Idle animation

In video games, idle animations are character movements that occur when the player character is not performing any actions.^[1] They serve to give games personality, as an Easter Egg for the player, or for realism.

A subtle idle animation of a character sprite, which can be seen to breathe and move its arms slightly

History

One of the earliest games to feature an idle animation was Android Nim in 1978. The androids blink, look around, and seemingly talk to one another until the player gives an order.^[2] Another two early examples are Maziacs and The Pharaoh's Curse released in 1983. Idle animations grew in usage throughout the 16 bit era.^[3] Incorporating idle animations was done to give personality towards games and their characters ^[4] as they are the only in-game actions aside from cutscenes where the characters are free to act independent of the player's input.^[5] The idle animation length and details can depend on interaction between the player and character, such as third person player idle animations being longer to avoid looking robotic on repeated viewing.  In modern 3D games idle animation are done to give realism. For games targeting towards younger audiences the idle animations are more likely to be complex or humorous. In comparison games targeted towards older audiences tend to include more basic idle animations.

Examples

• Maziacs - The sprite character will tap his feet, blink, and sit down.
• Sonic the Hedgehog - Sonic will impatiently tap his foot when the player does not move.
• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest - Diddy Kong juggles a few balls after a few seconds without input.
• Super Mario 64 - Mario looks around and eventually will fall asleep.
• Grand Theft Auto - The player character will light a cigarette.
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Carl "CJ" Johnson will sing songs including "Nuthin' But A'G' Thang" and "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)."
• Red Dead Redemption 2 - When left on a horse for a while, Arthur Morgan/John Marston will pet the animal.

References

1. Totten, Chris (2012). Game Character Creation with Blender and Unity. Indianapolis Sybex. pp. Chapter 8: Creating an Idle Animation. ISBN 978-1118172728.
2. Reed, Matthew (2022). "Android Nim". Matthew Reed's TRS-80.org. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
3. Davis, Ashley (July 27, 2009). "'Splosion Man and the lost art of the idle animation". Destructoid. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
4. NEXT Generation 31. Next Generation. 1997. p. 48.
5. Alexandra, Heather (May 6, 2019). "The Quiet Importance of Idle Animations". Kotaku. Retrieved March 3, 2022.

External links

• Idle animations at Giant Bomb, games with idle animations