Player animation

[mycale]

Hello! I just saw the game hitting 1.0. Congrats!

I have a question: Is there a reason the player character has only basic animation? Are there too many cards to account for more elaborate animations like slashing for attacks or casting for spells?

Thanks!

[The Renderer]

My guess is that no one looks at them any more after 5 minutes anyways and therefore the cost of doing them just isn't worth it?

[mycale]

Oh I see. I personally quite enjoy animation. In Fire Emblem or Advanced Wars, I played with animations enabled.

Though I guess it's a matter of taste ultimately.

[Amos]

Yeah I agree it's a taste thing and it would be nice if the animations were more complexe depending on the cards you use, but considering the size of the team and the amount of work it would require for something that really doesn't add anything important in the end... Yeah I can see why the animations are the way they are.

As for myself, I'm fine with how the animations how right now, the gameplay is really the reason why I decided to get it and why I'll return to it everytime I have some free time and not enough time to dable in longer games.

[Felix Krowe]

The cards animate and have VFX, that's the important part.

[mycale]

Well, I guess in the end the wouldn't add much, that's true. Still, the main chars not having them still bugs a bit.

But it's just a matter of getting used to it.

[Multihog]

I'm usually a sucker for good animation, but the absence of intricate animation work didn't actually bother me in Slay the Spire. In fact, I play the game in fast mode, so whatever animation there is is actually shortened. I don't think good animation is important in a game like Slay the Spire because the player is likely to stop looking at the animations as soon as they get used to the gameplay—at least I did.

I feel it's different in a 3D game with beautiful graphics, such as the Total War games. I think good animation is more important in a situation like that. A 2D card game like StS doesn't benefit from good animation work that much, I think. You'll be mostly looking at your cards and the enemy HP bars anyway. It's the same thing in Darkest Dungeon. It doesn't matter that it doesn't feature good animation.