Hey everyone,

I am thinking of using photoshop to animate my game.

I'm new to animation and am hoping to learn how to animate special effects. or something like it?

My game's theme is light.

I'm not sure what the interaction is yet and in the process of figuring that out. It will be a lot like engaging with light.

something like the references below:

some games that i'm sort of referencing are

Flow

Auditorium

When starting with any kind of animation you should lookup the principals of animation. The same motions that make a character walking look interesting, makes particles interesting.

Math waves also looks good, with games like the above you will need to look into rhythm. Both these can be used with out any animation knowledge or animation software, because you only need sprites and math functions.

I wouldn't recommend photoshop for animations, there is a lot of free software that can do better and is more detected to animations. If you have a lot of money you can also buy animation software, although for making games you won't need this level of software.

More importantly like I mentioned above this can be made with out any animations, in fact I believe the games you are using as references don't use any sprite sheets. Using some simple math you can achieve all of the above effects.

Lookup: vector math.

I believe the whole idea behind Flow was the art of vector math combined with simple game rules to create a living world. At least from a artistic point.

When starting with any kind of animation you should lookup the principals of animation. The same motions that make a character walking look interesting, makes particles interesting.
Math waves also looks good, with games like the above you will need to look into rhythm. Both these can be used with out any animation knowledge or animation software, because you only need sprites and math functions.


I wouldn't recommend photoshop for animations, there is a lot of free software that can do better and is more detected to animations. If you have a lot of money you can also buy animation software, although for making games you won't need this level of software.

More importantly like I mentioned above this can be made with out any animations, in fact I believe the games you are using as references don't use any sprite sheets. Using some simple math you can achieve all of the above effects.
Lookup: vector math.
I believe the whole idea behind Flow was the art of vector math combined with simple game rules to create a living world. At least from a artistic point.

that is incredibly informative. Thanks.
**edit**
Im currently trying to figure this out.

was keenly aware of the various ways graphic art can be done, however vectors... I don't see how that achieves the effect. Any decent resources on it? Cause. I dont know what im seeing. Urghh it just looks like math and not form or color.

There's lots of stuff that you can study, but since you'll be experimenting with what you learn in code, you need a game engine.
If you don't know what game engines to use, give Love2D or Unity a try.

Resources:

Interpolation and motion graphics:
- http://sol.gfxile.net/interpolation/
- http://www.motionscript.com/expressions-lab-ae65/table-of-contents.html

Algorithms for artificial intelligence and steering:
- http://www.red3d.com/cwr/steer/
- http://www.raywenderlich.com/24824/introduction-to-ai-programming-for-games

Vector graphics displays and vector videogames:
- http://www.zektor.com/zvg/zvg_vpix.htm
- http://www.andysarcade.de/vec_all.html

Particles and procedural mesh generation:
- http://www.3dgep.com/simulating-particle-effects-using-opengl/
- http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/GeneratingMeshGeometryProcedurally.html
- http://www.creativeapplications.net/processing/geometry-textures-shaders-processing-tutorial/
- http://fabiensanglard.net/shmup_source_code/index.php

Pixel combination \ blending modes:
- http://www.nutty.ca/articles/blend_modes/#tabs-4
- http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/tutorials/blending-modes-in-css-color-theory-and-practical-application--cms-25201

Videogame special effects:
- https://simonschreibt.de/game-art-tricks/

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About Irukandji, an obscure indie game.

[media]https:

[/media]

The game looks like Ikaruga (a famous scrolling shooter game).
The author uses tricks like duplicating a single glow sprite to form complex creatures, and employs a lot of mathematical expressions for an organic looking animation:
- http://web.archive.org/web/20110705101434/http://www.charliesgames.com/wordpress/?p=441
- http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=88064#1000285

Flash and HTML5 live demos of the Blob Monster he talks about:
- http://www.draknek.org/flash/blobmonster/ (FLASH)
- http://www.charliesgames.com/monkey/MonkeyGame.html (HTML5)


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Geometry Wars. There's glow everywhere.

- http://www.sierra.com/geometrywars
- http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/30/behind-the-scenes-video-basks-in-geometry-wars-3s-glow/