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Do you miss "claymation"?

nkarafo

nkarafo

Member
I was watching footage from the unreleased Primal Rage 2 and i am impressed by the smooth claymation. I mean, the art design is not that great, too much 90's jankyness and all, but the animation is pretty awesome. I think claymation had a very distinct style, just like 2D hand made animation or 2D digitized animation (like older Mortal Kombat games). It looks different.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoadscC_ySM

There aren't many claymation games that i'm aware of and the ones that exist aren't that good. I think the best one is the first Primal Rage? Or maybe a game from the Neverhood series? I don't remember right now but are there any more modern examples that i missed?

Also, remember those "before" Clay-fighter N64 screens?

clayfighter64beta01.jpg


clayfighter64beta04.jpg


I always wanted a game that looks like this (hint: the N64 version looked nothing like this).

Also, here are some Neverhood screens:

the-neverhood_11.gif


the-neverhood_10.gif


With today's technology we could get higher resolutions and more animation frames. I'm sure i'm not the only one who likes this sort of thing?
 
S

Slaythe

Member
Man there was an old point and click like that but I can never remember the name.

It had some ugly potatoe kid that looked like Bart Simpson... Sort of.

And a plant monster.
 
S

sn00zer

Member
Not a huge fan, I think the stop motion tech had made some leaps and bounds since Nightmare Before Christmas with puppetry due in large part tO Laika so clay animation just kinda looks old to me. I wouldn't mind a stop motion-like game, but I think the effect could probably be done in 3d environments just as well as photographs.
 
N

NinjaCoachZ

Member
I felt like the character models in games like Street Fighter V, Team Fortress 2, Star Ocean 5, Firewatch and even Overwatch to an extent had a vaguely "clay-esque" art style. It probably wasn't intentional to evoke that specifically, and definitely not like the classical Aardman stylization, but that's what I always think when I look at them.

It's a cool art style for sure. Flushed Away shocked me when I learned it was CGI and not actual clay, so it'd be really cool to see a modern game with that type of aesthetic.
 
F

Family Fry

Member
The Swapper springs to mind Immediately as a more recent claymation title.

kwS0AN4.jpg


Probably one of those things that it's just so time consuming to do it could lead to really long development times.

Example, I have followed The Dream Machine (great little point n click adventure, check it out) for 7 year now. The final chapter, chapter 6 should be out this year, so it's taken 8+ years to finish development of all the chapters. I remember when it was a web only title and not even on steam.

5o4DZvN.jpg


http://store.steampowered.com/app/94300/

I do have a soft spot for claymation titles though, you have to admire the work out into them.
 
W

Wozman23

Member
Was gonna post about how terrific The Swapper is, although it is a lot more subtle with its claymation when compared to some of the older stuff.
 
D

Dunnymeister

Member
> ctrl-f kirby
> nothing

Let me fix that for you (shamelessly stolen from the OT)


​

I don't miss it because it hasn't really left. There weren't that many games that utilized it in the first place, so I don't think the ratio has changed all that much. It'd lose its charm if it was overused as well, so I think the current level is about right.
 
H

hatchx

Banned
I'd love more claymation OP. Would love it. I've always wanted a Mario game in that style. Kirby Rainbow Curse was beautiful.
 
Ü

Übermatik

Member
There was a side scolding spaceship game on the web a number of years ago that was sorta claymation. Anyone know what I'm talking about and can remember what it's called? Think I found it on Miniclip. Remember being really impressed at the time.
 
nkarafo

nkarafo

Member
Tubs_McNubs said:
Are you asking if I miss ClayFighter? Because the answer is 100% yes.
Click to expand...
Clayfighter was a missed opportunity IMO. It was never released on a system that could do it justice. The 16bit versions lack animation frames and detail and the N64 versions were heavily downgraded from the original vision due to the small size of carts i imagine?

There was never an arcade version for instance. A Clayfighter running on the Primal Rage arcade engine (or a better one, why not?) would look much better.
 
F

Fisty

Member
I think the animation frames were low by necessity back in the day, and that really helped add to the charm. Definitely gave it a stop-motion feel.

Also this thread made me regret buying Armikrog for $4 thanks guys
 
W

Wozman23

Member
Is Kirby truly claymation or did the art style just mirror a clay style? I never played it, but I always assumed it was simply an art direction choice as opposed to actual clay models and/or stopmotion animation. Kind of like how Kirby's Epic Yarn (and the brilliant Unravel) evoke the style of yarn without actually capturing stills of actual yarn models.

Übermatik;232151165 said:
There was a side scolding spaceship game on the web a number of years ago that was sorta claymation. Anyone know what I'm talking about and can remember what it's called? Think I found it on Miniclip. Remember being really impressed at the time.
Click to expand...

There was Blue Flamingo, an upward scrolling shmup. It was all handmade with various materials, but not necessarily all clay.
 
B

BajiBoxer

Banned
Übermatik;232151165 said:
There was a side scolding spaceship game on the web a number of years ago that was sorta claymation. Anyone know what I'm talking about and can remember what it's called? Think I found it on Miniclip. Remember being really impressed at the time.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think I played that, but don't remember what it was called.
 
nkarafo

nkarafo

Member
Killer Instinct arcade also had a similar vibe IMO

hqdefault.jpg


But that was mostly early CGI looking like clay by accident :p


Wozman23 said:
Is Kirby truly claymation or did the art style just mirror a clay style? I never played it, but I always assumed it was simply an art direction choice as opposed to actual clay models and/or stopmotion animation. Kind of like how Kirby's Epic Yarn (and the brilliant Unravel) evoke the style of yarn without actually capturing stills of actual yarn models.
Click to expand...
I think some enemies and background objects do have claymation.
 
A

ArkkAngel007

Member
Speaking of clay, whatever happened to that clay molding game from Media Molecule that used the Move controllers?

I'll have to check some of these other games though. Didn't know this was a thing.
 
S

Spiral Insanity

Banned
I really thought it worked well for games. Check out The Dream Machine as well, not quite clay I think.. but really gorgeous.

The_Dream_machine_pc_game.jpg
Click to expand...

Armikrog is GORGEOUS, but the initial version was so poor with a horrible interface, combined with the politics of the creator... turned me off forever.
 
S

Sword Of Doom

Member
The way the Thunderjaw is animated in Horizon reminds me of claymation and more specifically stop motion animated creatures from Ray Harryhausen flicks. Not sure if it's intentional or not

I do miss claymation in all forms of media
 
W

Wozman23

Member
Sword Of Doom said:
The way the Thunderjaw is animated in Horizon reminds me of claymation and more specifically stop motion animated creatures from Ray Harryhausen flicks. Not sure if it's intentional or not

I do miss claymation in all forms of media
Click to expand...

Did you play Deadly Tower of Monsters? It was free with PS+ some months back. It's a solid game that humorously spoofs stop motion and sci-fi B-movies.

(Also, I didn't get any sense of stop motion from anything in Horizon)
 
W

Weiss

Banned
Okay I need to know more about The Swapper because it sounds like my perfect game.

Does it ever go on sale on PS4? Is it good?
 
I

I am Christina Aguilera

Member
I remember downloading some short but interesting claymation/stop motion first-person Myst-style indie game from that sort of mid-to-late-2000s indie game era that was more downloading Windows freeware from TIGSource and indiegames.org than buying stuff on Steam or PSN. Cannot for the life of me remember what it was called though (I've googled). I remember that you were more or less sneaking into a house in the middle of the woods.
 
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