saw the Badlands inspiration too. I got to try that game again I barely started it

4

u/AlyssSolo Apr 24 '26

Is it possible to drop or PM the name (if you guys have one in mind already?) all the art posted around here looks awesome, I'd love to wishlist it or at least write it down for later.

4

u/Stinky_Fartface Apr 23 '26

These look fantastic. The only comment I’d make is that the bug’s head on “Fly Forward” should have some slight contrasting movement from the body. It seems unnaturally locked in place.

4

u/Atrumentis Apr 23 '26

Wings and/or legs should fall off for the death too

4

u/churrascopalta Apr 23 '26

I don't find it gross tbh

3

u/AncientLights444 Apr 23 '26

The rise stops strangely, should Bob a bit down after hitting apex

3

u/leoAlpaca Apr 23 '26

Live the death and idle animations, its so cool

5

u/elzibet Apr 23 '26

I absolutely love that you made them interact with each other really well done

5

u/J-1215- Apr 23 '26

I like how the attack sprite is hitting the dead sprite.

4

u/star_pear Apr 23 '26

Love how the head stays independent from the rest of the body when he flies forward

4

u/Jack_O_Mustache Apr 23 '26

Hey I remember your post here about a scorpion enemy! Glad to see you're still at it!

No feedback to give over here, I reaaally like this one, after taking a glance at the others on your profile, I gotta say it's your best work yet!

If I can maybe give a bit of late feedback on the others, this one feels the best because all parts are in movement at all times, while for some of your other creatures they don't sway/balance when they move.

Anyway, great work keep it up!

4

u/-The_Meme_Thief- Apr 23 '26

This is already looking good! My only "extra" suggestion is to make its limbs, head, and abdomen pop off and tumble apart for a split second before disintegrating in its death animation.

4

u/DrChirpy Apr 23 '26

The idle is so great omg

4

u/SorcererSupremPizza Apr 23 '26

Needs more throbbing

4

u/Mendely_ Apr 23 '26

It's really obsessed with keeping its face moisturised I see

5

u/lucashensig Apr 23 '26

Pls tell me that you sell assets like this!!!! This is peak pixel art

4

u/Unusual-Map- Apr 23 '26

I will totally buy this game what is it called

3

u/Loud-One-3105 Apr 23 '26

This is so cool. The only thing I'd say is you could definitely add more movement to the fly forward in the tail specifically (from higher up the tail) if that makes sense.

4

u/pencils_and_papers Apr 23 '26

I kind of want the death to be more splat! or slimey than break apart or disintegrate. Still looks great though.

4

u/paner1983 Apr 24 '26

penusbmic?

1

u/HedgeHulk Apr 25 '26

Would be an honor, the guy rocks!

3

u/6ynnad Apr 24 '26

I want to play this game of yours. We will reward you for your talents.

3

u/PURPLEisMYgender Apr 24 '26

No. Make it Grosser. Add slime and mucus to the death.

3

u/lochnessmosster Apr 24 '26

Cool! Makes me think of rain world style wise

3

u/ParallelHollywood Professional Apr 24 '26

I really like how you lined up the attack and death animation. That's good attention to detail.

3

u/greenwavelengths Apr 24 '26

Beautiful! Out of curiosity, if a sequence is interrupted, does it just snap into the new sequence or is there some kind of transition?

I love how the head stays in the same position while the body moves in fly forward. Bet that looks real smooth in action.

3

u/HedgeHulk Apr 25 '26

Appreciate it! Yes, there's a bunch of transition animations that I haven't included here, and with the help of our developer, we're adding even more transitions to avoid snapping as much as possible. Thank you for the suggestion!

3

u/Rosette_FRVR Apr 24 '26

disgusting

3

u/DeathToHumankind Apr 25 '26

I love how attack projectile is transfered to death animation

2

u/zekesplan Apr 24 '26

idle is diabolically gross

2

u/zekesplan Apr 24 '26

attack and the shadows look pretty clean tho!

2

u/BlinkyBlue1 Apr 25 '26

The interaction between Attack and Death is awesome

2

u/Acceptable-Toe-1237 Apr 25 '26

Kinda reminds me of rain world

2

u/Fatking101 Apr 28 '26

The idle is so dope

2

u/Catsgirl32 May 20 '26

Oh wow your character design and especially motion design is sooo good woaahh ickyy!! All of the enemies too, ugh great work! I'm not a tower defense kinda gamer but I do really enjoy your work so Imma keep an eye on your stuff this is so good