Birdmask Studio

🍓👾🍓Birdmask Studio is a brother-and-sister indie dev team based in the UK, that focuses on making Active Ragdoll games for Steam and

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

New Game 'It's A Boss Fight: The Wolf Lich' out now at @itchio!

https://t.co/Mgn1EK0MDm

Try the web demo now and purchase for 20% off during its first week!!!

#indiegames #NewRelease #indiedev #ragdoll #gaming_news #gamedev #solodev

[HatGremlin @HatGremlin3D]

Digital Puppet Theater - Udon Physics ＆ 3D Streaming Showcase
#VRChat #VRChatWorlds #Udon

[HatGremlin @HatGremlin3D]

Released a new VRChat world: https://t.co/PgVv57dR7y

Play, perform, and watch virtual puppet shows in VRChat.
#VRChat #VRChatWorlds #Udon

[HatGremlin @HatGremlin3D]

More work on the #VRChat world from my last post.

Added 3D sliders and buttons to edit the puppets.

Trying to make everything feel like a toy even the UI so changing colours or dimming lights can be active and fun.
#VR #virtualreality #gamedev

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

Been working on a fun side project this week, going well.

[HatGremlin @HatGremlin3D]

Cooking up a new toy for #VRChat

Record puppet performances and share them as 3D shows in-world — using a normal video link

Aiming to have this playable in a week or two
#VR #virtualreality #gamedev

[HatGremlin @HatGremlin3D]

Riva – my latest #VRChatAvatar – is out!!
A retro 80s club fitness look built for movement, clean deformation, and tons of customization.

Find it now on the VRChat store under "Riva – 80s Club Fitness – FBT Ready Full Rig"
#VRChat #FBT #animation #rigging

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

Why I'm looking at a new design.

I want expressive steps, alternating speed, feet lightly lifting off the ground and so on.

Case in point, the side to side shuffle I'm able to do, where the legs spread out a little more each landing if I flip the direction mid step.

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

New step design seems on the right track. The focus is gliding feet that move with the body.

Now the steps work via gradual blends rather than binary states.

Seem I've got the input factors right, now it's tweaking the modifiers.
#activeRagdoll #proceduralAnimation #gamedev

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

Still plenty to do, right now this is acting like a basic IK snapping system - as a test to confirm the system can walk when code driven.

Making the legs more relaxed, able to linger and hang about like in my other videos but procedurally is the next goal.

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

First blunt test of locomotion. The legs can step to targets while auto adjusting the hip to relieve pressure.

Not the full walking system yet, but I've confirmed the auto systems can move the #activeRagdoll smoothly a emergent gait. #proceduralAnimation #gamedev

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

Main use of this well be things like running or jumping.

But one other very neat use will be to help balance when the other leg is unground - like the side shuffle video from before - the leg can hop to attempt to keep upright a little longer.

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

Last bit on the #activeRagdoll for a bit. Got the main pattern for jolt movement. If a foot needs to shuffle or reposition when under pressure, it can hop the gap.

Just need it to automate the values for different distances.
#gamedev #proceduralAnimation

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

After a night of coding my guy can now jump and hop on one foot.

Now it's just future me is problem to make the clearance and leg compressions match the motion when I get back to this in a few days.

So good luck future us because I will have forgotten most of this by then.

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

Some of the subtle changes fixes today:
- Stronger gravity and drag
- Stronger leg resistance and active force to counter
- Better foot friction and slipping

All that so his hop impulses could have more control, turned out there wasn't enough air resistance for snappy motions

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

After a night of fixing bugs, adding features and tweaking balances, it’s nice to cap it off by goofing around with this little guy now that the inputs are simpler.

Look at how he shuffles back and forth barely staying upright.
#gamedev #proceduralAnimation #activeRagdoll

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

In theory, once he's self directed, he'll know to hop on the one leg in a attempt to not topple sideways... I hope at least.

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

A lot of learning how this system should be work as I code it, going into the inner working to fix oscillations and so on

Plenty I've had to leave out, but even so it seems to be shaping into a sturdy core model I'll be able to keep building on as I go forward, so I'm happy.

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

Working on the control layers

Legs attempt to match 3 input targets while factoring in their freedom of movement relative to the hip

This is the standing layer. Next comes impulse, which will let legs break balance when needed
#gamedev #proceduralAnimation #activeRagdoll

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

Problem now is it's almost to real. Fine for walking and running, but later for jumping, I'll want to add a take off override, so it can ignore leg pose before a jump.

Otherwise jump height well be over effects by starting pose which while cool, isn't the best for the player.

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

Hopping mad we are, literally look at this guy!

Predictably I have a sticky feet problem, drag is effecting escape velocity, so jumps have become all or nothing.

Plus side, this should be a simple fix, and at least the jumps are consistent.
#unity3d #proceduralAnimation

[Birdmask Studio @BirdmaskStudio]

Worked it out, I forgot to ratio the blocked vectors on contacts.

If a contact passes through the ground, it tells the torso by how much. Problem was I forgot to ratio it by the weight on the leg and depth.

Solved, and now jump is stable there are no sticky feet.