How Link's Climbing Animation Works in Breath of the Wild 

You missed one small part of Link's climbing animation suite. When you jump upwards while climbing while your stamina is in the red, you get a completely different leaping animation that goes significantly further, where Link streeeeetches his arm out as far as he can to try to reach the ledge. I always thought that animation was particularly good.

7:41 those sweat droplets have a really clever purpose: They show how much effort Link is putting into his climbing, which is also telling the player that their stamina bar is going to deplete faster. Its those subtle things that matter :)

as someone who has looked into the files of botw, i can confirm that climbing does indeed have 8 different directions, additionally, there are 2 alternate versions of each, one which is a "45 degree angle slope" version, and one "narrow" version, which has the hands and feet closer to eachother, so while that isn't 100% part of the IK, IK is still used in combination with all of these to make the climbing look and feel really natural.

I love how you giggle every time Link falls. That's a sign of some good characterization animation.

as a climber, for link’s idle it would be cool if he sat back and extended his arms to get into a rest.

It looks like the Zelda series prioritizes "feels right" over "looks great" with their animation, and I like it. Zelda games always feel great with each action you perform! I love those suggestions you made at the end, I hope they implement that in BOTW 2.

For those that don't know but want to know, here's how kinematics work in animation. A character's animation skeleton is made up of a bunch of joints connected in one direction. Each joint will "point" to all the joints ahead of it and will move all those joints. For example, if you rotate the lower spine joint, all the spine joints above it, the arms shoulders and head joints will rotate around it. That is forward kinematics, which is how most animation is done. Inverse kinematics, what Dan mentioned here, is where a joint is defined as the movement point and the rest of the mesh and joints have to move around it. In the case here, Link's hand is the root of the inverse kinematics system. The hand's location is determined, then the elbow, shoulder, and even a bit of the body is moved to match where the hand is. IK is most commonly used, as Dan said, with feet and hand placement. Both systems have their advantages and disadvantages, so most games will implement a combination depending on what animation they need to create.

The way you talked about freedom of exploration... It reminded me of Skyrim, how you could 'climb' any mountain (with some determination and patience) by simply walking up it. Only Link's wall climbing was, you know, _intentional._

Climbing is how you get to the High Ground so this is critical information.

"latches on like a house fly" I just love how that was phrased

Takes me back to 2000 when I was working on game for the imminent PS2. Our game had a massive (think SOTC size) quadruped that had the character's village on its back. The game would have (had it not been canceled :( had the beast walking on uneven terrain, and the fact that we got "real time inverse kinematics" working was MIND BLOWING at the time. It's so fun to work in an industry where the mind-blowing of one year becomes the mundane of the next.

Honestly I really enjoy the utilitarian aspect of it. To me it sells the whole "spirit of the hero" thing, where it feels like some of this stuff he has been doing so long that it's just second nature, only just the required movements and nothing more.

9:11 One animation fidget I really wanted to see on Link's climbing idle would be him wiping sweat from his forehead using the the back of his hand, or even using his forearm. Maybe could do that only when on low stamina or something. It would really add that extra flavor you were talking about. Maybe we can get something like this on BotW2.

Regarding adding fidgets to the climbing idle, maybe the reason why they didn't add them is because most people will never see them, I've stood still in games a lot of time, but I'd feel bad about leaving Link hanging there on the wall, haha

A great fidget animation for the climbing in my opinion would have been if he'd released his hands one at a time to shake them and stretch his fingers. It's something very common for people who are regularly using grip strength to do when it's not needed to loosen the muscle and ease strain. It would also lend to the fact that he's a swordsman and uses the grip heavily for fighting and climbing.

I love how Dan takes a minute to gush over the really satisfying parts whatever animation he's breaking down. It's important to call out the things that make us love this stuff.

There's also IK in the lower spine and hips. This allows Link to bend around edges and not look weird. I worked on what I think is one of the first games to implement this (Spiderman 2/3). Doing IK in this way is very tricky because the lower spine is a child of the hips, so they have to be programmically decoupled, solved separately, then blended back together with the keyed animation. We had very smart Russian and Bulgarian programmers doing the maths.

I never really paid attention to the animations when it came to climbing. I always thought that the climbing was super cool, but I never realised how much work went into it. This video just makes me love botw even more!

I don’t know how link latches onto these super steep slopes but I won’t complain.

Your videos always remind me of how much work goes into the tiniest details in games that I always take for granted.

Normal brain: _Spider-Man PS4 is the best Spider-Man game_ Big brain: _Spider-Man 2 on PS2 is the best Spider-Man game_ Galaxy brain: _Breath of the Wild is the best Spider-Man game_

Him: The only thing you have to worry about is managing your stamina and finding your way Me, when I hear the high piano notes and red beam: ah shit, here we go again.

