This is my first post 
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Which would be the best way to implement a partner to my main character which is either following him or grabbing to one of his shoulders (think of a pet) and sort of has some combo attacks in which both interact?
Right now all I can think of is making them âone meshâ in for ex. Maya, animate them as one and all the time just treat them as if it was one character⌠but that would be the case for the shoulder partner ⌠what about the following one? is there any better way of solving this?
common I just want to make sure there isnât any other option to get it workingâŚ
For the partner following you, what kind of âelasticityâ do you want; how far they should be, how long before they respond to your movements, etcetera?
it would have some sort of .5 s delay⌠and they should no get to far actually, about 1-2,5 meters from the main character at the most⌠but that would be for the âfollowing partnersâ option⌠for now I am sticking to the other option which wouldnât involve this considerationsâŚ
What Iâd do is:
Make the pet a separate object completely.
When it wants to be on your shoulder, have it jump up and land on the shoulder bone, then smooth into an âon-shoulderâ animation that matches with the playerâs movement - or write some specialized Inverse Kinematics to keep the pet upright while perched.
While itâs separate, have it choose a random place to run to near the character, then move towards the spot. When an attack starts, create a jump arc or a movement path of some kind that will cause the pet to end up in the right spot to animate along with the player character.