The one thing holding my game back is the animations. Almost every hour i get feedback saying the animations need alot of work, just wondering how you guys learnt how to animate professionally, any tips or tricks you could share?
Many thanks!
P.s(My game is in 3rd person)
Animator’s survival kit gives a great boost and a great introduction. Then you will realize whether you want to do it or not. Personally, i find animation entertaining. It shouldn’t be what keeps you back. You start off with a basic/crude animation, and enhance it all the way through.
I also find animation entertaining and really enjoy it from experience and the initial concept isn’t too hard to grasp although to create some great animations it will take some time and i wouldn’t say the animations are holding the game back unless your game is complete?
The animations you have in the video that is linked in your signature look like perfectly fine placeholders to me until you can learn or find a better animator but I would suggest looking into some introductory things like Jonima mentioned and if you like the sound of it and you seem to be getting a better understanding i would like to mention Digital Tutors as a perfectly viable training source, it’s professional and cheap training…
The only thing with Digital Tutors is they have a monthly subscription and the training is streamed although there are download options for offline play for a month it’s $45 or around £25 and there are other paying options and this is something i would suggest looking into after you look through some introductory things and decide you would like to better learn animation but the training provided by them isn’t just for animation they give you everything from modelling, rigging, animation, texturing, unwrapping in 3ds max and Maya as well as their Zbrush training… But i’m sorry i probably should have mentioned already i just kind of assumed you used Maya for your animating but you most likely use Blender?
If you do use Blender I would suggest this as it’s cheap ($37.40) and a decent introductory as well as getting more in depth (it’s also a dvd) although the training is not game specific all of the techniques in animation would still be applied and they do teach you to make cycling animations and the techniques used to get them looking right
http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info.php?products_id=113
I also came across this book which if you don’t work as well from visual training as I know some people don’t then this sounds like it would be good for you but then again with this I haven’t actually read it or anything so i would go and look for some reviews:
http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info_n.php?products_id=136
I am again assuming that you didn’t mean only free sources? If not then I would suggest YOUTUBE! lol
I was animating long before I got my subscription to Digital Tutors and I have picked up on a few good techniques and increased my animations in quality. (I would recommend to anyone that could afford it as it’s cheap)
On a separate note the game looks pretty nice i like the art style keep up the good work =]
You should use reference videos you can find them all over the YouTube and download them set them as background and you can get pretty good anims useing them.
@Ivanzu: That is something I do allot and I still forgot to mention it =|
I’d say spend time observing the movements you want your character to do from other people. Get people in your family, or a friend to act it out, and pick out the details. Write it all down.
And I love the gui, love to know how you got it to work :). I’m not the best, when it comes to GUI scripting.
Ben for how long you been using unity?And what scripting language do you use?
Hey it’s nice to see your game on the youtube signature is actually functional, so it’s a good start:)
I’m no expert in making things animated or whatever, but here’s a little constructive suggestion as a gamer who has played too much video games from childhood to adulthood. When the character is walking, his back and shoulders seem to be “lifeless” or too stiff. I’m pretty sure that if you adjust the animation so that his shoulders and back somehow react to how humans walk in real life, you’ll also be able to achieve a smooth and flowing walking animation. Actually about the cycle, I didn’t notice anything being skipped, so that’s also a plus, good job!
Another thing that I’d like to point out is the walk speed. It seems to be a little too fast for the the motions that he is doing.
As a recommendation, I suggest you check out Grand Theft Auto 4’s walk animation as reference. It’s one of my favorite games and the animation is really wonderful on the people. Of course they have the advantage of motion capture devices and that’s why they have perfect motions, but I’m sure that by watching them, you’ll be able to incorporate some of the points that makes their motions very human-like, for example, how their shoulders and torso move as they walk, run, and do things.
Anyway I hope I somehow opened up a few ideas, have fun 
Best way to learn to animate is to observe and use reference. Don’t be afraid to get in front of a camera and act it out yourself or have a friend act it out for you. Animation is about exaggeration, finding the perfect blend between hyper real and unrealistic.
I have been using unity for about 2 years now (I’m 16). And I use .js mostly but I’m capable to use cs. Yea I have used YouTube videos to get me going but I have noticed alot of them have this really simple “linkage” with the bones. E.g the would move the hand and the wrest of the arm would follow. What’s that called ?
Also I don’t like getting other people on board with my projects, 
Pinpointed. Observe 
Your animation is missing weight behind it. It has a lot to do with your rig, but to actually understand animation, you’d have to understand it’s foundation. I see at the store a lot of books on traditional animation explaining bounce and stretch techniques that make a character more believable. There’s a book called “stop staring” by Jason Osipa that explains animation really well. It’s mainly focused on facial animation, but it also talks about animation concepts that you can apply to anything to do with organic animation. Also…check out www.digitaltutors.com. They’re a great resource.
It’s called inverse kinematics. But, basicaly, what your animation lack is body movement. You animated just limbs, and that is not natural. You need to place bones in the shoulder to neck area. And, your walk is to fast. For that speed, you should animate running, and that means small jumps. Hope that hels.