Creating fluid combat animations for the new God of War

Veteran animator and animation director Kristjan Zadziuk, whose credits include Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Watch Dogs 2, has posted the first in a new video series of gameplay breakdowns dissecting the mechanics behind popular titles. 

The subject for Zadziuk's debut video is Sony Santa Monica's impressive-looking God of War, with the former Ubisoft man keen to explore how the studio created some of the game's wonderfully fluid combat animations. 

Throughout the video, Zadziuk serves up a wonderfully detailed deconstruction of one of Kratos' new movesets, analyzing everything from how the camera reacts to the character's movements, to the transition animations that glue everything together. 

"Here is where we see the entry into the defense stance," he explains, referring to the moment Kratos deploys his new retractable shield. "They've been really smart here, and instead of creating a ton of transition animations to do this stance, they've basically let the blend do the work. 

"You can see here, it looks like it's about a three- to five-frame full-body blend, and when you look closely you can actually see where this transition happens."

Naturally, Zadziuk's commentary works best when its accompanied by the reference material in the video itself, so be sure to give it a watch if you're in the market for some rather insightful game dev tidbits.