Link's Cautious Approach

Hi! I'm Katherine Lindhorst and this is my submission for Search for a Star 2023.

I chose the “cautious approach” prompt, taking inspiration from games with archery-based stealth sections. I wanted to create a sequence that would be used in a stealth section of a game, where a character must traverse from one side of the map to their objective without being caught.

I wanted my character’s movements not be too flashy – they are hiding after all! – but also readable to the player that they were anxious but also confident in using their weapon. I looked at lots of different examples of archery from games and real life.

Overall, I’m happy with how the animation turned out but I want to continue working on it, as much to improve my skills in games animation and Unreal Engine. There are still some technical issues present in the final animation such as clipping, but this would be resolved with more refinement.

ANIMATIONS

• Default idle loop: they half crouches, lightly shifting their feet, ready to move at a moment’s notice.

• Variation idle loop: they glance around rapidly as if something has caught their attention out of the corner of their eye.

• Transitional state: they grab their bow from their shoulder and load an arrow, crouching lower as they draw back and aim.

• Crouching idle loop: an additional idle added in during the animation stage to smooth the transition between the transitional and release states.

• Release state: they shoot the arrow. The release makes them wobble a little.

• Recovery state (return to idle loops): they stand and put their bow back on their shoulder before resuming their idle loops.

Rig by Christoph Schoch