It's really just a modernized version of Shadow of the Colossus's climbing, which is a really good thing imo. A functional system that lets you climb anywhere and does its job without trying too hard to be flashy.

This game loves it some mirrored animations. Not only is there a mirrored idle climbing pose, there's a mirrored jumping animation depending on which foot is on the ground when you press the button (and if you mash it to make him bounce along, he switches front leg with each jump) and, so very unnecessarily, there's even a mirrored crouching animation. Which I appreciate because it meant I could get Link's good side when trying to line him up for a screenshot. Thanks, animator!

Considering the attention to detail they put into Botw, imagine the refinement that might be the sequel!

Whoa, this is so something I'm interested in. I love when RU-vid recommended is actually good! The music and voiceover work was just solid. This is some high quality video content. Great job!

I'm glad you promoted the 'other Dan' video. I watched all the New Frame Plus vids in ~2 days and was running out of content! I'm addicted to animation fundamentals now.

I was expecting a comment about the special jump animation when you have literally no stamina left. It's so heart wrenching.

Spider-Link, Spider-Link Thinks whatever the spiders think What I'll have for my lunch? How to not fall from this branch? Look out, it is the Spider-Link!

I felt Botw actually had really quality animation when I played it. It stuck out to me. The way the divine beasts moved with real weight, the expression of different characters like the champions and the Great fairies and horse fairy, the way the different enemies move and their over exaggerated actions and how they react to the environment. The way skeleton enemies fall apart and come back together, the way link holds and wields different weapon types, the personality of link when it comes to environments, hazards and eating and cooking. The way guardians move themselves over the environment, I especially love how all the Ganon forms move especially calamity ganon. Idk it just left an impact on me on how fluid and full of life it felt.

Can't get enough from this channel. Would love to hear you talk in more detail about animation in the Monster Hunter games. The monster animation has always been on point, but they really stepped it up for World and now Iceborne. The character animation has also gotten really great, with all the weapon attacks feeling just perfect, and the NPCs getting some good action scenes, especially in the newest Velkhana trailer.

In addition to your ideas about idle animations, I think that it would be cool if Link shook off a hand or leg from time to time, like he's getting cramps from hanging on and waiting for you to make a decision about where to go. That would add a little more to the feeling of how hard climbing is.

Devil May Cry 5??? That would definitely be an awesome topic to cover. Itsuno did say it was a challenge to marry the game's flashy animations with the newer photorealistic visuals. Personally, I feel like DMC5 and God of War 2018 are two of those rare games that aimed for realism without sacrificing the snappy responsiveness of their gameplay. I was so relieved that DMC5 stayed true to itself as a high-octane action game, and then I was blown away by how it pulled off while retaining its graphic fidelity. I'm a huge fan of your content, and I refer to your videos when practicing with 2D animations. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, and keep up the amazing work!

There's a small foot wiggle when you stay idle for a bit. Great video!

This youtube is big enough for two video game animation Dans.

What's nice about the ragdoll animation is that, during the entire duration of the ragdoll, Link will attempt to block his face with his arms. You know, just like actual humans do when falling down a slope. Gives a little extra liveliness to our silent friend here.

I know you only mentioned it briefly but, it would be cool if you did a whole episode on idle animations!

One thing that I would like to see you cover is the horse animation in BotW, they really nailed horse movement extremely well in that game and as someone who used to ride horses it was really awesome to see. Speaking of idle animation they also really nailed some interesting ones of those to the horses as well. It's not something that a lot of people may think about but it's still something they really put a lot of effort into and I really think it deserves some recognition.

Wait, no "Spider-Link" jokes? Damn it, Dan! You had ONE job! lol All jokes aside, I really liked the video. I hope you deliver videos like this a bit more often, Dan.

Thanks for shouting out Video Game Animation Study, he’s a very much under appreciated channel.

I love this video so much because it’s so nerdy. This was the first of your videos I watched and I was pleasantly surprised. No one else digs this deep! Keep it up!

There was one animation or I guess pose when Link climbs to the top of a tree. He looks out over the wilderness all pioneer style. Great content

This video gets started pretty quickly, only takes 20 seconds to get to the content. Thumbs up!

Cover the jiggle physics of DOA: Xtreme 3 next! Also I haven't considered becoming a patron yet

I love your insight to videogame animation, i'm an animation student andi love seen your videos because you have taught me a lot

Loved the video. The idea of having some fidgets while Link is not moving in the climbing position is awesome, hopefully they add that in the sequel.

I LOVE how you put Link’s little smile and nod when you said “it’s pretty good”. The way you said it added to it too. I dunno I enjoyed that so much lol. Watched it over a few times.

I think the reason why the simple animation works so well, is that you really get the feel that this is a video game and you are in control. When I see game characters with a lot of extra movement, I feel like I'm not that character and am merely guiding this person.

