Character movement in games usually stands at a crosscroads: the game design requires highly responsive movement, but the game's animation requires time to convey energy, momentum and intention.

At GDC 2015, Avalanche Studios' Jeet Shroff and Alex Crowhurst broke down how the studio walked that line while making Just Cause 3, addressing the additional challenges of doing it all within the constraints of budget and production time.

Using specific examples from the game, the pair demonstrated the techniques used to maintain responsiveness and preserve animation quality. They also showcased the importance of authoring content with the technology in mind, and explored ways to reduce animation content and memory usage by highlighting some of the key features of the Just Cause 3 character motion and animation systems. 

It was a great talk, and now you can watch it over on the official GDC Vault YouTube channel!

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its new YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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