Need suggestions for handling animations in my Chrono Trigger-inspired JRPG

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1

Godot Version

Godot 4+

Question

Hey there, I’m currently working on a JRPG in Godot, and the main inspirations for the battles are Chrono Trigger and Breath of Fire 3’s battles where they happen on the overworld itself.

Here’s a sample of the battle system for reference (ignore the music, it was a joke): https://youtu.be/oK_YOmZu2-Y

I’ve been thinking about implementing animations but I’m unsure how to do it. I did try the AnimationTree approach, but I felt it was a little bit too cumbersome to set up- unless I’m doing something wrong because I’m pretty much an amateur. I want every battler to have the same animations for at least 4-8 angles since the battles on the overworld and I have to account for many positions and angles.

Currently I’m debating between an AnimationTree or an actual state machine, but again, I’m an amateur and I don’t know the best approach to this. If anyone has suggestions and can figure it out, I’ll be happy to hear

2

That is the go-to tool for this job. Usually tools are hard to setup, but show their potential later, especially when things get more complicated.

That goal seems complex enough to give the AnimationTree a try.

Maybe get familiar with it by doing some little side projects.

3

If something seems a bit annoying or cumbersome at first, it’s better to start with something very simple. Something that would typically not need a more powerful tool, but that you can learn the basics with. The problem with choosing the easier solution is that often in the long run it will be a much more difficult solution, and you will perhaps still, after nine months, spend the same amount of time as you would now to learn how to set up an animation tree node.

4

Yeah using anim player is essential. I would think you’d have your sprite animate through it’s sprite sheet for the attack animation, then you’re essentially animation position keys.

So it’s two steps. Animating through your sprite sheet frames and positions.

Then at the end of the animation you could call your damage function in the animation.

5

The video shows a 2D game with simple position translation animations. There’s zero need for AnimationTree for that. Just use an AnimationPlayer or even AnimatedSprite2D.