Cool the clip for the next video shows Link's quick spin attack. I've never yet actually used it in combat though

A video about my favourite game from my favourite channel, sweet

never thought i'd see a 10 minute video essay on link's climbing animation but i'm here for it

I love how the guys behind New Frame Plus and Video Game Animation Study are both named Dan and their logo is practically the same.

Eeeeeeeeey, that "Zelda & Chill" song at the ends if very fitting :D Lovely!

"Inverse Kinematics," eh? I always struggled to describe that feature as it appeared in Virtua Fighter 3.

Actually, I'm pretty sure his animation for climbing ladders is different from climbing a mountain, in that, when you climb a ladder, Link actually grabs each rung instead of just grabbing anywhere and calling it a day. Which I find to be yet another nice attention to detail.

As expected, a wonderful look at some animation. This is a good explanation for why I had such a good time just climbing things in BOTW.

Fantastic video. Great job Dan ♥

I think the great part about the slip in the rain, is that the character and the player most likely feel a similar thing in that moment, I remember I managed to get a camp of bokoblins after me early in the game, and I started climbing up a wall nearby to get away, and it had started to rain, I think I did actually tense up a little whenever he slipped.

i like how understated the animations are. they are exactly what they need to be and somehow that makes them more than what they are.

You also missed another climbing animation, where if you climb a flagpole or a lightning pole, say, on the top of Temple of Time, Link has a dedicated idle animation where Link would hook his leg around the pole.

8:36 I actually remember Midna being surprisingly expressive, especially in comparison to the rest of the game. It's probably one of the reasons people got so attached to the character, actually. She could be a neat topic for a video, too.

I just want to say that I love this channel. It really gave me more perspective into animation and made me more interested in it. Thank you

Ah, fidgets. that brings back memories. Especially of Conker's bad fur day, which has an absolutely insane number of idle animations, especially for a game released in 2000 on hardware from 1996... There's contextual idle animations. Sequences that vary based on how far into the game you are, and your location. And then there's about 5 different fairly complex idle animations of Conker just messing about with something he pulls out of a 'pocket' (in that way that cartoon characters have infinite pockets - sometimes referred to as hammer space, for the tendency for certain kinds of characters to pull huge hammers bigger than their own bodies out from behind their back) I have no idea how many frames of idle animation that game has, but considering the hardware limitations involved, it's a lot! I don't think I've seen many games of any era with quite that amount of idle animation...

I first learned about kinematics and inverse kinematics from James Bruton's videos on his robotic dog, and the trig required to move its feet correctly.

I've noticed that there's several animations for opening chests. If Link is standing in front of the chest, he'll crouch and open it normally. If he's standing beside or behind it, he'll kick the chest, and it'll open by itself. These two are pretty easy to notice. However, there's one more. When Link is beside or behind the chest, but with no pants and boots on, he'll do the same kicking animation, but he'll hurt his foot and jump a little. Kicking metal boxes open doesn't sound very fun.

One of the great things about this fully dynamic game engine is...it just works.

Could be cool if in BOTW 2 Link gets a few assassin creed type climbing animations in addition to the house fly climb.

8:35 Midna is literally nothing but character and expressiveness. She's even got a really good idle animations. Personal favorite is whenever you dash in Wolf form and she like, yelps and loses her grip, but only on the first time you dash, since afterwards she gets a better grip.

........i don't even know how to animate for video games but this channel is just so good, i love watching each video.

You got to love all the little bits that game designers put in their game.

better description of IK (inverse kinematics) - when you move your foot the rest of the leg will follow. So first the foot, then the knee would adjust based on what the foot is doing and then the hips would adjust based on what the knee is doing in that order. The opposite would be FK (forward kinematics) - in this you would move your hip first and then your knee would follow and then your foot. both are often used and switched on and off depending on whats going on. Both apply to how arms can work as well

It would be super nice to tackle the animations of Super Mario Odyssey, and why controlling Mario is so satisfying. Mario’s jump has gotten so expressive that it can be chained in a combo-like system of leaps, controlled exclusively by 3 buttons (B, Y, LR).

i think its also in the way how the player subconsciously fill the detail that Link grabs onto a surface while climbing even tho the rock surface has less polygon or detail to grab onto. cool illusion of the visual/art style

Hey, commenting to boost visibility. I love your channel, you do an excellent job of making an boring-seeming subject really interesting, and your enthusiasm is infectious.

Please ! I want a episode about Metal Gear Rising's Blade Mode. The procedural cuts, the animations of the cutted things, the animations of Raiden during this mode... Please please please ! An episode about the wonderful animations of Noctis in FFXV would be great too btw !

Could you talk about the animation in Minecraft? It's so simple but so satisfying

Such an odd request. I would have never thought you could go so in depth with this. Great video.

