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(3 edits)

3D animations for a 2D game (Gifs below!)

Hello there!

Since Error Ware 2 is gonna be a 2D game made in Game Maker 8.1, one should think all you need to make graphics for it is a pencil, a camera or MSPaint or something, right? But behold!

Some things are actually easier to animate in 3D programs than in 2D ones, like spinning an object around or producing complex effects like water splashes, explosions, etc. So even if you're working with a 2D engine you can render stuff in 3D and put it as flat images in your game.

So for certain things I actually work with the free modelling software "Blender". GM8.1 has a simple 3D mode where you can load premade 3D objects as .obj files and some people manage to make full 3D games with it, but my 3D skills are not that good, I feel more comfortable with 2D games.

So how do I use 3D in Error Ware2?

If you by something in the game's shop, the game switches to the 3D mode and displays a spinning 3D model of the object you bought, then it switches back to 2D. I may use the 3D mode for actual minigames as well.

For Abstráctomon, I pre-rendered some sprites in blender, like the intro sequence and some attacks. In the past week I worked on 3D models of the badges (because... idk, it was fun?) and made a water splash (shoutout to CG Geek for his awesome turorial) which you can see below. (These .gifs are based on the raw renders, I touched them up a bit for the game since then.)

Have a nice weekend!

Click on the thumbnails to watch the animations on imgur!