So aside from designing characters, the artist(s) should also design every attack? Frame by frame that is?

These days very little art is drawn this way. Generally, a model is produced either as 3D (e.g. blender etc) or as 2D with skeletal animation. The frames are then captured as simple 2D images of the 3D model. This saves on doing tons of redrawing to get the movements correct.

To do this properly with fighting moves, you'd need to invest in motion capture which can be expensive. This is a different skill set to just art too.

Hmmm, there for sure is no money for a motion capture.. but what you said about a model being produced is something I've seen so many times so I don't understand why that didn't even came to my mind. But thanks for the reminder!

Please take a look at this fight scene:

The first attack alone and the graphics alone just make me go WOW! (To each his own by the way!)

I'm looking at something like that.

Not sure how on-topic this is, but I found a toon shading tutorial a while ago. As far as 3D rigging and animation goes (Blender), it's really not very difficult. You'll spend the most time making the actual model. After that, all you have to do is pose your characters like an action figure and save the positions. Animation between poses is done automatically...

If you're interested, here are two rigging tutorials I found useful [Tutorial #1] [Tutorial #2].

Thanks for the post, but I'm not the designer.. I'm the one who came with the idea and looking for a team to develop this game. But I can't just be Mr. Money Man and throw dollars at people not knowing what they're going to do with my dollars. I need to understand what is going on and what it takes to get certain things of my idea done.

Now I've learned about skeletal animation.. with this inf. I could hit the designers with. Also I'm trying to figure out how much time aproximility goes into designing a single characters with all types of moves coming with it. With that inf. I could also calculate the costs. If people for example here saying 20 hours, 30 hours and 40 hours.. I can keep in mind that I should not hire any one who's telling me it will take them 80 hours.

Okay, you have caught me off guard with the "animation".. you mean with animation for example the character giving a punch? And like they did with the movie Avatar, each frame needs to be created and by each frame you mean animation?

Back when animation started every animation frame would be drawn by hand, in modern times it rarely is done this way.

I will explain a rough idea of how animation works, and I will only be explaining pose to pose animation.

First the starting Key frame is recorded or drawn this is known as the relax pose. Next the the hand is moved back for the punch, this is the anticipation key frame. Then there is the point of contact, this is where the punch is at it's extreme. Followed by Recovery where it ends back at relax.

ON a time line it would look like this(Don't test this one, it probably wouldn't work):

Relax 1, 2, 3 ,4 ,5 ,6, Anticipation ,8 ,9 ,10 ,11 ,12 ,13 , contact,15 ,16 , Recovery,18 ,19 ,20 ,21 ,22 ,23, Relax

The numbers are in-between frames and is generated by the computer, the words are known as poses; this gives the animation type it's name, as you can see it moves from pose to pose.

Now it may look simple but there is a lot of curve and time tweaking done, if it is in 3D each key frame would have to be clear and appealing from any angle.

Most animation artist spend three to four years learning the basics, and with all art forms never fully master it in there life time.

Search a bit on animation, as a game developer any knowledge is useful.

From your game description it doesn't sound like you need 3D, using 2D instead should make things a bit easier and run better on the hardware you intend. You could also use a 3D dummy for animation and poses, then draw over this; I think the the Manga Gantz was made like this.

If you look into how they make most pre-school children's cartoons these days, they use a program called CelAction2D. If you had the budget you could probably use a studio program like this to rig 2D models for any kind of game. I've not seen it used for games, but based on the formats this program can export and the kind of things it can do, i can't see why not. You'd also have no shortage of very skilled artists and riggers that know how to use this software, either.

It's all about the money available, which is the problem for most indie games these days.

Not sure how on-topic this is, but I found a toon shading tutorial a while ago. As far as 3D rigging and animation goes (Blender), it's really not very difficult. You'll spend the most time making the actual model. After that, all you have to do is pose your characters like an action figure and save the positions. Animation between poses is done automatically...

If you're interested, here are two rigging tutorials I found useful [Tutorial #1] [Tutorial #2].

Thanks for the post, but I'm not the designer.. I'm the one who came with the idea and looking for a team to develop this game. But I can't just be Mr. Money Man and throw dollars at people not knowing what they're going to do with my dollars. I need to understand what is going on and what it takes to get certain things of my idea done.

Now I've learned about skeletal animation.. with this inf. I could hit the designers with. Also I'm trying to figure out how much time aproximility goes into designing a single characters with all types of moves coming with it. With that inf. I could also calculate the costs. If people for example here saying 20 hours, 30 hours and 40 hours.. I can keep in mind that I should not hire any one who's telling me it will take them 80 hours.

Remember that the estimate is rough so use your judgement when hiring artist. Less experienced artist will be cheaper but take longer, it's all about resource management and what you have the most of; time or money.

