Swinging attack (2-3 frames)
Trusting attack (2-3 frames)
Casting magic (1-3 frames)
New sitting pose (1 frame)
All of this in 3 directions (sideviews mirrored) and for both genders. Every animation should be done with as few phases as possible to make it easier to create equipment. So there are bonus points for creating frames which are shared between multiple animations.
The attack animations should be designed in a way that it can be used with as many different weapon types (large and small) as possible. The swinging attack has to double for throwing. Two handed weapons are used with one hand to save work. For gameplay reasons make the attack animations cover a large area. Screw realism - make sure that it looks cool.
The magic animation should work both for spells which shoot some kind of projectile and for spells which summon something at a location.
The sitting pose should be appropriate for both male and female characters or when you design a different pose for male and female make sure that the changes when doing equipment are minimal.
The shape of all frames is more important than the texture because the texture will be concealed by equipment most of the time.
When a pixel artist would finish this very important task it would mean a lot for TMW. It would allow us to:
- Release swords, axes, polearms and a lot more weapon types
- Focus more on armor and cloth development
- Attract more female players who were deterred by the strange female sitting pose