I like this cross promotion. I think it's really Dan good that you both were studying Link's character animations.

You missed a little detail. When climbing on the meshy surfaces (like the Shika towers), link actually locks his hands and feet on the gaps of mesh

"I don't know what it is about Zelda game animation, but somehow it's always better than the sum of its parts, right?" I'd like for this to be expanded upon in the future. I want to know why the game animation is better than the sum of its parts. How this series' animation fits into the larger cohesive whole as an aesthetic. The whimsy, quirky, almost carefree nature of Zelda animation, and of the games design in general, is part of the series' charm that I find so captivating.

6:48 link's conscience as he overlooks hyrule and its vastness of vertical surfaces: *"you can climb all of this."*

I really enjoyed this as such a nerd for the little details in games.👌🏾

I have a suggestion for an episode! Injustice and Injustice 2 take iconic characters and (1) make them immediately recognizable (2) but a specific and distinct version and (3) imbue them with tons of personality. Like the fight intro scenes all get across the personality of each character so well, I’d love to hear about how they accomplished that. Thank you! ❤️

Finally found the channel Dan went to and I love this! Only problem is that the voice isn't helium-ized, but I've heard that you get used to it. Keep it up!

love this guy, he sounds so passionate.

Just found the channel, needed this soooo bad.

I would love to see you do a video about Titanfall 2, whether it be about the animation of the titans, first person view of both pilots and titans, like reloads, different tacticals/ordinance, little touches of personality in each Titan/bt. Anything really helps and more exposure to the game, especially with the release of apex

I love this video! Speaking of climbing, is it possible to do a comparison/evolution of climbing animations in Assassin's Creed games through the years? Keep up the good work my man.

I really gotta hear about any of the team ico games. Shadow of the colossus, The Last Guardian, Ico - they all have some amazingly technical animation

I have severely missed your narration. Glad youtube reminded me where you went!

"I fear not the man who has practiced 1000 kicks one time, but the man who has practiced one kick 1000 times." If it ain't broke, why fix it? XD I think Nintendo made a smart decision with the climbing animations. This way, they could for the most part use an already created system and focus their attention into other things. 9:38 As soon as you started talking about it, my first thought was to have Link shift his weight to one hand and shake out the other, and then repeat on the other side.

I’m glad you mentioned assassins creed, because dear lord I have no idea how they do that. You did mention that you can’t traverse all terrains, and that is often true, but not in the newest games such as odyssey. I literally couldn’t find a wall you couldn’t climb and there is a specific animation set for surfaces that aren’t specifically designed for it. I found it completely remarkable.

I'm not sure if there's enough material to fill a video on this, but I'd love to see a video on Toon Link's character animation.

Another great video by Dan! I used to watch extra credits but once you left it never was the same. at least the videos here (in new frame) are as interesting as the old extra credits videos (which makes me think - are you doing more then just narrating the content?) Anyway, as always, good work and thank you for this!

Not gonna lie, the thumbnail made me think this was a gmtk video

you missed the aninmation he does when Link climbs the top of a tree or a flag, he holds to the pole with one hand with the body away from the pole looking at the scenery, in this state he can rotate and change hand. ^^ awesome video btw!

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH That's what I said when I saw this in my feed AAAAHHHH New Frame Plus and BOTW?!!?! And the CLIMBING ANIMATION, a part of the game's system that's fascinated me for ages?! Aaaahhhh it's such a cool video, and so awesome to see that it's surprisingly 'simple', I love that! I love Link's animations in BOTW so much, I think they just feel so nice and also still kind of cute and charming. I can see what you mean about the charm of fidgets, and there are definitely 'idle fidgets' I've loved in games before. At the same time though, I also have felt like fidgets can feel kind of... gamey? Like, I can't help but distinctly notice how they are an extraneous new action stuck into a loop after a set amount of time to add some interest, or something. Well, if they are played at too frequent a cycle, at least, it feels really gamey to me. If they are rare and subtle, those are nice! Like, I noticed Link have a fidget while crouching once where he seems to quickly bat away an insect near his face. I've played hundreds of hours of that game, and I can only distinctly remember noticing that animation the one time and finding it kind of charming. If I'd seen in a hundred times, or if it was more exaggerated and long, it would have felt 'gamey'.

Ahh I had been looking for a video about this for a long time... great work! :)

Great video! However you did make a mistake about the assassins creed explanation. Their animation framework is not hand crafted completely for the level. They use neural networks. Basically mocap is used to train a model how human movement works. Then the crevices are used as parameters for the model to automatically figure out how the character would move. So basically you could make a randomly generated map and the animations would still work!

Link can safely move 6 handholds between each slide in the rain. I've played so much BOTW I actually count to 6 out loud before jump-dashing right before the slip trigger. Really helps being able to move upward even in the rain!