Okay, you have caught me off guard with the "animation".. you mean with animation for example the character giving a punch? And like they did with the movie Avatar, each frame needs to be created and by each frame you mean animation?

Back when animation started every animation frame would be drawn by hand, in modern times it rarely is done this way.

I will explain a rough idea of how animation works, and I will only be explaining pose to pose animation.

First the starting Key frame is recorded or drawn this is known as the relax pose. Next the the hand is moved back for the punch, this is the anticipation key frame. Then there is the point of contact, this is where the punch is at it's extreme. Followed by Recovery where it ends back at relax.

ON a time line it would look like this(Don't test this one, it probably wouldn't work):

Relax 1, 2, 3 ,4 ,5 ,6, Anticipation ,8 ,9 ,10 ,11 ,12 ,13 , contact,15 ,16 , Recovery,18 ,19 ,20 ,21 ,22 ,23, Relax

The numbers are in-between frames and is generated by the computer, the words are known as poses; this gives the animation type it's name, as you can see it moves from pose to pose.

Now it may look simple but there is a lot of curve and time tweaking done, if it is in 3D each key frame would have to be clear and appealing from any angle.

Most animation artist spend three to four years learning the basics, and with all art forms never fully master it in there life time.

Search a bit on animation, as a game developer any knowledge is useful.

From your game description it doesn't sound like you need 3D, using 2D instead should make things a bit easier and run better on the hardware you intend. You could also use a 3D dummy for animation and poses, then draw over this; I think the the Manga Gantz was made like this.

Yes, thanks for the inf.

If you want to please take a look at the fighting scene I've posted, it is 2D but it looks 3D because it's just designed very well. So I for sure don't want 3D like we are used to, I want it 2D like Naruto but the details should be fine that it at least gives you the idea that it 3D. (If I make sense here)

If you look into how they make most pre-school children's cartoons these days, they use a program called CelAction2D. If you had the budget you could probably use a studio program like this to rig 2D models for any kind of game. I've not seen it used for games, but based on the formats this program can export and the kind of things it can do, i can't see why not. You'd also have no shortage of very skilled artists and riggers that know how to use this software, either.

It's all about the money available, which is the problem for most indie games these days.

Not to sound cocky but the money is there, I'm not going to make a copy paste game like everybody does with Flappy Bird.. not at all.

Therefore now I'm doing my homework, I need to understand what a designer has to do to develop my game.. if I know that I could have a better conversation with the designer and I could hit him with questions that are being answered here. If I didn't open this thread I would be clueless and just take every designer for his / her word.

Now I understand for example what type of programs designers work with and how they design, so if I ask a designer how he / she designs he / she better answer me along the way with the things you people are sharing with me.

Thanks for the post, but I'm not the designer.. I'm the one who came with the idea and looking for a team to develop this game. But I can't just be Mr. Money Man and throw dollars at people not knowing what they're going to do with my dollars. I need to understand what is going on and what it takes to get certain things of my idea done.

I would like to develop a mobile game

Sorry if I misunderstood you but...if you're not the designer, then which part of the game are you actually working on? Typically, there's a designer, a developer (programmer), an artist, a musician, a marketing person, etc. If you don't have a team, you're probably everything. But if you don't understand what goes into making a game, for instance the process of making a 3D model from start to finish or the basics of programming, then you won't be able to accurately determine how long it would take for someone else to do it (given your requirements).

It doesn't hurt to familiarize yourself with the basics of the jobs you're planning to hire others to do.

If you want to please take a look at the fighting scene I've posted, it is 2D but it looks 3D because it's just designed very well. So I for sure don't want 3D like we are used to, I want it 2D like Naruto but the details should be fine that it at least gives you the idea that it 3D. (If I make sense here)

Playable characters in the entire Ultimate Ninja series are all 3D models. Cell shading is a technique that makes 3D models look 2D.

Here's an example:

Edit: Toon shading is also known as cell shading.

If you want to please take a look at the fighting scene I've posted, it is 2D but it looks 3D because it's just designed very well.

It is actually the other way around.

It is 3D, but it looks 2D because it is designed very well.

Then there are some quick interstitials with actual 2D drawings to make the illusion complete.

This technique has been used for a long time to produce action scenes in animated TV shows like Naruto, but recently devices are powerful enough to do it really well in realtime.

(Zelda wind waker is half way there, but doesn't look as good as an animated TV show. Also the Naruto game has some ways to go, but it is indeed looking really good)

@ On Rey..

Sorry, ahaha.. I should have said that I'm the one with the idea and the investor but I won't design nor program because this isn't my field.

And yes, even though I wrote I'm the developer.. before starting this thread I Googled a little bit what it takes to make a game and who should / is doing what:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_development

So at this moment I'm trying to get my knowledge on, first topic I need to cover is that of a game artist because even though I believe in my idea and all that, I'm more about the visuals that should really have people be like WOW!